Vajrayana Buddhism – Study in Social Iconography

About the Book

Contrary to the existing historiography of early medieval religions, which often deals with Vajrayana Buddhism as a declining and degenerated religion confined to the monastic complex only, the book argues that Vajrayana Buddhism was an instrumental and social religion. Working on social iconography, the author uses iconographic, epigraphic and textual sources to show that Buddhism made vertical and horizontal expansion in Orissa in early medieval period. A13 a social, instrumental religion, it innovated numerous deities, introduced new rituals for laities, wrote litanies in praises of Buddhist gods and goddesses and imbued deities with instrumental functions. But these changes occurred within the evolving normative tradition of Buddhism itself. These changes in Buddhism occurred at a time when Brahmanical religions were expanding in Orissa. The book makes copious documentation of religious sites from archaeological and epigraphic sources to argue that poly-religiosity defines the religious landscape of early medieval Orissa, and then, it goes on to explain the relations between brahmanical religions and Buddhism. In the process, it analyses the support base of Buddhism, nature of the monastic complex and various markers of support base. The book also explores the continued Indian connection in Southeast Asian Buddhism after 7th century AD.

About the Author

The author obtained his doctoral degree from the Centre for Historical Studies, jNU, New Delhi in 2005. He started his research in history with the maritime archaeology of Orissa by exploring the geomorphology of Orissa coast, port sites and boat-building tradition. His ethnographic studies on boat building tradition of Orissa were published in South Asian Studies, London, 1996 and Archaeology of Orissa. He also works on early historical polity, early medieval religion and society. At present, he is working for the American India Foundation in computer-aided learning in the government schools of Orissa.