Description
Book SynopsisA crucial reference for historians of Southeast Asia and those with a serious interest in the Buddhism and Buddhist art of Southeast Asia. What explains the spread of Theravada Buddhism? And how is it entangled with the identity shifts that over the next four hundred years gave rise to the Buddhist state now called Cambodia?
Early Theravadin Cambodia sheds light on one of the outstanding questions of Southeast Asian history: the nature and timing of major cultural and political shifts in the territory that was to become Cambodia, starting in the 13th century. This important collection challenges the conventional picture of Theravada as taking root in the void left by the collapse of Angkor and its Hindu-Buddhist power structure. Written by a diverse group of scholars from Cambodia, Thailand, the United States, France, Australia, and Japan, this volume is a sustained, collaborative discussion of evidence from art and archaeology, and how it relates to questions of Buddhist history, regional exchange networks, and ethnopolitical identities. Accessibly written and vividly illustrated, the book will be a crucial reference for historians of Southeast Asia and scholars of Buddhism.
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Early Theravadin Cambodia: Terms of Engagement
- Chapter 1: Angkor and Theravada Buddhism: Some Considerations
- Chapter 2: Reading and Interpreting Jataka Tales during the Angkorian Period
- Chapter 3: The Buddha Sculptures of Tham Phra (Buddha Cave): Implications for Understanding the Complex Religious Atmosphere of Western Thailand during the Early Second Millennium CE
- Chapter 4: A Brief Overview of Key Theravada Buddhist Sculptures in Central Angkor from the 13th to 18th Centuries
- Chapter 5: New Evidence at Western Prasat Top, Angkor Thom
- Chapter 6: Back to the Future: The Emergence of Past and Future Buddhas in Khmer Buddhism
- Chapter 7: 17th- and 18th-Century Images of the Buddha from Ayutthaya and Lan Xang at Angkor Wat
