Abstract—Over the last few decades, Buddhist studies have
grown into a complex field, with historical, philosophical,
linguistic and socio-cultural aspects which are being studied
independently as well as in comparative light. New materials
came to the light in the last century which has created the need
for sustained research in this important chapter of human
history and civilization. Buddhism from its inception has a
religion that captured the enthusiasm of the rich and poor alike.
It was a religion that preached a way out of suffering in a simple
and direct manner which could be understood by the common
man. Unlike the Brahmanism that had become too recondite
and scholarly for the masses to understand but the Buddhism
fulfilled the spiritual needs of the people. Every person could
work their way towards enlightenment. As it was a
proselytizing religion it spread quickly and flourished for
centuries. By the beginning of first millennium, Buddhism has
been firmly established in the area of Thailand, Burma, Java
and Cambodia. Buddhism develops art and architectures as
visual aids for propagation of the religious ideas in South-east
Asia. Buddhist stylistic arts have given the great impacts on the
religious and secular life of the people in those related areas for
more than two millenniums and thus Buddhism had created a
great current of art in south-east Asia. Under this artistic trend,
many valuable art works created and gave rise to emerge a
special social phenomenon. Thus, the paper focuses on the
influence and impact of Indian Buddhist art on south-east Asian
art and the dimensions of Buddhist art in south-east Asian
culture. This paper also compares the Buddhist art in the
homeland of Buddhism with those in other Buddhist countries
in south-east Asia and examines the dissemination of Buddhism
through art and Architecture.
Index Terms—Buddhism, Buddhist art and architecture,
early south-east Asian culture, south-east Asia.
The author is with Iswar Saran Degree College, University of Allahabad,
Allahabad-211004, India (e-mail: isdc.ass@gmail.com).
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Cite: Anand Shanker Singh, " A Historical and Cultural Study of Buddhist Art in Early South-East Asia," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 6, no. 7, pp. 561-564, 2016.