Scarecrows, Upāsakas, Fetuses, and Other Child Monastics in Middle-Period Indian Buddhism

World Archaeology 45.2 The Beginnings of Life, 2013

Care for pregnant women constituted an important aspect of interaction between monastic communities and the laity at the Jetavana Buddhist monastery. Figurines found at the monastery date to the first millennium CE and portray a deity with both maleficent and beneficent attitudes toward the unborn. The deities that such figurines depict have previously been interpreted as precursors to the Brahminical pantheon. However, archaeological evidence from the Jetavana monastery suggests that figurines were also drawn into Buddhism. As members of monastic communities were celibate, it is argued that figurines played a role in interaction with the laity. The beneficent attitudes of the deities complemented the medical care that Buddhist monasteries offered pregnant women and the unborn. Examining figurines in their archaeological contexts highlights the diverse character of Buddhism. This study has implications for understanding the religious dimensions of care offered during pregnancy and childbirth and the concept of syncretism in ancient religions.

Indo-iranian Journal, 2001

Research India Press, New Delhi, 2022

This is my Dissertation, submitted to the University of Michigan in 2003. I subsequently converted this dissertation into my first book, The Archaeology of Early Buddhism. Given the choice, I would strongly recommend reading the book rather than this dissertation--the book is better. The value of this dissertation lies only in the appendices, which provide all of the data I collected in 9 months of fieldwork at Thotlakonda Monastery in Andhra Pradesh, India

2022

As an introduction to Buddhism, this course focuses on the historical development of Early Buddhist formations (500 BCE to 100 CE), investigating their beginnings and transformation in India and other SE Asian cultures. The course begins by examining the historical and cultural context in which Early Buddhism began, first as represented in the life and teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama, and then followed by the socio-cultural institutions and religious practices that developed after his life. The course then examines the cosmological structures of Buddhist universes, the early socio-economic structure of Buddhist schools and institutions, including the relationships between monastic and lay communities, the oral/written transmission of texts, as well as the archaeology of Buddhist devotion that develops during the Mauryan period with the worship of stūpas, relics, and images. The course concludes with describing Buddhist developments in the northwestern borderlands (Gandhāra) and a discussion on the place of women in early Buddhism.

2013

International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture, 2023

I became a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order 45 years ago. Since then, I founded a charity to fund social work in India, I co-ran the London Buddhist Centre and I co-founded the North London Buddhist Centre. I am currently the President of the North London Buddhist Centre. My academic interests are the early development of Buddhism in India and its spread out of the subcontinent. I studied the historical development of Buddhist traditions as well as the archaeology of Buddhist art and architecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies. My special interest is in the rock-cut Buddhist monasteries of Western India, since they have the best-preserved remains of early Buddhist monasticism. Of these, I chose Bhaja, Bedsa and Karla for the subject of my PhD research, because their close proximity to each other enabled me to make a detailed study of local Buddhist history from the regional physical remains. I finished this study and graduated in 2022.

Tocharian and Indo-European Studies vol. 20, 2020

Among the Tocharian materials preserved in the Berlin Turfan collection, three votive tablets made of wood, THT 3998 (= III 7391), THT 4000 (= III 7592), and THT 4001 (= III 7590) occupy a special status. As the Buddha's image was depicted on one side, they have been preserved in the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It is a fascinating question whether the Tocharian texts on the one side could be related to the Buddha images on the other side of these tablets. In this paper, THT 3998 is discussed from philological and art historical viewpoints. The Tocharian B text on this wooden piece, which concerns a child who is sick due to the disease caused by a female demon and explains how to protect a child from this disease, is comparable to the Mahāsāhasrapramardanī, one of the five tantric texts incorporated into the Pañcarakṣā. The double-headed Buddha on the other side would have a protective function. In view of these facts it is likely that THT 3998 can be regarded as an amulet.

2019

This seminar examines the history of Buddhist Thought in India. Buddhists like to place emphasis not on belief as such but on practicing, following a path, and knowing, directly seeing. This direct ‘seeing things the way they really are’ is held to free a person from the depths of suffering through cognitive transformation. By ‘Buddhist thought’ we mean, in this general context, the discussions, speculations, and arguments concerning ‘how things really are.’ In this seminar we will try to understand this issue through the works of various Buddhist philosophers beginning with Śākyamuni Buddha (480-400 BCE) through to Candrakīrti (ca. 570-650 CE).