The Religious World of Kirti Sri: Buddhism, Art, and Politics of Late Medieval Sri Lanka

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Oxford University Press, Mar 28, 1996 - Religion - 192 pages
In this interdisciplinary inquiry, John Clifford Holt seeks to uncover how Buddhism was understood and expressed during the waning years of indigenous political power in Asia's oldest continuing Buddhist culture. Holt focusses on King Kirti Sri Rajasinha and how, despite powerful and persistent Dutch colonial threats and a deeply suspicious Kandyan Buddhist Sinhalese aristocracy, he successfully revived Sinhalese Theravada Buddhism. As Holt demonstrates, Kirti Sri succeeded in formulating his vision of an orthodox Buddhism in a number of ways: through the patronage of monastic sanha and re-establishing traditional lines of ordination, translating the Pali suttas into Sinhala, sponsoring public Buddhist religious rites, and refurbishing almost all Buddhist temples in the Kandyan culture region. The ultimate aim of Holt's study is to describe and interpret Kirti Sri's articulation of a normative Buddhist world, the essentials of which remain normative for many Buddhists in the Kandyan region of Sri Lanka today. Scholars and students will find The Religious World of Kirti Sri is an indispensable resource for the understanding of orthodox Buddhism at this important historical juncture, as well as the present day.
 

Contents

1 K299rti 346r299s Predicament
3
2 Discourses of a Buddhist King
15
3 A Visual Liturgy
41
Details of the Liturgy
43
4 Royalty Reborn
73
5 Implications for Theory and Method
91
Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Alienation
97
The Religious Works of K299rti 346r299 at Gang257r257ma and Rid299 Vihar257
109
Notes
115
Bibliography
135
Index
141
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Page viii - This research was assisted by a grant from the Joint Committee on South Asia of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies with funds provided by the Andrew W.

About the author (1996)

John Clifford Holt is Professor of Religion at Bowdoin College, where he organized and founded the Inter-Collegiate Sri Lanka Education (ISLE) Program. Dr. Holt has authored several books including Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka (OUP, 1991).

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