Category: Uncategorized

  • On the Ponniyin Trail: Here are the five places that tread the path of the Cholas in Sri Lanka

    The Chola dynasty— one of the longest-ruling dynasties in world history—has once again caught the public imagination. Filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan I, or PS1, which is based on Tamil literature’s most-visited text by Kalki Krishnamurthy, brings to life Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s stupas, lush forests and lotus-filled ponds. As a Ponniyin fan, though, […]

  • Gandhara, the ancient kingdom that gave world its first Buddha sculptures

    The anthropomorphised Buddha made way for narrative reliefs depicting his life, replete with iconography borrowed from Graeco-Roman and subcontinental cultures. Gandharan Sculpture: A genre of sculpture that arose and developed between 100 BCE and 700 CE in the ethnically diverse and religiously tolerant cultures of the ancient region of Gandhara, in the northwest of the […]

  • Buddhist sites: Religious tourism in Pakistan

    RELIGIOUS tourism is an important part of the tourism industry and is also called special interest tourism. It is usually related to the followers of specific faiths who visit sites that are considered holy sites. Religious sites are not only visited by the pilgrims but also visited by non-religious tourists since they have cultural, historical […]

  • Treasures of Afghan History, Art and Culture

    The Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris is displaying the fruits of a century of partnership between France and Afghanistan. A relaxed Buddha, made of unbaked clay, from around the seventh century, discovered by Jean Carl in 1937 in an excavation by La Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan, or DAFA. By Nazanin Lankarani […]

  • In Taiwan, an exhibition exploring the afterlife of East and Southeast Asia captures the spirit of the island

    More than 200,000 people have flocked to Ghosts and Hell: The Underworld in Asian Art at Tainan Art Museum, which unites Chinese jiangshi vampires, costumes from a Thai ghost festival and the wandering female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. On a Thursday morning at the end of September, lines are already out the door at […]

  • 500-year-old 3-storey Thai pagoda crumbles after days of heavy rain

    Glass and bronze Buddha statues were found amongst the rubble. Donations are being sought for the restoration of a 500-year-old pagoda in Thailand that collapsed on Thursday (Sep. 29) after heavy rain. Located at Wat Sri Suphan in Chiang Mai’s Muang district, footage of the incident showed the moment the damaged structure crumbled into a […]

  • The Mahabodhi Temple, Site of the Buddha’s Enlightenment

    The Mahabodhi Temple is believed to mark the place where the Buddha realized enlightenment. This is the central, foundational event in the tradition of Buddhism. But the temple was neglected for centuries, and its origins forgotten, until it caught the attention of European scholars and archeologists in the 19th century. Today the restored temple is […]

  • Green Tara: Feel Her Wisdom and Love

    A fully enlightened female buddha, Tara is the actuality of compassion and wisdom. Meditating on her, says Lama Palden Drolma, can awaken our own buddhanature. Tara is the most beloved of all the female enlightened beings in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. The essence of awakened love and compassion, she is known as “the mother of […]

  • Kyrgyzstan’s Ancient Buddhist Temple Will Be Opened to the Public

    The unearthed remnants of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kyrgyzstan will be opened to the public in mid-September as part of UNESCO’s Krasnaya Rechka world heritage site, according to reports. The ancient Buddhist temple, which was built over 1,000 years ago, was the second temple discovered near the northern part of Krasnaya Rechka (City of […]