Thailand: Political History and Buddhist Cultural Influences (In 2 Volumes)

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The book is a comprehensive study of different aspects of Thai political life, religion, art and literature with the emphasis on the role of Buddhism in influencing the Thai culture and way of life. Showing how Thailand has a unique blend of a glorious past traceable to very early times and remarkable modernisation attempts, it traces, under political history, the earliest dynasties of kings and their battles and wars to found empires and cities down to more recent political developments in particular, its loss of territories to the British and the French in the nineteenth-twentieth centuries, its relation with other nations and its economic scenario. Reflecting deep scholarship and quoting extensively form ancient and modern scholarly works it looks into the rise and development of Buddhism referring constantly to inscriptional evidences and archaeological studies. Focussing on a detailed analysis of the growth of Buddhist art styles pertaining to sculpture, stucco decoration and paintings in different periods of history, it takes up a survey of the schools of art and stupa-building while revealing how the Thai art form is based on ideas borrowed from India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. In an interesting attempt, the author undertakes a discussion of the Thai tamnan (stories/legends) of the distant past: historical works by Buddhist monks and accounts relating to Buddhist images, relics and institutions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kanai Lal Hazra

Dr. Kanai Lal Hazra is Reader and Head of the Department of Pali at the University of Calcutta. He obtained his M.A. and L.L.B., and Diploma in French Language fromthe University of Calcutta. He had his Ph.D. degree at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He is the Author of a number of papers poblished inthe noted journals and periodicals in English and Bengali. He is widely recognised as one of the leading authorities inthe field of Buddhism. He is also a well-known author of South-East Asian History, Religion and culture. He has severla books to his credit. His published works are: History of Theravada Buddhism in south-East Asia: The Buddhist Annals and Chronicles of South East Asia: Buddhism in India as described by the Chinese Pilgrims; and The Rise and Decline of Buddhism in India. At present he is one of the most influential thinkers of Buddhist History in India.

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Bibliographic information

Title
Thailand: Political History and Buddhist Cultural Influences (In 2 Volumes)
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
8186921125
Length
xiv+xii+598p., Bibliography; Index; 23cm.
Subjects