Indian Culture: An Unending Journey (Set of 3 Books)

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About the Book

The theme of the book is geographical expansion of Indian culture and its continuity. The book throws light on the expansion of Buddhism in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It also evaluates the importance of India's cultural contacts with South-East Asian region. How Indian culture infl uenced the countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia is described in brief. Today countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia were followers of Islam but remains of Indian culture in these regions still reminds the ancient glory of India. Countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea and Vietnam are still following Buddhism. Although the topic is very vast but the author has tried his best to present it in brief along with maps and illustrations. Literary as well as archaeological sources were used to provide authentic information. Hope, the book will be accepted by the scholarly world interested in Indian culture.

About the Author

Dr. G. K. Lama, Professor, Departinent of AIIC & Archaeology, Centre of Advanced Study, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, having specialization in the field of Archaeology, Buddhism and Asian Studies, has 29 books in his credit namely het Men Banuddha Dharma Ka Itihar-2004, Samyak Darshan-2004; Cultural Heritage of South-East Asia-2009, Indus to Ganges-2009, Pakkakot: Some New Archaeological Dimensions of Mid-Ganga Plain-2012, Buddhist Cave Temples of Ancient India-2013; A Buddhist Universe- 2016; An Archaeological Journey of Nalanda-2018; Art Heritage of Nalanda 2018; India: A Journey from Lithic to Iron- 2019, Footprints of the Buddha on the Roof of the World-2020, Glimpses of North-East India-2021, Indian Culture through the Ages 2021, Revealing India's Puxt-2021, Buddhism on the Silk Route-2022, Mysterious World of Siddhas-2022, The Cult of Adamantine Path- 2022, Buddhism A Living Spiritual Force- 2022, Indian Archaeology Some New Perspectives-2022, Glimpses of Asian Art Heritage-2023, Indian History A Multidisciplinary Approach-2023, Fusion of Indian Culture on Asia-2023, Unique Features of Buddhist Monasteries-2023, Mahayana Sutra Samgraha-2023, Cultural Heritage of Nepal-2023, India in Chinese Travelogues-2023, Archaeological Excavation of Rukhaegarh, Nalanda-2023, Trans Himalayan Buddhism-2023 and The Sacred Ganga-2023. He has presented 67 research papers in various National and International seminars and 114 research papers have been published in various reputed journals, edited books, conference proceedings and felicitation volumes. He has completed a Major Research Project entitled Archaeological Investigation in and around Nalanda, granted by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, which was submitted in 2014. The author has also completed 16 projects regarding archaeological investigations in Sikkim, Eastern and Western UP and Bihar with the kind permission of Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. He has invited twice to Sri Lanka and once to Thailand to deliver special lectures.

Preface

A number of books were already written on Indian culture which enables us to know the great and rich culture of the India. While studying these books written by profound scholars of India and abroad I feel that focus of the authors was to only remind the glorious past of the Indian culture. But there are very few books which throw light on the geographical expansion of Indian culture and its continuity. So I feel that there must be a book on this topic which may fulfill the desires of the readers. Further, most of the books on the topic cover a specific country like Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea or Indonesia. None of the book covers the whole geographical area which was influenced by the Indian culture. While writing on these topics focus was made on to throw light on the glorious past of the Indian culture which influenced the society, religion, philosophy, and art and architecture of South-East Asian countries.

Introduction

Indian culture has been characterized in terms of the spiritual ideal which is accepted in it as the supreme value. The ideal of a spiritual life is not identical with the idea of a religious life as understood in Semitic religions. In fact, if we define religion as a way of life in conformity with some unique and literal revelation, such that it might lead to a desirable after-life for the individual, then, whatever the dogmas implied whether of God or soul, after- life or judgment, or of the invisible efficiency of following spiritual or moral prescriptions. Such a concept would be distinct from that of following the spiritual ideal, even though the former or religious concept in its various forms could well be offered as an interpretation or a theoretical and practical elaboration of the latter, spiritual ideal. In fact the spiritual ideal tends to manifest itself in different but recognizably similar forms in different cultural ensembles. Spiritual idealism is a universal phenomenon but in different cultures it assumes different forms and is given different degrees of importance. Its essence consists in seeking the true nature of man as a spirit, consciousness, or experience. In fact it appears to be nothing but the self-revelation of human experience. There is no ideal higher than man provided the essence of man is found within him in the spiritual core of his being rather than in his relation to nature or other men. The spiritual quest is the search for the inner and deeper possibilities of experience.