Leiden University Student Repository

Bakker, Shita (2016)

The significance of the visual culture of three foreign temples at Bodhgaya (India)

Master thesis | Asian Studies (60 EC) (MA)

Bodhgaya is situated in the state of Bihar in India and is known as the place where the Buddha became awakened while sitting under a Bodhi tree, which is marked by the diamond seat (Sanskrit: vajrasana). The holy site developed in recent times from a small village to one of the most important places of Buddhist pilgrimage on an international scale. For this research I focus on how Bodhgaya, as a lieu de mémoire, became a global village, and show how the visual culture of three foreign temples from Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand visually express on the one hand their relationship with the site as a place of memory, and on the other hand their relationship with their home country.

visual culture

Bodhgaya

Burmese

Thai

Sri Lankan

Author

Bakker, Shita

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Asian Studies: History, Arts and Culture of Asia

Supervisors

Klokke, Marijke

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en