Lakshminarayanan, Ashwini  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4077-5110
2025.
Exploring Gandhāran relic rituals and veneration II: ritual vignettes on Gandhāran pedestal reliefs.
Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia
38
, pp. 107-150.
10.60018/AcAsVa.bzyt7368
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Abstract
It has long been recognised that the pedestals of Buddha and Bodhisattva statues from the ancient region of Gandhāra depict, to some extent, scenes that echo ritual practices that were normative for the region. While they have been the focus of assessments in recent years, this paper presents some of the results of an ongoing systematic analysis of 326 statue pedestals within the wider context of Gāndhārī donative inscriptions and Chinese travelogues. Dating broadly from the second century CE onwards, this paper argues that the pedestals were a new venue to visually reinforce ritual efficacy and normative practices. The paper sheds light on the conventions used on this visual frame and the actions of figures represented within them. By doing so, it demonstrates that the image corpus reflects patterns in the epigraphic corpus that lays emphasis on the individual as well as communal ritual practices of donors with both familial and non-kinship networks.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BQ Buddhism |
| Publisher: | Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences |
| ISSN: | 0860-6102 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 12 January 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 11 July 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Jan 2026 16:05 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183774 |
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