ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter highlights the objectives for this study with regard to two themes that provide unity to Buddhism across South Asia: one is the image of the Buddha that has been venerated by communities in all regions through time and the other is the worship of the relics. Both these practices brought monastics and the laity together in celebration of the eightfold path of Buddha dhamma that developed in the middle of the first millennium BCE, which was founded on wisdom, morality and concentration. This understanding of Buddha dhamma is discussed in the context of secondary writings that have so far dominated the study of archaeology and Buddhism, starting with Alexander Cunningham the first Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India established in 1861 and his search for sites associated with the ‘historical’ Buddha or the somewhat later trend of viewing the Buddha as a social reformer.
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