ABSTRACT

This book presents new studies on intellectual and cultural interactions in the context of Buddhist heritage and Indo-Japanese dialogue in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on art, religion, and cultural politics. By revisiting Buddhist connections between India and Japan, it examines the pathways of communication on common aesthetic and religious heritage that emerged in the backdrop of colonial experiences and the rise of Asian nationalisms. The volume discusses themes such as Asian arts and crafts under colonialism, formation of East Asian art collections, development of Buddhist art history in Japan, Japanese encounters with Ajanta, India in the history of the Shinto tradition, Japan in India’s xenology, and Buddhism and world peace, and suggests paradigms of reconnecting cultural heritage within a global platform.

With essays from experts across the world, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of history, art history, ancient Indian history, colonial history, heritage and cultural studies, South Asian and East Asian history, visual and media studies, Asian studies, international relations and foreign policy, and the history of globalization.

chapter |21 pages

Introduction

The discovery of Buddhist dialogues between India and Japan—history, culture and the state

part I|109 pages

The Indo-Japanese dialogue

chapter 1|24 pages

Buddhism as the pinnacle of Ancient Indian morality

Tagore and Vivekananda interpreting the figure of Buddha

chapter 2|20 pages

Kakuzō Okakura in cultural exchange between India and Japan

Dialogue with Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore

chapter 3|16 pages

Japan in India’s Xenology

Negotiating modernity, culture and cosmopolitanism in colonial Bengal

chapter 4|24 pages

India-Japan dialogue in the 1920s

Buddhism and world peace in The Young East

chapter 5|23 pages

A.K. Coomaraswamy and Japan

A tentative overview

part II|76 pages

World Heritage and a new world order