ABSTRACT
In this statement, Alexander Cunningham made an important distinction between the continued practice of Buddha dhamma through worship of the chaitya and the Buddha’s image as opposed to the philosophical reflections that underwent transformation, first in the Purā as as the Buddha was recognized as an avatara of Vi u and second through introduction of what he termed “wild extravagances of the Tantrists,” this latter phrase reflecting the thinking of his times. As is evident from Cunningham’s writings, he faced a constant dilemma, as he tried to reconcile the practice of Buddha dhamma in Ladakh and Tibet with archaeological findings associated with the life of the Buddha in the Ganga valley and central India, which he validated through textual data primarily from the Mahāva sa. By the end of the nineteenth century, Cunningham had succeeded in demarcating a Buddhist sacred landscape with emphasis on the Ganga valley. is distorted the understanding of regional variations, especially in areas, such as the Western Himalayas, eastern India, and the peninsula south of the Vindhyas, all of which were significant for the development of Buddha dhamma in the country. is chapter focuses on the Western Himalayas and peninsular India. Both these regions followed a long and distinctive trajectory of transformation in terms of the archaeology of Buddhism and are
1 Alexander Cunningham, 1854, The Bhilsa Topes: Buddhist Monuments of Central India, Smith, Elder and Company, London, p. 158.
