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Dear list members,
Our next seminar will be at 6:00-7:30pm on Thursday May 26 in the
Rogers Room (N397) of the John Woolley Building, University of
Sydney.
We hope you can attend this event.
Kind regards,
AABS Executive
The Buddhist City-State of Arakan During the 15th to
18th Centuries: Art, Architecture, Religion and Daily Life in a Forgotten
Kingdom
The surviving temples and archaeological ruins of Mrauk-U, the old
capital of Arakan, once called “The Venice of the East”, have left
intriguing clues about the practice of Buddhism by kings and commoners.
In temple decorations, the kings may be portrayed as gods reborn, while
their followers wrestle, play music or go shopping, but also devotedly
worship. Huge sandstone Buddha images are still being discovered on
jungle hilltops surrounding the city, witness to a drive to make merit
through monument construction. The acquisition of merit through donation
remains a strong aspect of Arakanese (and Burmese) culture today, and may
perhaps be a somewhat alien notion to westerners who might tend to focus
more on the personal and intellectual aspects of Buddhism. But those
Arakanese donors several hundred years ago did leave behind such
inspiring and beautiful Buddhist artworks and architecture!
Bob Hudson is an Australian
archaeologist who has worked in Arakan (on the west coast of Myanmar) and
central Myanmar/Burma for more than 20 years. He is an adviser to UNESCO
& the Myanmar Ministry of Culture, and is currently working to
produce a digital map of the temples of Mrauk-U, the city that is the
focus of this talk.
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