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The Buddhist Visnu: Religious Transformations, Politics, and Culture
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The Buddhist Visnu: Religious Transformations, Politics, and Culture Paperback - 2004

by John Holt


From the publisher

John Holt's groundbreaking study examines the assimilation, transformation, and subordination of the Hindu deity Visnu within the contexts of Sri Lankan history and Sinhala Buddhist religious culture. Holt argues that political agendas and social forces, as much as doctrinal concerns, have shaped the shifting patterns of the veneration of Visnu in Sri Lanka. Holt begins with a comparative look at the assimilation of the Buddha in Hinduism. He then explores the role and rationale of medieval Sinhala kings in assimilating Visnu into Sinhala Buddhism. Offering analyses of texts, many of which have never before been translated into English, Holt considers the development of Visnu in Buddhist literature and the changing practices of deity veneration. Shifting to the present, Holt describes the efforts of contemporary Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka to discourage the veneration of Visnu, suggesting that many are motivated by a reactionary fear that their culture and society will soon be overrun by the influences and practices of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

First line

This chapter explores very briefly the problem of how Hindus have enfolded the Buddha into their changing religious culture in various historical contexts, as an especially relevant example of the theoretical problem I sketched in the introduction to part 1.

Details

  • Title The Buddhist Visnu: Religious Transformations, Politics, and Culture
  • Author John Holt
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 441
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Columbia University Press, New York, USA
  • Date 2004-12-29
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780231133234 / 0231133235
  • Weight 1.34 lbs (0.61 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.94 x 6.32 x 0.93 in (22.71 x 16.05 x 2.36 cm)
  • Themes
    • Religious Orientation: Buddhist
    • Religious Orientation: Hindu
  • Library of Congress subjects Buddhism - Sri Lanka - History, Buddhism and politics - Sri Lanka
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2003064634
  • Dewey Decimal Code 294.309

About the author

John C. Holt is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of the Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies at Bowdoin College. He is the author of several books, including Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Tradition of Sri Lanka, winner of an American Academy of Religion Book Award for Excellence, and The Religious World of Kirti Sri: Buddhism, Art and Politics in Late Medieval Sri Lanka, and is the editor of Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia.
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