
Image Problems
The Origin and Development of the Buddha's Image in Early South Asia
Robert Daniel Decaroli(Author)
University of Washington Press
Published on 1. March 2015
Book
Hardback
277 pages
978-0-295-99456-7 (ISBN)
Description
This deft and lively study by Robert DeCaroli explores the questions of how and why the earliest verifiable images of the historical Buddha were created. In so doing, DeCaroli steps away from old questions of where and when to present the history of Buddhism's relationship with figural art as an ongoing set of negotiations within the Buddhist community and in society at large. By comparing innovations in Brahmanical, Jain, and royal artistic practice, DeCaroli examines why no image of the Buddha was made until approximately five hundred years after his death and what changed in the centuries surrounding the start of the Common Era to suddenly make those images desirable and acceptable.
The textual and archaeological sources reveal that figural likenesses held special importance in South Asia and were seen as having a significant amount of agency and power. Anxiety over image use extended well beyond the Buddhists, helping to explain why images of Vedic gods, Jain teachers, and political elites also are absent from the material record of the centuries BCE. DeCaroli shows how the emergence of powerful dynasties and rulers, who benefited from novel modes of visual authority, was at the root of the changes in attitude toward figural images. However, as DeCaroli demonstrates, a strain of unease with figural art persisted, even after a tradition of images of the Buddha had become established.
The textual and archaeological sources reveal that figural likenesses held special importance in South Asia and were seen as having a significant amount of agency and power. Anxiety over image use extended well beyond the Buddhists, helping to explain why images of Vedic gods, Jain teachers, and political elites also are absent from the material record of the centuries BCE. DeCaroli shows how the emergence of powerful dynasties and rulers, who benefited from novel modes of visual authority, was at the root of the changes in attitude toward figural images. However, as DeCaroli demonstrates, a strain of unease with figural art persisted, even after a tradition of images of the Buddha had become established.
Reviews / Votes
"It is refreshing to read a scholar who presents the authors of ancient texts not simply as authority figures, or even as persons locked into a specific school or tradition, but rather as individuals grappling with the startling fact of images suddenly coming into vogue, and seeking philosophical justification or proscriptive. . . . Image Problems thoroughly surveys image use, devotion, the merit of making and donating to images, miracle images, and the problem of copies of images."- Jon Ciliberto (Buddhist Art News) "I read the text as Image Answers, for DeCaroli provides some remarkable insights into the conception and production of images by mining textual sources, both Buddhist and Brahmanical, in enormously impressive ways. . . . Image Problems is a very important work, one that should shape our thinking and teaching about early South Asian images."
- Frederick M. Asher "[A]n excellent study of the emergence of the stupa, and the iconic Buddha image."
- William Dalrymple (New York Review of Books)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Illustrations
44 b & w illus., 1 map, 1 chart
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Weight
703 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-99456-7 (9780295994567)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Robert Daniel Decaroli
Image Problems
The Origin and Development of the Buddha's Image in Early South Asia
E-Book
03/2015
1st Edition
University of Washington Press
€64.49
Available for download
Person
Robert DeCaroli is associate professor of art history at George Mason University.
Content
Acknowledgments
1. Problems and Preconceptions
2. Questions of Origin
3. Image Aversion
4. Images and Identity
5. Historical Shifts
6. Image Appeal
7. Coping Strategies
8. Final Words
Notes
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Index
1. Problems and Preconceptions
2. Questions of Origin
3. Image Aversion
4. Images and Identity
5. Historical Shifts
6. Image Appeal
7. Coping Strategies
8. Final Words
Notes
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
Index