"Hair, teeth, fingernails, pieces of bone-bodily fragments supposedly from the Buddha himself have a complicated history. These relics have long served as objects of veneration for many Buddhists, and unsurprisingly, when Western colonial powers subjugated populations in South Asia, they used, manipulated, and even destroyed these relics to exert control. In this account of colonial Portuguese and British dealings with one of the most famous relics of the Buddha-the tooth relic-John S. Strong treats us to a masterful ...
Read More
"Hair, teeth, fingernails, pieces of bone-bodily fragments supposedly from the Buddha himself have a complicated history. These relics have long served as objects of veneration for many Buddhists, and unsurprisingly, when Western colonial powers subjugated populations in South Asia, they used, manipulated, and even destroyed these relics to exert control. In this account of colonial Portuguese and British dealings with one of the most famous relics of the Buddha-the tooth relic-John S. Strong treats us to a masterful analysis of this relic's contested origins, its manipulation by colonial powers, and its multiple functions across several colonial contexts. Strong revisits two well-known stories about the West's encounter with Buddhism in South Asia. The first story concerns a tooth identified by the Portuguese as being a relic of the Buddha in the mid-sixteenth century. This tooth was taken by the Portuguese from Sri Lanka back to Goa where it was publicly crushed, burned, and thrown into a river as a display of colonial power. The second story concerns another tooth, also identified as a relic of the Buddha and first enshrined at the end of the sixteenth century. After the British conquered Kandy in the second decade of the nineteenth century, they realized the value of this tooth for furthering their colonial ambitions, and what followed was a long and complicated history of British interactions with the tooth up through Sri Lankan independence in 1948 and beyond. Through a meticulous study of these two encounters, Strong reveals the importance of multicultural cosmopolitan objects for understanding the history of Buddhism in South Asia"--
Read Less
Add this copy of Thebuddha'Stooth Format: Paperback to cart. $30.10, new condition, Sold by Websew Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Avenel, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by University of Chicago Press.
Add this copy of The Buddha's Tooth: Western Tales of a Sri Lankan Relic to cart. $45.27, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by University of Chicago Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 352 p. Buddhism and Modernity. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of The Buddha´S Tooth: Western Tales of a Sri Lankan Relic to cart. $45.28, new condition, Sold by Kennys.ie rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Galway, IRELAND, published 2021 by University of Chicago Press.
Add this copy of The Buddha's Tooth: Western Tales of a Sri Lankan Relic to cart. $45.59, new condition, Sold by Paperbackshop rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bensenville, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by University of Chicago Press.