Buddhism and State in Ceylon before the Advent of the Portuguese
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چکیده
HISTORICALLY Ht:DDHIS\1 CAN Cl.\1\1 TO !:IE THE FIHST missionary religion in the world. In fact, its messianic purpose was expressly declared nearly fi,·e centuries before Christ ,,·hen, soon after his enlightenment, the 13ucldha himself his disciples to "preach the truth" and spread the gospel "out of for the ,,·orld, for the good ... for the welfare of gods and men."' Ho,,·cver, it W<lS during the reign of emperor Asoka (269-232 B.C.) that Buddhism till then a regional faith spread beyond the Indian peninsula to many countries of Asia to the extent that at one time. it was in a position to influence the li,·es of nearly one fifth of the whole human race. Hesuscitated nearly two centuries after its inception and considerably changed in its 'inner structure'" due to competition with other sortcnologies in India, 13ucldhism was introt.luccd in Ion in the third ccntmy B.C. The absence of any organised religion in island at that time, the charisma of the Hudclhist monks, and the royal patronage which Buddhism received from the beginning were some of the major reasons for its quick propagation.'· CPylon was one of the first countries in Asia to con1c under the sway of Buddhism and to assimilate its essential cluracteristics in evolving the island's culture and civilisation. In fact, so aJI pen asi'e has been the influence of Buddhism in Ceylon that th2 recorded history of traditional Ceylon is 'irtually the history of Ceylonese Buddhism. C nder such a setting it was natural that religious and political authorities \\·ere 110l only elose but often drew sustenance from each other. This paper is a11 attempt to clescribc the emerging pattern of Buddhism-State inter-
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Absence of the Buddha Image in Early Buddhist Art : Towards its Signifi - cance in Comparative
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