Discussion based on the recent publication of Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India by John Guy

Panelists: John Guy, Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia, Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Jyotindra Jain, art and culture historian and renowned scholar and museologist who has authored several books and staged exhibitions on Indian folk arts and cultures; Naman Ahuja, art historian and curator, Professor of the Art and Architecture of Ancient India, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Upinder Singh, historian and Professor of History and Dean of Faculty, Ashoka University and Peter Skilling, specialist in the literary and archaeological histories of South and Southeast Asia, Professor, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

Moderator: Deepanjana Klein, historian and Director of Acquisitions and Development, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art 

Before the appearance of the Buddha image, about 500 years after his lifetime, the visual repertoire used to teach the Buddha’s message was rich in its celebration of the natural world. It was presided over by its personified spirits, the yakshas and nagas. This panel will explore the many dimensions of the early religious landscape that the Buddha encountered as a mendicant, and following his passing, the emergence of the cult of relics centred on the royal tumuli, the stupa.

(Collaboration: Mapin Publishing)