Story of the Stupa. This item is unavailable.Story of the Stupa

About the Book:-The commonest kind of ancient sepulchre found in Southern India and the Deccan is the tumulus, the prototype of the Buddhist stupa or tomb. These tumuli are low circular mounds of earth surrounded by a ring of big boulders firmly planted in the ground to keep the tumulus in position and to mark the sacred spot. The chief purpose for which stupas were erected by the Buddhists was to serve as monuments enclosing relics of the Buddha, or of Buddhist saints, which were placed in a reliquary enclosed in a stone coffer, over which the stupa was built. Through this book the author traces and studies the evolution of the Stupa as a religious symbol. It has divided into 4 chapters that discuss --The umbrella as a symbol of religious sovereignty, The evolution of the stupa, Kerala architecture and then, Himalayan architecture. The book has 42 fine illustrations. These photographs reproduced in this book are from blocks prepared by the Survey Department, Colombo. This book is a reprint of the 1936 edition. About the Author :-Albert Henry Longhurst (1876 – 1955) was a British archaeologist and art historian, working in India and Ceylon. He was the brother-in-law of Sir John Marshall, the Director-General of the Archaeology Survey of India (1902-1928). In October 1913 he was appointed the Superintendent of the Southern Circle, Archaeological Survey of India. From 1927 to 1931 he was in charge of the systematic digging of Nagarjunakonda. Longhurst served as the Archaeological Commissioner, Archaeological Survey of Ceylon between 1934 and 1940, mainly working at Polonnaruwa but also at Anuradhapura and Sigiriya, concentrating more on conservation/restoration rather than excavation. The Title 'The Story Of The Stupa written/authored/edited by A. H. Longhurst', published