Buddhist Paintings of Tun-Huang in the National Museum, New Delhi

Tun-Huang is the dream child of the Avatamsaka tradition of contemplation as it unfolded in Bamiyan. This richly illustrated book examines the Tun-Huang Buddhist cave paintings at the National Museum in New Delhi. The 143 best scrolls have been narated whose colours are still radiant images of the divine. The National Museum is one of the three major repositories of the Tun-Huang paintings, the others beings the British Museum London and the Musee Guimet, Paris.

The Tun-huang caves are the epitome of Buddhist art over the centuries. Situated at the foot of the Mountain of Singing Sands, they are believed to be the brush of the Buddha, where, according to legend, an itinerant monk Yüeh-ts'un watched the irridescent peaks in the sheen of blue satin, settled down to excavate the first cave in AD 344, and painted its walls with colors brought by birds.

Buddhist Paintings of Tun-Huang in the National Museum, New Delhi reproduces and describes for the first time the paintings from Tun-huang in this museum, one of the three major archives of the Tun-huang paintings.This book fulfills a long-felt need and will cover a major lacuna of research. The scrolls from Tun-huang are the jewels of these caverns that once drew humans to their depths.

Contents:
Preface; Tun-Huang over the centuries; Tun-Huang: Galaxy of Divine Images; Tun-Huang Paintings in the National Museum; Literature Cited; Chronological Footholds; Chinese Dynasties; Concordance of CH. Stein National Museum and Book.

Lokesh Chandra is an internationally renowned scholar of Tibetan, Mongolian and Sino-Japanese Buddhism. A prolific writer, he has to his credit 600 academic works. He has been Vice- President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and Chairman of the Indian Council for Historical Research. Presently he serves as Director at the International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi.

Nirmala Sharma is an Art Historian and Professor of Buddhist studies at the International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi. She has also been a senior fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies. She is a member of The Association of British Scholars and the Programme Advisory committee at the IGNCA and has travelled extensively to Greece, Spain,France, Italy, Indonesia, China and Central Asia (Silk Route), and Taiwan to attend seminars and conduct field studies.