Buddhism Across the Grasslands of Chinggis Khan
by Lokesh Chandra
2013, Hardcover, 25 cm., pp. 568, b/w pls. 171, col pls.
76
ISBN : 9788177421286
Price Rs. 5500.00 / US$ 76.15)
About the Book : This book is a survey of Buddhist art, literature, monasteries and general
history of Mongolian lands, the transcreation of the 6000 plus works in the
Kanjur and Tanjur, highlights of Lamaism across the centuries, the writing of
220 philosophical, ritual, hagiographical and historical works under the Manchu
dynasty, and so on. The development continued till 1920s when the communists
took over. It also relates the destruction of 750 large monasteries uprooted
down to their foundations, burning of five million xylographs and manuscripts
according to Prof. Rinchen, the desecration of Erdeni Dzu and Choijin Lamin Sum
the major cathedrals of Buddhism, the heart-rending genocide of monks who were
herded into trucks length-wise and crosswise as they do with wood (none ever saw
them): the book is a moving record of the barbarous destruction by the
communists. The role of iconic intellectuals like Prof. Rinchen, Lobsang Vandan,
Damdin Suren in these lurid years can be read in their own words. The anguished
letters of Rinchen on the annihilation of the Mongol persona and the
substitution of the Mongol script by Cyrillic are recorded here for the first
time.;The complete wiping out of monasteries, burning of books, millions of
sacred images melted in furnaces in Kalmykia and Buryatia and now their
renaissance are told in extenso. The discovery of the tales of Bhoja,
Vikramaditya and Krsna unknown to modern research till then, the microfilming of
the Tanjur, and the international networking of Mongolistics across Asia,
Europe, USA and USSR by the efforts of Prof. Raghuvira has been narrated. The
expeditions of Prof. RaghuVira and his son Lokesh Chandra were the silent hope
of the Mongols that Maitreya would descend one day under the blue sky of the
grasslands of Chinggis Khan. It is an absorbing and detailed account of these
expeditions, of the admission of Mongolia to the UNO, the regeneration of the
state, the renewal of life, the resurgence of culture and the renaissance of
Mongol identity. The monastic boom, the return of colossi by Russia, the study
of traditional medicine, return of the spring from the wounded winters, the
celebration of 2220 years of the Mongol state, and personal experiences of the
author for the last sixty years make the book a must for the study of Buddhism
in Mongolia.
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