Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult : Magic Symbols (2 Vols-Set)

Buddhist Jewels from widespread mortuary clusters correlate with the adornment of the bodhisattvas and the divine female directing the fortunes of the departed. Courtesans mirror the yakshi and merge with various goddesses of the underworld. The domical mausoleums gather together interconnectedness of all things; magic symbols celebrate victory over dark death called Mara while the conception of  secret signs transform stone into gold, gold into ivory, and ivory into terracotta. From Central Asia to South Asia countless stupa mounds enshrining precious relics are raised and activated by recurring magic motifs to cause superlative Nirvana. Among hybrid guardians of the dead are aerial and waterborne dragons and griffins swooping from the Mediterranean Sea. Afghanistan’s Golden Mound filled with mortuary jewels unique to TillyaTepe necropolis heightens the wide-ranging Roman network of borrowings in the Greco-Buddhist reliquary cult. (jacket)