New Perspectives on Relationships between the Art of Sri Lanka and South India

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

The cultures of Sri Lanka and South India have been intertwined for millennia. The Sri Lankan island lies as close as 25 miles from South India, and there has been a constant flow of people between the two areas. While migrating groups brought with them various religious, artistic, and narrative traditions, their world was mutually recognizable, much as with people living in various areas of South India. Yet, despite this cultural closeness the two areas maintained unique, often very different, artistic traditions. This panel presents four case studies that trace examples of artistic difference that are unexpected, and suggests how the differences are manifested and why. Catherine Becker asks why the rich Buddhist narrative tradition of stone reliefs found in Andhra Pradesh is not found in the Sri Lankan tradition. Julie Romain focuses on the famous British Museum Sri Lankan Tara and how its eighth century date and style conflict with the almost total lack of Pallava bronzes in India. Lakshika Senarath-Gamage proposes a surprising connection between the Hindu architecture in Kerala and that of Buddhist architecture of the fourteenth century. And Robert Brown asks if the early Buddhist art of India and Sri Lanka can be understood without looking to Southeast Asia. The panel asks if the differences we find between Sri Lankan and Indian art should be considered as part of a South Asian cosmopolis, of sharing, of localization – what in fact is the most accurate definition, and why have there been few attempts to theorize this process?

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizer

• Julie Romain, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Chair

• Robert L. Brown, University of California, Los Angeles

Individual Presentations

• Adorning Stupas and Building Networks at the Jetavanarama in Anuradhapura - Catherine Becker, University of Illinois at Chicago

• The British Museum Tara and Situating Early Sri Lankan Bronzes in Relation to South India - Julie Romain, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

• The Dwelling of the War God: The Art and Architecture of Embekke Devāle in Medieval Sri Lanka and Its Possible Artistic Exchanges with Kerala, South India - Lakshika Senarath Gamage, University of California, Los Angeles

• In Search of the Amaravati-style Buddha Image - Robert L. Brown, University of California, Los Angeles