This volume explores the interaction between text and image in Indian Buddhist contexts, including not only the complex relationship between verbal stories and visual representations at Indian sites, but also the ways in which visual imagery is used within textual narratives. The chapters are authored by a mixture of textual scholars and art historians, bringing together different disciplinary perspectives in order to seek a richer understanding of how text and art relate, and of the role of narrative imagery in different media and contexts. The book opens with an introduction that explores what narratives and visual narratives are, and why we might want to study narrative images alongside imagery-rich literary narratives. The volume is then divided into three parts. The chapters in Part I: Visual Narratives (Zaghet, Reddy, Zin) explore visual depictions of stories in their own right; those in Part II: Narrative Networks (Mace, Appleton & Clark, Strong) seek to understand the relationship between specific visual and verbal narratives; and those in Part III: Narrative Visions (Gummer, Fiordalis, Walters) primarily investigate how visual imagery and visualisation work in textual narratives. The volume seeks to bridge the divide that traditionally exists between textual scholars and art historians, and to challenge the contributors to think beyond the usual boundaries of our work.

About the Author
Naomi Appleton is Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions at the University of Edinburgh. Her primary research interest is the role of narrative in the construction, communication and challenge of religious ideas in early India, and she has published extensively on this area, including Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism (Ashgate 2010), Narrating Karma and Rebirth (CUP 2014), Shared Characters in Jain, Buddhist and Hindu Narrative (Routledge 2017), as well as translations of Buddhist narrative and numerous articles on related themes.


Book Information
ISBN 9781800501317
Author Appleton
Format Paperback
Page Count 302
Imprint Equinox Publishing Ltd
Publisher Equinox Publishing Ltd
Weight(grams) 6246g