Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism - Naomi Appleton
Setting the Scene: Verbal and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism - Naomi Appleton
Naomi Appleton [+]
University of Edinburgh
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 Jātaka Stories in Theravāda 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.
Description
The Introduction will present an initial exploration of the theme of the volume, namely the importance of imagery in both visual and verbal narratives of Indian Buddhism. It will briefly outline the state of the field, and suggest key benefits to be gained from taking a new approach to the relationship between textual narratives and visual narratives in early Buddhism. It will also provide an overview of the volume as a whole, and link to the next chapter, which offers a complementary introduction to the role of narrative in early India.