Buddhist art, defined as the figurative arts and decorative arts
linked to the Buddhist religion, originated in the Indian subcontinent
in the centuries following the life of the historical Buddha
Shakyamuni in the 6th to 5th century BCE, before evolving through its
contact with other cultures and its diffusion through the rest of Asia
and the world. A first, essentially Indian, aniconic phase (avoiding
direct representations of the Buddha), was followed from around the
1st century AD by an iconic phase (with direct representations of the
Buddha). From that time, Buddhist art diversified and evolved as it
adapted to the new countries where the faith was expanding. It
developped to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to
form the Northern branch of Buddhist art, and to the east as far as
South-East Asia to form the Southern Branch of Buddhist art. In India,
the land of its birth, Buddhist art flourished and even influenced the
development of Hindu art, until Buddhism almost disapeared around the
10th century with the expansion of Hinduism and Islam.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_art
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1447:
Tomaso Parentucelli became Pope as Nicholas V.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Nicholas_V)
1857:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford)
1869:
Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first Periodic Table of Elements to the
Russian Chemical Society.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev)
1899:
Bayer registered aspirin as a trademark.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aspirin)
1987:
British ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in approximately
90 seconds after leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing
193 on board.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%2FS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God:
but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it, and
pluck blackberries, and daub their natural faces unaware..." --
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning)