The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion

The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion

by Charles Allen (Author)

Synopsis

Today there are many Buddhists in the West, but for 2000 years the Buddha's teachings were unknown outside Asia. It was not until the late 18th century, when Sir William Oriental Jones, a British judge in India, broke through the Brahmin's prohibition on learning their sacred language. Sanskrit, that clues about the origins of a religion quite distinct from Hinduism began to be deciphered from inscriptions on pillars and rocks. This study tells the story of the search that followed, as evidence mounted that countries as diverse as Ceylon, Japan and Tibet shared a religion which had its origins in India yet was unknown there. British rule brought to India, Burma and Ceylon a whole band of enthusiastic Orientalist amateurs - soldiers, administrators and adventurers - intent on investigating the subcontinent's lost past. Unwittingly, these men helped lay the foundations for the revival of Buddhism in Asia during the 19th century and its spread to the West in the 20th. Charles Allen's book is a mixture of detective work and story-telling, as this acknowledged master of British Indian history pieces together early Buddhist history to bring a handful of extraoridinary characters to life.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 322
Edition: illustrated edition
Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd
Published: 12 Sep 2002

ISBN 10: 071955425X
ISBN 13: 9780719554254

Media Reviews
'Allen is one of the most ... consistently enjoyable writers of his generation ... producing well-researched, well-written and eminently readable works of narrative history which have illuminated ... previously unwritten corners of British Indian history' -- The Guardian (William Dalrymple) 20020928 'Allen ... has excelled himself, and this highly cultured and also finely illustrated offering is ... thoroughly absorbing.' -- Financial Times 20030401
Author Bio
Charles Allen made his reputation with his celebrated oral histories, starting with Plain Tales from the Raj. His most recent book was Soldier Sahibs, which the Sunday Times called 'magnificent' and the Daily Telegraph 'marvellous'.