In her online Talk for THT, "Going North: Monks and Pilgrims from South India Journeying to Bihar", Dr Claudine Bautze-Picron discusses the important group of Kurkihar images, as well as the Saiva images found in Bihar that reflect a Southern influence. She will also introduce Saiva images from Eastern India which were brought back in the 11th c. to Tamil Nadu where they are still under worship.
Monks from all over India and Asia travelled to the Buddhist homeland in Bihar; the names of some of them have been preserved for posterity, though many more have remained anonymous. While journeying to Magadha, these monks stayed in different monasteries, such as the one which was located in Kurkihar where a large collection of stone and cast images and objects has been recovered. Some of them are inscribed with names of their donors who came from various cities like Kanchi and regions like Andhra.
About the Speaker:
Dr Claudine Bautze-Picron was till recently researcher at the “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique” (National Centre for Scientific Research), Paris. Her research mainly concentrates on stylistic and iconographic issues in the art of eastern India (Bihar/West Bengal/Bangladesh) from the 8th to the 12th century. Beside numerous articles, she has published Eastern Indian Sculpture in the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin (Berlin, 1998); The Bejewelled Buddha from India to Burma, New Considerations (New Delhi, 2010), and The forgotten Place, Stone Sculpture at Kurkihar (New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 2014). She is based in Berlin, Germany.