Birendra Nath Prasad

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Assistant) at Jawaharlal Nehru University

This book probes two broad themes: socio-economic and cultural ramifications of trade between India and Mainland South­east Asia; and the processes behind the local­isation of Indian religio-cultural influences in Southeast Asia. The areas covered in the book stretch from the Yunnan area of China in the north to the southernmost borders of Thailand...

The Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, having a significant concentration of Dalit population, has witnessed some significant socio-religious churnings in the post-1947 period. An important aspect of this churning has been socio-political mobilization of a section of the Dalits and OBCs. A related phenomenon of this socio-political mobilization is t...

Through an analysis of archaeological and literary data, this book explores two interrelated themes: the socio-economic and cultic processes that resulted in the decline of Indian Buddhism in its last strongholds – Bihar and Bengal – towards the end of the early medieval period, and the patterns of revival of Buddhism in the neighbouring province o...

Contents 1. Introduction Birendra Nath Prasad 2. “Local” vs. “Cosmopolitan” in the Study of Premodern Southeast Asia Andrea Acri 3. Śrīvijaya Revisited: Reflections on State Formation of a Southeast Asian Thalassocracy Hermann Kulke 4. Pulau Sawah Temple Complex: Traces of The Ancient Malayu Kingdom in the Hinterland of Sumatra Eka Asih Putrina,...

In a significant section of available scholarship on pre-Islamic Bengal, a dominant tendency has been to generalize the patterns of historical trajectories of the great river valleys. This has resulted in many discrepancies, particularly in the context of the plateau-like portions of southwestern Bengal, where, unlike other parts of Bengal, Jainism...

About the editor Dr. Birendra Nath Prasad is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where he teaches social history of religion in ancient India and Southeast Asia. His recent publications include Monasteries, Shrines and Society: Buddhist and Brahmanical Religious Institutions in India in...

In the religious landscape of early medieval (c. ad 600-1200) Bihar and Bengal, poly-religiousity was generally the norm than an exception, which entailed the evolution of complex patterns of inter-religious equations. Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism not only coexisted but also competed for social patronage, forcing them to enter into complex inte...

Through an analysis of published archaeological data, this article attempts to understand the evolution of patterns of cultic encounters between Buddhism and Brahmanism in the religious space of Buddhist monastic centres of early medieval (c. 600–1200 ce) Bihar and Bengal. This article argues that the regular findings of sculptures of Brahmanical d...

Over the years, Indian historiography has witnessed an increasing use of epigraphic sources in the reconstruction of the socio-religious dynamics of the past. In the context of epigraphic sources of Bihar and Bengal, the focus has generally been on royal copper plate charters. The potential of dedicatory inscriptions on sculptures in the reconstruc...

Cultic Relationships Between Buddhism and Brahmanism in the ‘Last Stronghold’ of Indian Buddhism: An Analysis with Particular Reference to Votive Inscriptions on the Brahmanical Sculptures Donated to Buddhist Religious Centres in Early Medieval Magadha In this article, an attempt has been made to understand the patterns of cultic relationships betw...

This article aims to understand the socio-economic and religious changes in early mediaeval Surma valley, and the role of Brahmanical and Buddhist religious institutions in effecting them. This valley was the most forested and marshiest part of Bengal. It received very heavy rains and was under substantial tribal influence. At the beginning of the...

In this paper, I attempt to look into the patterns of social patronage to Buddhism and Brahmanism in the Samatata-Harikela subregion of early medieval Bengal through the prism of votive inscriptions on sculptures. I have also looked into some of the social and religious processes that were in operation in this part of early medieval Bengal. I have...

Indian Buddhist monasteries, as institutions in dynamic interactions with other societal institutions, have created a vast functional matrix or were parts thereof. In the past hundred years or so, contours of this matrix have been generally reconstructed with a macro perspective. Now we need to go beyond macro generalizations. We need to analyse in...