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You are here : Home > Books > Sale > Sale Books

Buddha and Dr Fuhrer [Sale Edition]

An Archaeological Scandal

This title has been delisted

Author(s) : Allen, Charles

Publishers Price : £17.99

Wisdom Price : £5.04(save 72%)

Availability : Usually available in 7 day(s)

ISBN : 1905791933

EAN : 9781905791934

Cover : Hardback

Pages : 292

Size : 224 x 140mm

Publisher : Haus Publishing

Published : 2008

Category : Sale Books

Synopsis:
Sale edition. The true story of the archaeological scandal that surrounded the discovery in 1898 of an inscribed casket said to contain the ashes of the Buddha, set against the background of the high noon of the British Raj.

In January 1898 a British landowner, William Claxton Peppe, excavated a large Buddhist brick stupa on his estate close to India's border with Nepal. At a depth of 24 feet he uncovered a huge stone coffer, within which were a number of reliquary vases together with a mass of jewels and gold offerings. The opening of the Piprahwa stupa followed on from the discovery nearby of the birthplace of the Buddha - Lumbini, and the legendary city of Kapilavastu where he had grown into manhood as Prince Siddhartha, but what made this discovery so important was an inscription found on top of one of the caskets - declaring it to contain ashes of the Buddha left there by members of his own Sakya clan. This news aroused world-wide interest, not least in the Buddhist world.

But almost immediately it became known that a German archaeologist, Dr Anton Fuhrer, had not only made bogus claims and faked his results but had also been associated with the dig. Fuhrer was quickly unmasked by a British magistrate who himself had a stake in the excavation.

Renowned India expert Charles Allen tells the fascinating story, weaving in the results of a conference in 2006 on the validity of the dig and considering the results of recent carbon dating.

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