Concept:

(12 Films of 25 Minutes each)

The Path of Compassion 
Buddhist Sites and Art Heritage of India

 

This series follows upon the great success of the exhibition by the same name of Benoy K Behl’s photographs of the subject. The exhibition is permanently installed at Ryukoku University, Kyoto; Jade Buddha temple, Shanghai; Dun Huang Research Institute, Dun Huang; at the Buddhist tourist sites of Mt. Wutai and the Yungang Grottoes in China and at Ulan Bator. The exhibition has also been very enthusiastically received in 12 countries around the world, where it has been displayed at over 50 venues. In Japan, for instance, it has been shown at nine institutions and is scheduled to be held at 91 more locations over the next few years.

Buddhist sculpture and paintings are some of the gentlest and most sublime art of mankind. These are also the oldest surviving art of the historic period in the Indian subcontinent. 

Emperor Ashok in the 3rd century BC was the first great royal patron of Buddhism.  The great stupas  which he made, his commemorative pillars and sculptural railings are some of the most beautiful and oldest surviving architecture and art of the subcontinent. 

From the time of Ashok onwards, Buddhism spread not only to all corners of India but also all over Asia.  The religion and the art associated with it had a transforming effect on the countries which it reached and, till today, Buddhism flourishes all over the continent.

In the 1st century AD, the Kushana King Kanishka gave royal patronage to Mahayana Buddhism. Thereafter the Mahayana tradition, which later also developed into the Vajrayana tradition, became dominant in India.  This form of Buddhism also travelled northwards from Kashmir to the trans-Himalayan regions and to China, Korea and Japan.

Whereas in the earlier form of Buddhism the image of the Buddha was never made, the Mahayana Buddhists began to make and worship his images. In the later Vajrayana developments, various aspects of the Buddha were personified in many deities and these were represented in sculptures and paintings.

These films will provide a comprehensive perspective of the monuments and art heritage of Buddhism in India, from the earliest times.  They will also take us on a visual pilgrimage through the life of the Buddha: to the places of his enlightenment, first sermon and final renunciation.  The films will cover a wide range of the heritage of both Theravada and Mahayana-Vajrayana orders, providing a view of the richness of the whole Buddhist tradition. The films will also show the roots and the development of iconography of the various Buddhist schools, in the sites and great universities of Eastern India.

There are no such films at present and this film would be a very valuable addition to the knowledge of the history of Buddhism. These films would be made with shooting at about 74 Buddhist locations in all corners of the country, on Digital Betacam. 

The producer and director Benoy K Behl is one of the most prominent documentary film-makers in India and his films are shown regularly in the best time-slots on television channels. He is also a world-renowned art historian and an authority on Buddhism. His book on the earliest Buddhist paintings of Ajanta  is published by Thames and Hudson, London and New York and studied in many countries. He is invited to lecture at prestigious universities, museums and Buddhist temples around the world.  As Consultant to the Government of India, he wrote the successful application for the UNESCO World Heritage Listing of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya.  These films will be screened at numerous prestigious Buddhist institutions, universities and museums in Asia, Europe and USA.

 

 

Shooting locations will include the following:

Sarnath, UP

Kushinagar, UP

Kapilavastu (Piparahwa and Ganwaria) UP

Lumbini, Nepal

Bodhgaya, Bihar

Rajgir, Bihar

Vaishali, Bihar

Vikramshila, Bihar

Kesaria Stupa, Bihar

Nalanda, Bihar

Lauriya Nandangarh, Ashoka Pillar and Stupa, Bihar

Nandangarh Buddhist Stupa, Bihar

Bharhut, MP

Sanchi stupas, MP

Satdhara stupas, MP

Pipaliya stupas, MP

Sonari stupas, MP

Bhojpur stupas, MP

Dhekinath Stupa, Gyaraspur, MP

Bagh caves, MP

Amaravati, AP

Chandavaram Stupa, AP

Battiprolo Stupa, AP

Ghantashala Stupa, AP

Jagyapeta Stupa, AP

Gumadiduru Stupa, AP

Guntupalli caves, AP

Sankaram, rock-cut caves and stupas, AP

Salihundam stupas, AP

Ramatirthapuram Buddhist site, AP

Thotlakonda stupas, AP

Bavikonda stupas, AP

Panigiri stupa and railing fragments, AP

Nagarjunakonda, AP

Karle caves, Maharashtra  

Kondawane caves, Maharashtra

Bhaja caves, Maharashtra

Bedsa caves, Maharashtra  

Junnar caves, Maharashtra

Kanheri caves, Maharashtra

Ajanta caves, Maharashtra  

Ellora caves, Maharashtra

Pitalkhora caves, Maharashtra

Aurangabad caves, Maharashtra  

Nashik caves, Maharashtra

Kondivte caves, Maharashtra

Sopara 3rd cent. Stupa, Maharashtra

Junagarh caves, Gujarat 

Talaja caves, Gujarat

Teevardev Vihara, Sirpur, Chattisgarh

Anand Prabhu Kutir, Sirpur, Chattisgarh

Svastika Vihar, Sirpur, Chattisgarh

Udaygiri, Orissa

Khandgiri, Orissa

Pilak Stupa, Tripura

Harwan, Kashmir

Parihaspura, Kashmir

Tabo monastery, Spiti

Lhalung monastery, Spiti

Nako monastery, Kinnaur

Range-rig-rste monastery, Kinnaur

Mulbek statue, Ladakh

Alchi monastery, Ladakh

Sumda monastery, Ladakh

Mangyu monastery, Ladakh

Phugtal monastery, Ladakh

Basgo monastery, Ladakh

Lamayuru monastery, Ladakh

Hemis monastery, Ladakh

Rumtek monastery, Sikkim

Phodong monastery, Sikkim

Enchey monastery, Sikkim

Gorsen Chorten, Arunachal Pradesh

Tawang monastery, Arunachal Pradesh