"Both spatially and temporally, the scope of this book is expansive. Spatially, the essays cover a vast swathe of Asia stretching from Mathura in India to Thailand in Southeast Asia, including the Himalayan region. Temporally, the period covered is over a millennium from the 1st century BCE to the 10th century CE. Conceptually, the essays cover issues of iconology and styles of Buddhist art, offer new insights and interpretations of both symbols and images, and explain the interrelationships of Buddhist art and literary traditions of the subcontinent, the Himalaya, and Southeast Asia."--BOOK JACKET.