Sacred traces : British exploration of Buddhism in South Asia

Only in the 19th century did the western world realise the extent of the role of Buddhism in India's past.

The excavation of Buddhist material remains was often guided by the accounts of Buddhist pilgrims from China, written long before, who went to India in search of sacred traces of the Buddha.

Western explorers, however, had other interests besides the religion itself.

They were motivated by concerns tied to the growing British control of the subcontinent.

Building on earlier interventions, Janice Leoshko examines this history of 19th-century exploration to track the origins of the ways in which this Buddhist art has been studied.