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Swaan, Wim. LOST CITIES OF ASIA: CEYLON, PAGAN, ANGKOR.
London Elek 1966 Hardcover Fine/VG+
176 pp. Approx. 9 x 11in."This volume is the fruit of visits paid to the troubled peninsula of Indo-China and to Ceylon during 1960 and 1961, when the road to Pagan, in particular, was already beset with obstacles which have since made the fabulous "City of Pagodas" almost inaccessible.The great classical cultures of Ceylon, Burma and Cambodia were united, for all their individuality and diversity, by a common bond: their spiritual allegiance to the same fountainhead. It was India, at the apogee of her glory, and ranking with China and Rome as the great centers of world culture of the time, that brought the flame of civilization to all three areas and imposed the indelible stamp of her religious, philosophical, technical and artistic heritage. This she achieved not through force but by voluntary acceptance of her manifestly superior gifts on the part of eager and apt pupils.In each country an initial period of 'Indianization', which tended inevitably to mirror the parent culture, gradually evolved in a distinctive manner and finally burst into a spectacular flowering of the national genius, amply attested to by the noble ruins of each of the capital cities, those of Ceylon and Burma being almost unknown in the West.All three cultures experienced their last period of greatness during the twelfth century, although the ancient civilization of Ceylon was founded in the fourth century B.C. at Anuradhapura which, for over 1000 years was its capital. At Sigiriya, on a granite plateau 500 feet above the plain and guarded by a gigantic lion, are relics of one of the greatest treasures of ancient painting, the frescoed ladies or 'Golden Ones', like the one on the jacket of this volume. Anuradhapura was abandoned towards the end of the eighth century A.D. in favour of Polonnaruwa, in whose monuments can be seen a synthesis of Buddhist and Hindu elements. At Pagan, on the banks of the Irrawaddy in upper Burma, a nomadic Tibeto-Burman people established a city which, in the eleventh century, was a seat of Buddhist learning and one of the marvels of the East. It was sacked by the warriors of Kublai Khan and centuries of decay have left standing only religious monuments, like the dimly lit Ananda Temple, housing four colossal statues of the historic buddhas which tower forty feet above the worshippers.In the eighth century A.D. the first great Khmer ruler established his capital near Angkor in Cambodia and he and his successors constructed enormous temples and sacred pools. The zenith of their power was reached in the mid-twelfth century with the the building of Angkor Wat, the crowning glory of Asian architecture.In the centuries after their greatness these cities suffered decline and retreat and their great monuments were gradually engulfed by the encroaching jungle until, in the case of Angkor, their very existence had been effaced from memory and their rediscovery came as a revelation."
Appears unread. DJ is lightly rubbed
Price:
24.00 USD
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