From at least the 3rd century BCE, much of Buddhist ritual focused on stupas, stylized replicas of the mounds of earth in which early Buddhists interred relics of the Buddha and other important figures. Beginning in the 2nd century BCE, Buddhist monks and nuns (the sangha) in Western India began manipulating the physical shape and proportions of stupasto make them appear taller and more massive than they actually were. These manipulations were intended to assist in asserting monastic authority over the Buddhist laity. These intentional manipulations of the shape of stupas by the sanghaunintentionally led to the progressive detachment of the primary signs of Buddhism from their original referents. Where earlier stupas consisted of icons of the Buddha encased within indexes of his presence, later stupas were more abstract symbols of the Buddha and Buddhist theology. This change in the material practice of Buddhism reduced stupas’emotional immediacy in favor of greater intellectual detachment. In the end, this shift in the meaning ascribed to stupas created the preconditions from which the Buddhist image cult and Mahayana Buddhism emerged in the 1st through 5thcenturies CE. The development of Mahayana Buddhism and Buddha images signified a return to the iconic worship of the Buddha by the sangha, but also created the conditions that eventually led to the collapse of Buddhism in India in the 11ththrough 15th centuries CE.

Lars Fogelin is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona (PhD: Michigan 2003). His primary interests are the archaeology of ancient Buddhism in South Asia and architecture. More generally, he also works on the archaeology of religion, epistemology, and archaeological theory. His most recent books are An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism (Oxford 2015) and An Unauthorized Companion to American Archaeological Theory