A Deviation in the Deccan Tracing Social Practice in the Buddhist Monasteries of Maharashtra
This thesis works to encourage increased collaboration between historians and archeologists on material histories. To this end, looks at the social development of a number of rock cut early Buddhist cave temples in Maharashtra using a methodology known as space syntax analysis. By reading the architectural remains of the cave temples as a text, the author uncovers that the currently accepted narrative of early Buddhist monasticism overlooks a key deviation from normal practice in the Western Deccan. Shedding light on the social changes going on there creates room to reinterpret other source material, both challenging and fleshing out existing notions in the history and in the archeology of the topic.
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