The Buddhist Visnu : Religious Transformations, Politics, and Culture

Review
"A convincing and timely study of how, outside of monotheistic traditions, religious rejection often follows from religious tolerance and how empathy easily breeds antipathy. Holt's book is a capstone to several generations of scholarship on Buddhism, showing the crucial role that gods have played-and continue to play-in the tradition. In its south Asian focus, the book offers a sophisticated analysis of the impact of Hinduism on Buddhism (and vice-versa). And for anyone interested in the interplay between religion and politics, Holt lays bare the nationalist and ethnic subtexts to the continuing debate over the worship of Visnu and other gods in Sri Lanka. As an anthropologist, Holt is honest about the personal conflicts he experienced in his fieldwork; writing as an historian, he never flinches from the complexity and difficulty of his sources. The book is a mature and insightful contribution to many fields of study." -- Stephen F. Teiser, D. T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies, Princeton University


Book Description
John Holt's groundbreaking study examines the assimilation, transformation, and subordination of the Hindu deity Visnu within the contexts of Sri Lankan history and Sinhala Buddhist religious culture. Holt argues that political agendas and social forces, as much as doctrinal concerns, have shaped the shifting patterns of the veneration of Visnu in Sri Lanka.


About the Author
John C. Holt is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of the Humanities in Religion and Asian Studies at Bowdoin College. He is the author of several books, including Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Tradition of Sri Lanka, winner of an American Academy of Religion Book Award for Excellence, and The Religious World of Kirti Sri: Buddhism, Art and Politics in Late Medieval Sri Lanka, and is the editor of Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia.


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John Holt's groundbreaking study examines the assimilation, transformation, and subordination of the Hindu deity Visnu within the contexts of Sri Lankan history and Sinhala Buddhist religious culture. Holt argues that political agendas and social forces, as much as doctrinal concerns, have shaped the shifting patterns of the veneration of Visnu in Sri Lanka.Holt begins with a comparative look at the assimilation of the Buddha in Hinduism. He then explores the role and rationale of medieval Sinhala kings in assimilating Visnu into Sinhala Buddhism. Offering analyses of texts, many of which have never before been translated into English, Holt considers the development of Visnu in Buddhist literature and the changing practices of deity veneration. Shifting to the present, Holt describes the efforts of contemporary Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka to discourage the veneration of Visnu, suggesting that many are motivated by a reactionary fear that their culture and society will soon be overrun by the influences and practices of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.


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