Buddhism has considerably influenced Indian culture and way of life for centuries. As is well-known during the last two centuries numerous books and essays have been brought out with focus on Buddhism. But newer perspectives continue to generate our interest in various aspects of Buddhism. Buddha and Buddhism: A Miscellany therefore present novel ideas and interpretations of esoteric Buddhism and several aspects of its unique view of human life and its fulfillment in a simple manner. Its relationship with science and its basic tenets like Karma and Nirvana, reasons behind its growth and decline in India, and its massive contribution to the development of Indian art have been concisely dealt here in a lucid way.

Buddha and Buddhism: A Miscellany; Malaysankar Bhattacharya, Puran Kumar Chhetri, and Tapas Kumar Chatterjee; Sagnik Books; Hardcover; 159 pages; $15.00

Dr. M.S. Bhattacharya obtained his Ph.D. degree from the North Bengal University in 1987. He worked as the curator of the Malda Museum of Archaeology till the early eighties and catalogued the antiquities in the museum. His Art in Stone: A Catalogue of Sculptures in Malda Museum (1982) is widely accepted as one of the most important catalogues of sculptures published in the post war period. For more than two decades Dr. Bhattacharya have made extensive survey of the archaeological sites of Eastern India. As the present volume would reveal, he had been to most of the archaeological sites of the sub-region called the Mahananda-Karatoya valley including those located in the micro-interior pockets often walking on foot or travelling by country boat for several hours. Other important publications of Dr. Bhattacharya include Studies in History and Archaeology (1989), North-East India and her Neighbours (1995) besides many papers published in anthologies and journals of repute. At present Dr. Bhattacharya is the editor of the historical review, a bi-annual journal of history and archaeology published from Kolkata, India.

Synopsis
Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. An appraisal of Buddhism in the light of science/Tapas Kumar Chatterjee. 3. The doctrine of karma in Buddhism/Puran Kumar Chhetri. 4. Nirvana: The Summum Bonum of life/Puran Kumar Chhetri. 5. The Buddhist sacred scriptures/ Puran Kumar Chhetri. 6. Buddhism and Vedanta/ Puran Kumar Chhetri. 7. The rise of Neo-tantric Buddhism in Sikkim/ Puran Kumar Chhetri. 8. Buddhist art of Bengal: a glimpse into Pala iconography/Malaysankar Bhattacharya. 9. Ancient Bengal: a stronghold of Buddhism/Malaysankar Bhattacharya. 10. Schism and decline of Buddhism/Malaysankar Bhattacharya. List of illustrations. Index.