The volume begins with a unique Japanese scroll of Sudhan's pilgrimage in diaphanous colors. Ajanta and Transfandhara and the socalled Padmapani at Ajanta have been newly identified. The four past Buddhas include Bhama Konakamana of Bamiyan as the immediate predecessor of Sakamuni. The dual names of the Guptal emperors, and their trans oceanic trade has been clarified for the first time. The role of Tamil merchants in the construction of Jerusalem in the tenth century BC down to Champa and Jave in the 4th century CE has been narrated. New light is shed on the stupa from Vedic texts. Asoka and Khotan enunciates the global vision of the emperor and clarifies the multiple legends in Tibetan and Chinese sources on the concept of bhumiputra. The Bower manuscript fell down along with a cow in Kucha and heralded Central Asian studies. The cow and manuscript have been clarified as the vaitarani ritual. Two panels from Khotan have been identified.

Embedded Narratives of Buddhism (Sata-Pitaka Series Volume 657), Lokesh Chandra, Aditya prakashan, Hardcover, 2019, 220 pages, $81.00

Lokesh Chandra is Director of the Inter-national Academy of Indian Culture, a premier research institution for Asian cultures. He is President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and has been Chairman, Indian Council for Historical Research. He is a well-known historian and renowned scholar of Tibetan, Mongolian, SE Asian, and Sino-Japanese Buddhism. He has also served as a member of the Indian Parliament. In 2006, he was honored with the Padma Bhushan. He was born in 1927, obtained his Master's degree in 1947 from Punjab University (Lahore) and followed it with a Doctorate from the State University of Utrecht (Netherlands). Starting with an understanding of the most ancient of India's spiritual expression enshrined in the Vedic tradition, he has moved on to the interlocution between India, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, South-East Asia, Indonesia and the Indo-European languages. He has studied over twenty languages, and has over 600 works and text editions to his credit.