The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Cultural Archives & Conservation Division, will hold the Fourth Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Memorial Lecture on the topic titled ‘ The Origin of Another Buddha Image’ on 9^th  September 2025 at 4:00 PM at the Samvet Auditorium, Ground Floor, IGNCA, Janpath, New Delhi.

The lecture will be delivered by Prof. Naman P. Ahuja, Professor, School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, will reflect on newly discovered images of bodhisattvas and possibly Siddhartha in terracotta and ivory that differ from the established Mathura, Gandhara, and Amaravati types. These finds call for a rethinking of the evolution of Buddha imagery, the shift towards theistic worship in Ancient India, and the longstanding debates between aniconism and anthropomorphic representation.

The session will be chaired by Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, Retd. IAS, eminent art historian and former Member Secretary, IGNCA. The inaugural address and felicitation will be delivered by Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, IGNCA. The programme will open with an introduction by Prof. Achal Pandya, HoD, Cultural Archives & Conservation Division.

Recent discoveries of bodhisattvas and possibly Siddhartha in ancient terracotta and ivories, distinct from the familiar Mathura, Gandhara, and Amaravati forms, invite a rethinking of the evolution of Buddha imagery and the transition towards theistic worship in Ancient India. Building on Coomaraswamy’s insights, the lecture brings these new findings into dialogue with contemporary scholarship, moving beyond the binaries of aniconism and anthropomorphic representation.

Through this memorial lecture series, IGNCA continues to honour the intellectual contribution of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, whose scholarship remains foundational to the understanding of Indian art, aesthetics, and philosophy.

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Sunil Kumar Tiwari

pibculture[at]gmail[dot]com

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