The Great Stupa: An essential component of Buddhism

Just answer in the question follow his direction

Please answer at least 2 of the following 10 questions.   For credit, your responses must come from the chapter – responses from Wikipedia or other sources will not qualify for credit.  A scan of the chapter can be found on Canvas, if you do not have other access to the book.

1. A stupa is a kind of reliquary – for whose remains?  In addition, monumental stupas are three-dimensional mandalas:  What is a mandala?  In terms of direction, how is a monumental stupa oriented?  What is the harmika?  How does the design of a stupa unite the world with the heavenly paradise?  Is such a monumental stupa connected to the surrounding area or separated from it? 

2.  What is the name by which Prince Siddhartha Gautama is usually known?  When did he live?  He is often represented with body attributes that distinguish him from ordinary monks and bodhisattvas.  What are these body attributes called?  What are two of them (include their names and what they are)?  

3.  What are the highly conventionalized hand gestures called that feature in representations of the Buddha?  What is the name and position of the one that indicates the Wheel of the Law?  What is the gesture for “do not fear,” which is also a gesture of protection or blessing?  (In both cases include their names and what they are.)  

4.  What is the name of the site in Cambodia where Khamer kings built a vast complex of palaces and temples?  How were these structures personalized to the ruler?  How did this suggest a deification of the ruler?  According to Fred Kleiner, which of these monuments is the most spectacular?  How does it unite rulership and religion? 

5.  A small red sandstone figure is discussed briefly that dates to about 2000 BC.  How does the treatment of human anatomy evident here compare to much later Greek statues such as the Doryphoros by Polykleites?  Is this approach an anomaly, or is such treatment of the figure characteristic of South Asian art?  

6.  Where are the oldest Hindu cave temples?  To when do they date?  What god is depicted as saving the world on a relief at the site?  What form does his avatar take?  And what political interpretation can be taken from the scene?   

7.  What Buddhist ruler had an outsized impact on the religion and art of Asia?  The pillars this ruler set up throughout his kingdom were the first monumental stone artworks in India: What is inscribed on these pillars?  (For extra credit: What Babylonian king did something similar (from chapter 2?))  What is depicted on the capital of one such pillar that still stands?  This may, in part, indicate the ruler’s stature as chakravatin: What is the significance of that designation?  What was once set on top of this pillar?  Why is the pillar set deep in the ground? 

8.  What earlier South Asian motif was used as a model for Queen Maya Giving Birth to the Buddha on the frieze now at the Freer Gallery of Art that is depicted on p. 445?  Also, to what Roman art form does the figure of the Buddha on his deathbed relate?  How does the composition relate to Roman art?  

9.  Cite an example of a four-armed Shiva dancing as Nataraja, or Lord of the Dance.  On what does he balance (both Indian name and what it represents)?  Why does he hold a drum?  Why does he hold a flame?  Under the conditions of actual worship (as opposed to placement in a museum), such a sculpture would be clothed and decked with jewelry: Why?  Thought question (for extra credit - not in text): How does this form of worship differ from that in Islam or iconoclastic tendencies in Christianity? 

10. What does the Vishvanatha Temple symbolically represent both in its exterior design and plan?  What is the name of the small and dark inner sanctum that resembles a cave and houses the image of the deity?  How is this temple oriented directionally?  Is its symbolism intended to appear as natural or as perfected according to divine geometries and ideal mathematical proportions?