Professor DeCaroli publishes new book

Professor DeCaroli specializes in the origins of Buddhism and its iconogrpahy. His most recent book,  Image Problems: The Origin and Development of the Buddha's Image in Early South Asia, asks how and why the earliest verifiable images of the historical Buddha were created.

"A fascinating account of the complex and, at times, contradictory ideas around the utility and appropriateness of figural representations in early Buddhist communities. DeCaroli's study marshals an enormous amount of textual, inscriptional, numismatic, and visual evidence to examine how Buddhist communities were not only participating in broader social and cultural transformations but also seeking to differentiate uniquely Buddhist approaches to the relationship, or lack thereof, between subject and image."
-Catherine Becker, author of Shifting Stones, Shaping the Past: Sculpture from the Buddhist Stupas of Andhra Pradesh

DeCaroli, who came to GMU in 1999, is also the author of Haunting the Buddha: Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism