Search Results: Sri Lanka

The first comprehensive survey of Sri Lankan art organized by an American museum, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, on show now at the LACMA in Los Angeles, California, presents some 250 works addressing nearly two millennia of Sri Lankan...

The island of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) became a focus of European attention soon after the Portuguese entry into the Indian Ocean in the late 15th century. Large swaths of the island would come first under Portuguese control...

Ravana is the mythical multi-headed demon-king of Lanka in Hindu mythology. With ten heads and twenty arms, Ravana could change into any form he wished. Representing the very essence of evil, he famously fought and ultimately lost a series...

Installation photograph, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 5, 2018–June 23, 2019, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Installation photograph, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 5, 2018–June 23, 2019, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Installation photograph, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 5, 2018–June 23, 2019, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Installation photograph, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 5, 2018–June 23, 2019, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Finding a maritime route to the East and gaining access to the lucrative spice trade stood at the root of the European Age of Exploration. However, when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Indian Ocean in 1493, he...

A stupa (literally “heap” or “pile”) is a reliquary, a shrine containing the remains of a holy or sainted person and/or artifacts (relics) associated with them, originating in India prior to the 5th century BCE as tombs of holy men and evolving...

Ashoka the Great (r. 268-232 BCE) was the third king of the Mauryan Empire (322-185 BCE) best known for his renunciation of war, development of the concept of dhamma (pious social conduct), and promotion of Buddhism as well as his effective...