Description
Edward Upham’s seminal work offers a detailed exploration of Buddhist history, doctrine, and practice in Ceylon during the colonial period. The text goes beyond traditional Buddhist teachings to examine the syncretic religious landscape of Sri Lanka, including indigenous practices such as Kappooism (demon worship) and the Bali rituals involving planetary incantations.
Originally published in the 19th century, this comprehensive study provides Western readers with an anthropologically rich account of how Buddhism was practiced and understood in Ceylon. Upham’s accessible approach makes complex theological concepts understandable to general audiences while maintaining scholarly rigor. The work serves as both a historical document and an ethnographic study, capturing the religious beliefs and practices of a specific time and place.
This hardcover edition, published by Gyan Publishing House, preserves an important historical perspective on South Asian Buddhism and its relationship with local folk religious traditions.
![The History and Doctrine of Budhism, Popularly Illustrated: With Notices of the Kappooism, or Demon Worship, and of the Bali, or Planetary Incantations of Ceylon [Hardcover]](https://thebookishowl.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/71nUedhJMtL.jpg)






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