Art historian Benoy Behl says the most powerful brand of ancient Indian soft-power was the Enlightened One
There's an unfortunate irony to the fact that some of the most volatile regions on the planet today were once the nurseries of Buddhist art two-and-a-half millennia ago. For art historian and photographer Benoy Behl, and his colleagues Sanghamitra Ghosh and Sujata Chatterji, a recent trek through Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and the Buddhist province of Kalmykia in European Russia, to document Buddhist sites and art, has been a path to discovery. Supported by a fellowship from the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, their journey is an effort to document India's soft power long before anyone even dreamt up the term. The photographs will form part of an exhibition to be called Buddhist Sites of the World that Behl intends to put up. In a chat with TOI-Crest, he talks about his attempt to document Buddhist sites all over the world.