The Light of Asia, Illustrated

Sir Edwin Arnold · Buddhas and Initiates Series · 294 pages

The poem itself, so that a reader can judge the reviews of it published alongside in this section. The Light of Asia is Edwin Arnold's life of the Buddha in English blank verse, first published in 1879, and the single work most responsible for introducing Buddhism to Victorian readers. This is a complete illustrated edition running to 294 pages, in eight books, with an introduction by Edwin Ariyadasa and Arnold's own author's preface.

The eight books follow the traditional life in sequence: Prince Siddhartha's birth and youth; the display of skills and his wedding; the seeing of the omens; the great renunciation; the ascetic's quest for truth; the end of austerities and the enlightenment; and the teaching that follows. Read next to Blavatsky's two reviews it makes an unusually complete package — the work, the enthusiastic first notice, and the later judgement that its author was no initiate. This particular file is not a Philaletheians production but the electronic edition prepared and distributed by the Buddha Dharma Education Association through BuddhaNet.

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