Professor OsmundBopearachchi

Osmund Bopearachchi

Professor Osmund Bopearachchi, Corresponding Member of the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, is the Emeritus Director of Research of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-ENS), Paris. He is a numismatist, art historian, and archaeologist, and former Visiting Professor and Member of the Doctoral School of the Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris.

Prof. Bopearachchi holds a B.A. from the University of Kelaniya (Sri Lanka), and a B.A. honours, M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from the Paris 1 Sorbonne University, and a Higher Doctorate (Habilitation) from the Paris 4 Sorbonne University. After obtaining his doctorate from the University of Paris I - Sorbonne in June 17 1987, Bopearachchi initiated a comprehensive survey of pre-Sasanian coins held in museums worldwide. In the early 1990s, he began documenting and publishing the coins, thousands of which, along with hundreds of manuscripts, were then flooding the bazaars of Pakistan from war-ravaged Afghanistan. As he attempted to link numismatics with sculptural and pictorial iconography he developed a deep interest in the study of the art and archaeology of ancient India. This has led to his many publications and activities in the field.

More recently, his books on Gandhāran art, based on unpublished or partially published sculptures and objects from Gandhāra and Greater Gandhāra, draw on research carried out in museums in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Japan, Europe, Canada, and the United States, as well as fieldwork at ancient sites in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. These projects were made possible owing to the generous support of the Trung Lam Research Fund for Central Asian Art and Archaeology, the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where Bopearachchi is former Adjunct Professor of Central and South Asian Art, Archaeology, and Numismatics, and former Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies.

As Director of the French-Sri Lankan Archaeological Mission, Bopearachchi launched joint projects with the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on Sri Lanka’s role in ancient maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. These projects include archaeological excavations; using GIS mapping software to discover spatial and temporal patterns in the relationship between Buddhism and maritime trade; and a study of how the stories of the life of the historical Buddha and of his previous lives (jātakas) found in Pāli Buddhist texts are illustrated in Kandyan period murals in Sri Lanka.

Among his numerous publications are 16 books, 156 articles, 6 exhibition catalogues, and edited 7 volumes; he is also a principal collaborator on numerous audio-visual projects and museum and archaeological databases. He has read 115 papers at international colloquia; delivered 345 talks in 182 universities, museums and associations all over the world, and has carried out archaeological missions in 30 different countries. The French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres has honored five of his books with prestigious awards, including the distinguished George Perrot Medal for From Bactria to Taprobane: Selected Works of Osmund BopearachchiI, vols. I and II (2015). In 2006 the French government honored his career achievements with the L'ordre des Palmes Académiques (“Order of Academic Palms”). In 2024 he was elected to the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres as Corresponding Member.

Latest Videos

“The Origin and Evolution of Avalokiteśvara Images in the Light of New Discoveries from Gandhāra” Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, University of California, Berkeley, May 2 nd 2025.

This talk revisits the question of the origin and evolution of images of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in Gandhāra and their diffusion to India, Tibet and China along the trade routes. Contrary to the opinion of some modern scholars who claim that there is no epigraphic or textual evidence for the existence of a cult of Amitābha or Avalokiteśvara during the Kuṣāṇ period, the discovery of the Gāndhārī manuscripts, dated to the first century CE, in a form similar to the Sanskrit version of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, the main text of the Mahāyāna, reveals that Avalokiteśvara was known in Gandhāra. Avalokiteśvara became popular owing to his healing powers, especially via his reputation as a protector of land and sea traders mentioned in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. The development of trade routes through the Gandhāran valleys made this fertile land a meeting point for different cultures.

Professor Osmund Bopearachchi on Jayantha Premachandra's Art

Trade is understood mainly as the transfer and exchange of commodities to make profits, and this was also the driving force of economic activities in ancient time. However, as revealed by epigraphic and literary evidence, among the earliest donors and important patrons of Buddhist establishments in South and South-East Asia were caravan merchants and wealthy seafaring traders. The spread of Buddhism from South Asia to Southeast Asia is also closely connected with the growth of a trading network that facilitated the movement of Buddhist merchants, traveling monks and teachers. The resources needed to build gigantic religious monuments in South and South-East Asia would thus have come from both the royal patronage as well as from the devout mercantile classes. Their wealth was based on the flourishing inland and international trade centers located in the ports along the coast and navigable river.

Yamakaprātihārya or the ‘Twin Miracle’

Abstract :

"Yamakaprātihārya or the ‘Twin Miracle’: Where, when, why and how the Buddha mesmerized his friends and enemies”. This presentation, held at Stanford University on March 21, 2024, is part of the Ho Center's T. T. & W. F. Chao Buddhist Art & Film Series.

“Du Grand Départ à l’Éveil du Bouddha Gautama”, Journée d'étude La dernière vie du Bouddha, Collection Adhémard Leclère, Musée des Beaux-arts et de la dentelle d'Alençon, le 15 Octobre, 2022.”

Abstract :

Les événements importants liés à la vie du Bouddha Gautama ne sont pas représentés de manière cohérente dans les anciennes écoles d'art d'Asie du Sud et du Sud-Est, et son éveil représenté sur la bannière de l'ancienne collection Adhémard Leclère au Musée des Beaux-arts et de la dentelle d'Alençon, suscite la controverse. Cette communication démontre que cette controverse est due à la confusion et à l'irrégularité de la façon dont les événements liés à la vie du Bouddha sont relatés dans les textes sacrés.

The life story of Gautama Buddha adorning the Kandyan period murals in Sri Lanka

The only Sri Lanka paintings that really passed to posterity are those of the famous Sigiriya rock dated to the fifth century CE depicting celestial apsaras. However, the island has a long tradition of painting the vāhalkaḍas (frontispieces) and relic chambers of the stūpas and the murals of image houses, which date back to the second century CE. It is at the beginning of the 18th century, at the height of the Kandyan period, during the reign of Narendrasimha that a new era of pictorial art began. King Kirti sri Rajasimha (1751-1781) was the instigator and mastermind of this artistic renaissance in the kingdom of Kandy. Thus was born a Kandyan style with its characteristics, its conventions, its themes and its technique.

Greek iconography to narrate a Buddhist story: Gandhāran art revisited

The Gandhāran Budhist art flourished under the auspicious political domination of the Kuṣāṇ Empire in a vast region which was once the cradle of diverse political supremacies and civilisations, such as those of the Achaemenids, the Greeks, the Scythians and the Parthians. The presence of Western powers in the fertile lands of Gandhāra and Greater Gandhāra for many generations gave birth to an innovative art characterized by naturalism and narrative power. The specificity of Gandhāran art is also its ability to narrate an Indian story, namely the life story of the Guatama Buddha, his previous lives and peripheral stories using both Western and Indian artistic motifs.

Spread of Gandhara Art in Iranian and Central Asian context

Osmund Bopearachchi of The University of California at Berkeley, discusses the spread of Gandhara art in an Iranian and Central Asian context.

Personal Details

Name : Christie Osmund Flavian Bopearachchi
Date of Birth : 4th December 1949
Place of Birth : Negambo, Sri Lanka
Citizenship at birth : Sri Lankan