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MELBOURNE CHAPTER CEYLON SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA At our next meeting Wayne Crothers will present an illustrated talk “In the Steps of the Buddha: A focus on Buddhist Art in the NGV Collection”   Buddhism originated in India in the 6th century B.C. and was gradually transmitted to the rest of Asia. Early stylistic developments of Buddhism took place on its journey out of India and trans migration into China, Japan and Sri Lanka. For the first 500-700 years Buddhist iconography was nonfigurative; wheel of law, bodhi tree, footprints or pagodas as reliquaries holding relics of the Buddha or an important monk. It was only in the first or second century AD that the initial figurative sculptures appeared in two different styles produced at two different locations – Gandhara (present day Afghanistan) and Mathura (Indian). Buddhism was introduced from India to Sri Lanka in the second century, and via Central Asian ...