A History of the World in 100 Objects

The BBC have been running a fascinating series on Radio 4 entitled "A History of the World in 100 Objects". A History of the World is a partnership between the BBC and the British Museum that focuses on world history, involving collaborations between teams across the BBC, and schools, museums and audiences across the UK. The project focuses on the things we have made, from flint to mobile phone.

100 programmes, written and narrated by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, focus on 100 objects from the British Museum’s collection. Several of these have a Buddhist connection and we are posting those up on our Audio Section. The first two are about an early Buddha statue from Gandhara and, with the aid of a piece from one of his famous pillars, how the Indian ruler Ashoka turned his back on violence and plunder to promote the ethical codes inspired by Buddhism.... enjoy.