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Buddhism

A philosophy founded in India in 525 BC, Buddhism now has over 300 million followers. Buddhism encountered opposition, but it grew in power, and especially under the tremendous influence and personal support of King Asoka, for under his reign it spread rapidly, and in time extended throughout the greater portion of India, and almost completely supplanted Brahmanism.

Buddhism has largely disappeared from its country of origin, India. There are several reasons for this: Ashoka spread the seeds of Buddhism far and wide, beyond the country of origin; people following Buddhism lived in monasteries and were not part of the day-to-day lives of the Hindu community, which followed several rituals, thus strengthening its own cultural ties; Hinduism itself was going through a change. In the subsequent years, the invasions of the Hun and the Muslims were also significant factors in the decline of Buddhism in India.

Buddhism, in its original form, was only a modification of Brahmanism. It grew up slowly and imperceptibly, and its very founder could hardly have been aware of the final results of his doctrines. Before the time that Buddhism became a political power, it had no history, no chronology, it hardly had a name. Before the Council of Pataliputra the Buddhists place 300 years of Buddhist history, but that history was clearly supplied from their own heads and not from authentic documents. Buddhism, up to the time of Asoka, was but one out of many sects established in India. There had been as yet no schism, but only controversy, such as we find in the Brahmanas themselves between different schools and parties.

There were as yet no Brahmans as opposed to Buddhists, in the later sense of the word. No separation had as yet taken place, and the greatest reformers at the time of Buddha were reforming Brahmans. This is acknowledged in the Buddhist writings, though they probably were not written down before Asoka's Council. But even then Buddha is represented as the pupil of the Brahmans, and no slur is cast on the gods and the songs of the Yeda.

Buddha, according to his own canonical biographer, learned the Rig-veda and was a proficient in all the branches of Brahmanic lore. His pupils were many of them Brahmans, and no hostile feeling against the Brahmans finds utterance in the Buddhist Canon. This forms a striking contrast with the sacred literature of the Jains. The Jains, who are supposed to have made their peace with the Brahmans, yet in their sacred works, written towards the beginning of the fifth century AD, treat their opponents with marked disrespect.

While there were a few ideas that Buddhist philosophy shared with the Upanishadic thought and with the sramanic (renouncer) tradition, Buddha did not merely rehash ideas; his ideas marked an innovative and radical move in the direction of creating a new social philosophy with an enduring appeal for human kind. There was not only a break with Brahmanism but also an interrogation and rejection of its basic beliefs. A later Buddhist philosopher, Dharmakiriti, put this successfully when he characterised ignorance as accepting the authority of the Veda and someone as creator, the desire of gaining merit through the holy dip, the vanity of casteism and torturing the body to redeem sin.

It was not the metaphysical doctrines of Buddhism that influenced the masses of the people. What proved attractive was its ethical side. The Buddhist preachers discoursed on Dharma or righteousness to the people. Such discourses on Dharma without the introduction of any theistic idea had their representatives in the Brahmanic literature. In many of the episodes of the Mahubharata, especially in the Santi and Anusisauika books, are simply ethical discourses without any reference to God, of the nature of those found in Buddhistic works; and sometimes the verses in the Mahabharata, are the same as those occurring in the latter. There appears to be at one time a period in which the Brahmanic thought was directed to the delineation of right conduct in itself without any theistic bearing. And Buddhism on its ethical side represents that phase.

Stupas or Chaityas were the objects of worship among the Buddhists. The remains of Viharas, Chaityagrihas, and Stupas are found in ail parts of the country, including Afghanistan. The remaius of two great Stupas exist in Central India at Satichi in the Bhopal territory, and Bharaut between Jabalpur and Allahabad, near the Sattan Station of the Railway. From the form of characters existing in the inscriptions found in them, the ages of the Stupas can lie approximately determined. That at Bharaut was begun about the middle of the third century before Christ, and continued to be added to till nbout the end of the second century. The Satichi Stupa was probably first constructed about the same time: and it continued to be an object of adoration and additional gifts till about the eighth century of the Christian era. The cave temples in Maharashtra, began to be excavated about the middle of the first century before Christ, and continued to increase in number and to have additional decorations till the end of the second century after, and were the objects of adoration and resort up to about the end of the ninth century. During this period there was no trace of a building or sculpture devoted to the use of the Brahmanic religion. Of course, Brahmauism existed, and it was probably, during the period, being developed into the form which it assumed in later times. But the religion certainly does not occupy a prominent position, and Buddhism was followed by the large mass of the people from princes down to tha humble workman.

Another peculiarity of the period was the use of the Pali or the current Prakrit language in inscriptions. Even the Brahmanic inscription at Nanaghat and those in the south are composed in this dialect. Sanskrit was the language of learned Brahmans and Prakrit of ordinary people of all castes. The use of the latter, therefore, indicates a creater deference for these people than for Brahmanic learning.

From about the beginning of the second century before Christ, to about the end of the fourth century after, princes of foreign origin were prominent in the history of India and ruled sometimes over a large portion of the country up to the limits of Maharashtra. The names of no Hindu princes appear in inscriptions or on coins during this period, except in Maharashtra, where the Satavabanas drove the foreigners and governed the country, and in the south to which the foreigners did not penetrate. During this period it is the religion of Buddha alone that has left prominent traces, and was professed by the majority of the people.