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Buddhism in Early India*

A story often told is that Siddhartha Gotama, born in Lumbini in a kshatriya family of the
Shakya clan, led a pampered and protected life till the age of 29, when he was
unexpectedly exposed to an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a wandering mendicant.
The first three indicated the transience of worldly pleasures, the last the possibility of
emancipation. Like the renouncer he encountered, Siddhartha abandoned his earlier life.
He sought wise men who could instruct him about human suffering. Siddhartha realized
over time that no one seemed to have a formula for the permanent eradication of misery.
Eventually, through his own practice, he gained enlightenment, a state that implied that
he understood the cause, conditions and nature of suffering, thereby transcending it.
Siddhartha Gotama now came to be known as the Buddha (‘he who is awakened’), and is
regarded as the founder of Buddhism.

Traditional dates for the Buddha placed him c. 6th century BCE, however, there has been
a revision in favour of the 4th century BCE. The debate over when the Buddha lived has
implications for dating other historical events and texts. The Pali Canon (a major source
for reconstructing the period of early Buddhism, even if there is no consensus on the
chronology of its components) and archaeological evidence suggest that the period of the
Buddha was marked by the emergence of states and urban centres, by an expanding
agricultural frontier and material abundance, as well as warfare and increasing socio-
economic disparities. It was also a time of great intellectual ferment, and the Pali Canon
clearly indicates the existence of a range of competing belief systems during the Buddha’s
period. At least some of the Buddha’s teachings were formulated in response to conditions
around him -- political, socio-economic and intellectual.

After attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Buddha proceeded to Sarnath, where he
delivered his first sermon, and ordained five disciples as the first members of the sangha or
monastic order. The Buddha was persuaded by the Shakya matriarch Mahapajapati
Gotami and his disciple Ananda to establish a community of nuns. The Therigatha (Songs
of the Nuns) of the Pali Canon contains poems by and about the earliest women to join
the sangha, which are arguably among the oldest examples of women’s writing in the
world. The Buddha also advocated a path of dhamma for lay followers. He spent around
45 years of his life preaching in present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. His supporters
included brahmanas, rulers and members of royal households, wealthy landowners,
merchants, influential courtesans, and those regarded as ‘low’ in the socio-economic
hierarchy, even slave women.

The Buddha has often been portrayed as a revolutionary who advocated social equality.
In fact, the Pali Canon suggests that the Buddha did not aim to abolish social differences
– its texts do not reject the divisions of high and low, rich and poor, and some of the most
prominent early monks mentioned in the Canon are identified as brahmanas and kshatriyas.
However, the Buddha tried to make unequal social relations more humane -- whether
between kings and subjects, or masters and slaves. To enable orderly functioning within
the sangha, the rule of seniority, rather than a birth-based hierarchy, prevailed (though
nuns, however senior, were placed under the authority of monks). Everyone, regardless of
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their social standing, was entitled to follow the Buddha’s dhamma. In a society where
sacred knowledge continues to be inaccessible to many, the Buddha’s path opened up the
possibility of salvation to all. Not everyone was considered worthy of attaining the
ultimate goal of nirvana (the extinction of ignorance and breaking free from the cycle of
birth and rebirth), but even the lowest of the low could aspire to improve their chances of
being reborn into a better existence by following the Buddha’s teachings.

What did being a follower of the Buddha’s path entail? The Vinaya Pitaka of the Pali
Canon lays down disciplinary rules for members of the sangha. However, Pali texts also tell
us about people such as the Buddha’s arch rival Devadatta who caused schisms in the
sangha, and poached monks from the Buddha’s order. It seems that even monks and nuns,
let alone less dedicated followers, did not necessarily remain committed to any one
doctrine for their whole life, but experimented with different ideas. And what did it mean
to be a lay Buddhist? The Buddha as well as other teachers sought to attract adherents
from communities who venerated divine and semi-divine beings such as nagas (serpents)
and yakshas (spirits associated with trees, nature, fertility and prosperity). Buddhism and
other belief systems acknowledged and tried to fit the plethora of deities and spirits within
their perspective of the world. Lay ‘converts’ were required to proclaim that they had
taken refuge in the three ‘jewels’ of Buddha, dhamma and sangha, and adhere to the pancha-
shila (five moral precepts, that is, not harming living beings, not taking of what is not
given, avoiding sexual misconduct, abandoning false speech and abstaining from
substances that cloud the mind), but seem to have adhered to their cults. Religious
boundaries were, thus, fairly fuzzy.

After the Buddha’s death, his ideas continued to be propagated by members of the sangha.
This, and the support of lay followers, including kings, enabled Buddhism to spread
beyond its original heartland, even beyond India, through most of Asia. It is well known
that the Maurya emperor Ashoka was an ardent Buddhist, but it is important to
remember that he also extended his patronage to the Ajivikas, and his edicts record that
he honoured all religious communities (savapasamdani). Ashoka’s policy emerged in the
context of a vast and varied subcontinental empire marked by cultural differences and
religious tensions. Rulers in early India adopted different approaches to religious diversity
within their realm – there are examples of hostility, but also instances of tolerance and
patronage to a range of religions. While Pushyamitra Shunga is said to have destroyed
84,000 stupas built by Ashoka and killed the monks of the Kukkutarama monastery at
Pataliputra, the Imperial Guptas, who are often associated with a ‘Hindu Renaissance’,
patronized religious traditions beyond their personal beliefs, with Samudragupta allowing
the Sri Lankan king Meghavarna to construct a rest house for Buddhist pilgrims at Bodh
Gaya.

Indeed, one of the most enduring indications of the spread of Buddhism is provided by
architectural remains such as stupas and monasteries, with sculptural depictions and
paintings of significant elements of the religion as it changed over time. These have been
found far from the original heartland of Buddhism – in Nashik and Ajanta in
Maharashtra, Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh and Kaveripattinam
in Tamil Nadu, for instance. As suggested above, some of the support for religious art and
architecture came from political elites. However, votive inscriptions at sites such as Sanchi
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in Madhya Pradesh indicate that ordinary lay men and women often contributed to the
construction and maintenance of religious complexes. While some inscriptions emphasize
that donations were acts of piety, the ability to offer gifts was also recognized as a marker
of status.

Like all religious traditions, Buddhism changed over time. For instance, in the earliest
phase, no figures of the Buddha were crafted for fear that such a gesture would develop
into a cult of personality, or even a deification of the Buddha. Such a position is consistent
with the Buddha’s repeated statements that he was just a man. However, in time, as with
other religious traditions in India, images of the Buddha came to be sculpted, painted and
worshipped. While we may think of Buddhist monks and nuns as figures who meditated
in seclusion, in fact, they played an active role in promoting image worship, which made
their religion accessible, and attracted support. Doctrinal differences within the fold also
hardened over time, leading to the emergence of distinctive schools of thought within
Buddhism. So, for instance, the Theravada (path of the elders) tradition attempted to
retain older values, emphasizing austerity and meditation, Mahayana (literally, the great
vehicle) Buddhism emphasized devotion and compassionate Bodhisattvas, who postponed
personal salvation in favour of an effort to save all sentient beings. Interaction with
Tantric beliefs and practices led to the emergence of another form of Buddhism, often
referred to as Vajrayana (the way of the thunderbolt).

Buddhism has had a history spanning around two and a half millennia, and a
geographical scope that now encompasses large parts of the world. While at least some of
the Buddha’s teachings emerged from the context in which he lived, he also asked and
attempted to answer questions that continue to be relevant today; his path continues to
attract adherents and new interpretations.

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* I would like to thank Dr. Uma Chakravarti and Professor Kumkum Roy for their
suggestions.

Select bibliography

• Chakravarti, Uma, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1987.
• Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford and New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
• Lamotte, Étienne, History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Śaka Era (trans.
Sara Webb-Boin), Louvain-la-Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, 1988.
• Liu, Xinru, Early Buddhist Society: The World of Gautama Buddha, Ranikhet:
Permanent Black, 2022.
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• Schopen, Gregory, Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology,
Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India, Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 1997.

Naina Dayal
Department of History
St. Stephen’s College
University of Delhi
Email: nainadayal@ststephens.edu