Category:
History
Publisher: Algora Publishing New York, USA
ISBN-10: 0875868584
Type: Non-Fiction
ISBN-13: 9780875868585
The author has previous written two other books on Cultural History.
The book provides details on the Buddist Civilization which prevailed in Nort-western Pakistan and south eastern Afghanistan in the first four centuries of the common era.
Excerpt
Politically, Greater Gandhara developed a distinct entity in the South Asian sub-continent mainly because Greater Gandhara remained historically and culturally somewhat detached from the rest of the sub-continent in the period from fifth century BC to tenth century C.E. The Achaemenids, who conquered this region in 6th century BC, ruled only in the heart of Greater Gandhara; Alexander the Great during his three year period of conquests in South Asia confined his exploits mainly to regions in Greater Gandhara and towards the south and west along the lower Indus Valley and across the Makran coastline, and the rule of Hellenistic Bactrian (Indus) Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, and Sassanids, Ephthalites, and the Turk Shahis was also confined to a large extent to Greater Gandhara.
Socially and culturally also Greater Gandhara progressed on different lines from the rest of South Asia. Buddhism, which had virtually been exterminated in the rest of South Asia, thrived in Greater Gandhara in a relatively liberal environment. It ultimately became the single most important factor in uniting Greater Gandhara into a socially and culturally integrated region.
The other important factor in maintaining the political, administrative and cultural unity of the region was close cooperation between a series of alien, mostly Hellenistic, regimes and the Buddhist establishment. In the transition period of five centuries, from mid-sixth century BC till the dawn of the Common Era, Gandhara was ruled in succession by a series of powerful dynasties including the Achaemenids, Alexander’s Macedonian-Greeks, the Mauryans, the Indus Greeks, the Saka-Parthians and the Kushans. These alien regimes faced no problem in exercising exclusive political control over the overwhelmingly predominant local Buddhist community. The Buddhist religious establishment remained neutral on political issues and cooperated with all the alien regimes in the administration of the region. In return for this cooperation, the alien regimes provided extended patronage to the Buddhist religious institutions.
The partnership between the Buddhist clerical establishment and the alien ruling regimes achieved a perfect balance in the Kushan period, when each party took upon itself what it could do best. The Kushans were great conquerors and Empire builders. They carved out a vast empire and used the wealth of the conquered nations to bring prosperity to their adopted land. The Kushans were also more adept in external relations and managed to maintain healthy diplomatic and trade relations with the Roman Empire, the Chinese and the Persians. On the other hand, the predominant local Buddhist population took charge of moral, cultural and socio-economic issues.
The cooperation between the Kushan conquerors and the Buddhist pacifists and intellectuals worked miracles. The Kushans came to Gandhara with a reputation of uncouth, uncivilized nomads, who had no appreciation for finer things in life. In Gandhara they became great patrons of art, and liberal, tolerant, and benevolent administrators. They adapted much better to the local conditions than any of the previous conquerors who ruled in Gandhara. Gandhara overwhelmed the conquerors with its natural beauty; it conquered their hearts and minds with the purity of its thought, its honest pursuit of peace and harmony and its craving for understanding the mysteries of nature. As a result, the boorish but feisty conquerors, clad in the shallow mantle of Hellenistic culture, began to grow in intellectual stature in the civilizing environment of thousands of dynamic socio-religious Buddhist institutions, the Sangharamas. They took genuine interest in the works of the Buddhist intellectuals and in the evolving art and culture of the region.
Thus the politically, socially and culturally integrated region of Greater Gandhara moved steadily towards a unique civilization. Its ingredients were established over a period of five centuries commencing with the arrival of the first Buddhist missionaries in the Achaemenid Satrapy of Gandhara in fourth century BC. The Civilization was at its peak in the first four centuries of the Common Era (C.E.) and then went through a prolonged period of decline, suffering its ultimate demise sometime around 10th century C.E.
Questions & Comments:
According to this book what makes you believe that Buddhism has come to Gandhara before the era of King Asoka.
Nopanun Anuratana, Thailand.
Answer:
Buddhism came to Gandhara through Mahasinghika immigrants more than a century before the convening of the Third Buddhist Council by Asoka Maurya in Pataliputra in 250 BCE. For the sequence of events, which led to Buddhism becoming a universal religion in Gandhara during the first few centuries of the Common Era, one needs to follow the developments which took place in the Buddhist Sangha immediately following Buddha’s parinivana in 543 BCE.
The well-reported dispatch of missionaries by Asoka to different regions of the sub-continent took place around 250 BCE. Buddha’s parinivana occurred in 543 BCE. In the three centuries between these two events the progress of Buddhism could not have remained static/ confined to the Buddhist homeland around Pataliputra. The schisms which began to appear almost immediately after Buddha’s parinivana led to migrations away from the Buddhist homeland. The story of progress of Buddhism in Greater Gandhara indicates an uninterrupted sequence through, which Buddhism progressed and the status it achieved within a short span of less than five centuries indicates that the building-up process started quite early.
Buddha did not nominate any successor during his lifetime. To put the affairs of the Buddhist Sangha in order, the First Buddhist Council was convened in Rajagriha sometime in 542 BCE. The meeting of the First Buddhist Council was followed by increasing divergence of views among various groups in the Buddhist Sangha, particularly in matters related to Vinaya.
The differences in the Buddhist Sangha came out in the open during the meeting of Second Buddhist Council at Vasali around 430 BCE. A major schism developed, with the traditional conservatives, the Sthaviras, taking a tough stand against the liberal Mahasanghika faction. The co-existence of these divergent groups in the homeland of Buddhism, around Pataliputra became impossible. As the traditionalists were firmly entrenched in the region around Pataliputra, the Mahasanghikas had no option but to migrate to other regions.
The Mahasangikas began to fan out to all parts of the South-Asian sub-continent during the first half of 5th century BCE. Over a relatively short period, depending on the social, political and religious environment prevailing in different regions of the sub-continent, two regions developed into the focal points of the Mahasanghika migration- Greater Gandhara, and, to a lesser extent, South India.
In the 5th and 4th centuries BCE the Achaemenids were in control in Greater Gandhara, having established two Satrapies in the region, one west of the Indus River, with Pushklavati as the capital, and the other east of the Indus, with Takshasila as the capital. The Achaemenids did not believe in imposing their religious views in any of their Satrapies included in their vast Empire. In the cosmopolitan and progressive environment prevailing in Greater Gandhara, the Mahasanghikas went about quietly practicing their religion and increasing their strength through conversion of other groups settled in Greater Gandhara.
Achaemenid rule in Greater Gandhara came to an end in 326 BCE, when Alexander briefly established his writ in this region. In 322 BCE Alexander’s brief stint in Greater Gandhara came to an end, and Chandragupta Maurya succeeded in establishing a vast Empire in northern India, with Pataliputra as the capital. Greater Gandhara became one of the most important provinces in the Maurya Empire and usually the heir apparent of the Maurya Dynasty was given wide powers to effectively govern this distant region. Asoka served as Governor of Greater Gandhara during the rule of his grandfather, Chandragupta, and father Bimbusara.
Asoka succeeded to the Maurya throne in 273 BCE, and after the famous Kalinga episode, converted to Buddhism in 261 BCE. The Mauryan capital of Pataliputra had all along been the fort of the traditionalist faction of the Buddhist Sangha, who now saw in Asoka an opportunity to put the Buddhist affairs in order by bringing the Mahasanghikas and other liberal factions into their fold. Accordingly in 250 BCE the Third Buddhist Council was convened in Pataliputra under the patronage of King Asoka. The Third Buddhist Council failed to achieve its objectives and following this Council meeting other liberal groups related to the Mahasanghikas (Sarvastivadins and Dharmaguptika) came into prominence.
Asoka remained associated with the traditional groups and took the far-reaching decision of distributing the ashes of Buddha among various regions of his Empire and interring these remains under a sacred mound. This move saw the emergence of Stupa Culture in Buddhism. In Greater Gandhara a site, which subsequently came to be known as Dharmarajika, was chosen for the interment of Buddha’s remains (with Jamalgarhi near Mardan as the other such site in the region east of the Indus). The Buddhist monks associated with the conservative Buddhist faction sent by Asoka initially assumed charge of the Dharmarajika Stupa. During this period the Dharmarajika Stupa remained no more than a simple mound without any decorations or substantial activity. In due course the overall control of the Dharmarajika Stupa passed into the hands of the Mahasanghikas, Sarvastivadan and Dharmguptika sects who were by this time firmly entrenched in this region and enjoyed a strategic advantage over the monks belonging to the newly arrived conservative faction of Buddhism. Heightened activity was witnessed at the Dharmarajika Stupa, which over the following centuries developed into a sprawling complex with extended expansions, establishment of monastery, residential quarters for monks, and large number of exquisitely decorated chapels.
Asoka’s only, albeit major, contribution towards the spread of Buddhism in Greater Gandhara was the introduction of Stupa Culture in this region. The Stupa Culture was effectively utilized by the Mahasanghika and other liberal groups, which had already established their foothold in Greater Gandhara long before Asoka dispatched his missionaries to Greater Gandhara in mid-third century BCE.
Subsequent events in Greater Gandhara testify to the correctness of this appraisal of the rise of Buddhism in Greater Gandhara. It was only through steady, uninterrupted progress that the Mahasanghikas and its related groups were able to establish the sound foundations for Mahayana Buddhism in Greater Gandhara. The strength of these groups in Greater Gandhara is testified by the convening of the first Buddhist Council outside the homeland of Buddhism, at Purushapura, in first century C.E. during the reign of Kanishka.
That the migration of Mahasanghikas away from Pataliputra took place as early as fifth century BCE, is indicated by several traditions. A respected Buddhist monk from Ujjain, Paramartha, who converted to Buddhism in fifth century C.E. and subsequently carried out extensive research on Buddhism in the religious establishments of Greater Gandhara, before moving on to China, is reported to have stated that 200 years after Buddha’s parinivana , the Mahasanghikas School moved north from Rajagriha.
To summarize:
Asoka was associated with the conservative sect of Buddhism, which was firmly established in Bihar. The missionaries, which he sent to Gandhara and other regions must have belonged the conservative school of Buddhism. There is no evidence to indicate that any conservative Buddhists were able to establish a foothold in Greater Gandhara. The obvious conclusion is that the Mahasanghikas and other associated sects had established a foothold in Greater Gandhara long before Asoka’s missionaries arrived. The Mahasanghikas, after neutralizing the powers of the missionaries sent by Asoka, effectively used the Stupa Culture to promote the activities and beliefs of their sect.
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