Early Indian Buddhism- A Study of the Contribution of Major Urban Centres to Its Development

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Baranasi, Campa, Kosambi, Rajagaha, Saketa, and Savattji are mentioned as six major urban centres in the Pali Tipitaka. An effort has been made in this book to show as to what extent these six major urban centres contributed towards the growth and development of Early Indian Buddhism. It is now generally accepted by scholars that Indian Buddhism originated as an urban religion. The author has further tried to substantiate this view with extensive examples from the Pali Vinaya and Panca Nikayas.

Anita Sharma is presently working as a Reader at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi. She obtained her MA, Mphil and PhD degrees from the University of Delhi. She has spent many years in the People's Republic of China and studied at the Fudan University, Shanghai and Beijing Language Institute, Beijing. She is a specialist in Indian and Chinese Buddhism as well as Chinese language. She also takes keen interest in Engaged Buddhism and Religious Pilgrimage.

This book is based on my PhD thesis that I had submitted to the University of Delhi in 1997. Since then, I have had not only the opportunity of having a closer look at Buddhism, but have also learnt a lot from many of my students and colleagues. As a result of this, I have revised my opinion on most aspects of ancient Indian Buddhism in general and on the topic underhand in particular. This has resulted in a complete revision and updating of various portions of my original work.

In the preparation of this book, I have received help from various persons. My friends including Professor K.T.S. Sarao, read the revised manuscript at various stages and made valuable suggestions. My family members especially Surinder and Manik helped at various stages in the preparation of this book. I am indebted to all of them.

Ancient India gave birth to two urban civilizations: the Harappan or Indus urbanization and the Ganga urbanization. They are also known as the First and the Second Urbanizations respectively. Urbanism is a developing process, a process which includes continuity with progress as well as decay. The Ganga urbanization developed gradually or by small steps over a considerable period of time through the interplay of various internal and external factors of men and material in which political factors were predominant. Environmental factors appear to have been important in the initial stage of the development, but once it got going, their importance became secondary especially for the arising of new urban settlements.

In our study, we have made an attempt to evaluate the role of the six most important urban centres in the development of early Buddhism. As we shall see in the following pages, these six urban centres were mahanagaras- being a centre with possibly the highest stage of the development of urbanism. In our attempt, we have largely used Buddhist canonical literary sources, as archaeology has not yet succeeded in tracing the step-by-step transformation of rural into urban society. But at some sites, where Painted Grey Ware and Northern Black Polished Ware have been found, that transformation is noticeable. C.1500-1000 BCE, which may roughly be called the pre-iron stage, appears to be the period in which much of the base of the modern Indian village was laid. The society was agricultural, livestock breeding and cattle herding being the major activities. The chief (raja) was the successful leader of a raid, and by extension, of a battle. The booty thus acquired was distributed among the clan, but the distribution was already unequal. Some of it was retained by the raja, but a substantial portion was also claimed by the priestly families, who in turn provided support for the social and political arrangement by elaborating and inventing rituals, performing sacrifices and composing laudatory hymns. In a clear separation between elite groups and commoners, kinship constituted a charter for establishing the authority of the ruling lineage through genealogical connections. As the productivity and the means to extort it increased, the gap between those who utilized this wealth and those who produced it also widened. The origin and development of the caste system towards the end of this period reflected the perpetuation of the widening gap among people. Not only was the stratification rationalized in the concept of vanna, but the function of each group was more clearly defined. Large conventional numbers of cattle made over to the priest demonstrate that the donors (rajanya) and the donees (priests) possessed them in large numbers, justifying the ever increasing inequality within the population. It was these people whose agglomeration led to the onset of urbanization.

**Contents and Sample Pages**