Origin and Development of Buddhism in India (Collection of Articles from Indian Antiquary)

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Professor Siddheshwar Rameshwar Bhatt is an eminent philosopher, Sanskritist and profound thinker. He retired as Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy and Coordinator of University Grant Commission's Special Assistance Programme in Philosophy in the University of Delhi. Presently he is Emeritus Fellow of the UGC in Delhi University.

Professor Bhatt is an internationally known authority on Ancient Indian Philosophy and Culture, having specialization in Nyaya. Buddhism, Jainism and Vedanta. He has been the General President of Indian Philosophical Congress and All India Philosophy Association (Akhil Bharatiya Darshan Parishad). He is a member of the federation of the International Societies of Philosophy, World Association of Vedic Studies, Society for Comparative and Asian Philosophy, International Vedanta Congress etc. and a Regional Coordinator of Council for Research in Values and Philosophy which has brought out 130 books on would cultures and civilizations.

Professor Bhatt has lectured in many universities and research institutes of India, Japan, China, South Korea, North Korea, Germany, United States of America, Turkey and Trinidad. He has organized more than 50 national and international seminars and conferences. He has authored and edited several books and research papers on themes pertaining to philosophy, culture, values and society.

The antiquity of Indian culture is pretty old and pre-historical Indian culture nourished even before language in the form of written scripts evolved. Even though subsequently the seminal ideas, doctrines and tenets pertaining to views of reality and ways of life got expressed in linguistic forms, the languages and scripts of those times are not familiar to us now and, therefore, it is difficult to decipher the contents of the literary productions of those times which are available to us in the form of inscriptions and other archaeological remains. Prevalence and continuation of oral traditions in different parts of the vast country also contributed to lack of literary evidence.

However, from the time of the Buddha onwards, historical traditions came to be gradually established. Even then there is no certainty with regard to the birth and death of the historical Buddha, who is the founder of Buddhism, as it is known to us. There are many mythological stories, literary accounts and sectarian traditions giving different accounts of the time of birth and death of the Buddha. It is generally believed that it is sixth century B.C.E. when the Buddha was born, attained enlightenment and preached the Dhamma. He is regarded to have lived for eighty years. The birth and death of the Buddha is believed to have taken place on the full moon day of the month of Vaisakha, as per Indian calendar. That was also the day of his getting enlightenment. The geographical area was the northern part of the Greater India, "Brhat Bharata", which stretched beyond modern Nepal and Burma. The birthplace of the Buddha is Lumbini which now falls under the kingdom of Nepal. His death, known as Mahaparinirvana in the Buddhist tradition, took place in Kusinagara or Kusinara. Both these places along with other sacred places like Bodh-Gaya, Sarnath, Srasvati, Rajgrha, Vaishali etc. have been holy places of Buddhist pilgrimage, right from the times of King Asoka, who called visiting them as Dharma-yatra.

The advent of Buddha and the rise and growth of Buddhism have been very significant events in the history of world culture and civilisation. It is important to note that Buddha attracted a large following during his lifetime itself, and became so much popular that even his royal parents chose to be his disciples. However, his cousin, Devadatta, had a love and hate relationship with him. There are many stories prevalent about the evil deeds of Devadatta, the authenticity of which is doubtful. However, it seems to be that Devadatta was jealous of the Buddha and tried to put obstacles in his preaching of the Dhamma. But the Buddha was always kind and merciful to him.

Buddha was fortunate in receiving respect and reverence both from the rulers and the people. During his lifetime he was adored and respected and when he died his relics were preserved and sent to different parts of Asia for worship. His 'Hair', 'Tooth', etc. are still preserved in different countries of Asia and there are special festivals to worship them.

**Contents and Sample Pages**