Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism, edited by Birendra Nath Prasad

Full text

Studies in the History
and Culture of
ANCIENT INDIAN
BUDDHISM

RESEARCH INDIA PRESS
New Delhi (INDIA)
Studies in the History
and Culture of
ANCIENT INDIAN
BUDDHISM
Edited by
Birendra Nath Prasad
Assistant Professor
Centre for Historical Studies
JNU, New Delhi-110067

© Individual Contributors for their respective essays 2022;
Birendra Nath Prasad for Introduction and editorial selection 2022
ISBN : 978-93-5171-198-8
Price : ` 1750/-
First Edition: 2022
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Studies in the history and culture of ancient Indian Buddhism /
edited by Birendra Nath Prasad. -- First edition.
pages cm
Contributed articles.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9789351711988
1. Buddhism--India--History. 2. Buddhist antiquities--India.
3. Buddhist literature, Pali--History and criticism. 4.
Buddhism--History--To ca. 100 A.D. I. Prasad, Birendra Nath,
1976- editor. II. Title: Ancient Indian Buddhism.
LCC BQ286.S78 2022 | DDC 294.30954 23

Contents
Contributors vii
1. Introduction 1-12
Birendra Nath Prasad
2. The ‘Well-Taught’ Ariyan Disciple and the ‘Untaught’ 13-57
Many Folk: Frames of ‘Inclusion’ and ‘Exclusion’
in the Buddhadhamma in the Pāli Nikāyas
Ahmad Sohaib
3. Early Healing Practices: A Study of Buddhist 58-89
Literary and Archaeological Sources
Chhaya
4. Rulers, Buddha’s Relics and Merit Sharing in 90-111
North-western India: Gleanings from the Inscriptions
of the Śakas, the Kuṣāṇas and the Hūṇas
(circa 200 BCE- CE 600)
Ashish Kumar
5. Reections on the Agrarian World of Early Historic 112-130
Northern India in a Buddhist Text: A Study of
the Milindapañho
Krishna Kumar Mandal
6. Buddhism in Mumbai Metropolitan Region: 131-169
A Reappraisal of Diverse Facets
Susan Verma Mishra
7. Socio-Economic and Cultic Developments in the 170-210
Hinterland of the Nālandā Mahāvihāra:
A Study of the Published Archaeological Data
Shivanee
Index 211

Contributors
1. Birendra Nath Prasad earned his MA, MPhil and PhD degrees
in History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His
PhD thesis explored the theme of archaeology of religion in early
medieval Bihar and Bengal. At present, he is Assistant Professor
at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi, where he teaches social history of religion in ancient
India and Southeast Asia. His recent publications include
Monasteries, Shrines and Society: Buddhist and Brahmanical
Religious Institutions in India in their Socio-Economic Context
(edited, Delhi, 2011); Archaeology of Religion in South Asia:
Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jaina Religious Centres in Bihar
and Bengal, c. AD 600-1200 (London and New York, 2021);
Rethinking Bihar and Bengal: History, Culture and Religion
(London and New York, 2021); Social History of Indian
Buddhism: New Researches (edited, Delhi, 2021); and many
peer-reviewed research articles in prestigious international
journals such as Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist
Studies (Oxford), Buddhist Studies Review (London), Religions
of South Asia (London/Shefeld) and Berlin Indological Studies.
2. Ahmad Sohaib earned his MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in
History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His PhD
thesis explored the theme of the process of Buddhist identity
formation in the Middle and Upper Ganga Valley during the
early historic period. At present, he is Assistant Professor, Centre
for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations, Jamia
Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi.
3. Chhaya earned her MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in History
from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her PhD thesis
explored the theme of hydraulic management in ancient Indian

viii Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism
Buddhist monasteries. At present, she is Assistant Professor,
Department of History, Atmaram Sanatan Dharma College,
University of Delhi.
4. Susan Verma Mishra earned her MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in
History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her PhD
thesis explored the theme of archaeology of religion in ancient
Gujarat. She was awarded Senior Fellowship, Dr Devangana
Desai Endowment Scholarship, Mumbai, 2018-2019. She has
worked as Research Associate in Sailing to Suvarnabhumi
Project (jointly funded by ASEAN India Centre-- Research
and Information Centre for Developing Countries, Delhi;
and Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India) and Project Mausam
(funded by IGNCA, Govt. of India). Her co-authored books
include The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The Temple in
Western India, 2nd Century BCE to 8th Century CE (London and
New York, 2017) and Sailing to Suvarnabhumi: Cultural Routes
and Maritime Landscapes, RIS-AIC, 2019 (available online).
Her many research articles were published in edited books.
5. Ashish Kumar, currently an Assistant Professor in the
Department of History, Punjab University, Chandigarh, has
completed Graduation from Hindu College ( University of Delhi,
2006) and MA (2008), MPhil (2010) and PhD (2016) from the
Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New
Delhi. He is a recipient of the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders
Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) of the Nippon Foundation and Tokyo
Foundation, Japan (2013) and the Small Study and Research
Grant from the Nehru Trust for the Indian Collections at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, Teen Murti House, New Delhi
(2012-13). Having published several research articles in the
journals of national and international repute, Ashish Kumar’s
research focuses on the political processes and its linkages with
economic as well as religious processes in early India.
6. Krishna Kumar Mandal earned his MA and PhD degrees
in History from Patna University. At present, he is Associate
Professor, Department of History, T.M. Bhagalpur University,
Bhagalpur, Bihar. His coedited books include Science,

Contributors ix
Technology and Medicine in Indian History (Patna, 2000)
and Peasant in Indian History, Vol. III: Economy, Society and
Culture (Patna, forthcoming).
7. Shivanee earned her MA, MPhil and PhD degrees in History
from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her PhD thesis
explored the theme of religious linkages between the Buddhist
monastic centres of early medieval Magadha and Indonesia.
At present, she is Assistant Professor, Department of History,
Satyavati College (Evening), University of Delhi.

1
Introduction
Birendra nath Prasad
In the poly-religious landscape of ancient India, in which
Buddhism was just one of the religions present in society, any
study of Buddhism offers some methodological challenges. One
may begin with reiterating David N. Gellner’s arguments that
Buddhism contains a hierarchy of teachings and it has co-existed
with other systems in a structured hierarchy (Gellner 2003: 51).
In almost all parts of India, where Buddhism was functioning as
in institutional religion in past, it had to negotiate the presence
of other religions: mostly Brahmanism, and occasionally Jainism
and the religion of the Ājīvikas.1 Besides, it also had to negotiate
the presence of different animistic cults. To compete with other
religions, it had to offer not only some unique theological tenets,
but also some ‘practical’ services like medicine. To attract
patronage from different segments of society, it had to negotiate
socio-economic and political processes. To sum up, a religion,
which began as a religion of world-renouncing monks, was forced
to negotiate worldly institutions and processes in the course of its
evolution in India. These negotiations assumed different contours
in different parts of India.
Through an analysis of textual and archaeological sources,
different research articles in the present book explore some aspects
of the complex history of Buddhism in ancient and early medieval
(c. AD 600-1200) India. Themes delved into are: the process of

2 Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism
Buddhist identity formation in the Middle and Upper Ganga Valley
during the early historic period; patterns of patronage to Buddhism
in north-western India, and western Deccan; perceptions of the
agrarian world of early historic north-western India in a Buddhist
text; early Buddhist medicinal practices as indicated in literary and
archaeological sources; and socio-economic and cultic dynamics
in the hinterland of a Buddhist monastery in early historic and
early medieval Magadha.
The rst research article in the present book, titled “The
‘Well-Taught’ Ariyan Disciple and the ‘Untaught’ Many Folk:
Frames of ‘Inclusion’ and ‘Exclusion’ in the Buddhadhamma in
the Pāli Nikāyas”, by A. Sohaib, offers an analysis of some of
the ways through which early Buddhism tried to demarcate its
self-identity vis-à-vis other competing religious traditions in the
domain of religious doctrines. Elsewhere, he has argued that the
amalgamation of a patent Early Buddhist identity was negotiated
at various levels and through adopting diverse tools, techniques
and strategies, which included: (i) mandatory regulative and
prescriptive regulations of the Vinaya with its unambiguous and
categorical rules of public decorum and deportment that sought
to create a most unmistakably recognisable identity for the
Buddhist monastics; (ii) employment of tangible terms for ‘self’
description, and unfailingly positing it against the followers of
other sects, which underscored contestation and differentiation;
(iii) playing up elements of differentiation and non-equivalence of
the Buddha’s Dhamma vis-à-vis ‘other’ dhammas and vehement
criticism of their beliefs and practices; (iv) dissemination of
its social philosophy and select ethical-moral norms through
narrative art to reinforce an ethicized lay Buddhist social identity;
and (v) undertaking of ‘obligatory’ pilgrimage to the sacred sites
of Early Buddhism that facilitated the assembling and coalescence
of a broader communal consciousness and identity of being
Buddhists (Sohaib 2020). His research article in the present book
focuses on an analysis of the attempts of employment of tangible
terms for ‘self’ description, and unfailingly positing it against

Introducon 3
the followers of other sects. Sohaib, through an analysis of Pāli
Nikāyas, argues that the Buddha created a distinction between
his Dhamma and the other dhammas (which he referred to as
micchādiṭṭhis): the Buddha absolutely and resoundingly denied
even any comparability of his Dhamma with the dhammas of the
other sects (añña-titthiyas), much less their equivalence.2 Sohaib
argues that such vehement rejection of their equivalence with
the rival sects, by the Early Buddhists, is concurrently buttressed
by the employment of tangible terms for ‘self’ description, for
themselves, i.e. the ariyasāvaka, (“well-taught ariyan disciple”),
who was assiduously counterpoised to the followers of other sects
and creeds, i.e. the puthujjana (“untaught manyfolk”). Through
a contextual analysis of the Pāli Nikāyas, Sohaib argues that the
two distinct categories —ariyasāvaka and puthujjana— referred
to two mutually exclusive and oppositional religious groups,
representative of the ‘Buddhist’ and ‘non-Buddhist’ world. His
basic argument is that the ariyasāvaka as a denitional term for
self-description served as a classicatory label for identifying
distinctly the Early Buddhists.
As the demarcating lines between the ariyasāvaka and the
puthujjana were dened at the doctrinal level, the forging of a
common identity among the monks adhering to Buddhadhamma
became easier. Gradually, Buddhist monasticism developed
through an interplay of many socio-economic and religious
factors.3 The practice of many bhikṣus/ bhikṣuṇīs living in the same
monastery for prolonged periods created some issues of health
and hygiene. Gradually, a system of medicine developed in the
monasteries. In course of time, this system of medicine, initially
developed within the monastic centres for the benet of monks,
also travelled out, to benet society at large. Chhaya’s research
article in the present book, titled ‘Early Healing Practices: A
Study of Buddhist Literary and Archaeological Sources’, explores
practices associated with healing and hygiene in ancient Indian
Buddhist tradition. Her article, based on a combined analysis of
Pāli textual sources and archaeological ndings from different

4 Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism
vihāras—from Takṣaśilā (Taxila) in Gāndhāra in the north-west
to Nagarjunakonda and Thotlakonda in south and Vaiśālī and
Nālandā in east--- looks into the evolution of healing practices
within Indian Buddhist tradition.
The next two research articles in the present book discuss
the situation in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent
during the early historic period. Ashish Kumar’s research article,
titled ‘Rulers, Buddha’s Relics and Merit Sharing in North-western
India: Gleanings from the Inscriptions of the Śakas, the Kuṣāṇas
and the Hūṇas (circa 200 BCE- CE 600)’, offers an epigraphic
analysis of the evolving social bases of patronage to Buddhism
in this area. He argues that the establishment of the Buddha’s
relics in monastic sites became a political act in the post-Mauryan
period, when sites related with the Buddha and his relics were
transformed into a marker of their authority by the Śakas, the
Kuṣāṇas and the Alchon Hūṇas. Before their Indian conquests,
the Śakas, the Kuṣāṇas and the Alchon Hūṇas were nomadic
warriors in different parts of central Asia. When they conquered
different parts of North-western and northern India, they were,
as per Ashish Kumar’s analysis, confronted with twin tasks: one,
to keep the conquered territory under their control through the
creation of an efcient administrative structure, and second, to
make their rule acceptable to the conquered populations through
a selective adoption of local beliefs and cultural practices. Ashish
Kumar’s analysis indicates that, to achieve both of these tasks,
the Śakas, the Kuṣāṇas and the Alchon Hūṇas took initiatives,
including the establishment of Buddha’s relics.4 Such initiatives
stimulated the creation of the sacred geography of Buddhism in the
areas that they ruled. In this process, Buddhist monasteries played
an important role in integrating the people of non-indigenous
backgrounds in the regional as well as trans-regional networks
of piety and power by facilitating an interaction between the new
rulers and the indigenous populations.
Ashish Kumar argues that the act of dāna also underwent
a change under the Śakas, the Kuṣāṇas and the Alchon Hūṇas:

Introducon 5
it remained no more simply conned to recipients and donors;
rather, it came to constitute an act that could weave wider webs
of social and political networks through merit sharing. The act of
dāna during the reign of the Śaka and the Kuṣāṇa rulers came to
be seen as having potential to bestow good health and long life as
well as to enhance political power of the rulers and political elites.
The idea of merit sharing and the establishment of privately owned
monasteries changed the patterns of patronage to Buddhism. This
process, as aptly noted by Ashish Kumar, seems to have been
connected with the transformation of the central Asian nomadic-
pastoral groups into monarchical polities at varying degrees and
in varying forms in the north-western India of the post-Mauryan
times.5
The next research article in the present book by Krishna
Kumar Mandal, titled ‘Reections on the Agrarian World of
Early Historic Northern India in a Buddhist Text: A Study of the
Milindapañho’, looks into the agrarian situation in northern India as
reected in the Milindapañho, a text of c. 1st century AD. A contextual
analysis of this text makes him infer that land had been mainly in
the possession of individual peasants. As regards the extension of
the area of cultivation, state efforts seem to have been replaced by
individual efforts. The Milindapañho refers to the individual person
who clears the forest and takes other steps for making the land
for cultivation. And, because he brings the land under use, he is
called the owner of land. Theoretically, this investment of physical
labour in a piece of unclaimed land was supposed to confer on the
individual the title to that tract of land. The principle was probably
enunciated to give a llip to the extension of cultivation. But it would
be wrong to think the idea of the state ownership was absent. The
Milindapañho recognises king’s ownership all the towns, seaports,
etc., which are situated on the earth. This may indicate general
territorial sovereignty. Apparently, on account of this authority,
the king could appoint overlords of villages and janapadas. The
Milindapañho mentions the terms such as gahapatis, brāhmaṇa-
gahapatis, gahapati-kassako, kassako, kuṭipurise, gāmasāmika,

6 Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism
hālakiya, gāminī, and dāsa-kammakāras. Krishna Kumar Mandal
has undertaken a contextual analysis of these terms to look into
the issue of the emerging pattern of land-ownership as well as
differentiation within peasantry: issues which are not adequately
reected in contemporary inscriptions.
The next research article in the present book by Susan Verma
Mishra is titled ‘Buddhism in Mumbai Metropolitan Region:
A Reappraisal of Diverse Facets’. The Mumbai Metropolitan
Region (henceforth MMR, comprising of the islands of Salsette,
Vasai-Virar and the seven islands of Mumbai) contains an array
of sculptural, architectural and inscriptional data, indicating a
vibrant, dynamic and evolving Buddhist religious landscape.
While the better known sites of Sopara and Kanheri are prominent
landmarks dotting the landscape of the region, yet there are many
others that are hidden amongst the concrete jungle. The focus
of her paper is to acquaint the reader with the Buddhist sacred
landscape that once existed but is now untraceable and lost to
urbanisation. The major site that receives her focus is the site of
Kanheri. She explores the patterns of interactions between monks
and lay devotees, which favoured the long continuity of the site.
Questions addressed by her are: what could have been the causes
behind the site being occupied for such a long period? How did
it sustain itself and relate to its environment? What role did the
monks play in the region? Was it merely a centre of Buddhist
learning, an isolated retreat, where monks were concerned with
meditational practices and higher knowledge, or were more
practical aspects of functioning of a site, its evolution, planning,
sustenance and management being tended to by monks? What
are often understudied are the silent and unrecorded participants
that were essential to the functioning and continuity of a site,
the local inhabitants, pilgrims and artisans. The potential of the
site for architectural and sculptural evolution and expansion, the
ability of the monastics of the site to garner resources-- human
and natural --in the surroundings of the site and its management
and meticulous utilisation are carefully addressed by her. In this

Introducon 7
aspect, her research article offers a different paradigm than the
one presented in those studies, which explain the emergence and
decline of Buddhist centres in this area as an adjunct phenomenon
of Indo-Roman trade, urbanisation and monetization. Her research
article also moves away from studying Kanheri as an isolated
site. She attempts to place it within a wider Buddhist landscape
of MMR. Her research article also informs about other sites on
Salsette extending from 2nd /1st century BCE to 9th /10th century
CE. Archaeological data and recent explorations inform us of
the existence of other Buddhist sites on Salsette island: Padan,
Mahakali and Vehar to mention a few. The island of Vasai also
had many Buddhist sites that were contemporaneous to the stūpa
at Sopara. Buddhism continued on the island of Vasai till the
end of the early medieval period. On the island of Elephanta,
besides the famed World Heritage Site of Brahmanical caves,
there is also a Buddhist stūpa and evidence suggests the presence
of free standing temples on the island as well. Jaina presence is
also indicated in MMR during the early medieval period. Clearly,
Buddhism existed in a poly-religious landscape, and this poly-
religiousity had some fundamental implications for the trajectories
of Buddhism in MMR. Susan Verma Mishra’s article looks into
some of these issues.
The issue of poly-religiousity and its implications for the
trajectories of Buddhism is also addressed in the next research
article in the present book. Shivanee’s paper titled ‘Socio-
Economic and Cultic Developments in the Hinterland of the
Nālandā Mahāvihāra: A Study of the Published Archaeological
Data’, attempts to understand the socio-economic and cultic
situations in the neighbourhood of the Nālandā Mahāvihāra, from
the sixth century BCE to the end of the twelfth century CE. Her
study builds on some existing studies on this theme and explores the
socio-economic and cultic situations in the neighbourhood of the
Nālandā Mahāvihāra.6 Nālandā Mahāvihāra emerged, functioned
and declined in a poly-religious landscape (Prasad 2021: 100-103).
This Mahāvihāra was established in a densely-settled area, where

8 Studies in the History and Culture of Ancient Indian Buddhism
it had to negotiate an entrenched presence of not only Brahmanism
but also the animistic Nāga cult.7 Her research article throws some
interesting light on these aspects of Nālandā Mahāvihāra.
If this book inspires researches in future, we will be adequately
rewarded.
no t e s
1. For some recent reconstructions of the socio-religious implications
of poly-religiousity in different parts of early medieval eastern India
(Bihar and Bengal), see Prasad et al. 2009; Prasad 2010; Prasad
2010a; Prasad 2011: 1-25; Prasad 2011a; Prasad 2012; Prasad 2013;
Prasad 2013a; Prasad 2014; Prasad 2018; Prasad 2020; Prasad
2020a; Prasad 2021; Prasad 2021b: 1-2; Prasad 2022: 1-5. For early
medieval Odisha, see Mishra 2009. For Gāndhāra area, see Verardi
2011; Verardi 2012. For a history of the Ājīvikas in ancient India, see
Basham 2009.
2. However, the pattern in early medieval Bihar and Bengal appears
to be different. For the Buddhist Saṅgha of early medieval Bihar
and Bengal, Brahmanical deities did not radiate mithyādṛṣṭi. For
the Buddhist Saṅgha of this area, Brahmanical gods and goddesses
were, rather, divine beings, who were to be integrated into the
institutional fabric of Buddhism, not as equals, but in a manner
of subordinate union. That explains the frequent ndings of stone
and metal sculptures of Brahmanical deities in the religious space
of many Buddhist monastic centres of early medieval Bihar and
Bengal. See Prasad 2013; Prasad 2014 (reprinted in Prasad 2021a:
41-44); Prasad 2018; and Prasad 2021: 543-568.
3. For an analysis of some of the factors behind the birth of Buddhist
monasticism, see Ali 1988; Gombrich 1988; and Strenski 1983. For
a historiographical review, see Prasad 2008. For a short summary
of the evolution of Buddhist monasticism in India in its interaction
with various socio-economic and religious processes, see Prasad
2011: 1-7.
4. For an earlier analysis of the role of Buddhism in the Kuṣāṇa polity,
particularly in the legitimation of the Kuṣāṇa state, see Heitzmann
1984; Bracey 2012; Falk 2013. For an analysis of the patterns of
non-royal patronage to the Buddhist monastic site of Sanghol, see
Kaushik 2021.

Introducon 9
5. For an analysis of the later phase of history of Buddhism in this
area, including Gāndhāra and adjoining portions of Afghanistan,
see Verardi 2011; Verardi 2012.
6. For some earlier studies related to this theme, see Prasad et al. 2009;
Prasad 2010; Prasad 2010a; Prasad 2011: 81-83; Prasad 2011a;
Prasad 2012; Prasad 2013a; Prasad 2014a; Prasad 2021:100-103.
7. The tutelary deity of Nālandā Temple/Stūpa Site 3 was a Nāgarāja,
which was donated by a brāhmaṇa Mahāyāna upāsaka (Prasad
2018: 326; Prasad 2019:164; Prasad 2021: 268-269). That shows
the continuing importance of Nāga cult in the ritual life of this
Mahāvihāra.
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Mahāvihāra’. Paper presented at the National Seminar on “Recent
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and Explorations in the Ganga valley, organized by The Bihar

Introducon 11
Purāvid Pariṣad, in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey
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