Big picture
Between about 600 BCE and 600 CE, the subcontinent saw intense debates about life, death and the right way to live. New teachers such as Mahavira and the Buddha challenged existing beliefs, and their followers built stupas, monasteries and later temples with rich sculpture.
Historians study these ideas through texts and through buildings and sculpture, especially the great stupa at Sanchi. This chapter shows how both kinds of sources are read, and how easy it is to misread them.
Learning goals
Explain the discovery and preservation of the Sanchi stupa.
Describe the background of sacrifices and debates in which new ideas emerged.
Explain the teachings of Mahavira and Jainism.
Explain the Buddha's teachings, the sangha and the role of women.
Describe Buddhist texts and how teachings were preserved.
Describe the structure of stupas and interpret Buddhist sculpture and symbols.
Explain Mahayana Buddhism, Puranic Hinduism and early temples.
Core ideas
1. The Sanchi stupa
Sanchi (near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) has the best-preserved stupas of early India.
In the nineteenth century, Europeans were interested in its gateways; French and British officials wanted to take them to museums abroad, but casts were made instead and the originals stayed in place.
The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and her successor Sultan Jehan Begum, provided money for its preservation. John Marshall dedicated his important volumes on Sanchi to Sultan Jehan Begum.
Sanchi survived while Amaravati's stupa was dismantled, its sculptures taken to Calcutta, Madras and London before archaeologists such as H.H. Cole argued that it was wrong to remove antiquities from their original sites.
2. The background: sacrifices and debates
Vedic sacrifices, described in the Rigveda, were performed to win the gods' favour; later, elaborate sacrifices like the rajasuya and ashvamedha were performed by chiefs and kings.
From around the sixth century BCE, thinkers questioned the meaning of life, death and rebirth. The Upanishads discussed the nature of the self (atman) and ultimate reality (brahman).
Debates took place in kutagarashalas (huts with pointed roofs) or groves where travelling teachers met. Teachers included Makkhali Gosala (fatalism) and Ajita Kesakambalin (materialism), along with Mahavira and the Buddha.
3. Mahavira and Jainism
Vardhamana Mahavira, the 24th tirthankara ("one who guides across the river of existence"), was preceded by 23 teachers.
Core idea: the entire world is animated: even stones, rocks and water have life. Hence ahimsa (non-injury) to all living beings is central.
The cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped by karma; to escape it, one must practise asceticism and penance, often by renouncing the world.
Five vows for monks and nuns: not to kill, steal or lie; to observe celibacy; and not to possess property.
Jainism spread to many parts of India; Jaina scholars produced a wealth of literature in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil, and many stunning images and manuscripts survive.
4. The Buddha and his teachings
Siddhartha (also called Gautama) was born a prince of the Sakya gana. Moved by four sights (an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a renouncer), he left the palace in search of truth.
After years of meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya and became the Buddha (the Awakened One). He taught for the rest of his life and died at Kusinagara (parinibbana).
Teachings:
The world is transient (anicca) and constantly changing; it is also soulless (anatta) and full of sorrow (dukkha).
Suffering arises from desire (tanha); by following the middle path between severe penance and self-indulgence, people can rise above worldly troubles.
Individual effort to transform social relations and to be kind is emphasised; the existence of god was considered irrelevant.
The ultimate goal is nibbana, the extinguishing of desire and the cycle of rebirth.
5. The sangha and women
The Buddha founded the sangha, an organisation of monks (bhikkhus) who lived simply, depending on alms, and taught the dhamma.
Initially only men were admitted; later, women were allowed. Mahapajapati Gotami, the Buddha's foster mother, was the first woman ordained as a bhikkhuni. Many women became teachers and theris (respected women who had attained liberation).
The Therigatha, part of the Sutta Pitaka, is a collection of verses composed by bhikkhunis, giving insights into women's experiences.
The sangha included people from many backgrounds: kings, wealthy men, gahapatis, workers, slaves and craftspeople. All were considered equal within the sangha once they joined.
6. Buddhist texts
The Buddha's teachings were transmitted orally and compiled at councils of elders. They were later written down in the Tipitaka ("three baskets"): the Vinaya Pitaka, rules for the sangha; the Sutta Pitaka, the Buddha's teachings; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka, philosophical matters.
Later texts include the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa (Sri Lankan chronicles) and the Jatakas (stories of the Buddha's previous lives).
Chinese pilgrims such as Fa Xian and Xuan Zang carried Buddhist texts to China.
7. Stupas
What they are: stupas are mounds that contain relics of the Buddha, such as bodily remains or objects he used, buried there. They became sacred sites. Asoka is said to have distributed the Buddha's relics and ordered stupas built over them.
Who built them: inscriptions on railings and pillars record donations by kings, guilds (for example, the ivory workers' guild at Sanchi), and many ordinary men and women, including bhikkhus and bhikkhunis.
Structure of a stupa:
Part | Description |
|---|---|
Anda | The semi-circular mound of earth |
Harmika | A balcony-like structure on top, representing the abode of the gods |
Yashti | A mast arising from the harmika |
Chhatri | An umbrella on the yashti |
Vedika | A railing around the mound, separating the sacred space from the secular world |
Toranas | Ornamented gateways (at Sanchi, four gateways richly carved) |
Devotees entered from the east gate and walked around the mound clockwise (pradakshina), following the sun's path.
8. Interpreting Buddhist sculpture
Early sculptors often didn't show the Buddha in human form; they used symbols:
the empty seat for the Buddha's meditation;
the stupa for mahaparinibbana;
the wheel for the first sermon at Sarnath (setting the wheel of dhamma in motion);
the tree (bodhi tree) for the enlightenment.
Stories: one sculpture at Sanchi shows a village scene with thatched huts and trees; art historians identified it as a scene from the Vessantara Jataka, about a generous prince.
Popular traditions: the shalabhanjika (a woman hanging from a tree, believed to make trees bloom) at Sanchi suggests that people who came to Buddhism enriched it with pre-existing beliefs. Gajalakshmi, a goddess bathed by elephants, and animal motifs also appear.
9. Mahayana Buddhism
By the first century CE, ideas within Buddhism changed. The Buddha came to be seen as a saviour, and bodhisattvas (compassionate beings who postponed their own nibbana to help others attain it) were worshipped.
Images of the Buddha and bodhisattvas were made, especially at Mathura and Taxila (Gandhara).
This new tradition called itself Mahayana ("great vehicle") and called the older tradition Hinayana ("lesser vehicle"). Followers of the older tradition called themselves Theravadins (followers of the path of old, respected teachers).
10. Puranic Hinduism and early temples
Vaishnavism (worship of Vishnu as the chief deity) and Shaivism (worship of Shiva) grew, emphasising bhakti (devotion) towards a chosen deity.
In Vaishnavism, avatars (incarnations) of Vishnu were worshipped; ten avatars were recognised, each believed to have come to save the world when order was threatened. Shiva was often represented by the linga.
Puranas, compiled by Brahmanas, told stories of gods and goddesses in simple Sanskrit, meant to be read aloud to everyone, including women and Shudras.
Early temples had a small square room called the garbhagriha (sanctum), with a single doorway for the worshipper to enter and offer worship to the image. Over time, a tall structure, the shikhara, was built over the sanctum. Temple walls were often decorated with sculpture.
Examples: the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh (Uttar Pradesh, fifth century); some early temples were hollowed out of rock, such as the Kailashnatha temple at Ellora (eighth century), carved from a single piece of rock; rock-cut shrines at Mahabalipuram.
11. Problems of interpretation
European scholars in the nineteenth century often found Indian sculpture strange, with many arms and heads, and tried to understand it by comparing it with familiar Greek art, which led to misinterpretations. Historians today try to understand images in their own context, comparing them with texts, but texts don't always explain images. For example, a huge relief at Mahabalipuram has been interpreted as the descent of the Ganga from heaven or as Arjuna doing penance, and scholars still debate it.
A reliable approach to questions
For Sanchi, mention the Begums of Bhopal and why it survived when Amaravati didn't.
For Jainism, explain the animated world, ahimsa, karma and the five vows.
For the Buddha, explain anicca, dukkha, the middle path and nibbana, and the sangha.
For stupas, name each part and explain the meaning of the symbols.
For Mahayana and Puranic Hinduism, explain bodhisattvas, avatars, bhakti and temple structure.
Connections that matter
Kings, farmers and towns: Asoka and other rulers patronised Buddhism and built stupas.
Kinship, caste and class: Buddhist views challenged birth-based status.
Bhakti-Sufi traditions continues the story of devotional religion.
Common mistakes
Saying early sculptors always showed the Buddha in human form. Early art used symbols.
Confusing the parts of a stupa (anda, harmika, yashti, chhatri, vedika, torana).
Calling the Vinaya Pitaka a collection of the Buddha's teachings. It contains rules for the sangha; teachings are in the Sutta Pitaka.
Saying bodhisattvas sought nibbana for themselves first. They postponed it to help others.
Revision checklist
I can explain the preservation of Sanchi.
I can explain the teachings of Mahavira and the Buddha.
I can explain the sangha, the role of women and the Tipitaka.
I can describe the structure of a stupa and interpret symbols.
I can explain Mahayana Buddhism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism and early temples.