Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings
Cultural Developments (c. 600 BCE-600CE)
A Glimpse of Sanchi
● 19th century Europeans were very interested in the
stupa at Sanchi.
● The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and her
successor Sultan Jehan Begum, provided money
for the preservation of the ancient site.
Thinkers, Beliefs and Traditions
● The mid-first millennium BCE saw the emergence of
thinkers such as Zarathustra in Iran, Kong Zi in
China, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Greece, and
Mahavira and Gautama Buddha, among many
others in India.
The Sacrificial Tradition
● There were several traditions of thought, religious
belief and practice, including the early Vedic
tradition, which were known from the Rigveda. It was
compiled between c. 1500 and 1000 BCE.
New Questions
● Many ideas found in the Upanishads show that
people were curious about the meaning of life, the
possibility of life after death and rebirth. People also
began questioning the significance of the sacrificial
tradition.
Debates and Discussions
● Buddhist texts, mention 64 sects or schools of
thought.
● Teachers travelled from place to place, trying to
convince one another as well as lay persons, about
the validity of their philosophy or the way they
understood the world.
● Debates took place in the kutagarashala, a hut with
a pointed roof or in groves where travelling
mendicants halted.
Beyond Worldly Pleasures
The Message of Mahavira
● The basic philosophy of the Jainas was already
in existence in North India before the birth of
Vardhamana, who came to be known as
Mahavira.
● The most important idea in Jainism is that the entire
world is animated, even stones, rocks and water
have life.
● Non-injury to living being, especially to humans,
animals, plants and insects, is important according
to Jaina philosophy.
The Spread of Jainism
● Jainism spread to many parts of India. Like the
Buddhists, Jaina scholars produced literature in a
variety of languages like Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil.
The Buddha and the Quest for Enlightenment
● Siddhartha, (Buddha) was the son of a chief of the
Sakya clan.
● In the search of truth, he explored several paths
including bodily mortification which led him to a
situation of near death.
● He meditated for several days and finally attained
enlightenment.
● After this he came to be known as the Buddha or the
enlightened one.
The Teachings of the Buddha
● The Buddha’s teachings have been reconstructed
from stories found mainly in the Sutta Pitaka.
● According to Buddhist philosophy, the world is
transient (anicca) and constantly changing. It is also
soulless (anatta) as there is nothing permanent or
eternal in it.
● Sorrow (dukkha) is intrinsic (natural) to human
existence. It is by following the path of moderation
between severe penance and self-indulgence that
human beings can rise above these worldly troubles.
● The Buddha emphasised individual agency and the
righteous action as the means to escape from the
cycle of rebirth and attain self-realisation and
nibbana.
Followers of the Buddha
● Buddha founded a sangha, an organisation of monks
who also became teachers of dhamma.
● These monks lived simply and possess only essential requirements for survival such as a bowl to
receive food once a day from the laity (ordinary
people). As they lived on alms, they were known as
bhikkhus.
● The Buddha’s foster mother, Mahapajapati Gotami
was the first women to be ordained as a bhikkhuni.
Many women who entered the sangha became
teachers of dhamma and went on to become theris,
or respected women who had attained liberation.
● Buddhism grew rapidly both during the lifetime of the
Buddha and after his death. It appealed to many
people who were dissatisfied with existing religious
practices and confused by the rapid social changes taking place around them.
Stupas
● Buddhist literature mentions several chaityas. It
also describes places associated with the
Buddha’s life where he was born (Lumbini), where
he attained enlightenment (Bodh Gaya), where he
gave his first sermon (Sarnath) and where he
attained nibbana (Kusinagara).
Building of Stupas
● Stupas were built through donations made by kings
such as the Satvahanas.
● They were also made by guilds such as the ivory
workers who financed part of one of the gateways
at Sanchi.
● Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis also contributed towards building these monuments.
The Structure of the Stupa
● The stupa (a Sanskrit word meaning a heap)
originated as a simple semi-circular mound of Earth
later called anda.
● Above the anda was the harmika, a balcony like
structure that represented the abode of the gods.
‘Discovering’ Stupas
The Fate of Amaravati and Sanchi
● In 1854, Walter Elliot, the commissioner of Guntur
(Andhra Pradesh), visited Amaravati and collected
several sculpture panels and took them away to
Madras (Chennai).
● He also discovered the remains of the Western
gateway and came to the conclusion that the
structure at Amaravati was one of the largest and
most magnificent Buddhist stupa.
Sculpture
Stories in Stone
● Art historians studied the sculpture at Sanchi and
identified it as a scene from the Vessantara Jataka.
● Vessantara Jataka is a story about a generous
prince who gave away everything to a Brahmana,
and went to live in the forest with his wife and
children.
Symbols of Worship
● Many early sculptors show Buddha through
symbols and not in human form.
● An empty seat sculpture shows the meditation of
the Buddha and the stupa was meant to represent
the Maha Parinibbana.
● Another frequently used symbol was the wheel
which stood for the first sermon of the Buddha
delivered at Sarnath.
Popular Traditions
● Some sculptures at Sanchi were not directly inspired by Buddhist ideas. These include beautiful
women swinging from the edge of the gateway,
holding onto a tree. According to popular belief,
this was a woman whose touch caused trees to
flower and bear fruit.
● Another motif is that of a woman surrounded by
lotuses and elephants which seem to be sprinkling
water on her as if performing an abhisheka or
consecration.
New Religious Traditions
The Development of Mahayana Buddhism
● Early Buddhist teachings had given great importance
to self-effort in achieving nibbana.
● Besides, the Buddha was regarded as a human
being who attained enlightenment and nibbana
through his own efforts.
● The worships of images of the Buddha and
Bodhisattas became an important part of this tradition. This new way of thinking was called Mahayana-
literally, the ‘great vehicle’.
● Those who adopted these beliefs described the older
tradition as Hinayana or the ‘lesser vehicle’.
The Growth of Puranic Hinduism
● Hinduism include Vaishnavism and Shaivism.
Vaishnavism was a form within which Vishnu was
worshipped as principal deity. Shaivism was a
tradition within which Shiva was regarded as the
chief God.
● In such worship, the bond between the devotee and
the god was visualised as bhakti, i.e. love and
devotion between them.
● In the case of Vaishnavism, cults developed around
various avtars or incarnations while Shiva was
symbolised by the linga.
Building Temples
● The early temple was a small square room, called
the garbhagriha, with a single doorway for the
worshipper to enter and offer worship to the
image.
● A tall structure known as the shikhara, was built over
the central shrine.
● One of the unique features of early temples was that
some of these were hollowed out of huge rocks, as
artificial caves.
● The tradition of building artificial caves was an old
one. Some of the earliest of these were constructed
in the 3rd century BCE on the orders of Asoka for
renouncers who belonged to the Ajivika sect.
