Book extract — Casting the Buddha: A Monumental History of Buddhism in India

The story of how Buddhism set down its roots in India is enshrined within ancient stupas, temples, monasteries and caves – the silent sentinels of this enduring faith. Casting the Buddha takes the reader on a journey through the rich history of the enchanting Mahabodhi temple, intricate Sanchi stupas, Ajanta’s vibrant murals, Nalanda’s grand ruins and beyond, exploring how these spaces offered unique environments for art, philosophy, devotion and politics to intermingle. Sinha follows the trail of the Buddha’s footsteps as the latter went from enlightenment and teaching to an idea that inspired the creation of these grand monuments, blurring the lines between the history and myth of his existence. Some of these are now UNESCO World Heritage sites that draw millions of pilgrims from around the world, while also playing a key role in global politics by firmly establishing India as a guardian of Buddhism and a diplomatic ally to its Buddhist neighbours. A window into the life and times of Buddhists then and now, this comprehensive account paints a remarkable picture of how these breathtaking sites – once safe havens for kings, monks, traders and laity alike – have survived centuries of tumultuous history to tell the story of human and stone. Well-researched, insightful and richly illustrated, Casting the Buddha infuses new life into a timeless faith.

Shashank Shekhar Sinha is an independent researcher, publisher and author, known for his expertise in monuments, heritage, Adivasi studies, gender issues and witch hunting. He taught history at undergraduate colleges in the University of Delhi for nearly a decade (1994–2004) and later worked at Oxford University Press (2004–2012) before becoming Publishing Director at Routledge (South Asia), part of the Taylor & Francis Group in 2012.

Sinha regularly contributes to academic journals and books. He writes a series of articles on UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Frontline magazine, and on the politics of heritage for the Wire. Sinha has featured on television programmes discussing history and heritage, on channels such as AajTak, Rajya Sabha TV (now Sansad TV), News18 and NDTV 24X7. He is the author of Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Restless Mothers and Turbulent Daughters, and co-editor of Gender in Modern India.

'Places Buddhist monuments in a social, geographical and spiritual context' His Holiness the Dalai Lama

‘Fresh, thoughtful’ Susan L. Huntington

‘Wonderfully engaging and accessible’ Upinder Singh

‘Breathes life into Buddhist monuments’ Himanshu Prabha Ray

‘Successfully collates key case studies and theories within the archaeology of Buddhism’ Julia Shaw

The following excerpt has been taken with permission from the publishers.

************

Efflorescence and Spread amidst Brahmanical Revival

The kings of these countries [madhyadesha], the chief men and householders, have raised viharas for the priests [monks] and provided for their support by bestowing on them fields [agricultural lands], houses and gardens with men and oxen. Engraved title deeds were prepared and handed down from one reign to another.

This was how Chinese traveller Faxian described the monasteries flourishing in the region south of Mathura in north India, noting their substantial property and assets. He also pointed out that the monks were well-settled in the viharas and did not have to bother about arranging day-to-day requirements. This description also broadly applies to other regions of the subcontinent during the period c. 300–600 CE, known as the Gupta–Vakataka age. This era, celebrated for its artistic achievements, saw a revival of sites associated with the Buddha’s life, alongside the geography of old Magadha. Kings and empires returned as patrons, with Nalanda and Sarnath emerging as prominent centres of Buddhist learning, while Ajanta rose to significance in peninsular India.

Interestingly, the Gupta–Vakataka period also witnessed a ‘Brahmanical revival’, characterized by the ascendancy of the Sanskrit language, Puranas and temple-based sectarian cults centred around deities like Shiva and Vishnu, along with the worship of goddesses (mainly Shakti) and the rise of tantrism. The religious landscape of the time was marked by the continued influence of popular devotional cults and the emergence of Bhakti (devotion to a personal God) and tantra worship.

How did these developments impact Buddhism and its practitioners? How did these changes manifest across different regions? The two factors that played a crucial role in shaping Buddhism during this period were regional political dynamics and trade.

THE RETURN OF THE ROYAL PATRONS: THE GUPTAS AND THE VAKATAKAS

As India became more integrated with trading nations across Asia, Africa and Europe, monks and merchants ventured into new frontiers. Ports on the western coast and in southern India maintained trade connections with Arabia, Persia and Byzantium, while enhancing commerce with Sri Lanka, China and Southeast Asia. The expanding Silk Route facilitated the movement of monks between India, China and Central Asia. Concurrently, itinerant merchant communities from Central Asia extended their trading networks into eastern and Southeast Asia, significantly contributing to the introduction of Buddhist teachings and images in China. The spread of Buddhist ideas in Southeast Asia had an interesting trade connection. It was the demands of trade with the eastern Mediterranean, particularly of spices and semi-precious stones, which led Indian traders of Buddhist and Hindu affiliations to venture into Southeast Asian waters. Monks and missions followed soon after. 

The post-Kushana and Satavahana era saw significant changes in India’s political and social landscape. With state formations and new hierarchies emerging, kings and rulers granted lands and villages to officials, individuals and religious institutions – including Buddhists – to consolidate and legitimize their power. Genealogies were elaborated and rulers adopted grand titles. In a period characterized by fluid political boundaries, the region constituting the core of the old Magadha and Mauryan empires emerged as the new Gupta empire. In the Deccan, the Vakatakas inherited the legacy of the Satavahanas. 

The Guptas ruled over most of north India from 300 to 600 CE, with their empire encompassing modern Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal (the highlands of central India and parts of the eastern coast). Their control extended through military conquests and a network of tributary states. While the Gupta kings are primarily known for their patronage of Brahmanical cults, some also supported Buddhism.Some Buddhist sources suggest that Gupta king Vikramaditya sent his queen and son, Baladitya, to study under renowned Buddhist scholar Vasubandhu in Nalanda. Another Gupta king, Narasimhagupta, is said to have become a Buddhist monk and devoted his life to meditation. Seals and inscriptions of the Gupta kings indicate that some of them built monasteries in Nalanda and supported them through land and village grants.

In eastern Deccan, the decline of the Ikshvakus and the Nagarjunakonda complex did not diminish the significance of the Amravati mahachaitya, which continued to attract pilgrims and patrons. The Vakatakas, ruling as a major political power in the Deccan from around the mid-3rd century CE to the late 5th or early 6th centuries CE, had matrimonial ties with influential imperial dynasties, including the Guptas. Although their inscriptions describe them as Brahmans, the Vakatakas patronized Buddhist establishments like those at Ajanta. The period between 300 and 600 CE also saw the spread of Buddhist monastic establishments in the Tamil country, in the deep south, along with the proliferation of the Mahayana school. 

COUNTLESS BODHISATTVAS AND COUNTLESS HEAVENS: THE EXPANDING MYTHOLOGY OF MAHAYANA

Although the Mahayana school and the cult of the bodhisattvas began to take root in the early centuries of the Christian era, it was between the 4th and 6th/7th centuries that they acquired firm grounding. During this period, inscriptions related to the Mahayana school emerged at sites such as Mathura, Sarnath, Ajanta, Bodh Gaya and Nagarjunakonda. It was also when images and/or paintings of the bodhisattvas made their appearance in the Buddhist caves at Kanheri, Ajanta and Aurangabad in the Deccan. Additionally, this era saw the composition of Mahayana texts like Manjushri-mulakalpa. During this period, prominent Yogachara thinkers, such as Asanga and Vasubandhu, and Madhyamaka philosophers like Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka and Chandrakirti, were active and influential as well.

The Buddhist pantheon expanded to include not only countless bodhisattvas but also several heavens and Buddhas’ lands, which served as abodes for the Buddhas and the bodhisattvas, and as rest stations for lay worshippers on their way to salvation. While the Pali canon, associated with the conservative tradition, talks mostly about the provisions of food and lodging for the Buddha and the sangha, the Mahayana Sanskrit texts indicate that objects of donation now included monumental stupas, monastery buildings and luxury goods that had come to include items like coral, glass objects, pearls and precious stones exported from India to China, and Chinese silk imported into India.

The progressive use of these new luxury items in Buddhist ritual practices and ceremonies standardized the concept of sapta ratna (seven treasures), a term traditionally used for a group of prized offerings made to the Buddha, mostly precious metals and stones. This new dynamic also stimulated the demand for luxury goods and strengthened the relationship between the monasteries and the commercial laity, who could count on the bodhisattva’s transferable merit to seek higher spiritual attainments. The expanding materialism and mythology of the Mahayana school offered infinite possibilities. One of the ways this was made possible was through the doctrine of the trikaya, the three bodies.

Some scholars believe the trikaya doctrine, which was probably developed from an old Mahasanghika ideal, says that Gautama Buddha was not merely a human but also the earthly manifestation of a powerful spiritual being. According to this doctrine, the Buddha had three bodies: the body of essence (dharmakaya), the body of bliss (sambhogakaya) and the created body (nirmanakaya). Of these, only the created body was visible on earth. The body of essence eternally pervaded the universe as the ultimate Buddha, with the other two bodies serving as its emanations. The body of bliss existed in the heavens, while the created body referred to different forms assumed by the Buddha on the earth. The Buddha’s body of bliss was the presiding deity of the chief Mahayana heaven – the Sukhavati (happy land) – where the blessed were reborn in lotus buds arising from a lovely lake in front of the Buddha’s throne. This divine Buddha was usually called Amitabha (‘of immeasurable glory’), or Amitayus (‘of immeasurable age’). Amitabha came to occupy the position of the Father in heaven. He, the historical Gautama Buddha, and bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara were closely associated and played a big part in the Mahayana scheme as they were chiefly concerned with this region of the universe and this period of cosmic time. However, there were many other heavenly Buddhas presiding over other heavens and universes. 

The religious atmosphere of the time was also characterized by cross-cultural borrowings and contestations. There were intense philosophical debates between Buddhist and Brahmanical traditions. The rivalry and competition between the Buddhists and the Shaivites (followers of the Shiva pantheon) was very conspicuous and involved disputes around doctrinal matters and patronage. However, it will be safe to say that there were enough instances of assimilations and intersections, as shall become evident in the following section.

THE RISE OF BHAKTI AND SHAKTI: APPROPRIATION OF POPULAR CULTS

All three dominant religious traditions – Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina – borrowed from/assimilated/appropriated, in varying degrees, the ascendant popular cults or traditions of the time. These included the Bhakti ideal, which involved devotion to a personal God (in contrast to the priest- and sacrifice-dominated Vedic Brahmanism); popular and devotional worship of yakshas and yakshis, nagas and nagis, and other celestial beings like apsaras (heavenly dancers and singers), gandharvas (divine musicians), kinnars (half-humans, half-birds) and vidyadharas (pair of males brandishing swords); Shakti, which centred around the worship of the female consorts of male deities; and Tantrism, which built on the cult of Shakti but went beyond and included initiation rituals, secret rites, magical formulae and sexual union. Other similarities and intersections seen among the dominant religious traditions of the time included image worship in shrines and the emergence of pantheons of gods. These pantheons involved the worship of presiding deities accompanied by a host of subsidiary deities. The pantheon phenomenon was particularly strong in Shaivism (centred around Lord Shiva) and Vaishnavism (centred around Lord Vishnu), but it also manifested in the growing Mahayana deities in Buddhism and the cult of tirthankaras in Jaina tradition. 

 In Buddhism, the Bhakti ideal manifested in the growing cult of the bodhisattvas (the Buddhas-in-waiting) and in the worship of Buddhist deities in shrines. The apsidal- and circular-shaped chaityagrihas of the preceding centuries gave way to full-fledged temples with different architectural styles. Unfortunately, Gupta-period temples have not survived, but we can form an idea of their architecture from archaeological remains and contemporary textual accounts. Examples include Temple 17 of Sanchi, Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, Mulagandhakuti at Sarnath and Baladitya temple at Nalanda. Sometimes, the shrines or temples were shared among multiple religious traditions. Ellora, for instance, has caves dedicated to Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina deities. The incorporation of popular regional cults like yakshas, yakshis, nagas, nagis and other celestial beings in the Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina traditions had already begun in the early centuries of the Christian era. This continued during the Gupta–Vakataka age. Images of Yakshi Hariti and her consort, Panchika, could be seen in a subsidiary shrine in the Buddhist caves at Ajanta. Legend has it that Hariti, a demoness who devoured children in Rajagriha, was tamed by the Buddha and assured food in every monastery. This was how the custom of installing her images began in the Buddhist monasteries. In the last chapter, we came across stories of nagas being tamed by the Buddha in Amravati and Bodh Gaya. The Ajanta caves and other Buddhist shrines of the time also have images of yakshas, nagas and other demigods, but they appear more as dwarfs, palace guards or subordinate figures at subsidiary places like entrances, facades, door jambs, pillars and pillar brackets. This phenomenon, scholars say, reflects an attempt on the part of the dominant religious traditions to appropriate popular cults to expand their base and then subordinate them. One no longer comes across independent worship of such popular deities in dedicated shrines. 

Tantrism, which centred around the practice of tantra, was another phenomenon that became common in the Brahmanical traditions, particularly the Shaiva and Shakti cults, and the Buddhists. It did not, however, hold great appeal among the Jainas.

TANTRISM ENTERS THE FAITH, TARAS APPEAR ON THE SCENE

Among the Buddhists, a tantric tradition called the Vajrayana (the ‘cycle of the thunderbolt’) became important from the 7th–8th centuries, particularly in eastern India. The exact origins of Tantrism are difficult to point out, but it is agreed that the cult started acquiring form around the 5th century CE. It conceptualized the godhead as a union of the masculine and feminine energies. Over a period, some attributes came to be associated with Tantrism. These included energy (Shakti), initiation (diksha/deeksha), prayers and magical formulae (mantras), meditation (dhyana), postures and yogic practices, sexual rites and terrifying deities. Tantra practices were broadly aimed at awakening the kundalini – energy coiled up in the body like a serpent – and pulling it upwards to unite with the supreme. The notion of puja, or worship, in Tantra often involved the transformation of the worshipper into the deity. Gradually, the idea of the five elements, the panchatattva, became popular. The elements came to be identified as the five Ms – mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), madya (alcohol), maithuna (sexual intercourse) and mudra (parched grain). In tantric rituals, diagrams known as yantras, mandalas or chakras played an important role. 

In some cases, Tantrism was linked to the idea of Shakti, particularly among the Shaivites. However, the Shakti cult also grew outside of Tantrism. The union of Shiva and his wife, Uma (in various forms), became one of the dominant ways of defining the cult. Gradually, many Brahmanical goddesses, and personifications of different facets of their personalities, found their way into the Shakti fold. One of the starting points of such a belief was that the gods were mostly transcendent and aloof, that it was the goddesses or female consorts who played an active role in the world. The gods were, therefore, best approached through their wives and consorts, who constituted the force or potency (shakti) of their husbands. One of the manifestations of this belief was the introduction of wives in the Buddhist world. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas were gradually endowed with wives, popularly known as Taras. 

The first confirmed textual evidence of Tara worship comes from the 5th century CE, in Manjushri-mulakalpa. However, some scholars feel that the first feminine divinity who found her way into the Buddhist pantheon was Prajnaparamita (‘the perfection of wisdom or insight’), who personified the qualities of the bodhisattva. There are debates on the origins of Tara as well.10 Some scholars trace her origins to the tradition of Vedic Brahmanism and say she is mentioned in the Rig Veda. Others see her as the second of the ten mahavidyas, avatars of the great Mother Goddess Mahadevi, or Adi Parashakti, who in turn manifests in the trinity of Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Mahayana legends, however, situate Tara within the expanding Buddhist pantheon. She is believed to have emerged either from the teardrops of Avalokiteshvara (who cried looking at the suffering in the world and the thought of liberating so many souls) or from a lotus that grew from his tears. Tara, therefore, becomes a personification of compassion and is regarded as a saviour who liberates souls from suffering. She could also assume forms to help and protect her devotees. Tara was gradually assimilated in the Mahayana tradition as a bodhisattva, and later as a Buddha and the mother of Buddhas in Esoteric Buddhism, the Vajrayana Buddhism of the Tibetan tradition. 

The expanding world of Buddhism had interesting regional manifestations, which we will explore now.

Shashank Shekhar Sinha Casting the Buddha: A Monumental History of Buddhism in India Macmillan, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Publishing India, New Delhi, 2024. Pb. Pp. 390 Rs. 599