Buddhism in Indian History and Culture (Upto the Ambedkar Movement)/S.R.
Goyal. Jodhpur, Kusumanjali Book World, 2004, xxviii, 551 p.
Buddhism in Indian History and Culture (Upto the Ambedkar Movement)/S.R.
Goyal. Jodhpur, Kusumanjali Book World, 2004, xxviii, 551 p.
Contents: Preface. Book one: The Buddha , his gospel and the Sangha: I. Background and origins: 1. Pre-Vedic and Vedic background: (i) Prehistoric and Indus religious legacy. (ii) Vedic religious tradition. (iii) Religion of the Middle-Vedic age. (iv) Later Vedic or Upanishadic religion. 2. Pre-Buddha roots of Buddhistic ideas: (i) Heterogenous character of the Vedic society. (ii) Problem of 'Marginal Man' in the Vedic age. (iii) 'Marginal' groups of the Vedic age. 4. Emergence of new synthesis. 3. Society and thought-ferment which produced the Buddha: (i) Changes in material culture in the age of the Buddha. (ii) The thought-ferment. (iii) Religious leaders of the age. (iv) Brahmanism and popular cults in the age of the Buddha. II. The Triratna: 4. The Buddha: formative influences. 5. Life of Gotama the Buddha. 6. The Dhamma. 7. The Sangha: (i) The monastic discipline. (ii) Some aspects of the Sangha organisation. Appendix: Buddhist Sramanas in Megasthenes and other Greek writers. Book two: Indian Buddhism after the Mahaparinirvana: I. Buddhism in India after the Buddha upto the sack of Nalanda: 1. The four Buddhist councils. 2. The early Buddhist sects. 3. Expansion of Buddhism. 4. Causes of the success of Buddhism: (i) Causes of the early success. (ii) Causes of the later spread of Buddhism. 5. Mahayana Buddhism: (i) Factors in the rise of Mahayana. (ii) Antiquity and original home of Mahayana. (iii) Main features of Mahayana. (iv) Philosophy and literature of Mahayana. 6. Tantrika Buddhism: (i) Meaning and nature of Tantrikism. (ii) Origin of Tantrikism. (iii) Schools of Tantrikism. (iv) Assessment of Buddhist Tantrikism. II. Buddhism and Indian culture: 7. Place of Buddhism in Indian history and culture. 8. Social philosophy of Buddhism. 9. Buddhist political thought. 10. Buddhist historiography and philosophy of history: (i) Factors in the rise of Buddhist historiography. (ii) Development of Buddhist historiography. (iii) Buddhist philosophy of history. 11. Buddhist system of education: (i) Early Buddhist education. (ii) Later Buddhist education. (iii) Nalanda and other Mahaviharas. 12. Buddhist literature and art: (i) Contribution to Indian languages and literatures. (ii) Contribution of Buddhism to Indian art. (iii) Buddhism and some other aspects of Indian culture. III. Decline, disappearance and revival: 13. Decline and disappearance: (i) Internal factors in the decline of Buddhism. (ii) External factors in the decline of Buddhism. 14. Revival of Buddhism in modern India. 15. Ambedkar and contemporary Indian Buddhism. IV. Appendices: 1. Asoka's interest in Buddhism before his accession. 2. Pushymitra Sunga and the persecution of Buddhism. 3. Menander as a Buddhist King. 4. Kanishka and Buddhism. 5. The two Vasubandhus and the Imperial Guptas. 6. Was Harsha personally a Buddhist? 7. Sasanka and Buddhism. 8. Buddhism under the Pala dynasty. 9. Buddhist symbols and Buddha image on ancient Indian coins. 10. Buddhism in early South Indian history. Bibliography. Index.
"The present work is a comprehensive history of Indian Buddhism. In many ways it is different from other similar works. Firstly, most of the works dealing with the history of Indian Buddhism stop with the disappearance of this religion after the establishment of the Turkish rule in c. 1200 A.D. while the present monograph studies the fortunes of this religion in India upto the modern times. Secondly, it deals not only with the evolution of Indian Buddhism on traditional lines-life and teachings of the Buddha, the foundation and evolution of the Buddhist samgha and its discipline, the first Four Buddhist Councils, the rise of various sects, the origin and development of Mahayanism and Tantrikism-but also to its disappearance after the sack of Nalanda and its partial revival in the recent decades. A unique feature of this work is that it seeks to study Buddhism as a part of general historical and cultural evolution of India and delineate its impact on and contribution to various aspects of Indian culture-philosophy, art, literature, education, political thought, historical thought, social philosophy, etc. Thirdly, it is not only a narrative of the major episodes in the history of Indian Buddhism, it is critical and analytical, basing itself on the original source material and at the same time incorporating the results of the latest researchers in the subject. An alert reader will note that while discussing the various topics critical and detailed references to the recent-most books and research papers have been made. We, therefore, hope that it will be found useful by scholars of Buddhism as well as historians of ancient Indian culture and religions." (jacket)