ASSIGNMENT

on

The Emergence of Buddhism was against a

fast changing social, economic, political
conditions of the sixth century B.C

By

Mohammad Saif Jamal

M.A (comparative religion) Sem - I
INTRODUCTION
The religious diversity of Indian had a new taste with the emergence of Buddhism. A brief survey
of the development and geographical spread of Indian Buddhism reveals much about the universal
qualities and the distinctive characteristics of Indian Buddhism, as well as provides an overview
of its development. The study of Pali canon is able to reconstruct the biography of the historical
Buddha, its original teaching, early Buddhism and the social life in ancient India. Pali canon
contains suttas which are ‘buddhavacana’ or “words spoken by the Buddha”. Buddhists recite sutra
(Pali: sutta) as a means of recollecting the doctrines taught by the Buddha. At the Buddha’s time,
ancient society practiced many kinds of asceticism as life goals.

The emergence of Buddhism was caused by religious and non-religion factors. The religious factor
was the rise of heterodox systems opposing the existing orthodox system, i.e. the Brahmana
tradition defending the status quo of caste systems. Both systems were well represented by two
opposing philosophical thinking dominated Indian continents, Brahmana and Sramana
movements.

The biography of historical Buddha can be reconstructed from various suttas. The Mahâpadana
Sutta of Digha Nikaya and Acchariya-abhuta Sutta of Majjhima Nikaya provide the complete story
of the Buddha’s birth. The spiritual journey in search of enlightenment may be found in
Ariyapariyesana Sutta. The Mahaparinibbana Sutta records the last days of the Buddha and also
provides the concise compilation of his doctrines during his ministry.

The historical Buddha propagated the Dhamma to ancient Indian society in term of ethical,
religious and secular discourses. His main teachings during his ministry were: the Middle Way
(majjhima patipada), the Four Noble Truths (cattari ariya saccani), the Noble Eightfold Path
(ariya atthangika magga), the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiya dhamma), the
three general characteristics (ti-lakkhaa) and the Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppada).
Buddhism is well known as a religion of compassion. The lay followers practise the Buddha’s
teaching as a means of attaining ultimate liberation, called as nibbana. The Pali canon, however,
contain various teaching from human relationships into politics.
 India Before Buddhism
When the Aryans crossed the mountains of the Hindu Kush and invaded India, they found
aboriginal peoples such as the Mundas and Dravidians. The Dravidians had a highly developed
culture and constituted large proportion of the population. Although they were subjugated by the
Aryans and integrated into society as slave classes, the Dravidians influenced later Indian culture
in many ways. Elements of their religion such as the worship of goddesses, snake gods, and tree
spirits played a particularly important role in the Hinduism of later centuries. By 1000 B.C.E three
texts that were successors to the Rig veda, the Sama veda, Yajur veda, and Atharva veda had been
compiled. The Brahmans, which explain the proper procedures for performing Vedic sacrifices,
were composed around 800 BCE and the philosophical texts of the early ‘Upanishads’ were
compiled around 500 B.C.E.

So clearly all of these belongs to various clans and different cultures and were in a great harmony
irrespective of the Social class diversity which later emerged in the sixth century, that is Brahman
(priestly class), kshatriya (ruling class), Vaish composed of farmers, herders, merchants, and
artisans. And (slave class) Sudra was to serve the other three classes.

Eventually the system became more specialized and produced the many divisions that make up
the caste system today. A member of one class was usually not allowed to marry or even eat with
someone from another class.

The Buddha was born during a period when important social and religious changes were occurring
in central India. These changes later played significant role in enabling Buddhism to spread
throughout India. Although Vedic religion and its priestly class were influential and powerful in
northern India, they had only begun to spread to the recently conquered lands of central India,
which were dominated by the warrior classes. As the Aryans gradually advanced from northern
India down into central India, small tribes united to form monarchies. In the sixth century BCE
India was divided into a large number of independent states known as janapadas or mahajanapadas.
Social, economic and political Conditions
The Pali canon mentions many uncommon names describing the places at the Buddha’s time. The
names refer to the factual locations and not fictional names. Many scholars attempted to make
relationships between the locations mentioned in the canon with the modern locations. The canon
is different from ancient Indian literature which told the story with mythical names and locations.

The canon should be free from any fictional or mythical concepts. In the sixth century BCE India
was divided into a large number of independent states known as janapadas or mahajanapadas. The
Anguttara Nikaya, one of the early Pali canonical texts, mentions SIXTEEN (16) states of
considerable extent and power known as the “Solasa Mahajanapadas”. The Buddhist, Jaina and
epic sources have the records of the sixteen great countries, The sixteen states were: Anga (east
Bihar), Magadha (south Bihar), Kasi (Varanasi), Kosala (Oudh), Vajjii (Vriji) (north Bihar), Malla
(Gorakhpur district), Ceti (Cedi)(between the Jumna and the Narmada), Vamsa (Vatsa)(Allahabad
region), Kuru (Thaneswara, Delhi and Meerut), Pancala (Bareilly, Badaun and Farukkhabad),
Maccha (Matsya) (Jaipur), Surasena (Mathura), Assaka (Asmaka), Avanti (in Malwa), Gandhara
(Peshawar and Rawalpindi) and Kamboja (south-west Kashmir and parts of Kafiristan)

Of these the four major empires were:

1) The kingdom of Magadha with its capital at Rajagaha (Sanskrit Rajagrha) (afterwards at
Pataliputta) reigned over by King Bimbisara and afterwards by his son Ajatasattu. It is said that at
the time of the Buddha, the kingdom had 80,000 villages and 300 leagues (about 2,300 miles) in
circumference.

2) The kingdom of Kosala with its capital at Savatthi reigned over by King Pasenadi and followed
by his son Vidudabha.

3) The kingdom of the Vamsas or Vatsas with its capital at Kosambi on the Jumna reigned over
by King Udena, the son of Parantapa.

4) The kingdom of Avanti with its capital Ujjeni reigned over by King Pajjota. The struggle of
Kosala and Magadha was the leading point in the politics at the Buddha’s time.
Caste System (varna dharma)
At the Buddha’s time Indian society were influenced by later Vedic civilisation. They recognised
the concept of caste and four stages of life. The concept of caste or stratified society arose in the
later Vedic society, i.e. circa 1000 to 500 BCE. Gombrich provided the explanation of stratified
society. The idea of caste came from the last book of Rig Veda, a famous hymn called Purusa-
sukta ("Hymn of the Cosmic Man"). A huge male figure is compared and assimilated to universe,
which he both pervades and transcends. Verse 12 of this hymn runs: 'His mouth was the brahmin,
arms were made the royal (kshatriya), his two thighs that which is the vaisya, from his feet was
born the sudra'. Indian society was divided into four classes, called Varnas (means colours).

The Vedic brahmins possessed authority on Vedas, performed sacrificial rites and earned for this
ritual service. They did not like change and tried to maintain its status quo. Caste systems created
the barriers amongst the classes. Inter-class marriage was prohibited. Water and food resources
were restricted. No lower class could use upper class water resources such as wells. Under the
brahmin religion, the position of women was not so far behind that of sudras. Women were treated
lower than men. They were confined only to household activities. There was no religious activity
of any kind prescribed by the religion for the women. In Buddhism, women gained equal status as
men did. They could live as nuns or householders. However, Buddhist teaching is more practical
and provides guides to daily life.

Indian society believed that people life was divided into four stages or asramas and later it was
regarded as part of the foundation of orthodox society, ie. studentship (brahmacari), married life
(grihasta), retirement (wanaprastha) and renunciation (sanyasin or bhiksuka).

The catur asramas applied to most people in India regardless their castes. This concept was not
mentioned in the Veda and in the Aryan tradition. Catur asramas were different from catur varnas
(caste systems) since the former did not regulate on how people worked and interacted with others
but it emphasised on how people fulfilled their lifetime in the world.

Buddha was known as social reformer and criticised the Vedic priests as evidenced in the Buddhist
texts:
  Dhammapada verses 393: “One is not a Brahmin because one wears dreadlocks, or due to
one’s own clan or caste. It is due to truth and dharma that one is pure, and is a brahmin.”
 Kalama Sutta. The Buddha advised Kalama tribe not to accept any teaching merely on a
teacher’s authority, but to work things out for themselves. He was against ritual practice
and beliefs that did not lead to enlightenment.
 Tevijja Sutta (the threefold knowledge: the way to Brahma). The Buddha sharply criticised
Vedic brahmins who said they knew the path leading to union with Brahma although they
have never been there or seen Brahma by themselves. The Buddha called them tevijja
(having three knowledges Rig, Sama and Yajur Vedas). The Buddha possessed three
knowledges but his knowledges were not texts, he had already experienced them.
 Samanna-phala Sutta (the fruits of the homeless life). This discourse articulated a set of
three knowledges (vijja) possessed by the Buddha: knowledge of one’s former lives; of the
rebirths of others; and of the four noble truths and the desctruction of the corruptions.

Social economic factors in the rise of Buddhism

In the period of 7th to 5th century BCE, India experienced the rapid change in politics and
philosophical life. The unification and consolidation of smaller tribal states into greater empire
caused the collapse of existing social structure favouring to status quo, the brahmanical social
structure. Further, the struggle in the Buddha’s time was a contest in economic power, political
craft and administrative efficiency, in which the Brahmana tradition had little to offer either to the
ruler or to the people. Both its ritual and its philosophy seemed irrelevant. The political and
economic needs of the rulers. The rulers of the expanding empire required greater political and
economic needs to hold the governmental matters. The empire required large revenues to support
their military, public, works and administrative expenses. Consequently, they introduced the
policies to prevent the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of potentially rival group.
They initiated to free various social and economic resources from control by traditional status
groups, especially the brahmanas and kshatriya upper class–who owned greater portion of land but
did not pay taxes.

The Buddhists and Vaisyas were in favour of the expanding empire. The kings of expanding
empire were interested in Buddhism since this religion recognised two classes only, the monkhood
and the laity. Buddhism offered no class to compete for power. The monks and nuns renounced
the world, while the laity had no claims to spiritual authority. On the other hand, the brahmanas,
the priestly caste, who claimed as the highest caste did not renounce the householder life,
accumulated the wealth and claimed spiritual authority threatened the development of market-type
economy since they discouraged the mercantile or trade activities, promoted costly sacrifices and
were not productive workers. The facts demonstrated that the Buddhists and the Vaisyas did not
carry the brahmanical ideas of ritual pollution that condemned certain mercantile activities as
impure.

The consolidation of small states into greater states created changes from simple to advanced
agrarian societies. These were characterised by the use of iron tools and weapons which led to
accumulation of greater economic surplus. During this phase, the lower caste vaisya and sudra
played more important roles since they became working class to support the economic needs of
growing empires. During this period the new mercantile class emerged. These merchant class did
not favour the stratified society (caste systems) because they had to make contacts with any people
in daily life for trade. The caste systems created barriers amongst the people, inequality and
injustice. Upper classes, brahman and kshatriya, owned the greater portion of land, yet did not pay
taxes. This exemption deprived the state of considerable income. The growing empire required a
vast amount of income to run the government. Brahmanism, with Vedic priests as superior caste,
was oriented towards a rural, self-sufficient, relatively static agricultural society. Buddhism
experienced significant growth due to the development of urban institution. Buddhism did not
compete for power since the monk renounced the world while the layman had no claims to spiritual
authority. However, Vedic brahmin stressed out its costly sacrifice, discouraged of mercantile
activities and threatened the development of market-type economy. Vedic society with its caste
systems did not accomodate the needs of growing empire. Thus, rulers could find in Buddhism a
powerful solvent to the caste system and a means of reducing the political and economic power of
the traditional ascriptive status groups. Buddhist text, from fifth century BCE, stated the sense of
growing commerce in India at Buddha’s time. Rajagrha, the capital city of Magadha, had contained
36,000 merchants’ houses, half of them belonged to Buddhists, the other half to Jains who skilled
in banking activities. Meanwhile, Jataka stories described conditions from about 500 BCE
onwards, depicting considerable overland trade, with large caravans and travelling merchants.
 Conclusions
The need to understand social and political background in India when the
Buddha lived and propagated the Dharma will improve our comprehension on
buddhist Suttas (Sanskrit sutras) India experienced significant social and political
conflict with Vedic civilisation when sixteen tribal states consolidating into four
states and becoming one unified empire. Vedic civilisation with catur varnas
society and brahmin sacificial rites did not accommodate the needs of growing
empire. Buddhism emerged as a social reforms with the new social order called
catuparisa. Buddhism removed the communal barriers in the society and promoted
equality and justice by noble acts. The Buddha criticised other contemporary
teachers who held wrong views.
The Buddha, as a social reformer, preached its teaching by eradication wrong and
misleading views in the society. In response to brahmanical education systems, the
Buddha established the monastic institution, sangha who could accomodate the
large groups of monks where monks relied on Vinaya and Dhamma as the only
guide after the
Buddha’s parinibbana. Therefore, we preserve the Buddha’s teaching by reciting
suttas and by understanding his doctrines with its social background so that we will
have right views on the Triratna (Buddha-Dhamma-Sangha).In this way clearly we
have seen the impact of Buddhism on India And it had a massive impact on the
Indian culture, tradition and the religious beliefs.