Religion in India: A Historical Introduction

succeeded another by the logic of karma, but even every human organism changed over the years, as cells died and were replaced. ...

Meanwhile, laypersons were expected to observe those aspects of the Buddhist ethic appropriate for the householder – for example ...

the last two perfections in favor of an ethic for laypersons. These perfections also became the basis for eventual iconic repres ...

of the period tended to stress asceticism and the life of seekers who combined understanding with disciplined action. It was a p ...

Humphrey, C. and Laidlaw, J. The Archetypal Actions of Ritual. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. Jaini, Padmanabha. The Jaina Path ...

Timeline of Chapters 2 and 3 Cultural/political events Religious events 6000 “Turkmenistan Circle” of cultures 3500? Emergence o ...

4 The Urban Period The context Kingship and artha Theism: Buddhist and vaidika Devotionalism Articulation of an “urban” ethic Th ...

definitive aspect of the North Indian landscape, and the urban centers were becoming increasingly autonomous city-states. Brahma ...

for several centuries. The immediate successor to the Mauryas in the Gangetic basin was a brahman clan known as the S ́un.gas. I ...

several foreign dynasties entered the scene. Among these foreign dynasties was one known as the Bactrian Greeks, who governed in ...

The Urban Period 55 Map 2 The Gupta Empire Reprinted from A Cultural History of India, ed. by A. L. Basham (Clarendon Press, 197 ...

Kingship and artha One major development of this period was the sacralization of kingship and the legitimation of statecraft (ar ...

the second century BCE, in some cases patronized by the increasingly affluent classes of artisans themselves, many of whom were ...

objects and symbols such as icons and representations of Buddha could symbolize the state of Buddhahood insofar as the phenomena ...

Alexandrian age (Alexander was known as Iskander in India) and in multiple ways reflected the character of the times. Skanda bec ...

relatively powerful but always subservient to male deities. 2) They were mothers; however, divine mothers were usually mothers b ...

viha ̄ra(where monks lived). In addition, the inner sanctum (garbhagr.ha) may have incorporated the imagery of a cave which serv ...

The texts that developed in this period in vaidikacircles were understood to be smr.ti(“remembered” or derivative) rather than s ...

implement it. We do know, however, that there were various ascetic sects competing for adherents by the late Gupta period. The h ...

making of her home a microcosm of dharma. She was to worship her husband (theManusmr.titells us) irrespective of a husband’s wor ...