several foreign dynasties entered the scene. Among these foreign dynasties
was one known as the Bactrian Greeks, who governed in the northwest and
who mediated Indian and Greek culture. The Pahlavas (of Persian ancestry)
began to govern in the northwest toward the end of the first century BCE
and were responsible for the infiltration of certain Zoroastrian and Persian
motifs into the subcontinent.^2 These included the Persian term for king,
trata ̄ra(he who presides over all kings), which informed Indian notions of
kingship; and the imagery of light/sun (from the Zoroastrian high god
Ahura Mazda) which influenced Buddhist perceptions of Buddha in
Northern India. One of these kings, Gondophernes, according to certain
Greek texts, hosted the apostle Thomas.^3
Another dynasty known as the Yüeh-chis or Kus.a ̄n.as established hegemony
in parts of Northern India from the first into the third century CE. It was
during this period that commerce with China increased; the migration of
Maha ̄ya ̄na Buddhist monks to Central Asia and by the Silk Route into China
increased; and certain Chinese influences filtered into India – these may
have included the use of paper and the Chinese notion of the emperor as
the son of heaven.
The Kus.a ̄n.as played a major role in the early centuries CEwith their
patronage of eclectic forms of religion and art. Under them we find the
earliest forms of the Buddha figure expressed anthropomorphically and
intimations of a Buddhist pantheon. Further to the south, the S ́akas had
gained hegemony and became patrons of vaidikaart forms and mythologies
of a newly emergent brahmanized pantheon. This urban period came to a
climax when Chandra Gupta Ifounded the Gupta dynasty in the Gangetic
basin, in the area known as Magadha. Under the two centuries of the Guptas,
Sanskritic literature and the arts flourished, temples were built, science was
encouraged, and popular devotionalism mushroomed.
These dynasties in the north were quite eclectic and cosmopolitan. Even
by As ́oka’s time Magadha included influences from Persia and the Middle
East. The cities included peoples who had come in from rural areas, who
spoke various dialects (known as Pra ̄krits) and brought their deities and
religious practices with them. The task of incorporating these various strands
under the hegemony of the court became the responsibility of brahmans
who now were serving as court rhetoricians, advisers to the kings, and public
relations agents to the people. This combination of factors – the increased
political power of kings; the rhetorical power of brahmans, and the pluralism
of urban settings – had several consequences. The city was perceived not
only as stable, but also as the appropriate center and venue for living out
one’s obligations. Kings were to govern, not head for the forests. Indeed,
there emerged a form of religion and lifestyle that could perhaps be termed
“urban.” We sketch in some of those developments.
54 The Urban Period