earlier ‘barbarian’ kings before them) maintained an alliance with
the indispensable high-caste councillors and administrators, they
continued to enforce Brahmanic social norms in the society at
large. Medieval forms of Islam were also limited in their equalitar-
ianism. In contrast to the emerging dynamic society of classical
Buddhism of earlier period, the India of this period was an enclosed
and stagnant society, with the realities of caste now enveloping the
lives of most people in the subcontinent. This was the context for
the devotionalism of bhakti, for the prevalence of emotionalism
and ecstasy in contrast to the emphasis on dispassion, self-control and
ethical behaviour in early Buddhism. It was only British colonialism
that opened up a new path of revolt and a basis for the restoration
of Buddhism.
216 Buddhism in India