the last two perfections in favor of an ethic for laypersons. These perfections
also became the basis for eventual iconic representations in Buddhism, when
attributes were expressed iconically, often in the female form.
Another school which started some two to three centuries after the death
of the Buddha is the one known as the Va ̄tsiputrı ̄yas. This school also held
there was no past or future, only a present. Founded by a converted
brahman, named Vatsı ̄pu ̄tra, the school became especially important for
its articulation of a notion of personal “continuity.” This group was known
as the “pudgala-va ̄dins” for their belief in a “person” (pudgala) (not in con-
tradistinction to the skandhas, yet not the same as the skandhas) which
continued after death by the logic of karma. This school provided a basis
for later schools of Buddhism in Tibet and East Asia which espoused the
doctrine of reincarnation. We are told that by the fifth century CEsome
one-quarter of all the monks in India were members of this school.^20
Buddhism was to have a major impact on the history of Asia. On the
Indian subcontinent alone, nearly thirty schools of Buddhism flourished.
Thanks to the patronage of such kings as A ́soka and Kanis.ka, its monks
and laity contributed to the art and architecture, literature, drama, phil-
osophy, and education of India. What we now call Hinduism is scarcely
intelligible without recognizing the impact of Buddhism and the dialectic
between the communities. Buddhist stu ̄ pas(funerary structures) influenced
the character of the Hindu temple; its iconography and perceptions of the
Buddha informed Hindu art and theism. Its philosophers were to shape
the intellectual life of the literate. Monastic communities later supported
medical centers, as at Na ̄ga ̄rjunakonda; institutions of higher learning as at
Na ̄landa ̄; and repositories of art as at Ajanta and Ellora ̄. And even though
Buddhism had virtually disappeared from India by the thirteenth century,
it experienced a revival in the late twentieth century when hundreds of
thousands of “untouchable” persons converted, following their leader,
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
But, if anything, the impact of Buddhism outside of South Asia proved to
be even greater. Its Therava ̄din schools made their way to Sri Lanka and into
much of Southeast Asia where Pa ̄li texts were written, Buddhist kingdoms
flourished; and Buddhist-Hindu forms of art proliferated. Maha ̄ya ̄na schools
made their way into Central Asia and beyond, into East Asia where Buddhism
took on a flavor given by the cultures in which it grew. There is even evidence
of a Buddhist presence in the Mediterranean world. Something of these
stories will be explored in subsequent chapters.
Clearly the centuries we have referred to as the “early urban period” were
a creative time, spawning heterodox movements in the Gangetic valley and
changing paradigms in the vaidikacommunities. Reflecting an urban
environment, yet somewhat contra-urban in its mood, the religious creativity
The Early Urban Period 47