Introduction 21because of a Buddhist ‘decadence’ or an alienation from society that
came about with the development of Mahayana Buddhism, or
simply because Brahmanism proved extremely adaptive and could
counter the attractions of Buddhism with those of the bhakti move-
ment. Rather the most important factor in the defeat of Buddhism
was the formation of an alliance between Brahmans and rising
kings who made use of Brahman administrative service and could
get their status as Kshatriyas confirmed without any of the burdens
of being a moral king. The chapter will also look at the role of vio-
lence in the establishment of the dominance of Brahmanism and the
relationship between Islam and Buddhism.
Chapter 6 will look at the complex question of impact of Buddhism
in the centuries following its overt disappearance and consider
what some term its ‘underground survival’. Here the relationship
between Buddhism and the bhakti movements is a crucial issue
since these were major religious currents among the people in
the so-called ‘medieval’ period of Indian society. We will look at
Nandanar in the Tamil bhakti tradition, at Kabir and Ravidas in
north India, at Tukaram and Cokhamela in Maharashtra, at
Mirabai and the role of women in bhakti movements, and at some
aspects of the Orissa bhakti movements. We will argue that the
social situation during the bhakti movement, which resulted in
repression and perhaps murder of radical bhaktas such as Tukaram,
and the effort to totally wipe out the contributions of Dalit bhak-
tas such as Nandanar and Cokamela, illustrated the dominance of
Brahmanism and the hardening of caste social structure in medieval
India.
Chapter 7 will examine the first period of the revival of Buddhism
in the 19th century. We will see what Buddhism meant
to the great social radical Jotiba Phule, and then examine individual
conversions and their limitations, and finally discuss the Dalit-based
Tamil Buddhist revival in the early decades of the 20th century.
Chapter 8 will describe the meaning of Ambedkar’s Buddhism
and the massive Dalit conversions of the 1950s and after, in
the context of their significance for the future of Buddhism in
India.
Finally, in Conclusion we will return to the questions raised in
this introductory chapter, and argue that an interpretation of
Buddhism, without the framework of karma/rebirth, interpretingcrucial cultural and social developments took place throughout the
world. We will look at the social, economic and cultural charac-
teristics of the society of the time, at its political context, and at the
competing religious–ideological trends within which Buddhism
functioned, primarily the samana (Sanskrit shramana) and
Brahmanic traditions.
In Chapter 2, we will argue that the teachings of the Buddha (as
given in the early Theravada Pali scriptures) places a unique
emphasis on control of the passions, on achieving freedom from
‘craving’ as crucial elements in achieving liberation from sorrow
and suffering. We will also argue that in contrast to both Brahmanism
and its main ethical competitor Jainism, it provided for a simple
but positive morality for lay followers as well as for those who
became bhikkus or renouncers. Buddhism also contrasted radically
with Brahmanism in regard to the caste system (that is the contro-
versy over the role of birth versus action in determining social sta-
tus), the origin and role of the state, the approach to merchants and
farmers as social groups, and the position of women.
Chapter 3 will look at ‘transitions,’ the changing forms of
Buddhism in India. This includes both popular Buddhism as con-
trasted with the Buddhism of the monasteries, and also with the
changes in forms brought by Mahayana and Vajrayana (or Tantric)
Buddhism.
Chapter 4 will examine the civilisational impact of Buddhism, its
formative role for nearly a millennium, its relationship to caste and
the origins of caste, its connection with India’s leading role in trade
and other international linkages in the ‘first global age’, and the
question of how religious–philosophical systems foster or discourage
scientific and technological advances. We will argue that Buddhism
fostered a dynamic, open society in contrast to Brahmanism’s
orientation to a hierarchical, village-focused and caste-defined
social system. A brief examination of the theories of Weber and
Marx on religion and socio-economic development will bring out
the crucial role of Buddhism in providing a moral framework for
such a society.
Chapter 5 will discuss the defeat of Buddhism in India, a major
problem for social research, and one in which major Indian and
Western thinkers on Buddhism have put forward important theses.
In contrast to most of these, it will argue that the defeat did not occur
20 Buddhism in India