Cultural Development and Sanchi

Cultural Development

• Examines philosophers' attempts to understand their world
• Focuses on compiled oral & written texts and architecture, and sculptures
• Notes the enduring influence of these thinkers
• Concentrates on Buddhism, acknowledging it didn't develop in isolation
• Explores debates and dialogues with other traditions
• Historical sources include Buddhist, Jaina, & Brahmanical texts
• Other source material: monuments and inscriptions

A Glimpse of Sanchi

• Features ancient buildings in Bhopal state, specifically Sanchi Kanakhera
• Reveals European gentlemen's interest in the ruins
• Major Alexander Cunningham examined the ruins for weeks, taking drawings and deciphering inscriptions
• Rulers Shahjehan Begum and Sultan Jehan Begum funded preservation
• John Marshall dedicated volumes on Sanchi to Sultan Jehan
• Sultan Jehan funded the museum and guesthouse and publication of volumes
• The stupa complex survives because of wise decisions and good luck saving it from railway contractors, builders, etc
• Sanchi is a major Buddhist center vastly changing earlier comprehension of the religion
• A key archeological site with successful restoration and preservation by the Archeological Survey of India
• Delhi-Bhopal train route offers a view of the stupa complex
• Climb the hill to see a large mound and other monuments and a temple built in the fifth century

Background: Sacrifices and Debates

• The mid-first BCE millennium was a turning point in world history
• During this era lived Zarathustra in Iran, Kong in China, Socrates, Plato & Aristotle in Greece, and Mahavira & Gautama Buddha in India
• These figures tried understanding existence, the relationship between humans and the cosmic order
• New kingdoms and cities were developing and there were social and economic changes in the Ganga valley at the time
• Thinkers attempted to understand these developments too

The Sacrificial Tradition

• Pre-existing traditions of thought, religious belief/practice existed
• Early Vedic tradition is known from the Rigveda that compiled between c.1500 and 1000 BCE
• The Rigveda is of hymns in praise of deities, specifically Agni, Indra, and Soma
• Many hymns were chanted when sacrifices happened; people prayed for cattle, sons, good health, long life, etc
• At first, sacrifices happened collectively
• Later, c. 1000 ВСЕ-500 BCE, onwards sacrifices were performed by heads of households for domestic unit well-being
• More sacrifices, such as the rajasuya and ashvamedha were performed by chiefs/kings, who depended on Brahmana priests to conduct the ritual

New Questions

• Upanishads show people were curious about meaning of life and the possibility of life after death
• People wondered about rebirth, and whether it was due to past actions
• Thinkers were concerned with understanding/expressing the nature of ultimate reality
• Those outside the Vedic tradition questioned whether a single ultimate reality existed
• People speculated on the significance of the sacrificial tradition

Debates and Discussions

• Buddhist texts mentions 64 sects or schools of thought giving a sightline into debates
• Teachers traveled place to place, trying get others to believe their philosophy
• Debates took place in the kutagarashala in groves where traveling mendicants halted
• A philosopher would have followers that also became disciples if convincing someone of his ways
• Support could therefore grow or shrink over time for certain sects
• Teachers, including Mahavira/Buddha, questioned the authority of the Vedas
• Vedas emphasized individual agency suggesting people could attain liberation from worldly existence
• This contrasted the Brahmanical position that said an individual's existence was determined by birth in a specific caste/gender

How Buddhist Texts Were Prepared and Preserved

• Buddha and other teachers taught orally through discussion/debate.
• Men and women/children attended these discourses and discussed what they heard.
• None of Buddha's speeches which were written during his lifetime.
• After his death, Buddha's teachings were compiled by students at a council in Vesali
• Compilations were called Tipitaka --three baskets to hold different types of texts.
• First transmitted orally/written classified according to length and subject matter.
• Vinaya Pitaka included rules for joining monastic order.
• Buddha's teachings included in the Sutta Pitaka.
• The Abhidhamma Pitaka dealt with philosophical matters.
• Commentaries were written later these individual volumes by Buddhist scholars.
• As Buddhism traveled to new regions such as Sri Lanka, other texts were written, such as chronicle of the island/great chronicle, containing regional histories of Buddhism.
• Older texts are in Pali, while later compositions which are in Sanskrit.
• When Buddhism spread to East Asia, pilgrims traveled from China to India insearch of texts.
• They took back texts to own country and translated texts by scholars.
• Indian Buddhist teachers also traveled far away places carrying texts disseminate teachings of Buddha.
• Buddhist texts were preserved in monasteries in Asia for centuries.
• Modern translations are prepared from Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan texts.

Beyond Wordly Pleasures

• The message of Mahavira
• Jainas' basic philosophy existed in north India before Vardhamana birth, who became Mahavira in sixth century BCE
• Jaina tradition says Mahavira was preceded by 23 teachers/tirthankaras
• Most important idea in Jainism is that the entire world is animated, therefore, non-injury to living beings is central to Jain philosophy
• Ahimsa principle emphasized within Jainism, leaving mark on Indian thinking
• Jaina teachings state cycle of birth/rebirth is shaped through karma
• Asceticism/penance are required to free oneself from karma cycle
• This can only be achieved by renouncing the world; therefore, monastic existence is necessary for salvation
• Jaina monks/nuns took five vows: abstain from killing, stealing, lying; observe celibacy; abstain from owning property

The World Beyond the Palace

• Just as Buddha's teachings were compiled by his followers, Mahavira's teachings were also recorded by his disciples
• Teachings appealed to ordinary people as they were often in story form
• Kamalavati tried to convince her husband to renounce the world

The Spread of Jainism

• Jainism gradually spread to many parts of India
• Like Buddhists, Jaina scholars produced much literature in Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Tamil
• For centuries, manuscripts were carefully preserved in libraries attached to temples
• Some of the earliest stone sculptures associated with religious traditions were produced by Jaina tirthankaras
• These were recovered from several sites throughout the subcontinent

Buddha and the Quest for Enlightenment

• One of the period's most influential teachers was the Buddha
• Over centuries, his message spread across the subcontinent and through asia
• To study the Buddha's teachings by by carefully reconstructs, translated and analyzing the buddhist texts.
• Historians tried reconstructing details of the Buddha's life from hagiographies
• Hagiographies were written down at least a century after Buddha
• Siddhartha as the Buddha was named at birth, was the son of a chief
• Siddhartha had a sheltered upbringing, insulated from the harsh realities of life.
• Siddhartha was deeply anguished upon seeing old man, a sick man and a corpse.
• That destruction of human body that siddhartha realized decay/destruction of human bocy wsas inevitable, he decided to adopt the same path
• Siddhartha explored several bodily mortification paths = near death.
• Abandoning extreme methods, he meditated for several days and finally attained enlightenment = Buddha or the Enlightened One.
• The rest of his life the Buddha taugh about the dhamma or the path of righteous living.

The Teachings of The Buddha

• Buddha's teachings were reconstructed from stories, found mainly in the Sutta Pitaka.
• Some stories describe miraculous powers/others suggest Buddha convinced people through reason rather than displays of power.
• Stories were narrated to the public in a way people could easily understand.
• World is transient/constantly changing and soulless.
• Sorrow stems from human existence.
• Humans can overcome worldly troubles by following path of moderation/self-indulgence
• In early forms of buddhism whether god existed was irrelevant.

Buddhism in fractice

• This is an excerpt from the Sutta Pitaka, advice given by the Buddha name Sigala.
• He says a master should look after his servants by assigning them work, giving them food, tending to their sickness, and giving delicacies through them
• Also says Clanman shoul look after samansa needs by affection, keeping open house, and supplying worldly needs.
• There are instructions to Sigala says how to behave with parents, teachers, and wife.

Followers of Buddha

• Disciples body soon grew leading to the formation of a sangha
• Sangha was composed of the monks who became teachers of dhamma who lived simply and only possessed the essential requisites for survival
• Initially only men were allowe = bhikkus
• Women were also admitted = through on the mediation of Ananda
• Mahapajapati Gotami was the first woman to be named a bhikkhuni.
• Women who entered into Sangha became teachers of Dhamma /theris, gained liberation.
• Buddha's followers came fropm = kings, men and gahpatis, workers, slaves
• Once within all wewre equal = having shed eadentites on becoming bhikkhus and bhikkhunis
• The sangha wsa based on the traditions of ganas and sanghas, where consensus was arrived at through discussions.
• If unable to arrive at a consensus, then decisions wre taken via vote.

Stupas

• Buddhist practices arose from dialogue with other traditions not preserved in texts
• Some interactions seen places came sacred
• From earliest times, held places sacred: included sites with trees, rocks, or sites of natural beauty
• These sites had small shrines and were described as Chaityas.
• Buddhist literature mentions several Chaityas.
• It describes places associated with

Why were Stupas Built?

• Other that places were regarded sacred: relics of the Buddha (bodily remains or objects used by him).
• Tradition of erecting stupas maybe pre-Buddhist but they came to be associated with buddhism, like Ashokavada
• Stupas were distributed portions of the Buddha's relics to every important town.
• Inscriptions-donations made for building/decorating were made by the Kings etc.
• Guilds like ivory-workers financed gateways at Sanchi helped stupas to be built
• Stupa is word meaning heap, originated in more of a semi-circular mound of earth = anda. = complex structure, balancing round/square shapes
• Above Anda haarmikaa/balcony-like structure said to represent the gods.

Disovering Stupas

• Each stupa how built and discovered
• 1796 raja build temple stumbled upon Amaravati used stone buried
• British official Colin Mackenzie site finds sculptures and reports was not published
• 1854 - Walter Elliot-Amaravati-collected marble panels, to Madras called Elliot Marbles -remains western gateway = monument
• 1850s slabs were from Amaravati- Asiatic Calcuta and British Admins - Gardens
• 1818 Sanchi found gateways standing even Sugget sted gateway, kept Sanchi glorious

Sculpture

• Pictures were stones-Europe- Transported
• Seen = Beautiful
• Wanted stones to stay for themselves
• First Sight = Sculpture Rural
• Sanchi=Vessantara-gave Brahmara
• Forest, Wife, Pictures compared = Text.
• The first setment=symbolic
• Not Human, Presence, Meditation, Wheel - Sarnath
• Tradition-Not Stand - Buddha
• The Tree - in Life
• Truditions, who produced stones

Popular Traditions

• Sculptures, sanchi, Buddhism included- Women and Gateways= scholars = seemed to have had renunciation
• However, it could also a representation of Sanskrit/shalabhanjika
• Depicitions includes Elephants-Horses - At Sanchi-Human Elephants-Sanchi
• Jatakas contains several animal stories with animals with strength and wisdom.