Though India is no longer a Buddhist country, Buddhism held its place among Indian faiths for nearly seventeen centuries (500 B.C.--A.D. 1200). During this long stretch of time the Buddhist monks were organized in Sanghas in most parts of the country and their activities and achievements have profoundly influenced India`s traditional culture. There are monumental remains of Buddhist monastic life scattered all over India: in the south there are about a thousand cave-monasteries, among them Ajanta, world-famous for its exquisite mural paintings; in the north, less spectacular, the ruins of monastic edifices from Taxila in the west to Paharpur in the east. A connected history of the Buddhist monks of ancient India, their activities, their monastic establishments and their contributions to Indian culture, is available for the first time in this work, which is remarkable also for its pervading human interest. In reconstructing the history of the emperors and kings who were patrons of Buddhism, the early missionaries and the illustrious monk-scholars of later times, the author has used sources in four languages--Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. Contents The primitive sangha, The asoka-satavahana age 250 BC-AD 100 and its legacy, In the Gupta age (AD 300-550) and after, Eminent monk-Scholars of India, Monastic Universities, (AD 500-1200), Bib., Index.

The second in a series of collected essays looking at Indian Buddhism.

Description on Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh, Nepal, and Tibet accompanied with pictorial works.

Description: There is no dearth of books and monographs on Indian Buddhism but a related account of the rise, development of Buddhism and its decline has not been attempted. The present work is a modest contribution in this direction. It provides an indepth study of Indian Buddhism and traces its history, development and decline and places it in proper perspective. Divided into fourteen chapters covering three major themes: introduction, progress and decline of Buddhism, the book discusses its various stages. It based mainly on primary source's, focusses attention on different aspects of Buddhism that helped it to rise and to reach at the zenith of its glory.