IN THE SIXTH CENTRY B.C., THE HINDU SOCIETY HAD LOST ITS FORMER GLORY AND BECOME IMPURE.MANY KINDS OF ABUSES AND SUPERSTITIONS HAD CREPT IN TO IT. THE FOR MATITIES OF SACRIFICIAL RITES AS WELL AS THEIR EXPENSIVENESS PROVED ONEROUS TO MANY A HOUSEHOLDER.THE HYMNS OF THE VEDAS FOUND IN SANSKRIT LANGUAGE WERE TOO DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE.

GAUTAMA BUDDHA WAS THE FOUNDER OF BUDDHISM. HIS ORIGINAL NAME WAS SIDDHARTHA HE WAS BORN IN THE LUMBINI GROVE NEAR THE CITY OF KAPILAVASTU IN THE YEAR 567 B.C. SUDDHODANA WAS THE NAME OF IS FATHER AND MAHAYA, THE NAME OF IS MOTHER. HE MARRIED YASODHA AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN. AT THE AGE OF 29, A SON WAS BORN TO HIM AND HE WAS GIVE THE NAME OF RAHUL.

“FOUR GREAT SIGNS’’ PROFOUNDLY AFFECTED THE LIFE OF THE YOUNG SIDDHARTHA.ONE DAY HE SAW AN OLD MAN WHO HAD BEEN GIVEN UP BY HIS PEOPLE. HE SAW ANOTHER MAN SUFFERING FROM THE AGONY OF DISEASE. THEN HE SAW A DEAD MAN SURROUNDED BY WEEPING RELATIVES. THE FOURTH SIGN WAS THAT OF A MENDICANT WHO HAN GIVEN UP THE WORLD AND WAS MOVING ABOUT IN SEARCH OF TRUATH.

“RENUNCIATION OF GOUTHMAM BUDDHA AND HE FELT DISGUSTED AT THE PLEASURES AND LUXURIES OF THE PALACE. ONE DAY HE LEFT HIS HOME, IN ORDER TO DISCOVER A REMEDY FOR THE SUFFERING HUMANITY. WHILE SITTING IN CONTEMPLATION UNDER A PIPAL TREE, THE REVELATION COME TO HIM. HE RECEIVED THE TITLE OF BUDDHA WHICH MEANS ENLIGHTENED.

IN HIS FIRST SERMON AT BENARES, GAUTAMA BUDDHA FORMULATED HIS SYTEM UNDER FOUR HEADS, VIZ 1.SORROW 2.CAUSE OF SORROW 3.THE REMOVAL OF SORROW AND 4.THE WAY LEADING TO THE REMOVAL OF SORROW. THE SORROW CAN BE REMOVED BY FOLLOWING THE EIGHT FOLD PATH. IT CONSISTS OF 1.RIGHT BELIEF, 2. RIGHT THOUGHT 3. RIGHT ACTION 4. RIGHT SPEECH 5.RIGHT MEANS OF LIVELIHOD 6.RIGHT EXERTION 7. RIGHT REMEMBERANCE AND 8. RIGHT MEDITATION. BY FOLLOWING THIS PATH, ONE CAN ATTAIN SALVATION.BUDDHISM RECOGNISES THE LAW OF KARAM AND RESPECT FOR ANIMALS.

THE PREACHING OF BUDDHA WAS VERY SIMPLE. HE USED PRKRIT, KNOWN LANGUAGE TO PREACH HIS IDEAS. RELERS LIKE BIMBISARA, AJATASATRU, ASOKA, KANISHKA AND HARSHA PATRONISED BUDDHISM. ASOKA MADE BUDDHISM THE STATE RELIGION. THESE RULERS SENT BUDDHIST MONKS TO CEYLON, CHINA, TIBET ETC..., TO SPREAD BUDDHISM. ASOKA SENT HIS SON MAHENDRA AND HIS DAUGHTER SANGHAMITRA TO CEYLON FOR THE SAME PURPOSE. MONASTERIES WERE BUILT TO HOUSE THE MONKS. BESIDES RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA, THEY IMPARTED EDUCATION TO THE PEOPLE.

BUDDHIM HAD UNDERGONE CONSIDERABLE TRANSFORMATION IN KINISHKA’S TIME.MAHAYANA WAS A SECT WITH MANY RITES AND CEREMONIES AND WORSHIP OF SAINTS. THE MOST STRIKING FEATURE OF THIS NEW BUDDHISM WAS THAT THE BUDDHA CAME TO BE REGARDAD AS A GOD ATTENDED BY A HIERARCHY OF BODHISATTVAS, ACTING AS MEDIATORS BETWENN HIM AND SINFUL MEN. BUT BUDDHA IN THE HINAYANA SECT WAS CONSIDERED AS AN INDIVIDUAL ONLY.

THE TEACHINIS OF BUDDHA WERE EDITED AS PITAKAS. LITERATURE IN PALI AND SANSKRIT WAS ENRICHED ‘VIHARAS’ BECAME CENTRES OF LEARING.UNIVERSITIES OR CENTRES OF HIGHER LEARNING WERE ESTABLIHED AT NALNDA, TAXILA AND VIKRAMASILA. CHINESE TRAVELLERS LIKE FAHIEN AND HIUEN T”SANG CAME TO INDIA AND HAVE LEFT VALUABLE INFORMATION OF OUR COUNTRY. SANCHI STUPA AND SARANAH PILLAR STAND AS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THE DEVELOPMENT IN ARCHITECTURE. VIHARAS WERE CONSTRUCTED AT AJANTA, ELLORA AND KARLA, WHICH COMPRISE OF BEAUTFIUL PAINTINGS, GANDHARA ART, A FUSION OF INDO- GREEK ART TOOK PLACE IN THE TIME OF KANISHKA.