Buddhist sites across South Asia as influenced by political and economic forces

Abstract

Abstract This paper links three major stages of Buddhism's growth and expansion (c. sixth century BC, C. second century BC, and c. first to third centuries AD) to the successive growth and expansion of urban base in India. In the subsequent stages, especially in the period closer to Buddhism's end as a major religious force in the subcontinent in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries AD, the emphasis shifted to the support derived ‐ apparently exclusively ‐ from the regional power‐bases like the Bhaumakara kings of Orissa and the Palas of Bengal. What is offered in this paper is only the sketchiest of a sketchy outline, and I suggest that Buddhist sites now call for detailed attention as archaeological sites ‐ not merely as monuments.