As Figure 1 Shows, early Buddhist sites occurred in distinct clusters along ancient trade routes following rivers and coasts. The densest cluster of early Buddhist archaeological sites is on the territory that was to become the Magadha Kingdom - the Ganges-Yamuna basin. From this starting point and moving northwest along the uttarapatha (the northern trade route) leads one to the Gandhara cluster along the upper reaches of the Indus and Jhelum Rivers with a linked cluster over the Khyber Pass in what was once Achaemenid and Greek Satrapy territory in Afghanistan. These clusters include Taxila (whose name became synonymous with a university in many languages of South and Southeast Asia), Bimaran (where one of the earliest depictions of a Buddha image was found on a golden reliquary of c. first century BCE) and Begram.
Returning to the Ganges-Yamuna basin of Magadha and moving southwest along the daksina-patha (the southern trade route) brings one to the early Buddhist stupas, railings and relief sculptures of Bharhut, Sanchi, and the cluster around Vidisha, on the tributaries of the Vetravati River, itself a tributary of the Yamuna. Further still to the southwest, are the cluster of Buddhist rock-cut shrines and monastic cells of the western Deccan at Ajanta, Nasik, Karle, Junnar, and Kanheri among others inland from, but parallel to, the West Coast and its trading kingdoms.
Going further south and crossing to the East Coast, one reaches the Andhra clusters of sites that rival Magadha in density and have produced some of the most prolific and beautiful Buddhist art in India as a whole. They are grouped along both the great trading arteries of peninsular India, the Krishna and Godavari Rivers and their many tributaries that rise close to the western Deccan sites and flow down to the East Coast, as well as along the Andhra coast up to the delta of the Mahanadi River in Orissa. The apparently isolated site of Tamluk (Tamralipti) in Bengal is in fact also associated with trade sites on the Ganges Delta. This greater Andhra area includes Kalinga, the kingdom conquered by Ashoka immediately before his conversion to Buddhism. The distribution pattern of early Buddhist sites in Andhra reveals a striking congruence with late prehistoric Megalithic burial structures, suggesting that, in this region at least, there may be a sacred geography with prehistoric origins working together with the economic geography already mentioned (Figure 2).
Claims have been made that Buddhism in Southeast India goes back to the Buddha’s lifetime and that it was established there as a result of his visits and teaching. The area is well away from the Magadha territory known to be associated with the Buddha. Evidence generally to support this claim of conversion during the Buddha’s lifetime is not secure. On the other hand, there is good reason to believe that the area received missions during Ashoka’s reign since fragments of his pillar inscriptions with Mauryan polish have been found at Amaravati, Erragudi, Rajulamandagiri and the palaeography on some of the relic caskets of the Mahachaitya at Bhattiprolu appears to date back to the Ashokan era. Moreover there is also a possibility that Buddhism was established in this area ‘before’ Ashoka’s efforts to spread Buddhism, as suggested by the presence of NBP sherds in the foundations of many early Buddhist structures in Andhra. The names of some of the early rulers of territories (preAshokan and Ashokan era) along Andhra’s coast and rivers have been recovered in the past two decades in Buddhist foundation inscriptions together with silver Mauryan punchmarked coins: Gobhada, Kamvayasiri, Sama-gopa, Narana, and Raja Kumariyya Sammliya who was probably responsible for the third to second century stupa at Amaravati before the powerful Satavahana dynasty of the Northwest Deccan established itself in Andhra from c. the first century BCE to the late second century CE.
Andhra’s numerous and well-endowed Buddhist sites confirm the existence of a political as well as an economic geography of Buddhist archaeology: while the two great river basins, the Krishna and the Godavari provided the highways where the cloths and metal artifacts of the Deccan were assembled and transported to the East Coast, the East Coast ports themselves were pivots where multiple movements took place: for the landing of the spices, incenses, and metal ores native to Southeast Asia as well as the exit of Indian goods and above all, Indian ideas to the ports and kingdoms further south and east. Whoever controlled Andhra had access to immense economic resources. They are reflected in the density and beauty of its Buddhist remains and its key role in the transmission of Buddhism to Burma and Thailand from c. first to sixth century CE, after which other regions of India, notably Bihar and Orissa as well as Sri Lanka, developed deep reciprocal relations with parts of Southeast Asia.
World History
