About the Book In the following pages an attempt, has been I made to present an outline of early Buddhism on the basis of; the material supplied by inscriptions. The early phase of Indian Buddhism comprises the period beginning with its foundation by the Buddha, Sakayamuni and ending shortly before the rise of Mahayana to paramount position. i,e. B. C. 500-A.D. 300. It was the age of the, formation of the Vinaya and other parts of the Buddhist canonical literature, of great enthusiasm and zeal of the Buddhists to' propagate their religion in various parts of India and outside and of the division of the Buddhist Order into several schools and sects. Although Mahayanism had originated long before the end of this period, it could not, make much head way before the beginning of the Gupta Period.
The epigraphical material, it will be noticed, bas not only corroborative value, but sheds new light on certain questions. For instance, the inscriptions not only help us in fixing the centres of different Buddhist schools, but also enable us to throw entirely new light on the origin of the Purvasaila and Aparasaila schools from an otherwise unknown sect called Mahavansaila. They furnish names of several Buddhist sects which are not known from any other source. Our knowledge about the Bauddha-goshthis for the administration of the sangha is also due to inscriptions.
Preface Much work has been done to, reconstruct the history of Buddhism on the basis of literary sources. The data derived from inscriptions, if not untouched, have at least been solely neglected. The only sporadic known attempts in this direction have been made by Drs. B, M. Barua (Message from Barhut Jataka Labels, IHQ, I, pp. 50-8,245-249), N, Dutt (Notes on Nagarjunikonda Inscriptions, IHQ, VII, pp, 633-53), B.C. Law Bhikshunis in Indian Inscriptions, EI, XXV, pp. 31-34), and J.N. Banerjea (Schools of Buddhism in Early Indian Inscriptions, IHQ, XXIV, PP. 251-58). But their efforts were confined to come aspects of Buddhism and the inscriptions utilized by them were very few. In the following pages an attempt has been made to collect all available materials from inscriptions of the period under review, to critically interpret them in the light of the facts known, from literature, and wherever possible, to shed new light on different aspects, of Buddhism.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
