FROM BIOGRAPHY TO STATUES
The most famous Kushana ruler was Kanishka, who ruled around 1900 years ago. He organised a Buddhist council, where scholars met and discussed important matters.
Ashvaghosha, a poet who composed a biography of the Buddha, the Buddhacharita, lived in his court. Ashvaghosha and other Buddhist scholars now began writing in Sanskrit.
A presence was shown in a new form of Buddhism, known as Mahayana Buddhism, now developed. This had two distinct features. Earlier, the Buddha’s sculpture by using certain signs. For instance, his attainment of enlightenment was shown by sculptures of the peepal tree.
Look at the tree and the empty seat below it. Sculptors carved this to indicate that the Buddha had attained enlightenment while meditating under the tree.
Now, statues of the Buddha were made. Many of these were made in Mathura, while others were made in Taxila.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
BODHISATTVAS
The second change was a belief in Bodhisattvas. These were supposed to be persons who had attained enlightenment. Once they attained enlightenment, they could live in complete isolation and meditate in peace. However, instead of doing that, they remained in the world to teach and help other people. The worship of Bodhisattvas became very popular and spread throughout Central Asia, China, and later to Korea and Japan.
Buddhism also spread to western and southern India, where dozens of caves were hollowed out of hills for monks to live in. Some of these caves were made on the orders of kings and queens, others by merchants and farmers. These were often located near passes through the Western Ghats. Roads connecting prosperous ports on the coast with cities in the Deccan ran through these passes. Traders probably halted in these cave monasteries during their travels.
Buddhism also spread southeastwards, to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia including Indonesia. The older form of Buddhism, known as Theravada Buddhism was more popular in these areas.
Activity:
Can you think of how Buddhism spread to these lands?
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK