INDIAN BACKGROUND (1)

In order to understand and appreciate the history of early Buddhism in Ceylon we should have, as a background, some general idea of the third century B.C. from where Buddhism came to Ceylon, and also of the pre-Buddhist Ceylon to which it was introduced. When the Indian missionaries brought Buddhism to this Island, they carried here with them not only the teaching of the Buddha but also the culture and civilization of Buddhist India. Almost all the Buddhist rites, ceremonies, festival and observances of Ceylon were, with slight local changes and modifications, the continuation of Indian practices which the early Buddhist missionaries introduced into this  country. It is necessary therefore at the very beginning to have an idea of the conditions prevalent in India at the time of the advent of Buddhism to Ceylon.
Buddhism began as an intellectual and ethical movement in the sixth century B.C., with the first sermon preached by the  Buddha to the five ascetics at Isipatana near Beneras. Is spread gradually during the life-time of the Buddha along with the Gangetic valley and found its way into several kingdoms in North India ministers, bankers and wealthy merchents, brahmins and peasants became the followers of this new teaching which was a revolt against some of the accepted theories and practices of the day.
At the tome of the Buddha's death, about 483 B.C almost all the important states in North India seemed to have been deeply influenced by the new teaching. According to the Mahaparinibbana-sutta, eight countries claimed, on various grounds, a portion of the ashes of the Buddha- which shows that he had already gained many ardent devotees in these states. Yet, there is no evidence to show that the teaching of the Buddha had been adopted as the state religion of any of these kingdoms till long after his death.
Immediately after the Buddha's death, a Council was held at Rajagaha during the rainy season under the patronage of Ajatasattu, king of Magadha, with Maha-Kassapa as its president, the most senior of the disciples of the Buddha then alive. Its purpose was to decide and settle the authentic teaching of the Master. The Buddha's immediate disciples, like Ananda and Upali, were the principal protagonists in this great event.
About a century later, in the fourth century B.C. during the time of King Kalasoka of Pataliputta, a group of monks known under the generic name of Vajji Bhikkhus, residing at the Mahavana monastery in Vesali, raised ten new points of indulgence which perturbed the orthodox authorities. Under the guidance of Yassa, Revata and Sabbakami, three leading theras of the day, a great Council was held at Vasali, and the ten points raised by the Vajji bhikkhus were condemned as false and heretic. The authentic and genuine teaching of the Master was defined for the second time.
After this Second Council, the bhikkhus who were condemned as unorthodox and heretic, assembled elsewhere, held a rival Council and inaugurated a new sect called Mahasanghika ( or century saw the rise of eighteen sects in all, including the various schools of the Theravada.
In the last years of the fourth century B.C., Chandragupta Muarya had founded and organized a large and powerful empire extending approximately from Afghanistan to Mysore. Territories which are even now outside India and West Pakistan were parts of the Indian Empire under Chandragupta.
Chandragupta's son, Bindusara, kept his father's empire intact, and perhaps even extended it in the south. About 274 B.C., Bindusara's son, Asoka, succeeded to this vast empire which had been built by two great emperors under the expert guidance of such able statesmen as Kautilya Chanakya.
The extent of Asoka's empire can be gauged from the inscriptions published by the emperor himself. Rock Edicts II, V and XII mention the nations on the borders of his dominitions. In the south, the limits were the Cholas. Pandyas, Satiyaputras and Keralaputras. In the north, his empire extended as far as the foot of the Himalayas. Buildings in Kashmir and Nepal show that these countries too were parts of his kingdom. Towards the north-west, it extended as far as the territory of the Syria king, Antiochus and hence stretched as far as Persia and Syria which were under Antiochus. The Yavanas, Kambojas and Gandharas are mentioned as the peoples living on the borders in the north-west. It should be mentioned here that Asoka's grandfather Chandragupta had, in about 304 B.C. and after a successful campaign, wrested from Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals. the four satrapies of Aria, Arachosia, Gedrosia and the Paropanisadai. To this should be added the Kalinga country which Asoka himself had, in about 262 B.C., conquered after a devastating war.
"The Government of India under Asoka was an absolute monarchy in the legal and political sense of the term. Nevertheless authocracy in India was much more limited in many directions than the authocracies of the West."
Society was composed of religious and secular classes. The former was divided into Brahmanas, Sramana and Pasandas. Among the Pasandas the most prominent, in Asoka's time, were Nirgranthas, and Ajivikas to whom the emperor had granted some rock-cut caves. The popular religion of the time seems to have been full of trivial ceremonies and superstitions, as found in Rock Edict IX. The conception of family life appears to have been of an elevated standard. Even the claims of animals to kind treatment were recognized. It was the duty of the house-holders to honour and support sramanas, brahmanas and other religious ascetics. Special attention was paid to the welfare and uplift of women. There were ministers, named Stri-adhyaksamahamatras, who were in charge of the affairs of women.