How did Buddhism spread? The forgotten Greek, nomadic rulers

#ThinkingMedieval
Buddhism spread through centuries of migration, cultural churn, and religio-political innovation. Anirudh Kanisetti explains how its expansion challenges our notion that ancient India was the centre of the world.
Sources:
Bernard, Paul, Georges-Jean Pinault, and Georges Rougemont. "Deux nouvelles inscriptions grecques de l'Asie centrale." Journal des savants 2, no. 1 (2004): 227-356.
Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist transmission and trade networks: Mobility and exchange within and beyond the northwestern borderlands of South Asia. Brill, 2010.
Pollock, Sheldon. The language of the gods in the world of men: Sanskrit, culture, and power in premodern India. Univ of California Press, 2006.
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[@aconsciousnaut5323]

He didn't discussed much about Kushans, who also patronized Buddhism (along with their Bactrian religion and king worship in Devakula). Kushan empire was the one responsible for Buddhism's spread into China.

[@witchilich]

nope, that was Bodhidharma from Pallavas. Kushanas were only called buddhist by chinese account from a chinese author who hates buddhism. most of their coins were of iranian deities and the kings viewed themselves as deities in iranian or indian pantheon. gupta empire was more buddhist constructing many buddhist sites like Ratnagiri. watch the "संवाद # 123: Dharma of Kushans, Genius of Satakarni & Yaudheyas of Haryana" podcast with Jay Vardhan Singh.

[@Shahi-bangalah_1352]

The subcontinent needs more young historians like you to tell us the real history.

[@srinathmitta661]

True, in the world of ideas and knowledge, India impacted the world and vice versa. It was a significant part of the the value addition chain in the ancient world.

[@rajivramanjani8706]

Shakavahana Vikrama Samvatsara is how we refer to our calendar. I wasn’t aware why it was called this way. This was very informative

[@jayantkamble6082]

Shakavahana?

[@rajivramanjani8706]

@@jayantkamble6082 sorry Shalivahana

[@dreamadventure8220]

Buddhism is truely one of greatest achievement of humanity which happened to be in India but sadly same India have buddhist statues and heritages are in reckless conditions

[@anirudhapathare285]

Yes it's true... And religion after that are not that much tolerance to keep it safe but demolished it.that is main problem.

[@satyanshtrivedi6703]

I think depicting indo-Greeks , scynthians and parthians as invaders is like saying samudragupta was a foreigner who invaded south india

[@adurpandya2742]

They were invaders, same as the aryans

[@prashanthb6521]

I agree. There was no central concept of "India" so who is an invader and who is a local ?

[@sureshnaidu201]

true. india dont exist yet then

[@dwarasamudra8889]

@@prashanthb6521 incorrect. India may not have been a political concept but it was definitely a geographical concept and civilizational concept. Ancient Indian texts from all across India make it clear who they considered to be a foreigner. The Paramara rulers of Malwa did not consider the Kalyani Chalukyas of Karnataka or the Solankis of Gujarat who both invaded Malwa frequently as foreigners. But they did consider Mahmud of Ghazni to be foreigner. The Cholas of Tamil Nadu did not consider the Palas of Bengal to be foriegners but they considered Srivijayas of Sumatra to be foreigners. The Vijayanagara Empire did not consider their enemies the Gajapatis of Odisha to be foreigners but they did consider the Turkic Bahamani rulers to be not-Indian.

[@dwarasamudra8889]

@@prashanthb6521 Remember that Acharya Kautilya or Chanakya wanted the Indian Kingdoms to unite against the Greek invaders. Often the world 'Mlechha', which is nowadays derogatory, was used by people across India to refer to the Hun invaders, the Greek invaders, and the Islamic Turkic invaders. Mlechhha was someone who wasnt from the Indian civilisation. Samudragupta would not have considered South Indian Kingdoms to have been from a different civilization. Likewise, the Rashtrakutas would not have the North Indian empires like Palas or Pratiharas to have been too different from themselves but they did see the Arab invaders as foreigners.

[@dxtxzbunchanumbers]

There's something tragic about how religions became exclusive. The ancients had little problem with the fusion of multiple belief systems. Even zealously monotheistic religions once absorbed different ideas about their god and were enriched them.

[@John11747]

Loved it... Very fascinating... Pls keep these coming.... 👍👍❤

[@accountforcommenting]

This one of my favorite along with national interest and cut the clutter,glad you started it,I learned a lot

[@bluefish4999]

I've always been interested in the Bactrian Kingdom, most focus in the West has always been on Egypt and the Ptolemaic dynasty since it lasted up into Roman times, most don't know anything of the Greco-Indo Kingdoms, with the Greeks/Macedonians converting to Buddhism, a subject little talked about in the West.

[@buddhaexhumed9922]

Buddhist religion never disappeared from India. The problem is the strong cultural un-Indian foreign flavor that sees Buddhism through the prism of their own culture. Very educative. I do research on how Buddhism disappeared in Bihar. I realized it never disappeared from Bihar. Buddhists simply failed to research Indian Buddhism. They looked at Buddhism through the sphere of their own cultures searching for only the Buddha. Buddha had a myriad of names in different villages according to his teachings there. Example. His favorite teaching was 'Lust and desire causes pain. Remove lust and desire, and pain is removed'. Translated into Bihari (where the Buddha story took place) it is DHUKH HARAN meaning to remove dukha. Three dozen villages pray to DUKH HARAN Baba. Its clear that DUKH HARAN Baba is none other than the Buddha. Problem is Buddhists are searching only for the Buddha. In the real Vaishali the Buddha begged for alms. The locals there pray to 'BHIKHAINI' Baba (Beggar Baba). Bhikhaini was mispronounced by Buddhists as Bhikshu. Who is BHIKHAINI Baba. The Buddha no doubt. But people are searching for a man called Buddha. In the real Vaishali, in Beluha the Buddha suffered a sickness and felt he had grown old. The locals pray to 'BURHA' Baba (Old Baba). Who is BURHA Baba. The Buddha no doubt. In the real Vaishali the Lichavies pressurized Buddha not to die. They trailed him to Bandagawan pressurizing him not to die. To put pressure in Hindi is DABESHWAR. Three dozen villages around the stupa where Buddha gave the Lichavies his patra, the villagers pray to Baba 'DABESHWAR NATH' meaning the man who won the pressurizing game. It was the the Buddha no doubt as he gave the Lichavies his patra and succeded in sending them back. But Buddhists are searching for the Buddha. Forgive me for commenting out of the topic. I just wanted to impart this information to you.

[@denvorsden7903]

Are Indian Gods partially influenced by Greek Gods? And have Indian Gods influenced Greek Gods?

[@emani2704]

@@abhilash7510 Average Bhimta Historian

[@emani2704]

@@abhilash7510 Lower C×ste has contributed nothing to Indian civilization and culture.

[@akashyadav-wt9et]

​@@abhilash7510 😂😂😂very funny

[@Ayushyadav-sg7sk]

​@@emani2704 average poonga historian😂😂😂

[@emani2704]

@@Ayushyadav-sg7sk Malechha name 10 achievements by ancient Dalits?

[@sohambanerjee99]

Well Explained Anirudh. Keep going!

[@ekamsat429]

Nice video. The merchants may have played a great role in the spread. On this topic, an excellent reference is 'The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies' by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth, 2001).

[@saggarwal01]

Ishmart buoy, love your series ❤

[@Suriyavanna]

Namo Buddhaya Vairocana.

[@JamesRaymond-qw7yq]

Wonderful scholarship!!

[@eaglesharp103]

Budhism is a great religion golden period of india . Even Greek rulers became budhist

[@akashyadav-wt9et]

But Buddhism destroyed completely by islam I still cry for bamiyaan Buddhists

[@eaglesharp103]

@@akashyadav-wt9et budhists were prosecuted by all except changez khan

[@amitbansode147]

​@@akashyadav-wt9etnot by muslim buy by Hindu's

[@witchilich]

@@akashyadav-wt9et alchon huns converted to shaivism and destroyed takshasila and buddhist monuments across afghanistan-pakistan. hindus flourished after them under hindu shahis. when the turks came buddhism was barely present.

[@killualaura]

thank you for this great video

[@Vineeth_Lifestyle]

Print giving employment to ex-upsc aspirants. Good.

[@hotfun07]

0:00 - 0:22 Your assumptions about your viewers' understanding of History are bizarre?

[@ashok755]

Thank you! fascinating history

[@priyanks91]

Fascinating! Had no idea about Menander minting Hindu coins

[@prashanthb6521]

This was very interesting. Thanks.

[@urrasscal8380]

none of this local kings had an idealogy to destroy their neighbours culture and religion where as all the desert cculture wants to destroy iindian culture it is written in their one book....

[@aryafarn]

many asks (especially those of turkic origin,who wrongly claim Scythians were turks)- where masses of Aryan Saka-scythians, who once controlled all Eastern Europe and Eurasia(from Siberia to Palestine) dissapeared,leaving only small group of Ossetian descendents(linquistic) in Europe? the answer is simple! -millions of modern northern indians in fact are descendents of Saka-scythians. (Rajputs f.ex.)

[@feminism8583]

Central Asians should also have Scythian blood, and Scythian is the earliest inhabitant of Central Asia, and then the Turks came. The present Central Asians are a mix of Turkic, Scythian and Sogdian peoples.

[@AnilKSingh-mp7hh]

So, Menindo could well have been Milind actually. The old Bharat of those days wasnt like modern India. And till Abrahamic religions became dominant, belief systems of pagans were fluid enough to accept many paths as equals.

[@edermanutencaoejardim9138]

Respect for Buddhists, I converted to Christianity

[@ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣΛΥΚΟΣ-π8θ]

The Greeks were before Alexander in India Alexander follow the steps of Dionysus

[@12SPASTIC12]

I don't understand why all these videos have this tinge of "India wasn't as great as you think". I really enjoy the content but it feels like the presenter assumes he is speaking to some sort of hyper nationalist audience and therefore has to keep putting Indian history down. I feel like a more neutral tone, rather than "you assume X but actually Y" would suit this series better. Just my two cents

[@faithlesshound5621]

*Two pice!

[@surenderganga1986]

Buddha was born to a tribal king. He is a native. Nothing to do with people of Vedas and shastras.

[@saddha1]

Vasudeva is not the Hindu god Krishna, he is the Buddhist version in the Ghata Jataka, where his name is Vasudeva and not Krishna.

[@ujjwalkumarray4786]

In Shaka rule,pakhtun observed which religion dardic, budhism hinduism 0?

[@EntertheDragonChild]

Hellenization was a think way before Alexander the great

[@ujjwalkumarray4786]

What's multi cult, religion in Peshawar,kabul 900ce?

[@ratnadeepsharma964]

Good stuff Aniruddha!!

[@biswaswa4646]

Beautiful

[@komolkovathana8568]

Nomads? .. rather/better called them " PILGRIMs" (?)

[@shashikantgaikwad7216]

Superb 👌

[@Kuppasy]

While hunted down by Vedic Brahmins

[@mehmeetdhar7618]

Everyone was tamilian 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@HunterGatherer90]

Not every one was Tamilian, Tamilian represents the Indigenous people Across the Indian Subcontinent.

[@adurpandya2742]

4:05 so is the Last Dragonborn supposed to be the new emperor?

[@pachauri0]

Before presenting kindly doublecheck your information..... Shakas using sanskrit??? for clearing concepts visit ration world channel

[@miaomeow69]

Sanskrit was always used by all indic kingdoms to a certain extent, depending on how indian they actually were. Besides, literature in north india has always been sanskrit or pali(for buddhists).

[@Deveshi.A.]

Yes Shakas heavily used sanskrit and Pali

[@urrasscal8380]

@@miaomeow69 it is indo greek who used to built temple and statue before that vedic people used to nature worship and ancestor worshipping u don't see much temples and anything such e.g. indus valley (IVC) . IVC is stress from kashmir to karnataka and you won't see that many temple's however u see some fire ritual ( yagya) evidence and evidence in small female figurine of sindoor in their forehead.

[@jayantkamble6082]

@@miaomeow69 Actually, there are many parts in development of sanskrit that many people neglect. Many people mislead calling sanskrit as classical language but in early years of commen era hybrid type of language was used. It consists of prakrit dialects with emerging new words with polishing sound.

[@witchilich]

read "Prakrit:Language of Snakes" by Andrew Ollett. Yes, there was a culture war going on between Satavahanas and Shakas/Kushanas. The Satavahanas used Maharashtri Prakrit and Shakas/Kushanas preferred classical Sanskrit.

[@lotuslotus8207]

🍻 No India Still Then 🍻

[@eliotanderson6554]

Sad 😢 seeing that indonesia malyasia is now muslim majority otherwise we could've made our influence on them an keep our own oic kind of organization No more softpower 😢

[@hawkingdawking4572]

There was no we or us concept. India was never a single country.

[@sureshnaidu201]

hindu buddhist influence are seen in all aspects of culture in this nations and language.

[@SunilMeena-do7xn]

​@@hawkingdawking4572 concept of India was already there in Vedas and Geeta. Even if not united, most urban people knew about their identity as an Indian even back then.

[@hawkingdawking4572]

@@SunilMeena-do7xn There is no evidence for that apart from wishful thinking and religious propaganda. India is an exonym used in the ancient for the general area of land and the term Bharat is less than 200 years old term.

[@JohnSmith-vn8dm]

@@hawkingdawking4572 Every single civilization in history is the same. Look at China. There were vast regional differences and little conception of a unified state at various points in its history. Then in the early 20th century the Tongmenhai created a historical narrative to describe the majority of Chinese from Guangdong to Sichuan to Henan as part of the "Han race", descendants of the Yellow Emperor from the 3 plains area, and the most racially pure of his descendants unlike the Japanese and Koreans. All national identities are partially invented. Because history is much too complicated to be mapped onto the simple ideas of unified people and borders.

[@urgenlama7302]

He is not telling the truth .

[@guruforty1]

So basically this guy is reiterating what a foreign researcher wrote ? What is your original research my friend? What about those from India who wrote about their history? So the foreign invaders called Shakas started using Sanskrit in the official text? There has to be a limit for BS as well! It makes no sense what so ever!

[@witchilich]

what is your research? where your academic papers? these topics have been heavily explored by both indian and foreign indologists. shakas and kushanas originally used greek, but then switched to classical sanskrit(kushanas also used bactrian language).

[@witchilich]

Read "Prakrit:Language of Snakes" by Andrew Ollett. There was a culture war between Satavahanas and Shakas/Kushanas. The Satavahanas used Maharashtri Prakrit and Shakas/Kushanas used Classical Sanskrit. So, Gautamiputra Satakarni called himself "Rajarajano", while his contemporary Kushan emperors called themselves "Rajadhiraja".

[@sunnyalas6044]

Bullcrap Krishna & balram 😆

[@urrasscal8380]

why??? what is the reason for ur anger towards them ????

[@scientificbeekeepersofjammu]

Yes! Their claims are so vague. Even the name vasudeva and sankramna was not written on the coin.

[@emani2704]

@@urrasscal8380 He is Bhimta Malechha

[@urrasscal8380]

@@emani2704 bhimta's are not malechh only katwa's are malechh.

[@akashyadav-wt9et]

Jai beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem jai meeeeeem 😂😂😂

[@rijulovarmenianairi6129]

Indus civilization haplogroup lm20haplogroup.origin-indus valley