Excerpt from A Peep Into the Early History of India: From the Foundation of the Maurya Dynasty to the Downfall of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty, (322 B. C. Circa 500 A. C.)<br><br>The essay begins with the rise of Buddhism. As Sir Ramkrishna points out, Buddhism is only a sect-oi Hinduism. Its tenets are not even novel. Its chief doctrine, viz. That it is karma which transmigrates, is, anticipated in the Upanishads. It did not, contrary to popular opinion, seek to undermine caste. But it did. Deny the authority of the Vedas and the efficacy of the Vedic sacrifices, and this was the real cause of the hatred of the Brahmans towards it. Buddhism, with its insist ence on the ethical side of religion and its cosmopolita nism, had a salutary effect on Indian politics. It eu couraged liberal intercourse with the outside world which Brahmanism discouraged. Under the various Buddhistic dynasties, shipping flourished, ambassadors went and came to and from Syria and Egypt, and later, Rome. The Bodhisatva himself, according to the Jdtakas, was once born as the. Son of a master-mariner of. Broach. The Bodhisatva and Jains, like the Puritans of' 17th century England, were the trading-classes. Sir. Ramkrishna mentions in his essay on the Early History of the Deccan how much the great cathedral caves of. Karla and other places in Western India owed to the guilds of merchants of the time. With the Brahmanic revival and the insertion in the codes of Mann of regula tions which branded those who ventured overseas - with the stigma of impurity, commerce declined and India dropped out of her position among-the trading nations of theeast.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.