This book provides an authoritative and critical account of Buddhist monasteries and monastic life in India spanning the period 3rd century BC to 7th century AD. Within a broad framework encompassing the growth and eventual decline of the monasteries, it trains its focus on their place as centres of education, scholarship and intellectual ferment, contributing to the traditions of free and logical thinking. All this is covered in the context of the historical and ideological development of monasticism and the growth of the Buddhist sects. A notable feature of the book which distinguishes it from most other works on Buddhist monasteries, is the detailed account it presents of life in the monasteries, based on literary and inscriptional sources as well as foreign traveller's accounts.;

ISBN 13: 9788177420678

ISBN 10: 8177420674

Year: 2006

Language: ENGLISH

Pages etc.: xvi,326p., bibl., ind., 23cm.

Binding: Hardbound

Subject(s): Buddhism