Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks Dynamics in the History of Religion Editor-in-Chief Volkhard Krech Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany Advisory Board Jan Assmann – Christopher Beckwith – Rémi Brague José Casanova – Angelos Chaniotis – Peter Schäfer Peter Skilling – Guy Stroumsa – Boudewijn Walraven VOLUME 2 Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks Mobility and Exchange within and beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia By Jason Neelis LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 Cover illustration: Detail of the Śibi Jātaka in a petroglyph from Shatial, northern Pakistan (from Ditte Bandini-König and Gérard Fussman, Die Felsbildstation Shatial. Materialien zur Archäologie der Nordgebiete Pakistans 2. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1997, plate Vb). This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Neelis, Jason Emmanuel. Early Buddhist transmission and trade networks : mobility and exchange within and beyond the northwestern borderlands of South Asia / By Jason Neelis. p. cm. — (Dynamics in the history of religion ; v. 2) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-18159-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Buddhist geography—Asia. 2. Trade routes—Asia—History. 3. Buddhists— Travel—Asia. I. Title. II. Series. BQ270.N44 2010 294.3’7209021—dc22 2010028032 ISSN 1878-8106 ISBN 978 90 04 18159 5 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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For my inspiring and persevering muses, Dahvi and Talia CONTENTS Foreword ............................................................................................. ix Acknowledgments .............................................................................. xi Preface ................................................................................................. xv List of Tables, Maps and Figures .................................................... xvii Chapter One Introduction: Road Map for Travelers ............... 1 Models for the Movement of Buddhism ................................... 2 Merit, Merchants, and the Buddhist Saṅgha ............................ 12 Sources and Methods for the study of Buddhist Transmission .............................................................................. 39 Outline of Destinations ................................................................ 60 Chapter Two Historical Contexts for the Emergence and Transmission of Buddhism within South Asia ........................ 65 Initial Phases of the Establishment of Buddhist Communities in Early India ................................................... 67 Legacy of the Mauryans: Aśoka as Dharmarāja ...................... 78 Migrations, Material Exchanges, and Cross-Cultural Transmission in Northwestern Contact Zones ................... 94 Saka Migrants and Mediators between Central Asia and South Asia .................................................................................. 109 Dynamics of Mobility during the Kusāṇ ̣a Period ................... 132 Shifting Networks of Political Power and Institutional Patronage during the Gupta Period ...................................... 145 Cross-Cultural Transmission between South Asia and Central Asia, ca. 500–1000 CE ............................................... 157 Conclusions .................................................................................... 180 Chapter Three Trade Networks in Ancient South Asia ........... 183 Northern Route (Uttarāpatha) ................................................... 186 Southern Route (Daksiṇ ̣āpatha) ................................................. 205 Seaports and Maritime Routes across the Indian Ocean ....... 217 Conclusions .................................................................................... 227 viii contents Chapter Four Old Roads in the Northwestern Borderlands ... 229 Environmental Conditions for Buddhist Transmission in Gandhāra .................................................................................... 231 Gandhāran Material and Literary Cultures .............................. 239 Gandhāran Nodes and Networks ............................................... 244 Routes of Buddhist Missionaries and Pilgrims to and from Gandhāra .................................................................................... 251 Domestication of Gandhāran Buddhism .................................. 253 Conclusions .................................................................................... 256 Chapter Five Capillary Routes of the Upper Indus .................. 257 Geography, Economy, and Capillary Routes in a High Altitude Environment .............................................................. 260 Graffiti, Petroglyphs, and Pilgrims ............................................. 268 Enigma of an Absence of Archaeological Evidence and Manifestations of Buddhist Presence .................................... 278 Conclusions .................................................................................... 286 Chapter Six Long-Distance Transmission to Central Asian Silk Routes and China .................................................................. 289 Silk Routes of Eastern Central Asia ........................................... 291 Long-distance Transmission Reconsidered .............................. 302 Conclusions .................................................................................... 308 Chapter Seven Conclusion: Alternative Paths and Paradigms of Buddhist Transmission ........................................ 311 Catalysts for the Formation and Expansion of the Buddhist Saṅgha ......................................................................................... 313 Changing Paradigms for Buddhist Transmission within and beyond South Asia .................................................................... 317 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 321 Index .................................................................................................... 363 FOREWORD The series “Dynamics in the History of Religions” is publishing results produced by the Käte Hamburger Kolleg at Ruhr University Bochum (Germany). The Kolleg began its activities in April 2008 with funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The international consortium explores the history of religions, especially inter- and intrareligious relations between Asia and Europe from the 1st millennium BCE down to the present. The research is based on the thesis that the so-called world religions are not, nor have they ever been, homogeneous or isolated constructions, but rather the product of dynamic interaction between adaption and demarcation. The pro- cesses of formation, evolution and expansion are mainly the results of interplay between different competing religious traditions. The Käte Hamburger Kolleg is a multi-disciplinary venture between several subject areas at Ruhr University Bochum such as Comparative Religion, Protestant and Catholic Theology, Jewish Studies, Islamic Studies, Philosophy, Classical Philology, History, Social Sciences, South Asian Studies, Chinese, Korean and Japanese Studies. It integrates and coordinates the research activities of scholars from Ruhr University, international fellows, postdoctoral researchers, und postgraduates. The series focuses on the crucial role played by mutual encounters in the origins, development and internal differentiation of various reli- gious traditions. The interconnected processes of adaption and demar- cation, self-perception and perception by others are considered to be important factors in the historical dynamics of the religious field. With research being focused on contact-driven dynamics and their histo- riographic implications, the series creates systematic reference points which allow for the integration of diachronically and synchronically heterogeneous material into a general history of religions. Through abductive research, the scholarly studies develop theories and concepts through the interplay between hypothetical conceptualization and empirical studies, between object-language and meta-language. The studies build bridges between and reconcile academic meta-discourses on religion with religious discourses and religious self-descriptions, thus helping to avoid a type of scholarly theorizing which is discon- nected from empirical data and atheoretical or naïve positivism. x foreword The series seeks to make a contribution to a better understanding of the interdependence between religious traditions and processes of religious transfer, thus opening up innovative avenues for conceptual- ising the history of religions. The author of this work, Jason Neelis, was a fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg from March 2009 to April 2010. During his stay in Bochum he completed his study on the spread of Buddhism through