Die Rolle der Buddhisten in der frühindischen Gesellschaft: Abkehr vom Konzept des sogenannten buddhistischen Indiens
The Role of Buddhists in the Early Indian Society

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the role of Buddhism in the early Indian society. The monolithic image of Buddhist India has been solidly changing during the past decades, and the socioeconomic processes have been described as development processes prolonged through time and space, rather than a big jump. Numerous factors contributed to the formation of this new approach, among others philological research, the latest results based on new archaeological finds concerning the chronology of urban development, as well as the still open debate on the dating of Buddha’s life. Last but not least the age of the Historical Buddha, in contrast to the traditional approach, should be dated somewhat later. The aim of this paper is to make discernible a new reading of the so-called Buddhist India.

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