BUDDHISM came to South India during Emperor Asoka’s reign. A party of Bhikkhus went to Sri Lanka in 250 B.C. under the leadership of Arahat Mahinda (Mahendra), after the third great Buddhist Conference under Moggaliputta Tissa Thera held in Asoka’s presence at Pataliputra. Mahendra Thera appears to have travelled by sea and to have passed through Kavirapattiman where, during his temporary stay, he raised seven Buddhist viharas which the later Tamil Sangam works, such as Silappadikaram and Manimekalai (2nd century A.D.), attribute to Indra. Indra is only a contraction of Mahendra. Mahendra was greatly helped in spreading Buddhism in South India by Arittaha, of Sri Lanka, the uncle-in-law of King Devanampiya Tissa. There is a village called Arittapatti in Madura District near where Arittha appears to have lived in caves, thereby lending his name to the village. Arittapatti which was originally a Buddhist place, lost gradually its Buddhist nature.
We hear from the Manimekalai that the early Cola king, Killivalavan (2nd century A.D.) converted a prison-house into a charity house at the request of the Buddhist nun Manimekalai, and gifted it to Buddhists who utilised the building for a palli and a charity house. The Pali work, Rasavahini, refers to a Cola king who, while engaged in constructing a Siva, temple at Kaveripattinam, met some Buddhist bhikkus who proved to him the superiority of Buddha Dharma and in return got from him the Siva temple which they converted into a shrine of the Buddhist. In the 5th century A.D. a great Buddhist divine called Buddhadatta Thera, who flourished in the reign of the Kalabhra chief, Accutavikkanta, resided in a vihara in Kaveripattinam built by one Visnudasa or Krsnadasa. This Thera is said to have written most of his works in Kaveripattinam at the instance of the Buddhist acaryas Sumati, Buddhasika and Sanghapala. Buddhadatta’s patron was the Cola king, Kalaber Accutavikkanta, and this divine exhibits in his works an unusual eloquence and patriotism in describing the Cola kingdom under him, of which he was a proud inhabitant.
A golden age of Buddhism, when the Triratna caught South India in its enchanting and soothing grasp and when monks and nuns (bhikkhus and bhikkhunis) like Manimekalai and upasakas and upasikas who were lay followers of the enchanting Faith, travelled throughout the land in utter renunciation and humanitarian zeal to render help even as the Buddha did, is the picture of south India that we visualize from the Tamil classical works of Buddhism the Silappadikaram, Manimekalai, Kundalakesi, Virasoliya, Bimbisarakathai, Valaiyapati, Tiruppadikam, the Jaina Tamil work, Nilakesi and the Hindu Tamil works, Devaram, Nalayiraprabadham and Periyapuranam.
The Buddhist sites in the northern districts of the Madras Presidency, particularly in the Andhra country, are vast as against almost a fraction in the southern districts. From Salihundam in the Srikakulam district in the north, to Chinna Ganjam in the Guntur district in the south, and from Gooty in the Anantapur district in the west, to Bhattiprolu in the east, the Andhra country witnessed in the three centuries preceding and following the present era a phenomenal growth of Buddhist culture and art. Ramatirtham, Sankaram, Salihundam, Kodavalli, Arugolanu, Guntupalli, Jaggayyapeta, Ramireddhipalli, Alluru, Bezwada, Gudivada, Ghantasala, Garikapadu, Goli, Nagarjunikonda, Amaravati, Peddamaddur, Chinna Ganja, Peddaganjam, Kanuparti and Bhattiprolu are a few places among the many that have yielded relics of a glorious Buddhist civilization that flourished in the Andhra country in the early centuries.
Stupas, Caityas or prayer halls, and Viharas were found in large numbers, particularly in the Guntur and Krsna districts along the banks of the river Krsna which was known to the Greeeks as Maisolos.
Nagarjunakonda or "the Hill of Nagarjuna" is one of the sites excavated by the Archaeological Survey(from 1926 to 1931 and again in 1938).The discoveries made here are of singular interest in that they include not only monasteries, stupas and caityas, but also a palace, a wharf and a large number of inscriptions relating to the Iksvaku dynasty that ruled the country in the 3rd centtury A.D. Most of the stupas here were richly carved with scenes drawn from the life of the Buddha, his past births and everyday life, besides decorative and ornamental designs.
The reign of the Andhra King, Pulumavi, witnessed the raising of the great Mahacaitya of Amaravati which became the centre of the Caityakas while under the Iksvakus great stupas arose at Jaggayyapeta and Nagarjunakonda on either side of the river Krsna. The Caityakas probably derived their name from Amaravati Mahacaitya. We also learn that there were other monasteries at Nagarjunakonda one of which was built for the residence of the Sinhalese monks.
Kancipura, Avanti and Arimaddana are according to the Gandhavamsa three great centres of Pali Buddhism. Buddhaghosa in the Nigamana to the Manorathapurani refers to Kanci as a centre of Pali study. Buddhaghosa says elsewhere (Papancasudani) that his own writing was at the instance of Buddhamitta when the two lived together at Madhurasutta-pattana (Madura). Again in his Manorathapurani Buddhaghosa says that his work was at the instance of Jotipala while the two were living together in Kancipuram and other places.
To reconstruct the history of South Indian Buddhism we have to depend mainly on the works of the Tamil poets and scholars who were great acaryas from time to time. The most helpful Tamil works are the Manimekalai, Kundalakesi, Siddhatattogai, Tiruppadikam, Bimbisarakathai, Valaiyapati and Virasoliyam. Some of the very early Tamil Buddhist luminaries are Ilam or the Young Bodhiyar, Aravana Adigal, Sittalai Sattanar, Sanghamitra, Nada-Kutanar, Thera Buddhadatta, Bodhi Dharma and Dinnaga.
Sanghamitra, a Tamil Bhikkhu of the Cola country, who lived in the early half of the 4th century A.D., went to Sri Lanka converted the king to Mahayana (Vaitulya) and being patronised by his second son Mahasena, destroyed the Mahavihara which was a seat of Hinayana and renewed and enlarged the Abhayagiri Vihara, which became thereafter the stronghold of Mahayana.
Buddhadatta Thera (5th century A.D.), a Tamil of the Cola country, held charge successively of Buddhist monasteries at Mahavihara in Anuradhapura, Kaveripattinam, Uragapura, Bhutamangalam and Kancipura. He has written about these monasteries. While at Kaveripattinam, he wrote the Buddhavamsatthakatha at the request of his sisya Buddha-Sikha; and at the request of another disciple, Sumati, he wrote Abhidhammavatara. At Bhutamangalam he stayed in a Buddhist palli built by a Vaisnava, Kannadasa alias Venu (Vinhu) das, and completed another work called Vinaya- viniscaya. His disciple, Buddha Sikha, followed him everywhere. Invited to Sri Lanka, he compiled other works there at the request of a Sinhala Pontiff Mahathera Sankhapala. They are Uttaravinicchaya, Ruparupa-vibhaga, Jinalankara and a commentary on Buddhavamsa called Madhuratha-Vilasini. He met the famous Buddhaghosa in Sri Lanka and the two had friendly discourse. While the Gupta king Kumara Gupta was a patron of Buddhaghosa Thera, Buddhadatta’s patron was the Kalabhra Accyutavikkanta (Acyuta Narayana) of the Colanadu.
The Gandhavamsa mentions ten South Indian Buddhist teachers who wrote works and speaks also of twenty other Buddhist teachers of South India who wrote books in Pali at Kancipuram.
The ten teachers are
( 1 ) Buddhadatta (5th century A.D.).
(2) Ananda, the author of Mulatika on the Abhidhammattakatha.
(3) Dhammapala (5th-6th century A.D.) a native of Tambarattha (Tirumnelveli district) who became successively the head of the Buddhist monastery called Bhataraditta - Vihara at Kancipuram and the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura, wrote good commentaries on Buddhist basic texts, such as "Attakatha," "Paramartha Manjusa," "Nettipakaranatthakatha." He resided in the city of Tanjai in Tirunelveli district.
(4-5) Two unnamed former teachers (Purvacaryas) who wrote the Niruttimanjusa and Mahaniruttisankhepa.
(6) Mahavajirabuddhi, author of Vinayaganthi, a glossary of the five the Vinaya books.
(7) Cullavajirabuddhi. The name of his work is not traceable.
(8) Dipankara Thera 91100 A.D., alias Buddhapriya Thera and "Coliya Dipankara," was disciple in Sri Lanka of Ananda Vanaradana, and later on became the head at Kancipura of Baladicca- Vihara. He was the author of the Pali works, Vajjamadu and Rupa-Siddhi, the former on Buddhist art, and the latter on arithmetic. He wrote also a commentary on the Rupa-Siddhi. He wrote a tika on Sampapancasatti also.
(9) Culladhammapala who wrote the Saccasankhepa and
(10) Kassapa, who wrote the Mohaviccedani and Vimativicccedana.
From the Talaing records of Kalyani we get a list of
Buddhist acaryas of South India, some of whom
are Kaccayana, author of the first Pali grammar;
Buddhavira, author of the Sutta-sangaha; Nana or Nanagambhira,. the author of Tathagatotpatt. Anuruddha (l2th century) of the Pandya land who became popular in Sri Lanka and Burma by his works, :Abhidhammathasangaha, Paramattha-vinicchaya, and Nama-rupapariccheda."
South India continued to be the centre of Pali Buddhism as late as the 12th century A.D.
Dharmakirti (13th century A.D.) of the Pandya country was another celebrated Buddhist acarya who was invited and patronised by Parakrama Bahu II (1236-68 A.D.). He organised in Sri Lanka an international conference of Buddhists. The Datha-vamsa and Culavamsa (latter part of Mahavamsa recording history of Sri Lanka from Mahasena to Parakrama Bahu II) are works which are ascribed to this Dharmakirti.
The Buddhist monks formed a galaxy of stars that illumined the Buddhist firmament in South India for nearly 1,300 years.
Bhadantācariya Buddhaghoṣa was a 5th-century Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar. His name means "Voice of the Buddha" in the Pāli language. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation. The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravada scriptures since at least the 12th century CE. He is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravadins as the most important commentator of the Theravada.
Limited reliable information is available about the life of Buddhaghosa. Three primary sources of information exist: short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works; details of his life recorded in the Mahavamsa, a Sri Lankan chronicle; and a later biographical work called the Buddhaghosuppatti. A few other sources discuss the life of Buddhaghosa, but do not appear to add any reliable material.
The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at the time of his actual composition. Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Sri Lanka from India, and settled in Anuradhapura. Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison.
The Mahavamsa records that Buddhaghosa was born into a Brahmin family in the kingdom of Magadhi. He is said to have been born near Bodh Gaya, and to have been a master of the Vedas, traveling through India engaging in philosophical debates. Only upon encountering a Buddhist monk named Revata was Buddhaghosa bested in debate, first being defeated in a dispute over the meaning of a Vedic doctrine, and then being confounded by the presentation of a teaching from the Abhidhamma. Impressed, Buddhaghosa became a Buddhist monk and undertook the study of the Tipitaka and its commentaries. On finding a text for which the commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa determined to travel to Sri Lanka to study a Sinhalese commentary that was believed to have been preserved.
In Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the Mahavihara.Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize the assembled Sinhalese-language commentaries into a comprehensive single commentary composed in the Pali language. The elder monks sought to first test Buddhaghosa's knowledge, by assigning him the task of elaborating the doctrine regarding two verses of the suttas; Buddhaghosa replied by composing the Visuddhimagga. His abilities were further tested when deities intervened and hid the text of his book, twice forcing him to recreate it from scratch. When the three texts were found to completely summarize all of the Tripitaka and match in every respect, the monks acceded to his request and provided Buddhaghosa with the full body of their commentaries.
Buddhaghosa went on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures. Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhalese commentary preserved at the Mahavihara, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the bodhi tree.
The details of the Mahavamsa account cannot readily be verified; while it is generally regarded by Western scholars as having been embellished with legendary events (such as the hiding of Buddhaghosa's text by the gods), in the absence of contradictory evidence it is assumed to be generally accurate While the Mahavamsa claims that Buddhaghosa was born in northern India near Bodh Gaya, the epilogues to his commentaries make reference to only one location in India as being a place of at least temporary residence: Kanci in southern India. Some scholars thus conclude (among them Oskar von Hinüber and A.P. Buddhadatta) that Buddhaghosa was actually born in southern India, and was relocated in later biographies to give him closer ties to the region of the Buddha.
The Buddhaghosuppatti, a later biographical text, is generally regarded by Western scholars as being legend rather than history. It adds to the Mahavamsa tale certain details, such as the identity of Buddhaghosa's parents and his village, as well as several dramatic episodes, such as the conversion of Buddhaghosa's father and Buddhaghosa's role in deciding a legal case. It also explains the eventual loss of the Sinhalese originals that Buddhaghosa worked from in creating his Pali commentaries by claiming that Buddhaghosa collected and burnt the original manuscripts once his work was completed.
Buddhaghosa was reputedly responsible for an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of Sinhala commentaries on the Pāli Canon. His Visuddhimagga (Pāli: Path of Purification) is a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism that is still read and studied today. The Mahavamsa ascribes a great many books to Buddhaghosa's composition, some of which are not believed to have been his work, but rather were composed later and attributed to him.
Below is a listing of the fourteen commentaries traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa (Pāli: atthakatha) on the Pāli Tipitaka:
| Pali Tipitaka | Buddhaghosa's Commentary | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| from the Vinaya Pitaka | Vinaya (general) | Samantapasadika | |
| Patimokkha | Kankhavitarani | ||
| from the Sutta Pitaka | Digha Nikaya | Sumangalavilasini | |
| Majjhima Nikaya | Papañcasudani | ||
| Samyutta Nikaya | Saratthappakasini | ||
| Anguttara Nikaya | Manorathapurani | ||
| from the Khuddaka Nikaya | Khuddakapatha | Paramatthajotika (I) | |
| Dhammapada | Dhammapada-atthakatha | ||
| Sutta Nipata | Paramatthajotika (II), Suttanipata-atthakatha | ||
| Jataka | Jatakatthavannana, Jataka-atthakatha | ||
| from the Abhidhamma Pitaka | Dhammasangani | Atthasalini | |
| Vibhanga | Sammohavinodani | ||
| Dhatukatha | Pañcappakaranatthakatha | ||
| Puggalapaññatti | |||
| Kathavatthu | |||
| Yamaka | |||
| Patthana | |||
While traditional accounts list Buddhaghosa as the author of all of these works, the current consensus among scholars accepts only the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the first four nikayas as Buddhaghosa's work.
In the 12th century, the Sri Lankan monk Sariputta became the leading scholar of the Theravada following the reunification of the Sri Lankan monastic community by King Parakramabahu I. Sariputta incorporated many of the works of Buddhaghosa into his own interpretations. In subsequent years, many monks from Theravada traditions in Southeast Asia sought ordination or re-ordination in Sri Lanka because of the reputation of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship. The result was the spread of the teachings of the Mahavihara tradition- and thus Buddhaghosa- throughout the Theravada world.Buddhaghosa's commentaries thereby became the standard method by which the Theravada scriptures were understood, establishing Buddhaghosa as the definitive interpreter of Theravada doctrine.
In later years, Buddhaghosa's fame and influence inspired various accolades. His life story was recorded, in an expanded and likely exaggerated form, in a Pali chronicle known as the Buddhaghosuppatti, or "The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa". Despite the general belief that he was Indian by birth, he later may have been claimed by the Mon people of Burma as an attempt to assert primacy over Sri Lanka in the development of Theravada tradition. Other scholars believe that the Mon records refer to another figure, but whose name and personal history are much in the mold of the Indian Buddhaghosa.
Finally, Buddhaghosa's works likely played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the Pali language as the scriptural language of the Theravada, and as a lingua franca in the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The development of new analyses of Theravada doctrine, both in Pali and Sinhalese, seems to have dried up prior to Buddhaghosa's emergence in Sri Lanka. In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy (such as the Mahayana) were emerging, many of them making use of classical Sanskrit both as a scriptural language and as a language of philosophical discourse. The monks of the Mahavihara may have attempted to counter the growth of such schools by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously disused secondary sources that may have vanished in India, as evidenced by the Mahavamsa.Early indications of this resurgence in the use of Pali as a literary language may be visible in the composition of the Dipavamsa and the Vimuttimagga, both dating to shortly before Buddhaghosa's arrival in Sri Lanka. The addition of Buddhaghosa's works- which combined the pedigree of the oldest Sinhalese commentaries with the use of Pali, a language shared by all of the Theravada learning centers of the time- provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravada intellectual tradition, possibly aiding the Theravada school in surviving the challenge to its position posed by emerging Buddhist schools of mainland India.
Critics
Australian Buddhist monastic Shravasti Dhammika writes: "Even Buddhaghosa did not really believe that Theravada practice could lead to Nirvana. His Visuddhimagga is supposed to be a detailed step by step guide to enlightenment. And yet in the postscript he says he hopes that the merit he has earned by writing the Vishuddhimagga will allow him to be reborn in heaven, abide there until Metteyya (Maitreya) appears, hear his teaching and then attain enlightenment." Dhammika believes there is a contradiction in Buddhaghosa's position; Buddhaghosa has compiled what is intended to be a complete and authoritative guide to gaining enlightenment through the practice of the teachings of the Pali Canon, but seems to desire for himself the option of being taught in person by a Buddha rather than claiming he will be enlightened by the practices set forth in the Visuddhimagga. Shravasti Dhammika interprets this as indicating that Buddhaghosa does not believe that following the practice set forth in the Visuddhimagga will really lead him to Nirvana. Devotion to Maitreya was common in South Asia from early in the Buddhist era, and is believed to have been particularly popular during Buddhaghosa's era
