The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c23.75

c23.75

It is, however, certain that Asoka, by his comprehensive and well-planned measures of evangelization, succeeded in transforming the doctrine of a local Indian sect into one of the great religions of the world. The personal ministry of Gautama Buddha was confined to a comparatively small area, comprising about four degrees of latitude and as many of longitude, between Gayā, Allāhābād, and the Himalaya. Within these limits he was born, lived, and died. When he died, about 543 B.C., Buddhism was merely a sect of Hinduism, unknown beyond very restricted limits, and with no better apparent chance of survival than that enjoyed by many other contemporary sects now long-forgotten.