The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.85

c29.85

The Buddhist rule of life was generally observed. 'Throughout the country', we are told, 'no one kills any living thing, or drinks wine, or eats onions or garlic¹ ... they do not keep pigs or fowls, there are no dealings in cattle, no butchers' shops or distilleries in their market-places.' The Chandāla, or outcaste tribes, who dwelt apart like lepers, and were required when entering a city or bazaar to strike a piece of wood as a warning of their approach, in order that other folk might not be polluted by contact with them,² were the only offenders against the laws of piety (*dharma*), and the only hunters, fishermen, and butchers. Cowrie shells formed the ordinary currency.³ The Buddhist monasteries were liberally endowed by royal grants, and the monks received alms without stint—houses, beds, mattresses, food, and clothes were never lacking to them wherever they might go.