Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c7.71

c7.71

This view, too, does not rest on a strong basis. In the first place the influence of Buddhism on the social condition and ideas of the laity, as opposed to the monks, is very imperfectly known. While it is true that caste distinctions and untouchability were unknown among the Buddhist monks, it is difficult to say how far the lay Buddhist community followed their example. The very fact that the caste-system not only continued, but assumed greater and greater rigidity during the very period that Buddhism was a dominant force in India, does not lend countenance to this view.