Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c9.2

c9.2

From the hoary past we first tried to trace the foot-falls of history down to the period of the Buddha. Those glimpses of political history gave us an idea of the rise and fall of different peoples and kingdoms; and at last we reached the point wherefrom we began to survey the cultural stage of the Mahājanapada period—of the period which immediately preceded the Buddha, who is undoubtedly a prominent landmark on the continuous and chequered path of Indian civilization.