The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c10.s1.1

c10.s1.1

As documents for "Hindu" political, social and economic institutions and theories the importance of the Buddhist texts in Pali (c. B.C. 600-100 B.C.) is as great as that of the Vedic. It has been the custom to treat the Buddhist literature as a rule from the viewpoint of religion. Among the exceptions may be singled out the studies by Fick (*Die Sociale Gliederung im Nordöstlichen Indien zu Buddhas Zeit*, Kiel, 1897), as well as by Mrs. C. A. Rhys Davids ("Economic Condition in Ancient India") in the *Economic Journal*, London, September 1901,¹ in which some of the anthropological, economic and political data have been accorded a scientific treatment. But otherwise modern studies like those of, say, the German scholar Dahlke² or the American scholar Warren (*Buddhism in Translations*, Harvard Oriental Series, Cambridge, Mass, 1900) coming down to an international symposium like *Buddhistic Studies* (Calcutta 1931) have served but to propagate Buddhist literature as non-secular and unmateria-listic contributions from the Indian mind.