The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c9.s9.1

c9.s9.1

The ascendancy of Śākyasimha the Buddha (B.C. 563-483) in the sixth century B.C. is an important landmark in the evolution of Vedic culture. It indicates that the assimilation of the Eastern region to the Vedic system was incomplete. East of the Sadānīrā (Gandaki) River the Vedic tradition was not strong enough to withstand a powerful exponent of somewhat non-Vedic or extra-Vedic, nay, anti-Vedic norms. Then, the race or the caste to which Sākya belonged as a native of the Bihar-Nepal frontier was likewise not much subject to the Vedic institutions and ideals.