ABSTRACT
Sometimes referred to as the Epic period or the “golden age” of classical India, the urban period was indeed a rich age for the explosion of religion, the arts, and culture generally. What occurred during this period was fundamental to the shaping of religion, and especially Hinduism and Buddhism for centuries to come. From about the fourth century BCE until about the sixth century CE, kingship was becoming a more stable and
definitive aspect of the North Indian landscape, and the urban centers were becoming increasingly autonomous city-states. Brahmans served as ministers in the courts of “vaidika” kings. Among the results of this urban landscape were the emphasizing of an ethic suitable for urban life and the patronage of arts and literature. Not least important was the emergence of a new theism complete with “high gods,” an elaborate mythology, and a ritual life focused on the deity, often embodied iconographically in temples. Similarly, Buddhism underwent change reflective of the era inasmuch as the Buddha came to be regarded as a “cosmic king,” depicted anthropomorphically. Buddhist art flourished in the form of stu¯pas (elaborate “memorials”). In short, it was a period important for the development of both “vaidika” and Buddhist life in a way that informed much of the rest of Indian history.
