ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the thrust is on the regional specificities of Buddhist monastic sites characterized by a marked maritime orientation in Gujarat and peninsular India. It is significant that there are several differences in architecture and patronage within contemporary Buddhist monastic sites, though the longest lasting such as the sites of Kanheri and Amaravati were located on the coast. Perhaps, the only region that shows continuity of Buddhist monastic centres well into the present is that of the western Himalayas. Recent research has emphasized the agency of monks and nuns in the spread of the religion across the subcontinent, and this is a theme that I take further based on an analysis of donative inscriptions. No doubt, the association with the Mauryan King Ashoka remains strong, both on account of the inscriptions of the king himself, the fact that large monastic centres developed around Ashokan pillars at several sites in north India, as also the large corpus of writings that eulogize him as dhammaraja.
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