Religion in Society

Through an analysis of archaeological and literary data, this book explores two interrelated themes: the socio-economic and cultic processes that resulted in the decline of Indian Buddhism in its last strongholds - Bihar and Bengal - towards the end of the early medieval period, and the patterns of revival of Buddhism in the neighbouring province of Uttar Pradesh, c. 2005-2011 ce. These themes have been explored by undertaking an analysis of the developments in the social histories of other competing religions: Hinduism, Jainism and Ajivika-dharma.