Philosophical Doctrines of the Andhakas: Exploring Early Buddhist Sects of Andhra

102 Pages·2020·1.705 MB·English

by  Balaganapathi Devarakonda

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Balaganapathi Devarakonda
Philosophical
Doctrines
of the Andhakas
Exploring Early
Buddhist Sects
of Andhra
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Balaganapathi Devarakonda
Philosophical Doctrines
of the Andhakas
Exploring Early Buddhist Sects of Andhra
123
Balaganapathi Devarakonda
Department ofPhilosophy
University of Delhi
NewDelhi, Delhi, India
ISSN 2510-5035 ISSN 2510-5043 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inReligious Studies
ISBN978-981-15-5685-2 ISBN978-981-15-5686-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5686-9
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…to the fond memory of my father
Late Shri Devarakonda Subrahmanya
Sastry garu…
Preface
ThepresentworkisanattempttoarticulatetherelationshipbetweenBuddhismand
Andhra through the study of an early Buddhist text of Theravāda tradition
‘Kathāvatthu’ of Moggali Putta Tissa. Philosophical perspectives of Andhakas, a
group of early Buddhist sects mentioned as a pūrvapaksha in the Kathāvatthu, are
brought out in this work in a coherent way.
ThisstudybaseditselfonthePālioriginalofKathāvatthuthatwaspublishedby
Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda and the English translation rendered by Mrs.
RhysDavidsandS.Zan Aungunderthetitle Points ofControversy (1915).Itried
to bring together various philosophical doctrines of the Andhakas presented in a
scatteredforminthetextKathāvatthu.Intheprocessofthepresentation,oneofthe
majorissuesofconcernisthetranslation.IadoptedthetranslationprovidedbyMrs.
RhysDavidsandZanAungasfaraspossible.However,inordertobridgethegap
betweenthePālitextandtheEnglishtranslationandalsotominimizethedistortion
ofmeaning,I hadprovided Pāli words, phrasesand sentences asfar as possible in
the discussion so that the reader, while comprehending the present work, will be
abletointerpretthecontentwithoutlimitinghim/herselftoEnglishtranslation(asit
isthecasewithMrs.RhysDavidsandZanAung’swork)andatthesametimefeels
close to the original Pāli text.
Earlier version of this work was an outcome of the major research project that
was completed with the generous support of the University Grants Commission,
New Delhi, during 2015–17. I record my gratitude to UGC for supporting me in
this academic endeavour.
Sudeep Raj Kumar’s support in finalizing the chapters is immense. To arrive at
thepresentversion,webothhadmanylongdiscussionsonthetextKathāvatthuand
its argument. I thank Sudeep Raj Kumar along with Nivedita Chaturvedi for their
help in finalizing the chapters. Yashika Sethi’s support in fixing the diacritical
marksofPaliandSanskritwordsandinpreparingtheindexdeservesappreciation.
IamgratefultoMrs.AnuradhaKotikalapudiforherconstantencouragementinthe
course of completion of this work. I am immensely benefitted by the interactions
with my teacher Prof. A. Raghuramaraju. I thank him for his constant encourage-
ment in all my academic endeavours. I am supported, during the course of the
vii
viii Preface
project, by Ms. Jayshree Jha, Research Associate of the project, in several ways
because of which I could complete it without much hassle. I thank her for the
support.
I am thankful to Satvinder Kaur, Sushmitha Shanmuga Sundaram and other
editors and reviewers of the work at Springer Nature for their support. Satvinder’s
constant support at various levels during the time of finalizing the manuscript
deserves special appreciation.
IacknowledgethesupportofDr.MahalakshmiBhamidipati,mywife,whohasa
significant share in all my academic endeavours. Saathvik and Laasya, my kids,
along with Lakshmi, provide a space of comfort that lets me work without any
stress.
New Delhi, India Balaganapathi Devarakonda
Introduction
The relationship between space and thought provides a fertile ground for
philosophical discussions with metaphysical, epistemological and empirical per-
spectives. The discussions, in general, are centred around the aspects such as
whether space exercises any influence on the origin of thought and/or whether
thought can be considered to be a unique contribution of a specific space. The
present work while going beyond these general concerns on the relationship
between space and thought attempts to address the issues of the contributions of a
space tothethoughtthatoriginatedelsewherebutbrought in,adaptedandadopted
by it. A particular thought once originated may not stay limited to the space in
whichittakesitsform.Thoughtstravelacrosstheregionswithpeople.Whatwould
be the position of a thought which was carried to a different space from that of its
place of origin? Does the thought disintegrate? Or does it enrich the new space?
What kind ofrelationshipmay exist between thethoughtandthenew space?—are
some of the questions which are of the present concern.
Buddhism (thought) that was introduced to the region of Andhra (space) is
specifically the concern of the present study. Buddhism that originated elsewhere1
wasbroughtintoAndhra2byitsdissidentswhowerewelcomed,neitherblindlynor
wholesomely, by the people of Andhra. They welcomed and accepted it with due
modifications to suit their heretical tones and belief patterns. Every space will
nurture its unique life and thought which are rooted in the belief systems, geo-
graphical conditionsand linguistic frameworks. Buddhism, whichwas receivedby
the Andhras, was modified and proliferated as per the uniqueness of the groups of
people living and gave rise to a new group of Buddhist sects called Andhakas.
WhileproliferatingBuddhism(thought),theAndhra(space)developedresilience—
a characteristic that has developed through the interaction between the two. The
proliferation did not result in the disintegration of Buddhism, rather by using the
1SiddharthaGautama,asperBuddhisttradition,wasborninKapilavastu,whichispresentlycalled
RummindeiintheTerairegionofSouthernNepal.
2Here in the contextof thepresent work, theterm ‘Andhra’corresponds to thepresent political
unitsofAndhraPradeshandTelangana—theTelugulinguisticstatesofmodernIndia.
ix
x Introduction
resources of resilience, it resulted in the consolidation into a unique form of
Buddhism which is different from its earlier form that was later developed as
Mahāyānawithcosmopolitancharacteristics—auniqueoutcomeoftherelationship
between Andhra and Buddhism. Mahāyāna is the most widely accepted and
practiced Buddhist school in the world (compared to Theravāda and Vajrayāna)
because of its cosmopolitan characters such as resilience and accommodative nat-
ure. And this characteristic is the contribution of Andhra to Buddhism.
It will not be out of place to mention that some scholars such as Sarao (2012)
viewed this resilience or adaptive attitude of Buddhism to be a reason for its
disintegration.3 However, a careful look at the early Buddhist history of Andhra
takes us to a unique group of Buddhist sects called Andhakas which gave way for
theconsolidationofBuddhismasanalternativetoTheravadin’sunderstandingwith
cosmopolitan characteristics. The place of the Andhakas in the early Buddhist
historyisthebesthistoricalexampleagainstthecontentionthattheadaptiveattitude
is regressive or degenerative.
The broader objective of the study, following the above discussion, is to locate
theseedsofcharacteristicsofresilience,adaptabilityandconsolidation—becauseof
which Buddhism could travel across continents—as the contribution of early
AndhratoBuddhism.Specifically,theworkattemptstoexplicatethedoctrinesofa
groupofearlyBuddhistsectsofAndhracalledtheAndhakas—studyofwhichwill
havelargerimplicationsonthedevelopmentofMahāyānaandresilientcharacterof
cosmopolitanism of Buddhism.
Let me briefly elucidate cosmopolitanism in the context of the present work.
Cosmopolitanism,ingeneral,isunderstoodtobeaworldviewwhichviewswhole
humanity as one community, not by erasing the multiplicities, but by establishing
the interconnectedness. By viewing every human being to be a ‘citizen of the
world’ (as articulated by Diogenes, ancient Greek philosopher) and arguing for
‘humanitytobeonecommunity’,cosmopolitanismnotonlyerasessocial,political,
nationalandcommunitarianbarriers,butalsoplacestheindividualhumanbeingto
be theultimateunit ofmoraland theoretical concern.Historically, this concern for
human connectedness is articulated in different traditions in various forms.4
Buddhism, in the recent past, is explored through the lens of cosmopolitanism
owing to its concern for human suffering (Dukha) and solidarity (karuna) by var-
ious scholars from different dimensions (Ward 2013; Jones 2003; Garfield 2015;
SmithandMuntetal.2016;Thompson2020).AsobservedbyDharwadker(2001,
7),thepresent-day‘…cosmopolitanargumentofaninclusiveideaofhumanityand
3‘As a result of the adaptational attitude’, writes K. T. S. Sarao, ‘Buddhism almost completely
surrendered precisely to those beliefs and practices whose rejection the Buddha had himself
preachedinhisoriginalmessage’(2012,150).
4InadditiontoAncientGreekconceptionofDiogenes(aspointedabove),wecomeacrossAncient
Indianconceptionof‘wholeearthasonefamily’(Vasudhaivakutumbakam),UbuntuofAfrican
tradition,aspresentedbyDesmondTutu‘myhumanityiscaughtupandinextricablyboundupin
yours’;ClassicalConfucianconceptionoftianxia—allunderheavenandunityofheavenandman
(Young and Sang 2014). These conceptions represent cosmopolitan conceptualization of
humanity.