from 300 B.C. to
100 A.D. the upper classes of India favoured Buddhism and Jainism and
did not favour the Brahmans in the same way or to the same extent. But
it must be remembered that the religion of the Brahmans continued
throughout this period and produced a copious literature, and also
that the absence of works of art may be due to the fact that their
worship was performed in sacrificial enclosures and that they had not
yet begun to use temples and statues. After the first century A.D. we
have first a gradual and then a rapid rise in Brahmanic influence.
Inscriptions as well as books indicate that a linguistic change
occurred in the same period. At first popular dialects were regarded
as sufficiently dignified and current to be the medium for both
scripture and official records. Sanskrit remained a thing apart--the
peculiar possession of the Brahman literati. Then the popular language
was Sanskritized, the rules of Sanskrit grammar being accepted as the
standard to which it ought to conform, though perfect conformity was
impracticable. In much the same way the modern Greeks try to bring
Romaic into line with classical Greek. Finally Sanskrit was recognized
as the proper language for literature, government and religion. The
earliest inscriptions[176] in correct Sanskrit seem to date from the
second century A.D. Further, the invaders who entered India from the
north-west favoured Buddhism on the whole. Coins indicate that some of
them worshipped Siva[177] but the number and beauty of Buddhist
monuments erected under their rule can hardly be interpreted except as
a sign of their patronage. And their conversion was natural for they
had no strong religious convictions of their own and the Brahmans
with their pride of caste shrank from foreigners. But Buddhism had no
prejudice of race or class: it was animated by a missionary spirit and
it was probably the stronger creed at this period. It not only met the
invaders on their entry into India but it sent missionaries to them in
Bactria and Afghanistan, so that to some extent they brought Buddhism
with them. But it was a Buddhism combined with the most varied
elements. Hellenic art and religion had made the figures of Apollo,
Herakles and Helios familiar in Bactria, and both Bactria and northern
India were in touch with Zoroastrians. The mixed cults of these
borderlands readily professed allegiance to the Buddha but, not
understanding Indian ideas, simply made him into a deit