Introduction

How do we understand the contexts within which notions of law were developed in early Buddhism? We first need to localize early Buddhism within the geography of the Indian subcontinent. We can then turn to traditions of codification that were in dialogue with one another, remembering that Buddhism was not an isolated phenomenon. Next we will contextualize these traditions in terms of the key economic, political, and social developments that characterized the region at the time.

Historians attempting to reconstruct the milieu of early Buddhism have drawn on a variety of sources. These include texts considered to be part of the early Buddhist Pāli canon, later Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical works in Sanskrit, as well as a range of archeological evidence. The latter includes finds from explorations and excavations at sites associated with early Buddhism and elsewhere, along with some of the earliest inscribed material. Not all the sources tell the same story, nor have scholars approached them with the same sets of questions. Consequently, our understanding is fragmentary in more ways than one. This is a limitation that we need to acknowledge at the very outset.