Buddhist and Jain Period

by Suraj Vashishth

The culture of India was moulded throughout various eras of history, all the while absorbing customs, traditions, and ideas from both invaders and immigrants.  Many cultural practices, languages, customs, and monuments are examples of this co-mingling over centuries.  India was the birth place of religious systems such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, each of which have had a strong influence not only over India but also over the rest of the world. 

Indian philosophy throughout the ages has had a tremendous impact on world thought, especially in the east. Various theistic schools of philosophy, such as the many schools of Buddhism and Jainism, have had huge influences, but also, India produced some of the longest and most influential secular traditions of logic, rationalism, science, mathematics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, etc. 

Many of the complex scientific and mathematical concepts such as the idea of zero, found their way to Europe via Arab intermediaries.  The most famous school of Indian atheism, is Charvaka, considered by some to be the oldest materialistic school of thought in the world, composed around the same time as the Hindu Upanishads, as well as the philosophy of Buddhism and Jainism.