A Cultural Study of Early Pāli Tipiṭakas (02 Volumes)

This two-volume work presents early Pāli literature as a critical archive for understanding ancient Indian culture through the practical conditions of life, social organization, belief systems, and institutional structures. Volume I begins with the geographical and cosmographical imagination of the early Tipiṭakas, discussing Jambudīpa, Majjhimadesa, regional divisions, heavens, lower worlds, and world cycles, before moving to contemporary religious practices, ascetic movements, important non-Buddhist teachers, social differentiation, family life, and women. Volume II continues the cultural reconstruction through material and public life, including bodily care, clothing, ornaments, food, household objects, recreation, festivals, customs, charms, economy, trade, currency, flora, fauna, political administration, army, crime, legal practices, town planning, architecture, metals, precious stones, education, medicine, and contemporary knowledge. Together, the two volumes provide a systematic reconstruction of early Buddhist India based on selected Pāli canonical sources, offering a valuable resource for scholars of Pāli studies, Buddhist history, ancient Indian culture, and social history.