Haunting the Buddha: Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism

The opening chapter, “Coming to Terms,” frames the central problem: early Buddhist art presents a world full of spirit-deities, while many standard accounts of Buddhism focus mainly on monastic renunciation and doctrinal philosophy. DeCaroli reviews earlier Western scholarship and argues that colonial-era assumptions often treated popular religions as inferior or non-Buddhist. He then clarifies key terminology, especially the use of “spirit-deity” and “spirit religion” for beings and practices that were neither fully Vedic nor exclusively Buddhist. The chapters develop this argument through major themes: the formation of belief in spirit-deities; the presence of these beings in early Buddhist stone monuments; ghost narratives and supernatural protection; the political dimensions of enlightenment; the role of spirit-deities in guarding and regulating monasteries; the transmission of these beliefs beyond India; and the ways Buddhists confronted, domesticated, or incorporated demons and local powers. The book concludes that early Buddhism was shaped not only by doctrine and monastic discipline, but also by active engagement with the popular religious landscape of ancient India.