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THE BIRTH OF BUDDHISM During the fifth century bce , a man named Gautama Buddha founded one of the most

serene of the world’s religions, known as Buddhism. Gautamawasborn intoawealthyhousehold inanareaof India that isnowNepal.Heabandonedhis lifeof privilege at a young age to attain spiritual enlightenment. While meditating under a Bodhi tree one night, he received the wisdom he was seeking and began instructing others. Buddhism stresses the idea of the “Middle Way,” or avoidance of extremes, as the correct approach to life.

A shrine to Buddha at the Mahabodhi Stupa, or temple, in Bodhgaya, in eastern India.

India was relatively peaceful until the dawn of the eleventh century, when once again a foreign people invaded through the northwest. This time it was the armies of the Ghaznavid Empire, led by Mah- mud of Ghazni, that drove in on horses through the Khyber Pass. They did not raid the land only once, but continued to pillage it repeatedly—about twelve times in all—over the next thirty years. In 1175, another Muslim ruler known as Muhammad Ghori invaded in similar fashion, establishing his rule by the beginning of the thirteenth century. A series of Muslim dynasties followed, including the Khilji and the Tughlaq. In the south, the Vijayanagar Empire held power by preserving Hinduism as a unifying force amongst its people.

Elephant stables at the Sacred Center of Vijayanagara at Hampi in Karnataka, in southwestern India.