Buddhism
BuddhismA major world religion numbering over 300 million followers (exact estimates are impossible since Buddhism does not preclude other religious beliefs). Early Buddhism developed from Hinduism through the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha ) and his disciples, around the 5th century bc in northern India. Under leaders such as the emperor Asoka , who converted to Buddhism and encouraged its spread, the religion provided a stabilizing political structure throughout India. Offering a way to salvation that did not depend on caste or the ritualism of the Brahmin priesthood of Hinduism, and strengthened by a large, disciplined monastic order (the sangha), it made a very great impact; but by the end of the 1st millennium ad it had lost ground to a resurgent Hinduism, and the subsequent Muslim invasions...
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