DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

6.7J THE GREAT NEGATION ; TAXILA 171
of production which could not be abolished without increasing that very
misery of all human existence which is a recurrent theme of discourse. A
famous gatha gave the essence of Buddhism as “ showing the cause of
those phenomena that arise from a cause, and its negation”. That all
causation implies negation is the first step in dialectic. Advance to a
higher level (by the “ negation of the negation”) necessitated far greater
progress through more productive types of society than could have
been visualized with the rudimentary productive mechanism of the 6th
century B. c. The Buddhist nirvana now appears to a casual reader like
complete annihilation. When first propounded, it was a negation, return
of the individual to the signless, undifferentiated state. The condition
was to be achieved only by cumulative perfection in successive rebirths,
till the personality was freed by its own efforts from subjection to
karma, the necessity of transmigration. The memory of a classless,
undifferentiated society remained as the legend of a golden age (DN. 27
cf/ Kalanos in Strabo 15.1.64) when the good earth spontaneously
produced ample food without labour because men had neither property
nor greed. The transfer from individual to collective, social,
cumulative effort, the return of society as a whole to the classless
state, on a far higher level of production which would satisfy everyone’s
needs with as little human effort as the silent forces of nature — this was
not visualized till the last century.
6.7. (This section, because of its difficult, technical nature, should be
treated as an appendix and may be omitted on a first reading.) Magadha
continued to grow steadily after Ajata-satru. Avanti was taken at some
unknown period ; Taxila, the Peshawar region, and a good portion of
Afghanistan were conquered by Candragupta, founder of the Mauryan
dynasty. A good deal of unminted silver undoubtedly came to India
through Taxila. The Greek black ware presumably first entered India
from Taxila ; its Indian counterpart ceased at some time during the
Satavahana period. It is definitely a trade pottery fired by a
complicated process in permanent kilns, and probably implies the
production of good wines for distant use. Documents speak of Taxila’s
high cultural position as regards rituals, Sanskrit learning, medicine.