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238 INDIA AS DESCRIBED. IN DARLY TEXTS • In the opinion of D. R. Bhandarkar, the ancient șsis were not aggressive propagators oftheir faith 1 As distinguished from them, the Paribbājakas and Samaņas actively propagated the same amongst all classes of people. The happy result of it was that already by the time of Piyadasi-Asoka almost the whole of India was Aryanised or Hinduised by them, the Samaņas and the Brāhmaṇas 2. They were the people who prepared the ground for the vigorous Buddhist missionary work, organised during the latter part of the reign of Asoka. Before that time the spread of Buddhism was restricted more or less to the confines of Majjhimadesa 3. And yet the missionary zeal which enabled Buddhism to become a great civilising influence in the world, lay in the epoch-making utterance of the Buddha with which he urged his very first batch of advanced disciples to go forth in all directions and preach the new message of the Dhamma, not two of them following the same direction, for the good and happiness of many, himself taking the lead in the matter".
In carrying on this noble mission, some of the hermits, ascetics and recluses had to play the
| 1 Bhandarkar, Carmichael Leatures, 1918, p. 17.
2 Asoka’s R.E., xiii; Barua, Gaya and Buddhagayā, i, p. 262. a Kathāvatthu, i, 3; 1.H.Q., vii (1931), p. 368.
4 Vinaya Mahavagga: 'Saratha, bhilkhave, cărikcam bahujanahitāya - bahujanasukhāya', etc.
