Trade, urbanism, and agricultural expansion: Buddhist monastic institutions and the state in the Early Historic western Deccan
Kathleen D. Morrison 
Kathleen D. Morrison 
The western Deccan is well-known for its spectacular rock-cut Buddhist architecture and its<br>extensive Buddhist monastic complexes. Many of these structures were cut during the Satavahana<br>period, the first large-scale state polity in western India. In order to understand how Buddhist<br>monastic institutions were integrated into the social, political, and economic organization of this<br>period, it is necessary to begin to consider how production and distribution of produce and craft<br>goods were structured and how both Buddhist monastic institutions and political authorities were<br>involved in these patterns. Specifically, I examine the hypothesized link between Buddhism, trade,<br>and state formation and suggest that no simple causal relationship can be discerned.