Articles : Searching for the Buddhist Sect Which Propagated the Worship of the Buddha Image

From the viewpoint of political history, the Post-Mauryan period, which began with the breakdown of centralized Mauryan authority, was characterized by the rapid loss of Mauryan political sovereignty, i.e., the establishment of various dynasties by foreign invaders. In this process of political change, northwest India experienced not only economic growth through trade and coinage, but also socio-cultural change. Religions, including Buddhism, also entered a new phase due to the spread of bhakti ideas which became the theoretical basis of the religious change. At that time, the gods of early Hinduism were becoming increasingly well defined and distinct as objects of devotion, and one of the Buddhist sects, whose activities were centered in northwest India in the cities of Gandhara and Mathura must have been influenced by this tendency toward the personification of deities and the subsequent direct, emotional worship practiced by their devotees. This is, therefore, an attempt to identify that Buddhist sect which theoretically and literally contributed to the deification of the Buddha and led to the popularization of worshiping his image around the world.