New traditions: Mahayana, Puranic Hinduism, temples

By the first century CE, Buddhist ideas were changing. The Buddha came to be seen as a saviour. Bodhisattas were thought of as compassionate beings who used the merit they gained to help others, rather than seeking their own nibbana. Images of the Buddha and Bodhisattas were worshipped. This new tradition was called Mahayana ('great vehicle'); the older one, Hinayana ('lesser vehicle').

In the same period, new Puranic traditions grew within Hinduism. Vaishnavism centred on Vishnu, who was believed to take ten avatars (forms) to save the world when it was threatened by evil. Shaivism centred on Shiva, often worshipped in the symbolic form of the linga. Both stressed bhakti: loving devotion to a chosen deity.

Their stories were told in the Puranas, written in simple Sanskrit and read aloud to everybody, including women and Shudras, who were not allowed to study the Vedas.

Temples were built to house these images. The earliest was a small square room, the garbhagriha, with one doorway; later a tall structure, the shikhara, rose above it, and halls and gateways were added. Some temples were cut out of rock, from the artificial caves of the Barabar hills to the great Kailashnatha temple at Ellora, carved from a single piece of rock.

Nineteenth-century Europeans judged Indian art by Greek standards, so they most admired the Gandhara Buddha images, which resembled Greek sculpture. Even today, scholars differ: the great relief at Mahabalipuram may show the descent of the Ganga, or Arjuna's penance. Devotion built images and temples.