Although Buddhist monasteries are commonly understood as being institutions dedicated to non‐attachment and transcendence, the architectures of the earliest known monasteries are overwhelmingly decorated with sculptural images of minor deities and spirits directly associated with wealth, health and worldly success (yakshas, nagas, etc). This text refutes the notion that the presence of these deities is linked to periods of decline in Buddhism by demonstrating how the inclusion of these semi‐divine figures was part of an intentional process by which the Buddhist monastic community managed to attract adherents and expand into new regions. Specifically, the incorporation of these supernatural beings into Buddhist contexts provided the Buddhists with a social role as the tamers and keepers of potentially dangerous and unpredictable spirits. This new social relevance ensured Buddhist patronage after the cessation of royal support (c. 200‐100 bce) and provided the monastic community with a strategy for expansion. Both the architecture and the sculpture served as important visual markers that signified the spiritual authority of Buddhist teachings and identified the monastic community as spiritually accomplished individuals worthy of support. This work situates Buddhism within the social and political contexts of early India and in so doing explores the contributions made to the developing monastic institution by the religious ideas and local beliefs that surrounded it.

Visitors to early (second century bce–fifth century ce) Buddhist monastic sites across South Asia encountered prominent figural images of nāgas, serpent-like beings who were believed to be closely connected to water and rainfall. Such images are commonly identified as guardians and occasionally have been linked to nearby water systems, such as ponds, tanks, and rivers. Yet, these images have not been studied as an aspect of water regulation within the monasteries themselves. This paper will first consider the water-related challenges that confronted the monks and architects at rock-cut monasteries. Then methods of hydraulic engineering designed to regulate the flow of water at the sites will be considered in relation to the role of nāga imagery. Their proximity to gutters and tanks reveals the Buddhist reliance on supernatural forces as an aspect of water control. The highly visible nature of this arrangement helps to explain the emergence of ritual texts, primarily after the fourth century ce, in which Buddhist ritualists adopt the role of rainmakers. These elaborate ceremonies promise to bring rain or end flooding for the benefit of the saṃgha and the wider community. The ritualists invariably invoke a special relationship with the nāgas, whom they enjoin to rectify undesirable conditions. This connection between image and text reveals a centuries-long process by which the monastic community developed an association with weather regulation that was contingent on a cultivated and highly public relationship with Buddhist-friendly nāgas.

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Most people who have studied Buddhism to any degree are familiar with the tale of the Buddha's enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. However, Bodh Gaya was also the foremost location at which to perform funerary rites and was therefore one of the most haunted places in India. I demonstrate in this chapter that the Buddha's famous encounter with Mara (the deity who presides over desire and fear) serves as the template for all successive confrontations between supernatural beings and members of the monastic community. In this manner the Buddha himself established the precedents by which a monk or nun may subdue troublesome local spirits and, in so doing, helps to establish a social role for the ostensibly insular monastic community.

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