Buddhism moved from India through Central Asia to China between roughly the 1st century BCE and the 7th century CE, carried by merchants, monks, missionaries and empires, often in short relays.
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The Vedas are the oldest Hindu scriptures, composed in ancient India. The Upanishads are the final layer of each Veda, and they turn from ritual toward philosophical questions about the self and reality.
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Buddhism declined slowly over centuries, mainly as royal and merchant support shifted away and Hinduism absorbed much of it. Muslim invasions delivered a late blow. Experts disagree on the weight of each cause.
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The first human images of the Buddha appeared around the first century CE in Gandhara and Mathura. Gandharan sculptors used Graeco-Roman styles, but how direct the Greek link was is debated.
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