Everything about The Decline Of Buddhism In India totally explained
The
Decline of Buddhism in India, in the land of its birth occurred for a variety of reasons, and happened even as it continued to flourish beyond the frontiers of India.
Buddhism was established in the area of ancient
Magadha and
Kosala by
Gautama Buddha in the 6th century BCE, in what is now modern
Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar. Buddhism, over the next 1500 years became the region's dominant belief system, spreading across the
Indian sub-continent (see
History of Buddhism).
After the death of
Gautama Buddha, Buddhism saw rapid expansion in its first century, especially in northern and central
India. Chinese scholars traveling through the region between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, such as
Faxian,
Xuanzang,
I-ching, Hui-sheng, and Sung-Yun, began to speak of a decline of the Buddhist
sangha, especially in the wake of the
White Hun invasion.
A Buddhist tradition holds him as having taken steps to check the spread of Buddhism as "the number one enemy of the sons of the
Sakya's and a most cruel persecutor of the religion". This account has however been described as "exaggerated".
The accuracy of the Buddhist texts that record Pushyamitra’s persecution of Buddhists has been debated by historians. The first accounts appear two centuries after Pushyamitra's reign in
Asokâvadâna and the
Divyâvadâna.
Sir John Marshall states that it's possible that the original brick stupa built by Ashoka was destroyed by Pusyamitra and then restored by his successor Agnimitra. Archaeological evidence is scarce and uncertain.Following Ashoka’s sponsorship of Buddhism, it's possible that Buddhist institutions fell on harder times under the Sungas but no evidence of active persecution has been noted.
The Sungas were patrons of Hinduism and their lack of royal patronage was also a setback to Buddhism, resulting in the splintering of Buddhism into many forces. Some of them were: the
Saravastivadins,
Mahasargikas,
Sthaviravadha, and
Yogacara. This resulted in a diversity of opinions and interpretations that led to a conflict between warring schools shortly after the fall of the Mauryans.
An inscription at Bodh Gaya at the
Mahabodhi Temple records the construction of the temple as follows: "
The gift of Nagadevi the wife of King Brahmamitra" So then this further means that the Sungas were in support of Buddhism. Another inscription reads: "
The gift of Kurangi, the mother of living sons and the wife of King Indragnimitra, son of Kosiki. The gift also of Srima of the royal palace shrine."
Guptas
Buddhism saw a brief revival under the
Guptas. By the 4th to 5th century Buddhism was already in decline in northern India, even as it was achieving multiple successes in
Central Asia and along the
Silk Road as far as
China. It continued to prosper in
Gandhara under the
Shahi kingdom.
White Huns
Central Asian and North Western Indian Buddhism weakened in the
6th century following the
White Hun invasion, who followed their own religions such as
Tengri,
Nestorian Christianity, and
Manichean. Their
Saivite King,
Mihirakula (who ruled from 515 CE), suppressed Buddhism as well. He did this by destroying monasteries as far away as modern-day
Allahabad, before his son reversed the policy.
Harsha
In the North and west the collapse of
Harshavardana's kingdom gave rise to many smaller kingdoms. This led to the rise of the martial
Rajputs clans across the
gangetic plains. It also marked the end of Buddhist ruling clans, along with a sharp decline in royal patronage. This carried on until a revival under the
Pala Empire in the Bengal region.
Buddhism in Southern India
In the south of India while there was no overt persecution of
Buddhists at least two
Pallava rulers Simhavarma and Trilochana are known to have destroyed
Buddhist stupas and have had Hindu temples built over them. However, Bodhidharma, a patriarch of
Zen Buddhism of was a Brahmin prince from the Pallava dynasty.
Nagarjuna, the founder of Mahayana Buddhism, was a Brahmin from southern India.
The
Satavahanas were worshipers of Buddha as well as other Hindu gods such as Krishna, Shiva, Gauri, Indra, the sun and moon. Under their reign Amaravati, the historian Durga Prasad notices that Buddha had been worshiped as a form of Vishnu.
Furthermore a vigorous
Hindu revival of
Vaishnavite Hinduism in the region led to a sharp decline of Buddhism.
(External Link
)
Muhammad bin Qasim
In AD 711,
Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the
Sindh bringing Indian societies into contact with Islam. He succeeded partly because
Dahir was an unpopular Hindu king that ruled over a
Buddhist majority.
Chach of Alor and his kin were regarded as usurpers of the earlier Buddhist
Rai Dynasty. as well as the incorporation of the religious elite into the ruling administration such as the allocation of 3% of the government revenue was allocated to the Brahmins. The jizya enforced was a graded tax, being heaviest on the elite and lightest on the poor.
Mahmud of Ghazni is said to have been an
iconoclast. Hindu and Buddhist statues, shrines and temples were looted and destroyed, and many Buddhists had to take refuge in Tibet.
Palas
In the East under the
Palas in
Bengal, Mahayana Buddhism flourished and spread to
Bhutan and
Sikkim. The
Palas created many temples and a distinctive school of Buddhist art.
Mahayana Buddhism flourished under the Palas between the
8th and the
12th century, before it collapsed at the hands of the attacking
Sena dynasty.
However some scholars believe that they were also
Shaivaite judging by the image of
Shiva and His
ox on their coins and the etymology of their names. Art of Shiva also exists in temples such as the Melakadambur in Bengal where Nataraja and his bull are found.
They had also dedicated shrines to
Vishnu. Figures of Vishnu were substantial in number in the Pala Era.
Other than figures of Buddha, Vishnu and Shiva there were also those of
Sarasvati.
Muhammad of Ghor
Muhammad attacked the North-Western regions of the
Indian subcontinent many times. Gujarat later fell to Muhammad of Ghor's armies in
1197.
Muhammad of Ghor's armies destroyed many Buddhist structures, including the great Buddhist university of
Nalanda.
In
1200 Muhammad Khilji, one of
Qutb-ud-Din's generals destroyed monasteries fortified by the
Sena armies, such as the one at
Vikramshila. Many monuments of ancient Indian civilization were destroyed by the invading armies, including Buddhist sanctuaries near
Benares. Buddhist monks who escaped the massacre fled to
Nepal,
Tibet and
South India.
The Mongols
In
1215,
Genghis Khan conquered
Afghanistan and devastated the Muslim world. In
1227, after his death, his conquest was divided.
Chagatai then established the
Chagatai Khanate, where his son
Arghun made Buddhism the state religion. At the same time, he came down harshly on
Islam and demolished mosques to build many stupas. He was succeeded by his brother, and then his son
Ghazan who converted to Islam and in 1295 changed the state religion. After his reign, and the splitting of the Chagatai Khanate, little mention of
Buddhism or the stupas built by the Mongols can be found in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Timur (Tamarlane)
Timur was a 14th-century
warlord of
Turco-Mongol descent, conqueror of much of Western and central Asia, and founder of the
Timurid Empire.
Timur destroyed Buddhist establishments and raided areas in which Buddhism had flourished.
Mughals
Mughal rule also contributed to the decline of Buddhism. They are reported to have destroyed many Hindu temples and Buddhist shrines alike or converted many sacred Hindu places into Muslim shrines and mosques. Mughal rulers like
Aurangzeb destroyed Buddhist temples and monasteries and replaced them with Islamic mosques.
Ideological and financial causes
The period between the 400 BCE and 1000 CE saw gains by Hinduism at the expense of Buddhism. Some Hindu rulers resorted to military means in an effort to suppress Buddhism. However it's seen that the evolution of Hindu ideology influenced by Buddhisms was more important factor for the growth of Hinduism.
Hinduism became a more "intelligible and satisfying road to faith for many ordinary worshippers" because it now included not only an appeal to a personal god, but had also seen the development of an emotional facet with the composition of devotional hymns.
Xuanzang compliments the patronage of
Harshavardana. He reported that Buddhism was popular in
Kanyakubja (modern day
Uttar Pradesh), where he noted "an equal number of Buddhists and heretics" and the presence of 100 monasteries and 10,000 bhikshus along with 200 "Deva" (Hindu) temples.. He found a similarly flourishing population in
Udra (modern
Orissa). He found a mixed population in
Kosala, homeland of
Nagarjuna, and in
Andhra, and
Dravida which today roughly correspond to the modern day Indian states of
Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu. In a region he calls Konkanapura, which may be
Kolhapur in southern
Maharashtra, he found great numbers of Buddhists coexisting with a similar number of non-Buddhists, and a similar situation in norther Maharashtra. In
Sindh he finds a large
Theravada population. He reports a fair number of Buddhists in what is now Pakistan.
In Dhanyakataka (today's
Vijayawada), he found a striking decline, with Jainism and
Shaivism ascendant. In
Bihar, site of a number of important landmarks, he also found a striking decline and relatively few followers, with Hinduism and Jainism predominating. He also found relatively few Buddhists in
Bengal,
Kamarupa (modern
Assam). He reported no Buddhist presence in
Konyodha, few in
Chulya (in the Tamil region), and few in
Gujarat and
Rajasthan, except in
Valabhi, where he found a large
Theravada population.
During the reign of the
Chalukya dynasty, Xuanzang reported that numerous Buddhist stupas in regions previously ruled by Buddhist-sympathetic
Andhras and
Pallavas were "ruined" and "deserted".These regions came under the control of the
Vaishnavite Eastern Chalukyas, who were not favorable to Buddhism and didn't support the religion.Xuanzang's report also mentions that, in the 7th Century,
Shashanka of the Kingdom of
Gouda (
Bengal), was expanding his influence in the region in the aftermath of the fall of the
Gupta Empire. He is blamed by Xuanzhang and other Buddhist sources for the murder of Rajyavardhana, a Buddhist king of
Thanesar. Xuanzang writes that Shashanka destroyed the
Bodhi tree of enlightenment at Bodh Gaya and replaced Buddha statues with Shiva Lingams. However, it has been claimed that Xuanzhang had a Buddhist bias in favor of the buddhist rulers such as
Harshavardhana and that his account may therefore be slanted..
Philosophical divergence with Adi Shankara
In 9th century CE, the Buddhist philosophers started to lose ground with the Hindu Saint
Adi Shankara. The
Shankaracharya debated with Buddhist monks and raised issues with Buddhist philosophy. The resurgence of Hinduism with the ideas of Shankaracharya led to a reduction of royal patronage of the Buddhist monks. As political patronage failed, it came under increasing pressure by
Hinduism and the revival movements of
Adi Shankara.
Shakyamuni Buddha eventually came to be venerated as a manifestation of the Hindu god
Vishnu.
Literary evidences point towards an absorption of Buddhist elements by Hindu culture over a period of centuries. Anti-Buddhist propaganda was also reaching its peak during the 8th century when Shankara modeled his monastic order after the Buddhist Sangha. Buddhist monasteries were well-funded and life within was relatively easy. To avoid unwanted members, many monasteries became selective about whom they admitted, in some cases based on social class.
Islam
The Arabic invaders described Indian Pagans as But-parast, and idol-breakers as but-shikan. The word "but" is derived from Buddhism, but the Arabs used it for "Indian paganism" in general. When the Arabs arrived in Sind there were only glimpses of Buddhism nor any evidence of a provincial government in control of the Buddhists. During the seventh to thirteenth centuries when Islam arrived it replaced Buddhism as the great cosmopolitan trading religion in many places accompanied by a consolidation of the communal peasant religions of Hinduism.. Hardly a contemporary evidence however exists on the destruction of Buddhist monasteries. Taranatha in his
History of Buddhism in India (dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho) of 1608 C.E., gives an account of the last few centuries of Buddhism, mainly in Eastern india. His account suggests aconsiderable decline but not an extinction of Buddhism in India in his time.
Sufis and the Bhakti movement
When
Islam arrived in India, it sought conversion from, not assimilation to or integration with, the already present religions. Under
Sufi influence, the pressures of caste, and with no political support structure left in place to resist social mores, many converted to Islam in the Bengal region.
After the
Mongol invasions of Islamic lands across Central Asia, many
Sufis also found themselves fleeing towards India and around the environs of
Bengal. In Bengal, their influence, caste attitudes towards Buddhists, previous familiarity with converting Buddhists, a lack of Buddhist political power,
Hinduism's resurgence through movements such as the
Advaita and the
bhakti movement, all contributed to a significant realignment of beliefs that relegated Buddhism in India to the peripheries.
Survival of Buddhism in India
At the beginning of the modern era, Buddhism was very nearly extinct in mainstream Indian society. Some tribal peoples living in the territory of modern India did continue to practice Buddhism.
In Bengal, the
Bauls still practice a
syncretic form of Hinduism that was strongly influenced by Buddhism. There is also evidence of small communities of Indian
Theravada Buddhists existing continuously in Bengal in the area of
Chittagong hill tracts among the indigenous
Chakma people up to the present. Though they're under increasing pressure from mostly
Muslim Bengali settlers. There was genocide of the Chakma and Buddhists by Islamists in East Pakistan. The Chakma spiritual practices are a blend of Buddhism/Vaishnavism.
Buddhist institutions flourished in eastern India right until the Islamic invasion. Buddhism still survives among the
Barua (though practicing Vaishnava/Hindu elements), a community of Bengali/Magadh descent that migrated to
Chittagong region. Indian Buddhism also survives among
Newars of Nepal.
Buddhism survived in
Gilgit and
Baltistan until 13-14th century, perhaps slightly longer in the nearby
Swat Valley. In
Ladakh region, adjacent to Kashmir valley, Tibetan Buddhism survives to this day. The historic prevalence and history of Tibetan Buddhism in the above mentioned Northern regions of
Jammu and Kashmir is reported in the
Rajatarangini of
Kalhana written sometime during 1147–1149 CE.
In
Tamilnadu and
Kerala, Buddhism survived until 15-16th century. At
Nagapattinam, in
Tamil Nadu, Buddhist idols were cast and inscribed until this time, and the ruins of the
Chudamani Vihara stood until they were destroyed by the
Jesuits in 1867. In the South in some pockets, it may have survived even longer.
Revival
On
pilgramage to
Bodh Gaya in 1891, the
Sri Lankan Buddhist leader
Anagarika Dharmapala was shocked to find the temple in the hands of a
Saivite priest, the Buddha image transformed into a Hindu icon and Buddhists barred from worship. The Buddhist revival then began in India, when he founded the
Maha Bodhi Society. The Buddhist renaissance inaugurated by Anagarika Dharmapala through his Mahabodhi Movement is also described as "conservative" for it held the Muslim Rule in India responsible for the decay of Buddhism in India in the then current mood of Hindu-Buddhist brotherhood. The organization's initial efforts were to restore various Buddhist shrines that had been neglected under
Hindu administration, and to open to the public various Buddhist sites and temples that had been destroyed in various periods of
Muslim invasion.
Later in the 1950's
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar pioneered the
Dalit Buddhist movement in India. Dr. Ambedekar saw conversion to Islam and to Christianity as a factor contributing to the "denationalisation" of India. The revival movement of Buddhism in India underwent a major change when after publishing a series of books and articles arguing that Buddhism was the only way for the untouchables to gain equality, Ambedkar publicly converted on
October 14,
1956 in
Nagpur and then in turn led a mass-conversion ceremony for over 380,000
dalits. Many other such mass-conversion ceremonies organized since and has become a politically charged issue. Since Ambedkar's conversion, numerous similar many more people from different castes have converted to Buddhism. Many Dalits employ the term "Ambedkar(ite) Buddhism" to designate the Buddhist movement, which started with Ambedkar's conversion.
in 1959
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama transitioned from
Tibet to India and set up the
government of Tibet in Exile in
Dharamsala, India, which is often referred to as "Little
Lhasa." Tibetan exiles numbering several thousand have since settled in the town. Most of these exiles live in Upper Dharamsala, or McLeod Ganj, where they established monasteries, temples and schools. The town is sometimes known as "Little
Lhasa", after the Tibetan capital city, and has become one of the centres of Buddhism in the world.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Decline Of Buddhism In India'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://decline_of_buddhism_in_india.totallyexplained.com">Decline of Buddhism in India Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
