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Buddhism was established in the ancient Indian reigon of modern day Nepal . Buddhism flourished in India during the early phases of its history. However, it declined in coming centuries.

Political and Military Developments

Buddhism as a religion flourished in India with Emperor Ashoka accepting it as personal faith. Ashoka also played a major part in the spread of Buddhism in Asia through religious ambassadors. Buddhism countinued to prosper in Gandhara under the Shahi rule. Buddhism's spread was driven by powerful monarchs who adopted it as personal faith.

Central Asian and North Western Indian Buddhism weakened in the 6th century following the White Hun invasion. The White Huns followed their own religions such as Tengri, Nestorian Christianity and Manichean. King Mihirkula who ruled from 515 BC supressed Buddhism destroying monastaries as far as modern-day Allahabad before his son reversed the policy.

Xuanzang reports in his travels across India during the 7th century that Buddhism was popular in Andhra, Dhanyakataka, and Dravida which today roughly correspond to the modern day Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. He also reports deserted stupas in the area around modern day Nepal and the persecution of Buddhists by Ssanka in the Kingdom of Gouda. Xuanzang compliments the patronage of Harshavardana during this same period while noting in his travels that in various regions Buddhism was giving way to Jainism and Hinduism.

In the North and west reigons, following Harshavardana's reign, many small kingdoms came to power. This led to the rise of the martial Rajput clans across the gangetic plains and marked the end of Buddhist kingdoms. This resulted in sharp decline in royal patronage until a revival under the Pala empire in the Bengal region.

By the 10th century Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the Hindu-Shahis, effectively removing Hindu influence and ending Buddhist self-governance across Central Asia and the Punjab region. He demolished numerous monastaries alongside temples during his raid across north-western India.

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.

In 1200 Muhammad Khilji, one of Qutb-ud-Din's generals, destroyed monasteries fortified by the Sena armies such as Vikramshila, and sacked the great Buddhist university of Nalanda in 1193. His march across Northern India was a major milestone in the sudden decline of Buddhism in the gangetic plains as he devastated the last vestiges of Buddhist political prowess and resistance by laying waste their fortified monasteries.

In 1215 Genghis Khan conquered Afghanistan and raided Buddhist establishments. In 1227 after his death his conquest was divided and Chagatai established the Chagatai Khanate and his son Arghun made Buddhism the state religion. He was succeeded by his brother than his son Ghazan in 1295 who changed the state religion to Islam.

After the Mongol invasions of Islamic lands across Central Asia, many Sufis also found themselves fleeing towards India and around the environs of Bengal. Here their influence, previous familiarity with converting Buddhists, a lack of Buddhist political power, Hinduism's revival movements such as Advaita and bhakti movement, all contributed to a significant realignment of beliefs relegating Buddhism in India to the peripheries.

Ideological and financial causes

By the 4th to 5th century Buddhism was in relative decline in northern India. In India it found ideological opposition for its monastic system. Hinduism, in this period witnessed a resurgent movement under Adi Shankara.

Hinduism was strongly ingrained in the minds of the common people, and to this day continues to be the foundation for many customs and daily activities. Indians included Buddhism as part of Hinduism when it came to the Buddha and various figures of veneration. Shakyamuni Buddha was often revered as one of the gods, and eventually came to be venerated as Shakyamuni Buddha, the ninth avatar of Vishnu.

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. This further cut off the sangha from Indian society.

Assimilation, conversion, and destruction

Hinduism's revival movements such as Advaita Vedanta and the Bhakti movement resulted in decline of Buddhist philosophy.

When Islam arrived in India, it sought conversion from, not assimilation to or integration with, the already present religions. However, because Hinduism was integral to the character of the Indian people, Islam could not uproot it entirely, even in its lasting impression on converts to Islam. However, the destruction of many monasteries and stupas resulted in the Buddhist order being almost entirely eradicated, because most of the tradition was kept up by monks, not civilians.

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 up to the present.

Buddhism continued to prosper in the nearby countries of Nepal, Tibet and Burma, as well as in more distant locations, such as China and Japan.

Survival of Buddhism in India

Buddhist institutions flourished in eastern India right until the Islamic invasion. Buddhism still survives among the Barua, a community of Bengali/Magadh descent that migrated to Chittagong region. Indian Buddhism also survives among Newars of Nepal.

In Orissa, Mahima Dharma, a derivative of Buddhism, survived until 18th century.

The Hindu Kayasthas, a community of scribes in North India, had been a supporter of Buddhism since the early period. They continued to support Buddhism until about 12th-13th century in some regions.

Buddhism survived in Kashmir valley until 13-14th century, perhaps slightly longer in the nearby Swat Valley. In Ladakh region, adjacent to Kashmir valley, Tibetan Buddhism survives. Tibetan Buddhism must have been popular in Kashmir at one time, as we learn from Rajatarangini of Kalhana.

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 south in some pockets, it may have survived even longer. The worship of Dharma Shasta may be a relic of Buddhism in Kerala.

Revival

main article: Neo-Buddhism

In recent times, Buddhism has seen a revival in India, partially because of the more liberal laws concerning religion, and also because of the presence of Tibetan Buddhists. Additionally, many people who had felt oppression from the caste system in various parts of India turned to Buddhism, led initially by B. R. Ambedkar in 1956.

Decline of Buddhism in India: Chronology

• 515 Huna king Mihirkula destroys Buddhist institutions
• 680 Tibetans join Shahis against the Umayyad forces in Bactria
• 715 Arab general Qutaiba retook Bactria from the Shahis and destroys Nava Vihara
• 735 Barmakids converts from Buddhism in Bactria
• 750-1150 Mahasiddhas promote tantrika Budhism
• 788-820 Adi Shankara establishes Advaita's supremacy in India by debating against Buddhists
• 879 Hindu Shahis retook Kabul and Nagarahara. Hinduism and Buddhism flourish
• 913 - 942 reign of Nasr II, Buddhist statues still made in Samarkand
• 1114-1154 Gahadvala Govindchandra constructs viharas in North India
• 1193 Nalanda destroyed by Khilji forces
• 1200 Vikramshila and Odantapuri destroyed by Khilji forces
• 1295 Arghun's son Ghazan succeeded to the Khanate throne and destroyed the new Buddhist monasteries
• 1389-1413 Sikandar Butshikan destroys the great Buddhas of Kashmir.
• 16th cent Buddhism still flourishes at Nagapattinam in Tamilnadu
• 19th cent. Baruas and Newars remain as the last of the Indian Buddhists
• 1891 Anagarika Dharmapala visits India, Buddhism reemerges in India
• 1923 Rahul Sankrityayan becomes a Bhikkhu
• 1956 Ambedkar becomes a Buddhist, founding the neo-Buddhist movement.

See also

• History of Buddhism
• History of India
• Buddhism in Kashmir
• Religion in India
• Islamic invasion of India

External links

• Koenraad Elst on allegations of "Hindu iconoclasm": Pushyamitra, Bodh-Gaya, Harsha of Kashmir, ,
• Reformation Movement in the Buddhist Sangha of Bangladesh (1856-1971)
• Berzin Archives

• Demographic history of India
• History of Buddhism