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Abstract
Many scholars of Indian history and religion are devoted to unraveling the
realize that the whole sequence of events was initiated by the Buddhist monks
and clergy when they had ignored the teachings of the Buddha and concentrated
abandoned the community visits and concentrated on their own salvation instead
of helping the common people and oppressed classes to end their sufferings. As
the lay devotees were ignored, Buddhism started losing the general support from
the community. Subsequently, the Brahmins took advantage of this situation and
deepened the rift between the common people and the Buddhist practitioners.
They also manipulated the contemporary rulers to withdraw their support from
Introduction
what led to the disappearance of Buddhism from India, the land of its origin.
Many scholars of Indian history and religion are devoted to unraveling this
enigma. Due to the lack of historical and archeological evidence, the debate
continues for centuries and there is no absolute consensus on this matter till
date.1 Two factors were generally cited as the main reasons for the ultimate
disappearance of Buddhism from India. The first one was the Vedic revival,
which drove the religion out the country and this was followed by the invading
hordes of the Prophet Mohammed, who razed the temples and slaughtered the
these two important factors, still they do not believe that these were the truly
crucial reasons for the disappearance of Buddhism from India. Muslim invasions
primarily wrecked only Northern India. But Buddhism was a significant religious
still could not explain how the religion disappeared from Southern India as
well.1,2,3
Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India. The present condition of the Bodhi tree also aptly
symbolizes the present status of Buddhism in the world. The main original trunk
of the Bodhi tree is missing and the tree is now thriving on its prop roots.
Similarly, though Buddhism had been wiped off from its place of origin in India,
Conflicts of opinions prevail while identifying the probable factors leading to the
disappearance of Buddhism from India during the 12th century A.D. A few
scholars however, cherish the opinion that Buddhism never disappeared as such
from India and subsequently got incorporated into the Hinduism. They believe
that modern Hinduism in India is a new form of ancient Buddhism.2,3 Due to the
another group of scholars who uphold the theory that Buddhism is a restatement
relate any ancient religion in India with Buddhism, it should be the existing
Sakyamuni Buddha during the 6th century B.C., who was a historical personality.
system in India laid down by the Aryans. As the status of women was remarkably
women in the society. Sakyamuni Buddha was the first historical personality who
rose against all odds to abolish discrimination and violence against women in the
Though Buddhism had been the dominant religion in much of the Gangetic plains
in the early part of the Christian era, but the Chinese traveler, Ven. Hsuan
Tsang, during his visit to India in the early years of the 7th century, had
had encountered many non-Buddhists. This was not surprising considering the
Shravasti was the capital city of the Lichhavis, a north Indian clan that came to
power around 200 AD and established their capital in Pasupatinath. In a long and
glorious period of reign extending through the early part of the ninth century,
they had endowed a large number of both Hindu and Buddhist monuments and
Kushinagar, the small village near Gorakhpur where the Buddha had gone into
Mahaparinibbana, was in a dilapidated state and Ven. Hsuan Tsang found only a
few Buddhists. Though in Varanasi, Ven. Hsuan Tsang found around 3000
Bhikkus or Buddhist monks, but they were outshadowed by more than 10,000
non-Buddhists. Hence, we can conclude that Ven. Hsuan Tsang had arrived in
India at a time when Buddhism was entering into a state of precipitous decline.
But even as Buddhism went into decline, it is remarkable that Nalanda, the great
the Muslim invasions of the second millennium. It was from Nalanda that Ven.
written in a single register of decline as the entire process of decline was gradual
Buddhism had altogether disappeared from India as a formal religion during the
13th century A.D.6 In order to explore the contributing factors for the decline and
sequential and chronological order. These factors could be arranged under the
the schisms within the Buddhist faith; the widening differences between the
clergy, Buddhist monks and laity; and the growing corruption within the sangha.
Buddhists by Brahmins; the defeat of the Buddhists by the great theologian Adi
followed by the Muslim invasions which had the effect of driving into extinction
It is important to understand that Buddhism was never wiped off from India on a
single day and in any single event. Like the causal web of a disease, it was a
was gradual and lasted for many centuries. So, before we get into the details of
order and observe the interdependency of a previous event leading to the next.
It was found that the Buddhist clergy paid insufficient attention to its laity.
Buddhist mendicants kept their distance from non-mendicants. So, the non-
mendicants might not have felt particularly invested in Buddhism. As the venues,
the laity got distanced from the faith in Buddhism. The scholars of Buddhism
had revealed that no manual for the conduct of the laity was produced until the
11th century A.D. Some scholars had also emphasized the decay and corruption
was accumulated through generous donations from the royal families and rich
devotees in the community. As food and money was always available in the
monastery, majority of the monks had adopted a rather easy-going and even
indolent lifestyle. There were also disputes over money matters and leadership
which led to great divide among many groups of Buddhist monks. The unity and
sectarian splits between various Buddhists sects in subsequent years had finally
Buddha and became greedy for power and wealth, the monasteries got
monks and clergy had often concentrated mainly on own salvation and rarely
visited the community to reduce the suffering of the general population. Here,
the Buddhist monks and clergy had missed out a very important message by the
Buddha. When the Buddha had advised his disciples to visit the community every
day and not to stay in a same place for more than three days, it was with a
vision that had a far more impact in the society than mere begging for food. He
wanted his disciples to meet as many common people as possible during their
If it was only for gathering food and wealth, he could have arranged them for his
disciple monks with ease by requesting the Kings and emperors, who were also
his followers. The main idea behind sending the emissaries door to door was to
build up a community network and develop a good rapport with the community
so that majority of the population could reap the benefit from the teachings of
the Buddha. He knew that once the community had accepted his disciples, they
Prince Siddhartha, he had already given up his kingdom and everything in order
to devote the rest of his life to end the suffering of all human beings. As the
Buddha, his aim was to carry forward this mission further through his disciples
by spreading the message of the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path
in the community. So, the goal for his disciples was not to concentrate on one’s
own salvation, but to help others to reduce the suffering in the community.1,2,3
The Buddhist monks in India, during the sixth century had deviated from this
noble target and stopped visiting the community. As the community visit was
rare by the monks, the general lay Buddhists felt neglected and isolated from the
from the higher class of the Brahmin society and they gradually lost faith in
Buddhism. The Buddhist monks did not visit the houses of the lower caste and
the untouchables and as a result, they too did not get the opportunity to adopt
Buddhism and gain status in the society. The shellfish nature of the Buddhist
monks during that time had generated a sense of hatred and insecurity in the
general population which had contributed significantly towards their loss of faith
order, we would realize that the whole sequence of events was initiated by the
Buddhist monks and clergy when they had ignored the teachings of the Buddha
This had made them over-satisfied and lethargic. They were often engaged in
disputes over money matters and leadership. So, they abandoned the community
visits and concentrated on their own salvation instead of helping the common
people and oppressed classes to end their sufferings. As the community was
ignored, the tight bonding between the lay devotees and the Buddhist
This restricted the spread of Buddhism in India and soon Buddhism started losing
the general support from the community. Subsequently, the Brahmins took
advantage of this situation and deepened the rift between the common people
and the Buddhist practitioners that included the monks and clergy. The Brahmins
From historical perspective, it is now clearly evident that Buddhism was never
conquered on moral grounds and critical arguments, but was actually driven off
2. Jaini, P.S., Narain A.K., ed., 1980. The Disappearance of Buddhism and the
Survival of Jainism: A Study in Contrast. Studies in History of Buddhism.
Delhi: B.R. Publishing Company:181-91.
3. Ahir, D.C. 2005. Buddhism Declined in India: How and Why? Delhi: B.R.
Publishing.
6. Beal, S. 1884. Si-Yu Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. London:
Trubner & Co., reprint ed., Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation.