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How history was made up at Nalanda | The Indian Express | Page 99

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Arun Shourie | June 28, 2014 8:13 am

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SUMMARY

The story behind a

Marxist historians
story of its
destruction by
Hindu fanatics.

Surely, no self-respecting Marxist could have made his account rest on not just one
miracle acquiring sidhis and raining fire on to the structures but two, for we also
have the streams of water running down from the scriptures.

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The mine of learning, honoured Nalanda that is how the 16th-17th

century Tibetan historian, Taranath, referred to the university at Nalanda.
At the time I-tsing was at the university, there were 3,700 monks. The
total complex had around 10,000 residents. The structures housing the
university were as splendid and as extensive as the learning they
housed. When excavations began, the principal mound alone was about
1,400 feet by 400 feet. Hieun Tsang recounts at least seven
monasteries and eight halls. The monasteries were of several storeys,
and there was a library complex of three buildings, one of them nine
storeys high.

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As the Islamic invaders advanced through Afghanistan and northwestern

India, they exterminated Buddhist clergy, they pillaged and pulverised
every Buddhist structure the very word but, the idols they so
feverishly destroyed, was derived from Buddha. Nalanda escaped their
attention for a while in part because it was not on the main routes.
But soon enough, the marauders arrived, and struck the fatal blow. The
ransacking is described in the contemporary Tabakat-i-Nasiri by
Maulana Minhaj-ud-din.

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Minhaj-ud-din rose and came to the notice of the rulers of the time
Qutb-ud-din Aibak and others because of his raids and depredations,
and because of the enormous booty he gathered, booty sufficient for
him to set himself up as a plunderer in his own right. His reputation
reached Sultan (Malik) Qutb-ud-din, who despatched a robe of
distinction to him, and showed him honour, the historian writes. With its
high wall, its large buildings, Nalanda seemed like a well-endowed

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fortress to Ikhtiyar-ud-din and his force. He advanced upon it with two

hundred horsemen and suddenly attacked the place. Minhaj-ud-din
continues,
The greater number of inhabitants of that place were Brahmans, and
the whole of those Brahmans had their heads shaven, and they were all
slain. There were a great number of books there; and when all these
books came under the observation of the Musalmans, they summoned
a number of Hindus that they might give them information respecting the
import of those books; but the whole of the Hindus had been killed. On
being acquainted (with the contents of the books), it was found that the
whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindu tongue,
they call a college, Bihar [vihara].
When that victory was effected, Minhaj-ud-din reports, Muhammad-iBakhtiyar returned with great booty, and came to the presence of the
beneficent sultan, Qutb-ud-din I-bak, and received great honour and
distinction so much so that other nobles at the court became
jealous. All this happened around the year 1197 AD.
And now the Marxist account of the destruction of this jewel of
knowledge. In 2004, D.N. Jha was the president of the Indian History
Congress. In the presidential address he delivered one to which we
shall turn as an example of Marxist scholarship this is the account
he gives of the destruction of Buddhist viharas, and of Nalanda in
particular:
A Tibetan tradition has it that the Kalacuri King Karna (11th century)
destroyed many Buddhist temples and monasteries in Magadha, and
the Tibetan text Pag Sam Jon Zang refers to the burning of the library of
Nalanda by some Hindu fanatics.
Hindu fanatics? The expression struck me as odd. A Tibetan text of the
18th century using so current an expression as Hindu fanatics?
Especially so because, on Jhas own reckoning, Hinduism is an
invention of the British in the late 19th century? So, what is this Tibetan
text? What does it say? Had Jha looked it up?
Pag Sam Jon Zang was written by Sumpa Khan-Po Yece Pal Jor. The
author lived in 1704-88: that is, 500 years after the destruction of
Nalanda.
That is the first thing that strikes one: our historian disregards the
contemporaneous account, Tabakat-i-Nasiri, and opts for a text written
500 years after the event. But had he read the text at all? Could a selfrespecting Marxist have at all believed what is written in it?
This is how Sarat Chandra Das, the translator and editor of Pag Sam
Jon Zang, sets out the account of the destruction of Nalanda as given in
this text:
While a religious sermon was being delivered in the temple that he
(Kakuta Sidha, a minister of a king of Magadha) had erected at Nalanda,
a few young monks threw washing water at two Tirthika beggars. The
beggars being angry, set fire on the three shrines of dharma ganja, the
Buddhist university of Nalanda that is, Ratna Sagara, Ratna Ranjaka
including the nine-storey building called Ratnadadhi which contained the
library of sacred books (pg 92).
Two beggars could go from building to building of that huge campus
and, with all the monks present, burn down the entire, huge, scattered
complex?

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And, the account of the relevant passage reproduced above is the one
set out by Sarat Chandra Das in his Index. That is, it is just a summary
of the actual passage in an index, it scarcely could be more. What
does the relevant section, and in particular the passage about the
burning down of the library, say?
The author is giving an account of how Dharma has survived three
rounds of destructive attempts. One round was occasioned by the
fluctuating relations between Khunimamasta, a king of Taksig
(Turkistan?), and Dharma Chandra, a king of Nyi-og in the east. The
latter sends gifts. The former thinks these are part of black magic. He,
therefore, swoops down from dhurukha and destroys the three bases
of Magadha monasteries, scriptures and stupas. Khunimamasta
drives out and exiles the monks. Dharma Chandras uncle sends many
scholars to China to spread the teaching. He receives gold as
thanksgiving. He uses this and other gifts to appease rulers of smaller
kingdoms to join the fight against the king of Taksig (Turkistan?). The
uncle thereafter revives the three bases. Almost all the shrines are
restored and 84 new ones are built. And so, the dharma survives.
In the next round, the teacher who taught prajnaparamita for 20 years is
assassinated by burglars from dhurukha. His blood turned into milk and
many flowers emerged from his body. (Thus) he flew into the sky.
We now come to the crucial passage, the one that Jha has ostensibly
invoked. I reproduce the translation of it by Geshe Dorji Damdul in full:
Again at that time, there was a scholar by the name Mutita Bhadra, who
was greatly involved in renovating and building stupas. Eventually he had
a vision of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. He flew to Liyul by holding the
garment (of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra) and there he made great
contributions to the welfare of sentient beings and the Dharma. Reviving
the Dharma that way, the Dharma flourished for 40 years in the Central
Land (Magadha?). At that time, during the celebration over the
construction of a shrine in Nalanda by Kakutasita, a minister of the king,
some naughty novice monks splashed (dish) washing water on two
non-Buddhist beggars and also pressed (the two) in-between the door
and (the door frame.) Angry over these gestures, one (beggar) served
as the attendant to the other who sat in a deep pit for 12 years to gain
the sidhi of the sun. Having achieved the sidhi, they threw ashes of a fire
puja (havan) they did, on 84 Buddhist shrines. They were all burned.
Particularly, when the three dharma ganja of Nalanda the shrines
which sheltered the scriptures as well got consumed in fire, streams
of water ran down from the scriptures of Guhyasamaja and
Prajnaparamita, which were housed in the ninth storey of the Ratnadhati
shrine. This saved many scriptures. Later, fearing penalty from the king,
the two (beggars) escaped to Hasama in the north. However, the two
died due to immolation, which happened on its own.
Surely, no self-respecting Marxist could have made his account rest on
not just one miracle acquiring sidhis and raining fire on to the
structures but two, for we also have the streams of water running
down from the scriptures.
But we strain unnecessarily. There is a clue in Jhas lecture itself. He
doesnt cite the Tibetan text, he does what Marxists do: he cites another
Marxist citing the Tibetan text! To see what he does, you must read the
lines carefully. This is what we saw Jha saying:
A Tibetan tradition has it that the Kalacuri King Karna (11th century)
destroyed many Buddhist temples and monasteries in Magadha, and
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the Tibetan text Pag Sam Jon Zang refers to the burning of the library of
Nalanda by some Hindu fanatics.
As his authority, Jha cites a book by B.N.S. Yadava, Society and Culture
in Northern India in the Twelfth Century. What did Yadava himself write?
Here it is: Further, the Tibetan tradition informs us that Kalacuri Karna
(11th century) destroyed many Buddhist temples and monasteries in
Magadha.
Jha has clearly lifted what Yadava wrote word for word at least he
has been faithful to his source. But in the very next sentence, Yadava
had gone on to say: It is very difficult to say anything as to how far this
account may be correct.
Words that Jha conveniently left out!
Yadava had continued, However, we get some other references to
persecution.
He cited two inscriptions and a Puranic reference. And then came to the
Tibetan text. Recall what Jha wrote about this text: and the Tibetan
text Pag Sam Jon Zang refers to the burning of the library of Nalanda by
some Hindu fanatics.
And now turn to what Yadava wrote about this very text: The Tibetan
text Pag Sam Jon Zang contains a [I am leaving out a word] tradition of
the burning of the library of Nalanda by some Hindu fanatics.
Close enough to pass for plagiarism? But wait, there is originality!
Notice, first, that two Hindu beggars have become Hindu fanatics.
Notice, next, that the words Hindu fanatics that Jha had put in quotation
marks as if they were the words that the author of the Tibetan text had
used to describe the arsonists, were actually the words of his fellow
Marxist, Yadava. But the best clue is the word that I omitted from what
Yadava had actually written. Yadavas full sentence was as follows: The
Tibetan text Pag Sam Jon Zang contains a doubtful tradition of the
burning of the library of Nalanda by some Hindu fanatics.
Just as he had left out the words, It is very difficult to say anything as to
how far this account may be correct, Jha now leaves out the word
doubtful. And all this in the presidential address to the Indian History
Congress.
In a word, l There is a Tibetan text written five hundred years after the
destruction of Nalanda l Sarat Chandra Das annotates it, and includes in
his Index a summary in English of a passage in the text
the summary naturally leaves out telling components of the original
passage
l Yadava looks only at the summary in the Index non-Buddhist
beggars becomes Hindu fanatics
l Yadava notes that the account is based on a doubtful tradition
l Jha omits the word doubtful
l And we have a presidential address to the Indian History Congress!
Given what we have seen of Marxist historians even in this brief book,
the brazen-faced distortions to the point of falsehood do not
surprise me.
What does surprise me is that no one looked up either the source that
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Jha had cited or the text.

Indeed, in concluding his section, Yadava had stated:
A great blow to Buddhism was, no doubt, rendered by the Turkish
invasions, leading to the destruction and desertion of the celebrated
Buddhist monasteries of Magadha and Bengal. Many Buddhist scholars
fled to Tibet and Nepal.
The writer, a former Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP, was Union minister
for communications, information technology and disinvestment. This
article has been excerpted from his book, Eminent Historians: Their
Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud, published by HarperCollins India

TAGS: Buddhist Monks I-Tsing University Nalanda Nalanda University Taranath

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