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The decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent has been attributed to various
factors, especially the regionalisation of ancient India after the end of the Gupta
empire (320-650 CE), which lead to a competition with Hinduism and Jainism, the
loss of patronage and donations and the conquest and subsequent persecutions by
Huns, then Muslim Turks and Persians particularly from the 10th century onwards.[1]
[4][5][6]
Buddhism largely disappeared from most of India with the Muslim conquests of the
Indian subcontinent, surviving in the Himalayan regions and south India.[1][4][7]
The total Buddhist population in 2010 in the Indian subcontinent exclusive of Sri
Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan was about 10 million, of which about 7.2% lived in
Bangladesh, 92.5% in India and 0.2% in Pakistan.[8]
Contents [hide]
1 Growth of Buddhism
2 Causes of decline
2.1 Patronage and religious dynamics
2.1.1 Loss of patronage and donations
2.1.2 Religious convergence
2.1.3 Internal social-economic dynamics
2.2 Wars and persecution
2.2.1 Hun Invasions
2.2.2 Turk-Mongol raids
2.2.3 Islamic conquest and rule
3 Survival of Buddhism in India
4 Revival
5 See also
6 References
7 Sources
8 External links
Growth of Buddhism[edit]
The Buddha's period saw not only urbanisation, but also the beginnings of
centralised states.[9] The successful expansion of Buddhism depended on the growing
economy of the time, together with increased centralised political organisation
capable of change.[10]
Buddhism spread across ancient India and state support by various regional regimes
continued through the 1st millennium BCE.[11] The consolidation of monastic
organisation made Buddhism the centre of religious and intellectual life in India.
[12] Pushyamitra, the first ruler of the Shunga Dynasty built great Buddhist topes
at Sanchi in 188 BCE.[13] The succeeding Kanva Dynasty had four Buddhist Kanva
Kings.[13]
Causes of decline[edit]
The decline of Buddhism has been attributed to various factors, especially the
regionalisation of India after the end of the Gupta Empire (320650 CE), which led
to a competition with Hinduism and Jainism and the loss of patronage and donations;
and the conquest and subsequent persecutions by Huns, Turks and Persians.
Numerous copper plate inscriptions from India as well as Tibetan and Chinese texts
suggest that the patronage of Buddhism and Buddhist monasteries in medieval India
was interrupted in periods of war and political change, but broadly continued in
Hindu kingdoms from the start of the common era through early 2nd millennium CE.
[15][16][17] The Gupta kings built Buddhist temples such as the one at Kushinagara,
[18][19] and monastic universities such as those at Nalanda, as evidenced by
records left by three Chinese visitors to India.[20][21][22]
After the end of the Gupta Empire (c. 320650 CE), power became decentralised in
India, and Buddhism started to lose financial support from the seventh century
onward.[23] The disintegration of central power also led to regionalisation of
religiosity, and religious rivalry.[24] Rural and devotional movements arose within
Hinduism, along with Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Bhakti and Tantra,[24] that competed
with each other, as well as with numerous sects of Buddhism and Jainism.[24][25]
This fragmentation of power into feudal kingdoms was detrimental for Buddhism, with
royal support shifting toward Hindu and Jain communities.[23][26][27][28][29]
Vaishnavism, Shaivism and other Hindu traditions became increasingly popular, and
Brahmins developed a new relationship with the state,[30] gaining influence in
socio-political process, which contributed to the decline of Buddhism.[31]
Religious convergence[edit]
See also Buddhism and Hinduism
Buddhism's distinctiveness diminished with the rise of Hindu sects. Though Mahayana
writers were quite critical of Hinduism, the devotional cults of Mahayana Buddhism
and Hinduism likely seemed quite similar to laity, and the developing Tantrism of
both religions were also similar.[32] Buddhist ideas, and even the Buddha himself,
[33] were absorbed and adapted into orthodox Hindu thought,[34][32][35] while the
differences between the two systems of thought were emphasized.[36][37][38][39][40]
[41]
Turk-Mongol raids[edit]
The image, in the chapter on India in Hutchison's Story of the Nations edited by
James Meston, depicts the Turkish general Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji's massacre of
Buddhist monks in Bihar. Khaliji destroyed the Nalanda and Vikramshila universities
during his raids across North Indian plains, massacring many Buddhist and Brahmin
scholars.[45]
The Muslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent was the first great iconoclastic
invasion into South Asia.[46] The Persian traveller Al Biruni's memoirs suggest
Buddhism had vanished from Ghazni (Afghanistan) and medieval Punjab region
(northern Pakistan) by early 11th century.[47] By the end of twelfth century,
Buddhism had further disappeared,[1][48] with the destruction of monasteries and
stupas in medieval north-west and western India (now Pakistan and north India).[49]