6.3 Extinction of
Buddhism from India
Buddhism,
which was once a religion of the masses, became extinct nearly after 1,500
years after its foundation. The rise of Rajputana and bhakti movements were not
the only reasons for its decline but major credit go to loss of its distinctiveness
against Brahmanism and aboriginal cults. During the period of Ashoka when the majority
population adopted Buddhism as their faith, they did it without abandoning
their own tradition and ritual completely. When the Greeks adopted Buddhism, the
essence of Greek civilization i.e. Greek sculpture entered in Buddhism. They turned
the life of Buddha in the form of various sculptures and his image in the form
of idols. Slowly a large chunk of the population started worshipping the idols of
Buddha. Before this, the earliest Buddhist art never personified the Buddha but
used symbols related to his life such as a white elephant (conception), a tree
(enlightenment under Bodhi tree), a wheel (for first sermon at Sarnath), a
riderless horse (the great departure), a stupa (final passing away) or simply the
footprints. Soon the new way of worship spread in broader society and the
followers of legendary Kings Rama and Krishna too, made their idols and started
their worship. Though orthodox Brahmins never liked the Buddha getting
worshipped by the people of Brahmanic society but for greater masses he was very
similar to other gods or a miraculous character who could have made their life
better. The human populations of Dravidian and Mongoloid races, who were
outside the Brahmanic civilization, too looked towards Buddha without leaving
their aboriginal deities completely. Some saw the Buddha as an incarnation of
their community or tribe deity and started worshipping him in their own way. The
best example is elephant worshipping aboriginal population who saw the Buddha
as an incarnation of their elephant deity. The spread of Buddhism across
populations, thus, led to flourishing of different schools within it. By the 1st
century AD Mahayana and Hinayana or Theraveda (from Staieryavada
i.e. principle of stability) schools of Buddhism came into existence. The third
school of Vajrayana came into
existence when the tantra practicing Dravidian-
Mongoloid humans of eastern India raised the status of Buddha to a miraculous deity
and devoted origin of all tantras from him after his enlightenment. This school
dominated the type of all Buddhist schools followed in the eastern India and
other countries such as Tibet and China. On the language front, the literary
medium of Buddhism witnessed loss in its distinctiveness when the Buddhist
Brahmins of Magadha region switched to Sanskrit language when the same was
promoted in the Gupta Empire. Similar practices were also adopted in other northern
regions. It resulted in decline of Pali
language as the literary medium of Buddhism. The entire event coincided with the
loss of royal patronage after Harshavardhana rule in northern India and the Satvahana
dynasty in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and central India. The major blow to
Buddhism came when the historical Buddha lost his distinctiveness with the mythological
characters of Brahmanism. The period of 8th to 12th
century AD saw attempts to declare Buddha as the 9th incarnation of
Vishnu through the various Puranas
such as Harivamsha, Vishnu Purana, Bhagavata
Purana, Garuda Purana, Bhavishya Purana and so on. Certain verses declare
him as an incarnation of Vishnu who came on the earth to delude the demons not
following the Vedic culture so that they can be easily identified and go directly
to hell after their death. Such verses represent possibly the finest of
conspiracy done against both Buddha and Buddhism by authors of Puranas as on one side they justify the high
image of Buddha by linking to Vishnu but on the other side make sure that the masses
abandon him and his dharma from the fear of going to hell. The same period also
witnessed the rise of Brahmin philosopher Adi
Sankara who put great efforts to revive the Vedic culture across India. He
declared the Buddha as an enemy of the people. However while doing so, he took
many positive things from Buddhism and incorporated them as a part of the Brahmanism
or contemporary Hinduism. One such decision was the construction of the monastic
order on the basis of Buddhism and Jainism. The set-up resulted in four peeths across India that later became the
pilgrimage sites for Hindus. His many such steps resulted in historians terming
him as ‘the hidden Buddha’. All these changes that took place between the 1st
century and 9th century AD resulted in Buddhism losing its
distinctiveness against Brahmanism and the other orthodox cults of the land. The
masses slowly abandoned Buddha and Buddhism and shifted to contemporary
Hinduism. When this was happening across India, the masses continued with
worship of their regional aboriginal Buddhist gods. The next few hundred years
saw the Brahmanical sanctity to these Buddhist gods through creation of stories
in the form of Puranas just like
Buddha was included in the Brahmanic list of gods and related to their chief
deity Vishnu. The attempts were successful and masses slowly considered many
such gods as part of the Brahmanic list of gods. There was also an attempt to
Brahmanize the places of worship related to these gods. At some places the
attempts were successful while at many places they were not. Most these sacred
places still retain their unique feature of accessibility to all irrespective
of their caste or Varna and such feature is the essence of Buddhism (and
Jainism) and in stark contrast with the concept of Brahmanism. The most prominent among these gods and sacred places are Buddhist tantric wealth god Vinayaka
across southern India, Jagannatha in Orissa, Tirupati Balaji in Andhra Pradesh,
Sabarimala in Kerla, Bodh-Gaya and Vishnupada in Bihar. The archeological
evidences across northern India also indicate the Buddhist places of worship /
structure being buried below the Shiva temples and thus indicating towards their
hostile takeover by the Shaivites. This way Buddhism declined across India but continued
to thrive in certain regions such as in Bengal which was under the Pala dynasty
from 8th to 12th century AD. The dynasty followed
Buddhism. They built Vikramshila University in Bihar and Somapura Mahavihara in
Bangladesh and supported the great Buddhist center of learning Nalanda.
The
final and major blow to Buddhism came when the Mughals invaded the land in 12th
century AD. The ruthless invasion started from the northwestern front
encountered the followers of Buddhism first. It resulted in the destruction of
many Buddhist Viharas and Hindu temples after fall of Prithviraj Chauhan and
Raja Jaychand in 1192 AD and 1194 AD from the hand of Mahmud Ghori. Nalanda was
completely destroyed and many books belonging to Pali and Sanskrit language were
burned. In 1200 AD, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the monasteries
fortified by the Sena dynasty of Bengal which included
Vikramshila. The Buddhist sanctuaries near Benares were also destroyed. The Buddhist
monks fled to Nepal, Tibet and southern India. In the midst of these
developments the Buddhist center of Nath
Sampradaya, situated in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, finally
embraced Shaivism leading to the merger of Buddhism and Hinduism in one fold. The
merger was facilitated by Guru Gorakhnath who, according to Bengal and Tibetan
traditions, was originally a Buddhist* but after accepting Shaivism put great
efforts for merger of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism with Hinduism. All these
factors together led to the disappearance of the followers of Buddhism and the
religion was slowly put to death in the subcontinent except in certain places
such as the hilly areas of Ladakh which were outside the reach of the Mughals
and orthodox Brahmins. Not only Buddhism but Jainism too saw its decline in the
same period. Many Jain gods and monks were given Brahmanical touch and are
still worshipped across India as Hindu gods. Though Buddhism disappeared,
Jainism survived through all odds because of the lower number of followers who
always maintained its distinctiveness than the other prevailing faiths. In the late
19th and early 20th century, Buddhism was revived again
in Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra after various ‘Dalit movements’ and
the converted population is known as neo-Buddhist
i.e. those who have newly become Buddhist.
(*Taranath
in his work ‘History of Buddhism in India’ refers Gorakhnath as siddha who was popular with the Buddhist
name AnangVajra. According to M.M Shashtri, the Buddhist name of Gorakhnath was
RamanaVajra. He adopted Shaivism and helped to merge the Mahayana sect of Buddhism
with Hinduism in Nepal and the Gangetic plains of Uttar Pradesh.)
6.4 Contribution of
Buddhism to Indian Culture
Before
disappearing from the land of its origin, Buddhism enriched the Indian culture
with advancements in the fields of social, religious, architecture and
literature. Its principles are inculcated by the society to such an extent that
it is widely practiced in one or other form till today. Some contributions of
Buddhism to Indian society -
- It gave religion a
human and morale touch.
- In social life,
Buddhism contributed egalitarianism. It raised voice against caste
discrimination and social oppression. The position of women was made better by
giving them access to religion and education, a trend prevalent till the Vedic period
but restricted after flourishing of Brahmanism.
- It helped to enrich
the architectural heritage of India through Stupas of Sanchi, Bharhut, Gaya,
Amravati and so on. The Buddhist paintings of Ajanta caves are unique. The
schools of Mathura, Gandhara and Sarnath are gifts of Buddhism to India and the
world.
- It contributed
significantly in the field of education through Buddhist Viharas. The world famous Nalanda and Vikramshila universities
were open to all including Shudras and women. With the rise of Buddhism, Pali
language (sub-branch of Prakrit) and literature made good developments. The
literary advancement resulted in voluminous literatures in Pali besides
beautiful works like Buddhacharita, Saundaranand and Lalitavistara in Sanskrit.
- It made immense
contribution to Indian philosophy. We owe Pratitya
samutpada, Anityavad, Shunyavad,
Yogachar, Vigyanvad to Buddhism. The philosophical views of Adi Sankara is
influenced by Buddhism to such an extent that sometimes he is called as ‘prachchhanna
(hidden) Buddha’.
- Buddhism (and Jainism)
started structured life for the monks and ascetics in the form of the Buddhist
Sangha. The same was adopted by Shankaryacharya as ‘math vayastha’ in the reformed
Brahmanism or contemporary Hinduism.
- It’s thrust on the concept
of ‘ahimsa parmo dharma’ helped to reduce the sacrifices of cattle during
yajnas or religious rituals. The concept, which was inculcated by a majority of
the society for nearly 1500 years, can be clearly seen in its high level of
tolerance towards adverse or provocative conditions.
- The idol and chaitya worship, popularized by the Mahayana
Buddhist, was another gift of Buddhism to Indian society. Reformed Brahmanism
or contemporary Hinduism carried the legacy of it in the form of temples as the
same was invisible in early Vedic society where yajna were centers of Brahmanic rituals and through it worship of
God and goddess.
- Recognition to its
land of origin as deva-bhumi or guru-bhumi in other part of the world was
another gift of Buddhism to India.
6.5 Negative effect of
Buddhism and Jainism
As
both religions stressed on ahimsa
(non-violence), it is claimed by certain historians that they brought down the
martial spirit of the country to the lowest level. In the absence of martial
games and exercises, India started its political downfall. The Kshatriyas
class, most of whom were followers of these two philosophies, gave up their
sword. The famous story is quoted of King Ashoka who after embracing Buddhism
gave up the sword, renounced war and embraced the law of non-violence. From
then onwards he desisted himself from every kind of bloodshed. He made no use
of the army for any warfare. His soldiers became idle gradually and it ultimately
resulted in the downfall of the Mauryan Empire. This was the case with most
Kshatriya rulers as they threw out war out of their political life.
However,
going through the entire socio-political development of the Indian subcontinent,
the claim looks to be an excuse given by certain historians to justify the political
dominance of the Mughals and Britishers who not only belonged to different faith
but never converted to the established faiths of land after settling in India
unlike the former invaders such as Yavanas, Sakas, Parthians, Kushanas and
Hunas. It is clear from the history that the entire subcontinent was under
continuous invasion by different human groups from western front starting 8000
BC till British colonized. Each time the new invading group emerged more
dominant than the previous one and in the process gave definite directions to the
social, political and religious environments prevalent over the land.
6.6 Society after extinction of Buddhism - click here to read
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Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
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