Decline Buddhist in India
Decline Buddhist in India: Focus on Islamic rule
Refer to Peter Harvey, from 986
CE, and the Muslim Turks began raiding northwest India from Afghanistan, robing
western India early in the 11th century. Buddhists have forced conversions
to Islam, and Buddhist pictures broke, caused The Islamic displeasure of
infatuation. In fact, in India, the Islamic term for an “idol” became “Budd”
(Peter Harvey, 2013). The Muslim victory of the Indian subcontinent was the
first great iconoclastic invasion into the Indian subcontinent. The Persian traveler,
Al Biruni’s autobiography, suggest Buddhism had vanished from Ghazni (Afghanistan)
and medieval Punjab region (northern Pakistan) by early 11th century
(Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni; Edward C. Sachau (Translator), 1888).
In the twelfth century, Buddhism had further disappeared (Wendy Doniger, 1999) with the destruction of monasteries and stupas in old northwest and western Indian subcontinent (Current, Pakistan and north India) (John McLeod, 2002). The history of Shahubuddin Ghori’s forces records enthusiastically about attacks on the monks and students and victory against the non-Muslim infidels. The major centres of Buddhism were in north India and the indirect path of the Muslim armies. Their wealth and they were centres of non-Muslim religions made them a target Buddhist sources agree with this assessment. Refer to William Johnston, hundreds of Buddhist monasteries and shrines destroyed; Buddhist texts burnt by the Muslim armies, monks, and nuns killed between the 12th and 13th centuries in the Gangetic plains region (William M. Johnston, 2000). The Islamic invasions robed wealth and destroyed Buddhist images (Peter Harvey, 2013). The Buddhist university of Nalanda was inaccurate for a fortress because it was just only the walled campus.
The Buddhist monks who had slaughtered were
mistaken for Brahmins, according to Minhaj-i-Siraj. Śākyaśrībhadra,
who was at Magadha in 1200, states that the Buddhist university complexes of Odantapuri
and Vikramshila also destroyed and the monks massacred. Muslim forces
attacked the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent many times. Many
places were destroyed and renamed. For example, Odantapuri’s monasteries
were destroyed in 1197 by Mohammed-bin-Bakhtiyar, and the town renamed. Likewise,
Vikramashila destroyed by the forces of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji
around 1200 (Alexis Sanderson, 2009).
The northwest parts of the Indian subcontinent fell to Islamic control, and the consequent take over of land holdings of Buddhist monasteries removed one source of necessary support for the Buddhists, while the economic upheaval and new taxes on laity sapped the laity support of Buddhist monks (Lars Fogelin, 2015). With the Islamic intrusion and enlargement, and central Asians affirming Islam, the trade route-derived monetary support sources and the economic basements of Buddhist monasteries declined, on which the survival and growth of Buddhism based.
The arrival of Islam displaced the royal to contribute to the monastic tradition of Buddhism, and the substitution of Buddhists in long-distance trade by the Muslims decayed the related sources of patronage (André Wink, 1997). After the conquest, Buddhism largely disappeared from most of India, surviving in the Himalayan regions and south India (Peter Harvey, 2013). Brief Muslim accounts and the one an eyewitness account of Dharmasmavim in the wake of the conquest during the 1230 CE mention abandoned viharas used as camps by the Turukshahs. Later historical traditions such as Taranatha’s are mixed with traditional materials and summarised as “the Turukshah conquered the whole of Magadha and destroyed many monasteries and did much damage at Nalanda” (André Wink, 1997).
While the Muslims sacked the Buddhists viharas, the temples
and stupas with little material value survived. After the collapse of monastic
Buddhism, Buddhist sites were abandoned or reoccupied by other religious
orders. In the absence of viharas and libraries, scholastic Buddhism and its
practitioners migrated to the Himalayas, China and Southeast Asia (Lars
Fogelin, 2015). The devastation of agriculture also meant that many laypersons
were unable to support Buddhist monks, who were easily identifiable and also
vulnerable. As the Sangha died out in numerous areas, it could not revive
itself without more monks to perform ordinations, Peter Harvey concludes. Between
the alien Muslims, with their doctrinal justification of ‘holy war’ to spread
the faith, and Hindus, closely identified with Indian culture and with a more
entrenched social dimension, the Buddhists were squeezed out of existence. Lay
Buddhists left with a folk form of Buddhism, and gradually merged into
Hinduism, or converted to Islam. Buddhism, therefore, died out in all but the
fringes of its homeland, though it had long since spread beyond it (Peter
Harvey, 2013)
According to Randall Collins,
Buddhism was already declining in India by the 12th century, but
with the pillage by Muslim invaders, it nearly became extinct in India in the
1200s (Randall Collins, 2000). In the 13th century, says Craig
Lockard, Buddhist monks in India left to Tibet to leave Islamic persecution
(Craig Lockard, 2007). Fogelin also notes that some elements of the Buddhist
Sangha moved to the Himalayas, China, and Southeast Asia, or they may have
reverted to secular life or become wandering ascetics. In this environment,
without monasteries and academic centers of their own, Buddhist ascetics and
laypersons were eventually absorbed into the religious life of medieval India
(Lars Fogelin, 2015). Many Buddhist
monks fled to Nepal, Tibet, and South India to avoid the consequences of war
(Mark W. Walton, George F. Nafziger, and Laurent W. Mbanda). While the monks in
western India, says Peter Harvey, escaped persecution by moving to south Indian
Hindu kingdoms that we can resist the Muslim power (Peter Harvey, 2013).
Bibliography
André Wink, 1997. Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World. BRILL Academic.
pp. 348–349.
Craig Lockard, 2007. Societies, Networks, and Transitions: Volume I: A Global History.
University of Wisconsin Press. p. 364.
Lars Fogelin, 2015. An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism. Oxford
University Press. pp. 222, 224, 229–230.
Mark W. Walton, George F. Nafziger, Laurent W. Mbanda. Islam at War: A History. p.
226.
McLeod, John, 2002. “The History of India”, Greenwood Press, pp. 41-42. Muhammad
ibn Ahmad Biruni; Edward C. Sachau (Translator), 1888.
Alberuni’s India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography,
Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about AD 1030.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 253–254.
Peter Harvey, 2013. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 194, 194-195, 196.
Randall Collins, 2000. The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual
Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, pp.184-185.
Wendy Doniger, 1999. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-
Webster. pp. 155–157.
William M. Johnston, 2000. Encyclopedia of Monasticism: A-L. Routledge. p. 335.
Comments