Top 10 Reasons for Decline of Buddhism in India । “Why Hinduism survived but Buddhism was Lost'

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Why Buddhism declined in India? Was it because of Brahmanical forces? Was it because of large scale destructions and mass slaughter of Buddhist populations during Islamic invasions? Or it was because of the onslaught of Hindu kings like Pusyamitra sunga or King Shashanka? If the reason for the decline of Buddhism lied in the internal weaknesses and corruption that had crept into Indian Buddhism during the middle ages. We will try to answer this question which is one of the most enigmatic puzzles in the history of India. We will try to understand why Buddhism declined and was lost in the place where it originated and flourished.
If Buddhist chiefs collaborated with the army of Mohammad Bin Qasim during the Arab invasions of Sindh in the 8th century, and what was the impact of these collaborations on Buddhism in Western India. We will also travel East and South in India and try to understand what happened to Buddhism there and how the persecution and destruction of Buddhism were so complete.
There is an interesting fact that all those parts of India, which were predominantly Buddhist before the Islamic invasions of the middle ages, like Punjab, Sindh, Gandhar and Bengal eventually became the stronghold of Islam by the 12th century AD.
Another interesting question that needs an answer is, why Hinduism and Jainism were able to survive the Middle Ages and are thriving even today in India, while Buddhism was lost forever. Most of the Buddhist monuments built during the golden ages of India were lost and were rediscovered only during the 19th and 20th centuries, after remaining lost for more than 800 years under the debris of history.

#Buddha #India #Islam

Chapters:

0:00 - Intro
3:13 - Persecution by Hindu Kings
5:03 - Attacks by Brahmins
7:12 - Language
8:08 - Division of Buddhism into several sects
8:37 - Moral and Ethical degradation of Sangha
10:07 - Decline of Urbanisation
10:49 - Collaboration with Arab Invaders
13:52 - Jizyah and other religious taxes
14:28 - Attacks by Islamic Invaders
17:44 - Role of Sufism

Pics and Video Credits:

File:QASIM.PNG

Video- Jama Masjid in Delhi India

[BodhisattvaTravels]

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[HutanBeringin]

In Indonesia Hindu and Buddhism become one.. and survive till now in Bali.. they called it ShivaBuddhagama.

[satodalkarmakar]

Moral: No matter how much you try to preach absolute peace and non-violence, in reality you cannot survive without fighting and blood. And, that was the reason why Hinduism survived. They knew how to fight in the time of need even with a thousand cuts.

[AS-oqei]

In Nepal the Buddhist flourished and became the part of our identity. Most Hindu temples have statues of Lord Buddha and Many Stupas also have other deities and temples.
Buddhism and Hinduism merged and a new beautiful culture developed and has been flourishing in our country.

[venkateshu]

Thanks to Adi Shankaracharya.... For saving Hinduism

[rudrarishi]

You start from Persia. Then you will understand.

It became easier to attack unarmed people.
Outside the core Persian Zoarashtrian Territory was all Buddist areas where unarmed people lived, From Afghanistan.
Core Zoarashtrian territory fell and within 25 years entire Persian empire fell.
There was no back up.
It was senseless to be extreme peaceful.

[revolutionist]

I am a Bangladeshi Sanatani Hindu. Even then, I like the Mautri teachings of Gautam Buddha. 🙏

[kanthavelkv]

Hindu Shaivist scriptures were written in Tamil more than 2000 years ago, but it should acknowledged that Tamil Shaivism had it's roots in Kashmir Shaivism.
It's said that sage Agasthya brought it to TN. Even now Agasthya is revered here in TN
The concepts of Tamil Shaivism spread and were accepted in central and north india. Pandits of Varanasi are aware of this.
We tamilians should be grateful to Chatrapati Shivaji, because he largely stopped further onslaught of the Mughals into south India.

[Viper-ttsm]

As a Buddhist of India i can only say that I hope we have a good future in our country

[RichterBelmont]

As a Buddhist from Thailand. It had never occur to me before that Buddhism is an expensive, high-maintenance religion. And that the economic stability in the region would be such a big factor to the survival of the religion. So big that leads the Buddhist benefactors to betrayed the ruling class and destroyed itself in the process.

[siddharthshekhar]

Betraying King Dahir of Sindh was the FATAL blunder by Buddhists. He was a very brave king and the last Hindu king of Sindh. He fought bravely, his wife also fought bravely. Had Buddhist monks not betrayed him, they would have still been in existance in Sindh and punjab and in other parts of India. But I like Buddhism, though I'm Hindu .

[lifeinmountains]

My entire caste was Buddhist for almost six hundred years ! But we came back to Hinduism as the then Buddhist leadership refused to fight the invaders . Today we as a caste are nearly 1.2 crores in population . We remember and cherish our past Buddhist association and still respect Buddha .

[samadritobhowal]

Even though I am a Hindu, I still revere lord Buddha alongside the deities of the Hindus.

[mip]

In the arab invasion the worst thing that happened that is the knowledge that we lost, which was written by hindu and Buddhist monks.
Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to regain that 😞
I also want to add that sikhs did the fantastic work in following spirituality with the power to protect themselves and also protecting hindus in their kingdom.

[awisin]

Most of the Hindus supported the expansion of Buddhism and still respect Buddhism. Buddhism was also protected by Hindu kings as Buddhism is against violence. Fall of Indian kings resulted in the downfall of Buddhism. Non compromised form of Buddhism is one of most difficult religion to follow and most peaceful. Hindus never stopped resistance during Invasion that's why it's survived.

[shashikanthashetty]

*_The Ashok Syndrome:_*

*An interesting article by a Retd Army Officer:*

👉 In India, it's never about Ideology.. It is only about Civilisation..

👉 And to put it on record this is why PM Modi faces a massive smear campaign from a powerful Lobby..

👉 But this did not start in 2014.. It started long ago, we have to go back by Centuries to understand this..

👉 India wasn't born in 1947, because unlike many other Countries we got Independence and were not created afresh.. Therefore, what happened *before* 1947 is as important as what happened *after* 1947..

👉 The most underrated event in our History being the *Kalinga War* of 265 BC..

👉 The War changed Ashok, the famous Mauryan Ruler but it also change India for centuries to come..

👉 The Emperor became Pacifist.. Whatever be his own ideology, it is very easy to confuse reluctance to wage War with a senselessly defensive mindset..

👉 For years to come, the Indian Civilisation became utterly defensive..

👉 Succeeding Indian Dynasties and Emperors would avoid expansionism..

👉 But their ability to perceive and pre-empt threats also went down..

👉 Compromise and Forgiveness became the keywords of our Civilisation..

👉 The Ashok Syndrome would soon become the Prithviraj Syndrome..

👉 Indians have been valiant Warriors, but the issue is that of excessive magnanimity.. Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghori in the 11th century, but let him go.. Later, Ghori defeated Prithviraj and blinded him..

👉 In the course of this thread, you will realise how we would keep getting betrayed just like Prithviraj Chauhan another 10 Centuries later..

👉 Anyway, Prithviraj Chauhan's unnecessary magnanimity allowed Islamic conquest of India..

👉 This, of course, led to Centuries of plunder..

👉 After the Kalinga War, we never achieved a system that would match up to the aggression against Indian Civilisation..

👉 The unnecessarily defensive regime would give way to Islamic conquest, and Islamic conquest would give way to the British Raj..

👉Needless to mention, the Social thinkers and commoners also became timid about their own Civilisation..

👉 Britishers made us believe that we were Misogynist and Archaic..

👉 Some of our most celebrated Social thinkers relentlessly promoted British Education as a Panacea..

👉 As I told you, everything is about Civilisation.. Every successive regime shamed anyone who tried to stand up for civilisational pride..

👉 British era gave way for the Nehruvian Era.. India's Political leadership again ordained that India would adopt strategic restraint..

👉 China entered our Territory.. So, India's first Prime Minister said, "not a blade of grass grows" in those Barren Mountains..

👉 Of course, no one in the intellectual lobby protested.. Nehru was doing what they wanted him to do.. Be magnanimous to the extent of being self- harming..

👉 Nehru was only continuing what started with the Kalinga War.. Then came Indira.. She suffered the Prithviraj Syndrome.. Won the 1971 War, but gave away the exploits in Shimla Agreement..

👉 Pakistan turned another Ghori.. ISI came up with a Doctrine - bleed India through a thousand cuts..

👉 This doesn't end here.. Vajpayee faced the wrath of the Eco-system for many reasons.. The only thing they don't criticise him for is not crossing the LoC during the 1999 Kargil War.. This is again a manifestation of extreme generosity.. Pakistan could cross the LoC but India would not..

👉 The Parliament attack happened, we didn't retaliate.. Operation Prakram never materialised into anything..

👉 Few years later, 26/11 happened.. But India's then PM Manmohan Singh chose, "Strategic restraint.."

👉 No one in a Powerful Lobby criticised him..

👉 As long as you don't go beyond the Lakshman Rekha that has been drawn by Centuries of timidity, no one will rebuke you..

👉 But then came PM Modi on the stage..!
Pakistan attacked in Uri, so the Para SF caused damage to Terror Launchpads across the LoC..

👉 With the Balakot Airstrikes, he still went several steps further..

👉Of course, he is hated..

👉 After several Centuries, India is pre-empting threats..

👉We had stopped pre-empting in 265 BC, how come we could pre-empt now..

👉 Modi-hate is not about ideology, it’s about Civilisation.!!

👉 I wish and I hope that this Modi succeeds in transforming our mindset for the other Modis' to follow the suit, because one Modi will not be sufficient enough to clear the rot accumulated through Centuries..

*(This is a very well articulated post of Siddharth Gautam)*

Food for thought... for Indians.

[aayushtiwari]

I'm happy as a hindu my ancestors fought and kept my vedic culture alive and I'll keep it alive 🥰 as long as I can jai mahakal namami buddha

[praveenyadav]

Hinduism survived because of its highly decentralised nature. Every village / family has there own personalised god . while in centralised system of religion there is need of dominating religious leader, in the lack of same whole structure just collapses .

[SinghRoadwayS]

Brilliant work. One whole kingdom of Buddhist Maldives were converted to Islam by a Moroccon Muslim and the citizens did not even fight. A very large percentage of Indian Subcontinent Muslims were Buddhists. Also the converts of Afghanistan had more hatred towards Buddhism since they were also former Buddhists. Adding - I'm editing my comment, I was not aware that the monks were beheaded and Monasteries were destroyed, it is verified. The citizens did protest. But the king had political advantage so he persuaded. The convertion was not peaceful.

[hindurashtra]

I'm born to a Hindu Family of Brahmins. My parents named me - "Siddharth", Because they liked the name and it had relation to Buddha, My mother despite being a Hindu is an Admirer of Buddha ever since her childhood. This is how much we Hindus respect Buddha even today continue the tradition of preserving Buddhism in India, I want to give my Child a Buddhist name too.

I have always felt closer to Atheism and Buddhist Philosophy than my Hindu faith. But unlike a few Nasty people, I won't go around calling out one Faith as Nasty and another Faith as Great. All Religions are Beautiful in their own way, This is what my Great Hindu Civilization teaches us. Buddha never humilated, Mocked or talked less of any Faith. Rather than be Negative, he taught only Positive things in Life.