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Hi, Aabhas, just saw your tweet today as I have been off Twitter for a few days.
Surprised that you are ignorant of the abundant historical evidence of destruction of Buddhist sites in India.
Drawing from various historians, their works & news articles here is a list.
Hi, Aabhas, just saw your tweet today as I have been off Twitter for a few days.
Surprised that you are ignorant of the abundant historical evidence of destruction of Buddhist sites in India.
Drawing from various historians, their works & news articles here is a list.
Prominent Indian historian D.N Jha who specializes in ancient &medieval Indian history has done credible work on this with ‘Primary Sources,’ in his 2018 book called ‘Against the Grain:Notes on Identity, Intolerance & History.
Will quote tweets from here
counterview.net
Will quote tweets from here
counterview.net
‘Early evidence of persecution of Shramanas comes from post-Mauryan period recorded in Divyavadana, a Buddhist Sanskrit, which describes Brahmin ruler Pushyamitra Shunga as a great persecutor of Buddhists.He marched out with a large army, destroying stupas, burning monasteries..’
..and killing monks as far as Sakala (Sialkot) where he announced a prize of 100 dinars for every head of a Shramana (Budd/Jain).’
Jha quotes famous grammarian Patanjali, who in Mahabhashya said that Brahmins and Shramanas are eternal enemies, like the snake and the mongoose.
Jha quotes famous grammarian Patanjali, who in Mahabhashya said that Brahmins and Shramanas are eternal enemies, like the snake and the mongoose.
'The stage was set for a Brahminical onslaught on Buddhism during the post-Mauryan period, especially under Pushyamitra Shunga, who may have destroyed the Ashokan Pillared Hall and the Kukutarama monastery at Pataliputra—modern-day Patna,' says Jha.
Jha says 'For example, Sanchi, which was an important Buddhist site since the time of Ashoka has yielded evidence of vandalisation of several edifices during the Shunga period. Similar evidence comes from nearby places - Satdhara in Katni district & Deurkothar, in Rewa district.'
"Destruction of Buddhist sites continued even after Shunga rule. At Ahmedpur, a temple seems to have been constructed on a stupa base in 5th century & icons have been found at several sites around Vidisha transformed into Shaivite or Jain places of worship around 8th century."
From Mathura, in western UP during Jha says, "Some present-day temples, such as those of Bhuteshwar & Gokarneshwar, were Buddhist sites in the ancient period. Here the Katra Mound a Buddhist centre during Kushana times, became a Hindu religious site in early medieval period."
At Kaushambi, near Allahabad, destruction and burning of the great Ghositaram monastery has been attributed to Pushyamitra Shunga says Jha, adding, 'Sarnath, near Varanasi, where the Buddha delivered his first sermon, became the target of Brahminical assault...'
This was followed by the construction of Brahminical buildings, such as Court 36 and Structure 136, probably in the Gupta period, by reusing Mauryan materials."
Quoting Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien who visited India in 5th century during Gupta period Jha says at Sravasti, where Buddha spent much of his life, 'Brahmins seem to have appropriated a Kushana Buddhist site where a temple with Ramayana panels was constructed during Gupta period'
In fact general scenario of Buddhist establishments in UP was so bad that in Sultanpur district alone 49 Buddhist sites seem to have been destroyed by fire when, as described in a paper by the archaeologist Alois Anton Führer, 'Brahminism won its final victories over Buddhism'.
In the post-Gupta centuries, Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and traveller Hsüan Tsang, who visited India between the years 631 and 645, during the reign of Harshavardhana, ‘states that the sixth-century Huna ruler Mihirakula, a devotee of Shiva, destroyed 1,600 Buddhist stupas...
…and monasteries and killed thousands of Buddhist monks and laity. He further tells us that 1,000 sangharamas in Gandhara were 'deserted'/and in 'ruins,' and describes 1,400 sangharamas in Uddiyana as 'generally waste and desolate'.”
Then, says Jha, "Hsüan Tsang tells us that the king Shashanka of Gauda cut down the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar -- the place of the Buddha’s enlightenment -- and removed a statue of the Buddha from a local temple, ordering that it be replaced by an image of Maheshvara...
Bodh Gaya came under Buddhist control again during the period of the Pala rulers, who were Buddhists, and the place has, in fact, remained a site of religious contestation throughout Indian history."
Referring to the internationally reputed Buddhist university at Nalanda, especially the its vast monastic complex where Hsüan Tsang spent more than five years, Jha says, it's library was set on fire by "Hindu fanatics",..
insisting, "The popular view, however, wrongly attributes this conflagration to the Mamluk commander Bakhtiyar Khilji, who never went there, but, in fact, sacked the nearby Odantapuri Mahavihara at modern-day Bihar Sharif."
Suspecting that even Jagannath temple at Puri, one of the most prominent Brahminical pilgrimage centres in eastern India, built in the twelfth century during the reign of the Eastern Ganga ruler Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva, "is said to have been constructed on a Buddhist site"
"There is hardly any doubt that the temples of Purneshvara, Kedareshvara, Kanteshvara, Someshvara and Angeshvara, all in Puri district, were either built on Buddhist viharas, or made of material derived from them."
More on the Jagannath Temple at Puri and its Buddhist past in this article quoting even Swami Vivekananda an icon of the Hindutva politics.
Quoting tweets from here.
news9live.com
Quoting tweets from here.
news9live.com
'To any man who knows anything about Indian history…the temple of Jagannath is an old Buddhistic temple. We took this & others over & re-Hinduised them. We shall have to do many things like that yet.' [Swami Vivekananda, 'The Sages of India” in The Complete Works of Vivekananda]
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote: “I am aware that another, and a very reasonable, account of the origin of the festival of Rath [at Jagannath Temple] has been given by General Cunningham in his work on the Bhilsa Topes. He there traces it to a similar festival of the Buddhists,..
in which 3 symbols of the Buddhist faith, Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, were drawn in a car in the same fashion, and I believe about the same season as the Rath. It is a fact greatly in support of the theory, that the images of Jagannath, Balaram, and Subhadra, which now figure...
in the Rath, are near copies of the representations of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and appear to have been modeled upon them.” [Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra, “On the origin of Hindu festivals” in Essays & Letters, Rupa, Delhi, 2010, pp. 8-9.]
According to historian Romila Thaper, the Hindu ruler, Pushyamitra Sunga, demolished 84,000 Buddhist stupas which had been built by Ashoka the Great (Romila Thaper, Ashoka and Decline of Mouryas, London, 1961, p 200).
Coming to even the Ayodha temple this article talks of how destroyed Buddhist structures such as stupas, and pillars of the Buddhist era had been used in the construction of the Babri Mosque.
Quoting Tweets from here.
m.economictimes.com
Quoting Tweets from here.
m.economictimes.com
2010 verdict of Allahabad HC has now become the basis of Maurya’s writ petition. 'In the final judgment, the HC itself has found Buddhist ruins existed at the disputed land, such as stupas & pillars of the Buddhist era were used while constructing the mosque on the disputed land'
Five archaeological surveys have been carried out in present-day Ayodhya. Alexander Cunningham, founder of ASI, conducted the first one in 1862–63. He failed to find any evidence of Hindu temples, but did find remnants of Buddhist structures.
Alois Anton Fuhrer surveyed the area in 1889–91 and essentially reiterated the discoveries made by Cunningham.
1st excavation after Independence took place in 1969–70 when AK Narayan of Banaras Hindu University dug at 3 places not in the immediate vicinity of the Babri. Narayan’s excavations convinced him of a 'strong Buddhist presence in the area under study.'
The Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya is the most sacred site for Buddhists around the world but it is headed by a Hindu priest & managed primarily by Hindu priests.
Attempts by Buddhists in India to take control have failed.
1992 article by India Today.
indiatoday.in
Attempts by Buddhists in India to take control have failed.
1992 article by India Today.
indiatoday.in
Buddhism and Jainism arose as challengers to Vedic and Brahminical Hinduism.
3 things happened from this.
1. The 2 religions and especially Buddhism took off and gained popularity in India and around the world especially backed by Ashoka and others.
3 things happened from this.
1. The 2 religions and especially Buddhism took off and gained popularity in India and around the world especially backed by Ashoka and others.
2. There was a move to bring about reforms in Hinduism and regain lost space.
3. The counter attack was either destruction or appropriation of the two religions. Buddha was not spoken kindly about first by the Brahmins but later he was appropriated as an 'avatar' of Vishnu.
3. The counter attack was either destruction or appropriation of the two religions. Buddha was not spoken kindly about first by the Brahmins but later he was appropriated as an 'avatar' of Vishnu.
Additional and important perspective by historian (and my history teacher in DU) Dr Upinder Singh on the issue.
Will quote tweets from here.
theprint.in
Will quote tweets from here.
theprint.in
Puranic description of Buddha is not flattering. He is supposed to delude the wicked in Kali age & pave way for the arrival of Kalki avatara. Early Bengal Upapuranas say many negative things about Buddhists; they are describe as symbols of evil, defiling, & to be avoided.
Later Upapuranas offer a more positive image, describing Buddha as an embodiment of peace & beauty, & connecting him with the compassionate aim of ending animal sacrifices. Nevertheless in spite of being recognized as an avatara, the Buddha was never worshipped in Vishnu temples.
Mimamsaka Kumarila Bhatta is described in his hagiographies as defeating the Buddhists and establishing the supremacy of the Veda. Kumarila is said to have spent many years studying (undercover) with a Buddhist teacher, and learning the doctrine in order to eventually refute it.
He succeeded in defeating the Buddhists (and Jainas) in debate. The accounts of these debates are quite violent:'He defeated countless Buddhists and Jainas by means of different types of arguments in the various sciences. Having cut off their heads with axes, he threw them down..
.. into numerous wooden mortars and made a powder of them by whirling around a pestle. In this way he was fearlessly carrying out the destruction of those who held evil doctrines.”
Is this metaphorical violence or is it a reflection of violent religious conflicts on the ground?
Is this metaphorical violence or is it a reflection of violent religious conflicts on the ground?
Buddhism did not completely disappear from the subcontinent, but it did decline and was relegated to the geographical, political, and cultural margins.
There is much about the history of Buddhism in early medieval India, especially the reasons for dwindling lay support..
There is much about the history of Buddhism in early medieval India, especially the reasons for dwindling lay support..
...and patronage, that remains obscure. But although the texts may present a dramatized, exaggerated version of events, there is no doubt that religious competition and conflict are part of the story.
Despite the above issues faced by Buddhism in ancient and medieval India it flourished in other parts of Asia and the neighbourhood.
It must be mentioned that modern India and its rulers across party lines have acknowledged the importance of Buddhism to India and the world.
End
It must be mentioned that modern India and its rulers across party lines have acknowledged the importance of Buddhism to India and the world.
End
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