[Buddha-l] Rice & Dragons

[Christopher Fynn]

On 14/04/2012, Jo <jkirk at spro.net> wrote:

> Indeed. Buddhism's disappearance in eastern India-Bihar, Bengal and south
> into Tamil Nadu-was caused by Hindus , Senas for ex., toppling weak Buddhist
> kingdoms, such as remnants of the Pala dynasty, and ceasing to foster its
> monasteries, temples and so forth. Later, Muslim invaders finished the job.
> Some of the denizens of Nalanda fled to Nepal, where many ancient
> manuscripts of Nalanda provenance now repose.

These days Hindu involvement in Buddhism's disappearance in India
seems to get down played, while the role of the Muslim invaders who as
you say "finished the job" gets overplayed. In South India Adi
Shankara and his followers played a big role while Islam seems to have
had little to do with it.

Didn't Buddhism one flourish Ayodhya, a site associated with
Asvaghosha and Vasubandu? I sometimes  wonder if the Babri Mashid /
Ramjanmabhumi might have been a Buddhist temple before it was Hindu or
Muslim.

- chris