Role of Hindus in Wiping Out Buddhism in India and Parts of Sri Lanka – Part 1
Posted on September 17th, 2016
Dilrook Kannangara
This is an academic analysis of undeniable facts on a subject that is crucially important today. It is not aimed at targeting anyone or any religion but to bring to the fore less discussed forces at work against Buddhism. Sri Lankans must wake up to this threat before it is too late.
Today only 0.7% of the Indian population is Buddhist. Most of them are classified as ‘low caste’ and denied the right to education, medical care, employment and even life. It is easy to blame Moghul and Western invaders for wiping out Buddhism in the landmass now known as India. They also contributed. However, by the time they arrived at the scene, Buddhism had already collapsed. What is most interesting however, is not India but Sri Lanka. Buddhism has been completely wiped out far more than in India in all but one Hindu majority districts of the island! This is an unmissable pattern and certainly no fluke. This seems to be a standard template used against Buddhism.
Economic deprivation of Buddhists, deliberate Hindu ideological onslaught and structural genocide are the main tools used against Buddhists in Hindu majority landmasses in South Asia.
Objectively analyzing these time tested truths is very important to save Buddhism in the island nation. Pushing them under the carpet is the surest way to erase Buddhism from remaining parts of Sri Lanka. Sadly, some claiming to be fighting to save Buddhism seem to have a secret agenda of wiping it out peacefully by refusing to admit these truths. They do more damage to Buddhism than any other external threat.
Hindu Ideological Onslaught On Buddhism
The following scholarly research article clearly identifies how deliberate and determined campaigns against Buddhism succeeded in Hindustan.
http://www.academia.edu/207076/CONTRIBUTING_FACTORS_FOR_THE_DISAPPEARANCE_OF_BUDDHISM_FROM_INDIA
Various Brahminical texts included fierce strictures against Buddhists. Some of these (not all) are listed below.
Manusmriti by Manu ordered Hindus to purify by having a bath” if they touched a Buddhist. Implication of this was Buddhists were marginalized in India”. Another leader Aparka also ordained the same. Vradha Harit took it a level high claiming that entry into a Buddhist temple as a sin, which could only be expiated for by taking a ritual bath”. Myths including the Mricchakatika, (Act VII), the hero Charudatta, on seeing a Buddhist monk pass by, exclaims to his friend Maitriya” “Ah! Here is an inauspicious sight, a Buddhist monk coming towards us.” Quoted from the above link.
However, the most powerful political ideology onslaught on Buddhism comes from celebrated strategist Chanakya (a Brahmin), author of Arthashastra. It is well accepted that since 1947 Hindustan religiously follows his strategies within and outside India. He declared that when a person entertains a dinner dedicated to gods and ancestors, then for those who are Sakyas (Buddhists), Ajivikas, Shudras and exiled persons, a fine of one hundred panas shall be imposed on him.” This effectively removed Buddhists from participating in societal affairs with others confining them to deprivation.
Quoted from the above research article, Brahannardiya Purana made it a principal sin for Brahmins to enter the house of a Buddhist even at times of great peril.” Such castigation is not found in any other major religion. The last of the Puranas, Vishnu Purana called Buddha as Maha Moha” (the great seducer) and warned against the sin of even talking with Buddhists which would guarantee them a place in hell! Interestingly, Vishnu Purana has a story involving the island nation of Sihaladeepa (modern Sri Lanka). A Vishnu avatar falls in love with a Lankan woman.
In Vayu Purana of Gaya Mahatmaya there mentions a demon” in the town of Gaya (called Gaya Asura). He preached a way of life for anyone of any caste or social status to attain salvation. Clearly, the demon” mentioned here is Buddha.
Shashanka the Brahmanic ruler murdered the last Buddhist emperor Rajyavardhana, elder brother of Harshavardhana, in 605 AD – even before Islam was invented let alone the Mughals. He went to Bodha Gaya and destroyed the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha had attained enlightenment. He forcibly removed the Buddha statue from the Bodhi Vihara nearby and installed a statue of Hindu Shiva. He allegedly slaughtered all Buddhist monks in and around Kushinagar. Nalanda destruction by Mughals pales into second place in terms of destruction.
This conduct is very similar to Hindu king of Jaffna Sankili who killed most Buddhist monks in Jaffna by poisoning. On the subject of Nalanda, consider what the Hindu nationalist Indian government did recently in Nalanda. Borrowing the good name of the celebrated ancient Buddhist university, a new university was established recently. However, it is hardly Buddhist. It is Hindu majority. This wiped out even the legacy of the Nalanda Buddhist University. In another one hundred years, it will be claimed that the Nalanda University remained a Hindu majority university for more than a century.
Wake Up and Save Buddha Gaya (from Hindus) in 1895 and 2012
When the great Buddhist revivalist Anagarika Dharmapala demanded that Bodh Gaya is saved, what was the threat from which he was trying to save it from? Was he trying to save it from Christian or Muslim acts? No. He was trying to save it from Hindu rule. Some of his actions succeeded thanks to British rule. Had India been Independent by then, Anagarika Dharmapala would not be able to even approach Bodh Gaya. Bodh Gaya was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2002.
In 1895 Dharmapala filed a case against Hindus causing destruction at Bodh Gaya. The proceedings of the case can be accessed here.
https://archive.org/stream/budhgayatempleca00dharrich/budhgayatempleca00dharrich_djvu.txt
In 1949, Independent India introduced the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Act under which the administration of the premises was shared between Hindus and Buddhists – 5 Hindus and only 4 Buddhists. The premises was mismanaged.
Only in 2012, following a successful petition to Indian supreme court by Venerable Bante Arya Nagarjun did the management transfer back to Buddhists. He successfully argued that under this Hindu majority rule, due to mismanagement and indifference to the temple, the sacred Bodhi tree is in danger of decay as found by a committee of the ASI”. This petition succeeded because in 2002 it was classified as a UNESCO world heritage site. Otherwise, it would not have materialised.
Strangely, this vital issue was not given due publicity in Sri Lanka.
Buddhism Wiped Out in Hindu Majority Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mulaitivu, Vavuniya and Batticaloa Districts
It cannot be a fluke as it also happened in Hindustan” next door. On the other hand Buddhism still survives in Islam majority Ampara and Trincomalee Districts and Christian majority Putlam District. Since the end of the war in 2009, Buddhist statues are broken and Buddhist shrines bombed (2012 in Chunnakam, Jaffna) and deprived of rehabilitation. A Buddha statue cannot be constructed even in Nagadipa – one of 16 holiest Buddhist shrines in the island. Buddhists displaced from Jaffna District have been prevented from resettlement.
Hindustan funded and armed Hindu majority terrorist groups attacked the two holiest Buddhist shrines in Sri Lanka in 1985 and 1998 while they also attacked crowded mosques in 1990 and churches in 1999 and 2007. In 1985, Tamil terrorists planted a bomb at the largest cathedral in Asia in Colombo north which failed. Relatively, they have very carefully avoided targeting Hindu kovils. Now their surviving associates are clamouring to remove the supreme status given to Buddhism which Indian-funded Hindu majority terrorist groups failed.
Interestingly this is a recurring theme since Buddhism was introduced to the island nation in 265BC. Lanka suffered a large number of Hindu invasions from the landmass called India today. These include Hindu invaders Elara, Chola, Pandyan, Magha, Chakravarti, etc. All of them without fail targeted Buddhism and Buddhist shrines.
Renewed Threat Emanating from Hindustan and Its Agents
Today there is a renewed threat from Hindustan and its agents to wipe out Buddhism from Sri Lanka and make it a Hindu nation. Despite the Catholic Cardinal clearly advocating to keep the supreme place granted to Buddhism and Islamic leaders having no problem with it, Hindu elements including the Hindu majority TNA party are at the forefront in attempting to remove supreme place to Buddhism. They are backed by Hindustan in every step of the way. Secular is a misleading term used to cover up Hindu invasion of the island nation as practiced in India. Islam followers get burnt to death in trainloads in secular” India. Buddhists are marginalized and get beaten and deprived every month. Christians are also persecuted and their churches are burnt. As Hinduism unifies India (Kashmir was never unified with India in substance), India is keen to extend this model to Sri Lanka. If Sri Lanka becomes Hindu majority, it will automatically become a natural extension of India without having to deploy military and rely on pro-Indian regimes in Colombo.
September 17th, 2016 at 6:03 pm
Even when buddha was living some Brahmins refused to kneel infront of buddha saying that “Shramanas” wwre born from Brhama’s legs.
Long ago, Indian Brahmins had slaughtered Buddhist cillages in ruhuna. they had done some thing in India too by slaughtering whole villages.
India di dnot have buddhists except yogachra buddhist monks. Only Dr. Ambedkar converted low castes in large numbers as they were mistreated.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:15 pm
“It is easy to blame Moghul and Western invaders for wiping out Buddhism in the landmass now known as India. ”
Where did you get this from? Hinduism was there from the Days of Rawanaa who satisfied Seetha.
Our so called Buddhists are Hindus. Go to a temple and see all the Hindu gods most of them disabled human statues.
All Indian colonial parasites after visiting a Sinhala home have a cleansing bath and wash their clothes. After having a Sinhala visitor they cleanse the house with a turmeric spray and have a cleansing bath and wash their clothes. They seldom visit a Sinhala house or entertain Sinhalese in their home.
We are Dalits for these High caste Hindus.
September 23rd, 2016 at 2:11 pm
Perhaps Buddhism did not flourish in India due to :
1. Invasions, and much needed protection through armies and weapons were lacking to protect those areas and Buddhism.
2. Hindu influences with the attached social systems (Caste system) that were there earlier, took over the country.
I have heard a quote that Buddhism is purified Hinduism. The core teachings of both religions are similar, especially Raja Yoga (the highest of the Yogas), and Buddhism share common ground that Meditation leads to Self Realisation.
What can Lanka learn from such an event in India ?
September 23rd, 2016 at 7:24 pm
Fran, it is not just Hindustan where Buddhism was deliberately wiped out by Hindus. Sri Lanka is also part of it.
Buddhism was wiped out in all Hindu majority districts of Sri Lanka. Nuwara Eliya is the only exception so far but with Hindustan sponsored colonization that will will happen.
September 24th, 2016 at 12:23 pm
Dilrook,
To my understanding :
Earlier, prior to Colonisation of Lanka, the invasions that took place from the South Indian regions (Hindu people) erased Buddhism from the Northern & East/Central parts.
But these were temporary erasures. Soon the locally deep rooted Buddhism came back once the invaders faded away with time. Perhaps this is the nature of religion in an island. What was existing earlier always comes back.
Hinduism has the Caste System attached to it – not a popular aspect. The Hindu deities, some rituals, Raj Yoga, the positive aspects, will linger on in Lanka.
Colonisation of nearly 500 yrs ‘erased’ Southern Buddhism somewhat, only to resurrect in perhaps a “modernised approach” manner.
The culture (dress, music, food, etc) in Lanka may change with overlays of westernisation in the cities mainly. But it is the LIFE VALUE SYSTEM that will always come back through Buddhism.
The Core Teachings of all religions are similar.
How can truth be erased ?
September 24th, 2016 at 6:09 pm
Even by the time Portuguese invaded Sri Lanka, Buddhism was not thriving in the north as Hindu invader Magha destroyed most of it and Sinhala kings relocated southward. Hindu king Sankili poisoned all Buddhist monks in Jaffna. European invasion worsened in by the forcible introduction of Hindus to Sri Lanka in large numbers. Millions of Hindus were brought from “India” for tobacco and tea plantations and for menial work. They did the damage once again. This was no accident. Western colonials knew of the millennia old conflict between the two groups and exploited it. Colonials only facilitated it (a grave offence in itself) but was actually committed through Hindus – perennial enemies of Buddhism in the island.
However, after 1948 even after colonials had left, Buddhism continues to get wiped out in Hindu majority districts. Buddhist traces were there in the north and Batticaloa even by 1950s that have now been permanently erased. In 1981 MP Cyril Matthew and in late 2009 Venerable Ellawala Medhananda listed more than 60 ancient Buddhist shrines in the north (more than 100 in the east) to be protected. However all government since then turned a blind eye. Buddhists displaced from the north have not even been resettled thanks mainly to severe dislike of it by Hindus in the north and corrupt leaders. The Hindu chief minister makes it no secret. In 2013 Navtkuli Buddhist temple was attacked with bombs and nothing happened to culprits. After 2010 Buddhists cannot even construct a Buddha statue in Nagadeepa (one of 16 holiest shrines in the island) thanks to Hindus protesting against it.
What was erased from Hindu majority “India”, mostly from Nepal and totally from all Hindu majority districts of Sri Lanka (except Nuwara Eliya) is Buddhism, not the truths taught to humans in Buddhism that cannot be erased. For instance, even if Issac Newton didn’t come up with his Newton’s laws, they will operate. F= MA will hold true in reality. However, humans would be unable to make use of it. It is the same with Buddhism. Erasing Buddhism from all Hindu majority areas in India and Sri Lanka has the unfortunate impact on humans being deprived of Buddhist teachings. It cannot affect the universal truth of Buddhism which will be there even without anyone following Buddhism. What we are interested in is humans making use of Buddhism and making it available to humans to better their conduct.
Erasing Buddhism was the primary reason why Hindu majority districts produced world’s most ruthless terrorists. If they were fortunate enough to be touched by Buddhism than Hinduism, they would not have been so ruthless to fellow living beings. The same can be seen in India where low caste people are butchered daily.