{"id":88161,"date":"2019-05-03T15:12:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T22:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88161"},"modified":"2019-05-03T15:12:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T22:12:17","slug":"%ef%bb%bfmuslims-ruthlessly-destroyed-the-buddhist-empire-of-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/03\/%ef%bb%bfmuslims-ruthlessly-destroyed-the-buddhist-empire-of-kashmir\/","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffMUSLIMS RUTHLESSLY DESTROYED THE BUDDHIST EMPIRE OF KASHMIR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Kashmir has been referred to as Paradise on Earth\u201d owing to its \nstunning natural beauty. The great Buddhist Emperor Asoka (273-236 BCE) was \ninstrumental in introducing Buddhism to Kashmir. The introduction of Buddhism to \nKashmir is of great historic importance because it was from Kashmir that \nBuddhism spread to the Himalayan region and beyond including Tibet. Kashmir \nplayed an important role in spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and eventually \nChina. For more than 1300 years, from the 3rd<\/sup> century BCE to about \nthe 12 century CE, Kashmir was inhabited by Buddhists. Kashmir flourished under \nillustrious Buddhist kings such as Jalouk, Hushka, Jushka followed by the great \nKing Kanishka. This illustrious Buddhist Kingdom was marked by magnificent \nBuddhist shrines, monasteries, stupes, Buddha and Bodhisattva statues and other \nBuddhist monuments. It was a place adorned with exquisite Buddhist art, \nsculpture and architecture of high aesthetic and spiritual appeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, it was a renowned place of Buddhist learning and practice. \nIt was inhabited by many celebrated Buddhist scholar monks of high repute, \nincluding Asvaghosha the reputed Buddhist writer, Nagarjuna the philosopher, \nVasumitra the Buddhist scholar, Charaka the physician, Samgharaksha the \nchaplain, Mathara  the politician and Agisala the engineer.  Learning and \nliterature greatly expanded due to the patronage of king Kanishka. The Sanskrit \nlanguage and literature flourished during this period and Sanskrit religious and \nsecular literature were greatly enriched under the royal patronage. Several \neminent Buddhist scholars wrote outstanding books in Sanskrit during this period \ntime, including highly learned scholars such as Aswaghosha, Nagarjuna, \nVasumitra, and Charaka.  Being an \nardent and devoted Buddhist, king Kanishka was instrumental in organizing and \nholding a Buddhist Council or Conference in Kashmir, under the leadership of \nfamous Buddhist scholar monks Vasumitra and Asvaghosha, with the participation \nof several leading scholars and monks including Parsva and Nagaijuna. In order to safeguard the original thinking in Buddhism \nwhich the Mahayana school refers to as Sarvastivada\u201d or Vaibhashika\u201d reputed \nBuddhist scholars at the time came to Kashmir and compiled a detailed and \nauthentic commentary of this philosophy. This monumental work was completed in \nKashmir and was known as ‘Abhidharma Mahavtbhashashastra ‘ which was translated \nto Chinese in year 383 CE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars and pilgrims came to Kashmir from many distant places in \norder to study the teachings of the Buddha, at the feet of these renowned \nscholars. It is reported that there were more than five hundred Buddhist \nscholars in Kashmir during the reign of King Kanishka in the \n1st<\/sup> century CE. Much like Emperor Asoka, King Kanishka resorted to \nmissionary activities for the spread of Buddhism outside India, to distant \ncountries including Tibet, China, Myanmar. Mongolia and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUSLIM MUGHAL OR MONGOL INVASION OF KASHMIR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muslim Mughal invasion of Kashmir started during the early \n11th<\/sup> century at a time when Kashmir was faced with political turmoil \nwith internal rivalries within its royalty. These conditions led to disruption \nof Buddhist activities and the Buddhist community was in disarray, paving the \nway for Muslim invasion of Kashmir. A ruthless Mughal chief named Zulju led a \nsavage raid of Kashmir causing severe destruction, including the massacre of \nBuddhists and Hindus. The Kashmir king fled Kashmir and the Mughal chief brought \nKashmir under Muslim rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mughal occupation of Kashmir was marked by widespread bloodshed \nand destruction and forced conversion of Buddhists and Hindus to Islam. Most of \nthe magnificent Buddhist shrines, monasteries, places of learning and monuments \nwere destroyed. In the early part of the 13th<\/sup> century, there was \nanother Mughal invasion of Kashmir which led to Kashmir becoming a Mughal \ndependency and the stationing of a Mughal Governor referred to as, Darughachi to \nadminister Kashmir. A brutal and cruel period followed with people facing \nimmense hardships. Their rule was \nthe cruellest that the Kashmir people ever faced.  Buddhists of Kashmir were ruthlessly forced to convert to Islam. In \nthe mid-13th<\/sup> century, the Buddhists and Hindus of Kashmir revolted \nunsuccessfully against the Muslims and this led to further subjugation of \nKashmiris and forced conversions becoming the order of the day.   By the \n14th<\/sup> century, Islam<\/a> became the dominant religion in Kashmir. The former glory of the \nBuddhist culture of Kashmir was lost forever and Kashmir has continued for many \ncenturies to be a place of turmoil and insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HARDSHIP INSTABILITY AND INSECURITY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mughals ruled Kashmir for 167 long years, with the help of 35 \ngovernors who looted and plundered Kashmir. Tyranny was the order of the day and \nany whimper of rebellion was crushed mercilessly. Numerous Kashmiri Buddhists \nand Hindus laid their life in the process for the sake of independence. Since \nthe 15th<\/sup> century, Kashmir was raided and attacked several times by \nthe Afghans, Sikhs and Dogras and a highly troubled situation, marked by turmoil \nand insecurity continued to prevail in Kashmir until modern times.   Mughal rule \ncame to an end in 1753 CE with the capture of capture of Kashmir by the Afghans. \nThis proved to be a worst nightmare for Kashmiris. Muslim Afghans crossed all \nboundaries of civilization, killing, raping, plundering, looting, brutally \ntorturing non-Muslims. It is reported that no woman was safe in her house during \nthis brutal Afghan rule. Mass migration of Buddhists and Hindus out of their \nnative Kashmir took place during this time. In desperation, many Kashmiri people turned to the powerful Sikh \nruler of the Punjab – Ranjit Singh, who, accompanied by Gulab Singh, Raja of \nJammu, eventually drove out the Moghal Afghans from Kashmir.   In 1819, Afghans were defeated by Sikh forces led by Ranjit Singh, \nand the Sikhs did not prove any better. Destruction and killing became rampant. \nThe troubled situation continued until the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 \nand the division of Kashmir into Indian administered Kashmir and Pakistan \nadministered Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JESUS CHRIST IN KASHMIR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, European scholars have asserted that Jesus Christ \nspent a good part of his life in Buddhist Kashmir and was deeply influenced by \nBuddhist teachings. This was in the 1st<\/sup> century CE, at the time when \nthe kingdom of Kashmir was ruled by the great Buddhist king Kanishka-I. This was \nthe time of great Buddhist cultural and intellectual revival and the time when \nthe historic Taxila and Nalanda Universities were at their peak in terms of \nBuddhist studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an undocumented time-span between Jesus\u2019s childhood and the \nbeginning of his ministry as recorded in the gospels or Bibles. The belief among \nChristians is that Jesus lived in Nazareth during this period, but there \nare various accounts that present other scenarios, including travels to India. \nSeveral authors have claimed to have found proof of the existence of manuscripts \nin India and Tibet that support the belief that Christ was in India during this \ntime in his life. Among the several authors who have written on this subject are \nNicolas \nNotovitch<\/a> (1894), Mirza Ghulam \nAhmad<\/a> (founder of Ahmadiyya<\/a> \nmovement) (1899), Levi H. \nDowling<\/a> (1908), Swami \nAbhedananda<\/a> (1922),  Nicholas \nRoerich<\/a> (1923\u20131928),  Mathilde \nLudendorff<\/a> (1930), and Elizabeth \nClare Prophet<\/a> (founder of Ascended \nMaster Teachings<\/a> New Age<\/a> group) \n(1956). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the German Holger Kersten’s book published in1894, titled “Jesus Lived in India” \nwhich is regarded as a thorough, methodical and authoritative examination of the \nevidence of Christ’s life beyond the Middle East before crucifixion and in India \nand elsewhere after it. He asserts that after the crucifixion, Jesus came to \nKashmir in India with his Mother Mary and finally his death and entombment \nhappened in Kashmir. He notes that there are many parallels of Christ’s \nteachings with those in Buddhism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicolai Notovich a Russian scholar was the first to suggest that \nChrist may have gone to India. In 1887, he visited Kashmir and was a guest in a \nBuddhist monastery, where a monk told him of a bodhisattva saint called “Issa” \nwho had come to Kashmir from somewhere and who had lived and died in Kashmir. \nAccording to Notovich\u2019s extensive research, for about sixteen years, Christ \ntravelled through Turkey, Persia and Western Europe and finally arrived with \nMary at a place near Kashmir, where she died. He was a great prophet who was \nvenerated by the people of Kashmir at that time, and after many years in Kashmir \nas a reformer he died and was buried in a tomb in Kashmir. In this light, not \nonly Buddhists, but Christians, who venerate Jesus Christ also should be \nconcerned about the tragedy that befell Kashmir owing to the savage Muslim \nhostility, violence, atrocities and misdemeanors, in ancient times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane Kashmir has been referred to as Paradise on Earth\u201d owing to its stunning natural beauty. The great Buddhist Emperor Asoka (273-236 BCE) was instrumental in introducing Buddhism to Kashmir. The introduction of Buddhism to Kashmir is of great historic importance because it was from Kashmir that Buddhism spread to the Himalayan region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}