Decay and Disappearance of Buddhism in its Land of Birth

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XII, December 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Decay and Disappearance of Buddhism in its Land of Birth

Dr. Sumudu Dharmarathna
Department of History, University of Peradenita, Sri Lanka

Abstract: The decline and disappearance of Buddhism from its land of birth, is one of the most important subjects of the History of South Asian religion. It is accepted that Buddhism was disappeared in the land of its birth from the 13th century CE, because there is no continuation of sculptural creations and other constructional activities of the Buddhist monastic sites in the sub-continent then onwards. Scholars have tried to identify the factors behind the process of decay and disappearance of Buddhism. Among the numerous issues on that, in this research study, the main point of attention is on growth and popularity of Mahayanism and the introduction of Tantrism, which some scholars have highlighted as the most important factor for the decay of Buddhism. Further, attempt to identify real factor among various other issues in this regards.

Keywords: Buddhism, Disappearance, the Indian subcontinent

I. INTRODUCTION

Buddhism’s decline and disappearance from its land of birth is one of the most important subjects of the History of South Asian religion. Depending mainly on the evidence of Chinese travellers namely Fa-hien, Song-yun, Hiuen- tsang and I-tsing, scholars attempted to fix an exact time for the decline. Thus, P.C. Bagchi (Bagchi, 1928), R.C. Mitra (Mitra, 1954) and some other scholars trace the decline of Buddhism begins from the seventh century CE. While discussing “Buddhist Missionary Activities of Ancient Sri Lanka”, S.B. Hettiaratchi also accepted that Buddhism declined and disappeared from India towards the end of the 13th century CE., (Hettiaratchi, 1992: 142). However, Lal Mani Joshi states that the decline of Buddhism in India had started at a considerably earlier date; it was in fact a long drawn process, slow but steady, and it is not advisable to fix any particular time frame for the beginning of this decline (Joshi, 2002: 309). However, the disappearance of Buddhism in India commences from the 13th century because there is no continuation of sculptural creations and other constructional activities of the Buddhist monastic sites in the sub-continent then onwards. Same as scholars have tried to identify the factors behind the decay and disappearance of Buddhism, both internal and external.

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