Thanks for the history lesson Tim. Sounds plausible to
me. Reminds me of a recent Bush quote on diplomatic
relations with Saudi Arabia, he said something to the
effect of, "We can work together [with the Saudis]
because I believe in the Almighty, and [Leader of
Saudi] believes in the Almighty." Bush did not say
whether Almighty referred to the dollar or an
imaginary creator deity. Perhaps both were implied.
I'm willing to believe in some cases Muslim conquests
may be primarily motivated by seeking wealth, but the
bombing of the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan is just
one of many examples of their willingness to brutally
wipe out competing religions.

-fk

--- "Timothy C. Cahill" <tccahill@...> wrote:

>
> Hi Frank & Christine (and others),
>
> It's hard to respond briefly to this remark:
> "but I'm pretty sure the
> wholesale slaughter of Buddhist monks and
> destruction of Buddhist temples
> by Muslims did not help" --except to say that the
> near certainty *is*
> misplaced. First we ought to note that persecution
> often serves to enhance
> group identity, thereby *strengthening* religions.
> Clearly that wasn't the
> case when Turks came to power in 12th century India.
> Buddhism (not just
> Theravada) had been in sharp decline on the
> sub-Himalayan continent for
> quite some time. Its failure to differentiate itself
> from a transformed
> Hinduism (which now eschewed animal sacrifice,
> 'accepted' the Buddha as an
> avatara of Vishnu, etc.) played a role, as did Hindu
> hostility. The
> efforts of the great Advaitin, Sankara, in
> organizing Hindu monastic life
> Shaiva, especially) provided a rival to Buddhism's
> long-held advantage in
> this sphere.
>
> The time-line blurb from the buddha-net page is
> not merely misleading,
> but it's likely factually incorrect. By 1193
> Buddhism probably had no true
> 'heartland in India' --that's the misleading part.
> The assertion that
> "Moslems" (even the spelling belies an antiquarian
> approach) destroyed
> Buddhist monasteries is probably wrong in many
> cases. For the details
> (i.e., the 'history') on Vikramasila see:
>
> Chaudhary, R. (1978) "Decline of Vikramasila."
> Journal of Indian History,
> 56, pp. 213-235. (Trivandrum) and also
>
> Narayan, B. (1977-78) "The Vikramasila Mahavihara
> Site. Some New Light on
> the Basis of Archeological Evidence." Journal of the
> Bihar Research
> Society, 63-64, pp. 212-214.
>
> Chaudhary provides evidence which largely exonerates
> Bakhtiyar Khaldi from
> this heinous act, while implicating local Biharis.
> In other instances the
> Turkish rulers seem to have mistaken walled
> monasteries as fortresses. No
> religious (i.e., Islamic) motives seem to have been
> present. The well
> known incident of the burning of the Nalanda library
> has been documented
> by S. H. Askari & Q. Ahmed (eds.) (1983-1987)
> _COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF
> BIHAR_, 2 vols. Patna. They and D.R. Patil, author
> of _ANTIQUARIAN
> REMAINS AT BHUBANESHWAR_ (Calcutta, 1961), basically
> concur that the act
> of arson was not committed by the (Muslim) Turks.
>
> It also should be pointed out that *reciprocal*
> massacres between Hindus &
> Buddhists took place in India during the 7th century
> --before Muslim
> generals raided Transoxiana & Sind in the early 8th
> cent. The early
> Ghaznavids seemed interested in power & wealth much
> more than in spreading
> Islam. Wealth was found in temples, and I'd guess in
> monasteries as well.
> Yet Hinduism not only survived, but flourished in
> India despite the
> losses.
>
> Other sources which shed light on the decline of
> Buddhism point to even
> earlier periods. By the end of the 5th century (!)
> Buddhist temples in
> South India were replaced by temples to Shiva at
> Kanchipuram, Srisailam,
> Vengipura (A.P.), etc. Related to the destruction
> of Buddhist images
> (long before Islam arrives) is the work of H. Sarkar
> and B.N. Misra on
> Nagarjunakonda (Delhi: 1966).
>
> If you have to use a metaphor for this I'd
> suggest the establishment
> (not the 'arrival') of Muslim Turks as the last nail
> in Buddhism's coffin
> in N. India --provided we acknowledge that there
> were a dozen or so nails
> already well hammered such that the lid was not
> going to open again. Of
> course, if non-historians prefer to cling to
> 'historical' ideas that can
> not be supported by historical evidence, so be it!
>
> Sorry for the length of all this!
>
> best wishes,
> Tim Cahill
>
>
>

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