Why did Buddhism nearly vanish from India?

No single event removed Buddhism from India. Scholars describe a gradual decline that began well before the second millennium, and by about the 13th century Buddhism had disappeared as a formal, institutional religion. Most accounts stress loss of royal and merchant patronage and competition from, or absorption into, Hindu traditions, with Muslim invasions as a later blow to an already weakened system. There is no absolute consensus on the relative weight of these causes. [1] [2]

The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hsuan Tsang), who was in India from 627 to 645, found some monasteries thriving and many others deserted or in ruins. He met more non-Buddhists than Buddhists in several places, and Kusinagar, where the Buddha died, was dilapidated. In Varanasi he found about 3000 monks outnumbered by more than 10,000 non-Buddhists. Decline was uneven, though: Nalanda kept flourishing until the Muslim invasions, so the story is not one of simple, steady loss. [1] [2]

Donald Lopez argues that once monks moved from wandering begging to large monasteries, they depended on kings and merchants rather than local villagers. Monks and nuns do not farm or earn money, so if a dynasty fell, a Hindu king replaced a Buddhist patron, or a trade route moved, a monastery could be abandoned. The UCLA article gives a similar picture: patronage under the Kushanas and Guptas was shared between Buddhists and Brahmanical groups, then shifted as regional kingdoms rose. The Pala dynasty of Bengal supported Buddhism, but under the Senas, who promoted Shaivism, Buddhism was pushed out toward Tibet. [2] [1] [3]

One view, probably with the most adherents according to the UCLA article, holds that reformed Hinduism rose and absorbed Buddhist ideas and practices, such as ahimsa and monasticism. A related minority position holds that Buddhism never vanished as such but changed form within Hindu practice. A third view, that Brahmins persecuted Buddhists to assert caste supremacy, still has supporters, including some Dalit writers and a handful of historians of early India. Scholars of Buddhism also debate whether the shift was a friendly embrace or hostility. [1] [4]

Another set of explanations looks inside Buddhism: the UCLA article notes that monastics kept their distance from laypeople, and that no manual for lay conduct appeared until the 11th century, which may have weakened lay commitment. [1]

Turkic raids on northern India began from 986, and Nalanda was sacked by Muslim troops around 1200. The Kalachakra Tantra shows that northern Buddhists in the early 11th century felt threatened by Muslims. Still, the idea that the invasions alone ended Indian Buddhism is controversial; the UCLA article says many reputable historians dismiss the idea outright, and Lopez calls the narrative one to dispute, since decline preceded the invasions. By the time Vasco da Gama arrived in 1498, Buddhism had largely vanished as an institution, though some lay worship of Buddha images may have continued in places. [2] [1] [3]