Hindu Persecution of Buddhists in Pre-Islamic India

[ArainGang]

Hey everyone, I wrote a lengthy article on the persecution of Buddhists by Hindus in pre-Islamic India, directly from early Buddhist and Hindu sources.

This piece was prompted by seeing many people cite early accounts of Muslim violence against Hindus, and using these accounts to "prove" the Muslim-Hindu relationship was defined by antagonistic persecution.

I argue that mining ancient texts for quotes about violence can be done to paint any relationship between two groups as worse than it really is, and provide an example with Buddhists and Hindus.

There's also a number of people (typically Hindu Nationalists) who believe there was no major religious tension or persecution before Muslims arrived, which is plainly not true (and illustrated by the sources I quote).

Questions welcome!

 

[Old School]

Buddhism as a separate denomination is fairly new in the sub-continent though. Probably, the separate denomination started in the British era. Historically, it belonged to the heterodoxical Sramanic branch of Hinduism or Sanatana just as Jainism. However, the so called Buddhists were very violent and brutal when they were controlling the political power. Anyone would take revenge on them. Think about Burma and Sri Lanka of today.

 

[ArainGang]

Buddhism as a separate denomination is fairly new in the sub-continent though. Probably, the separate denomination started in the British era. Historically, it belonged to the heterodoxical Sramanic branch of Hinduism or Sanatana just as Jainism. However, the so called Buddhists were very violent and brutal when they were controlling the political power. Anyone would take revenge on them. Think about Burma and Sri Lanka of today.

Buddhism has been considered separate from Hinduism almost as soon as it coherently began to form. Though this view was only held by the upper-castes (Brahmins and Kshatriyas mostly), while the common people were always much less orthodox and okay with being syncretic between different faiths (this also occurred between Hindus and Muslims until the British period).

I agree the separation was probably formalized during the European period, but it existed well before.

Also yes when Buddhists were in power they weren't angels. There's an episode I recall from my readings where the Mauryan Empire (then Buddhist) executed Hindus for insulting the Buddha.

 

[Old School]

Buddhism has been considered separate from Hinduism almost as soon as it coherently began to form. Though this view was only held by the upper-castes (Brahmins and Kshatriyas mostly), while the common people were always much less orthodox and okay with being syncretic between different faiths (this also occurred between Hindus and Muslims until the British period).

I agree the separation was probably formalized during the European period, but it existed well before.

Also yes when Buddhists were in power they weren't angels. There's an episode I recall from my readings where the Mauryan Empire (then Buddhist) executed Hindus for insulting the Buddha.

Those upper caste inhabitants have been always a small minority though even till date. Vast majority were heterodox who practiced various forms of tantra and Dharmas with inclusiveness. Orthodoxical hegemony took it's peak during the colonial era.

 

[Kambojaric]

Good information. Many historians make it seem like the arrival of Islam meant the death of Buddhism in South Asia. Buddhists were already pretty much in the grave due to Hindus however at that time (barring Sri Lanka).

 

[Juggernaut_Flat_Plane_V8]

Good information. Many historians make it seem like the arrival of Islam meant the death of Buddhism in South Asia. Buddhists were already pretty much in the grave due to Hindus however at that time (barring Sri Lanka).

Hindus persecuted Buddhists..But Buddhism still was majority in Eastern India..Turks delivered the death blow to Buddhism in India, but yes Brahmans didnot make their life easy beforehand ..I will make soon a thread with European scholarly sources

 

[RPK]

Brahmans

They are fighting within themself which god is bigger(Siva or Vishnu)

 

[Hamza913]

It's almost as if South Asia has been an abhorrently violent place for its entire history. Who would have thought such a diverse region would be plagued with such conflict! It's not like human beings hate those that are different to them or anything like that...

 

[Politico]

It is similar to current day South Asia. Just add Islam and Christianity to the mix and you would get the idea