sponsibility for transforming villagers and tribals into
royal subjects, those peoples came to identify them-
selves with the Brahmins’ own gods. Thus, although
Buddhism flourished in the post-Gupta period, the re-
ligion became increasingly rarified and disengaged
from the immediate interests of the common masses.
This transformation of Buddhism’s social base was,
ultimately, the cause of its downfall in India. Buddhist
monks became increasingly professionalized: intellec-
tuals in “ivory towers,” uninvolved in the day-to-day
lives of common folk. The destruction of the great
monasteries (Nalandain 1197; Vikramas ́la in 1203)
by invading Turks provided the coup de grace. Lack-
ing strong royal support, and long since having lost
that of the populace, India’s Buddhist monks had
nowhere to turn. A travelogue written by Dharma-
svamin, a monk from Tibet, reveals that by the mid-
thirteenth century there were almost no self-professed
Buddhists remaining in India.
Over the preceding two millennia, Buddhist insti-
tutions, ritual practices, ideas, ideals, and ways of life
had become a part of the social landscape in almost
every Asian land. These regional and national Bud-
dhisms all looked back to S ́akyamuni for authority,
though the incredible diversity of their forms and
expressions might have astounded him. Despite Bud-
dhism’s demise in its first home, its traditions con-
tinued to thrive.
The revival of Buddhism in India (nineteenth to
twenty-first century C.E.)
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw a resur-
gence of Buddhism in India. The first concerted
attempt toward reintroducing Buddhism to the land
of its origin was made in 1891, when ANAGARIKA
DHARMAPALA(1864–1933), the son of a wealthy fur-
niture dealer in Sri Lanka, visited BODHGAYA, the site
of S ́akyamuni’s awakening. Distressed by the sorry
neglect of this site, he founded the MahaBodhi Soci-
ety with the aim of fostering its restoration. Dharma-
pala’s motives were missionary as well as devotional.
Educated in the Christian missionary schools of colo-
nial Sri Lanka, Dharmapala imagined that a renewed
Bodh Gayawould serve as a center for the propaga-
tion of S ́akyamuni’s teachings. The fact that this small
town is now filled with monasteries and hostels serv-
ing pilgrims from all over the world is the realization
of Dharmapala’s dream.
However, in terms of the re-creation of a native In-
dian Buddhism, no figure has been more important
than Dr. Bhimrao Ramji AMBEDKAR(1891–1956). As
a leader of India’s Untouchables, Ambedkar re-
nounced Hinduism in favor of Buddhism, believing
that this conversion would lead to greater respect for
his downtrodden people. Ambedkar himself has now
become a central figure of reverence for India’s neo-
Buddhist movement.
In 1959 Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama,
escaped to India, soon followed by many thousands of
his countrymen. In exile, the Tibetans have remained
vigorous patrons of Buddhism: establishing monastic
centers that serve their own people as well as the curi-
ous who visit India to learn about Buddhism. Indeed,
as Buddhism became a religion with a global reach dur-
ing the latter half of the twentieth century, all evidence
has shown a burgeoning appreciation within India it-
self for its Buddhist heritage.See also:Ajanta; Councils, Buddhist; Hinduism and
Buddhism; India, Buddhist Art in; India, Northwest;
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