History of Buddhism in India#Early developments

{{main|The Buddha}}

The Buddha was born to a Kapilvastu head of the Shakya republic named Suddhodana. He employed sramana practices in a specific way, denouncing extreme asceticism and sole concentration-meditation, which were sramanic practices. Instead, he propagated a Middle Way between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, in which self-restraint and compassion are central elements.

According to tradition, as recorded in the Pali Canon and the Agamas, Siddhārtha Gautama attained awakening sitting under a pipal tree, now known as the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India. Gautama referred to himself as the tathagata, the "thus-gone"; the developing tradition later regarded him to be as a Samyaksambuddha, a "Perfectly Self-Awakened One." According to tradition, he found patronage in the ruler of Magadha, emperor Bimbisāra. The emperor accepted Buddhism as a personal faith and allowed the establishment of many Buddhist "Vihāras." This eventually led to the renaming of the entire region as Bihar.India by Stanley Wolpert (Page 32)

According to tradition, in the Deer Park in Sarnath near Varanasi in northern India, Buddha set in motion the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the group of five companions with whom he had previously sought liberation. They, together with the Buddha, formed the first Sangha (Buddhism), the company of Buddhist monks, and hence, the first formation of the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) was completed.

For the remaining years of his life, the Buddha is said to have travelled in the Gangetic Plain of Northern India and other regions.

Buddha died in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India.{{cite book|title=Promotion of Buddhist Tourism Circuits in Selected Asian Countries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F9ZhFMWSYKsC&pg=PA23|year=2003|publisher=United Nations Publications|isbn=978-92-1-120386-8|pages=23–24}}{{cite book |author=Kevin Trainor |title=Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_PrloTKuAjwC |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517398-7 |page=41 |access-date=11 October 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060833/https://books.google.com/books?id=_PrloTKuAjwC |url-status=live }} Modern historians place his death, according to tradition at the age of 80, in the decades around 400 BC, several decades later than the date in Buddhist tradition.

Followers of Buddhism called Buddhists in English, referred to themselves as Saugata.P. 178 The Vision of Dhamma: Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera By Nyanaponika (Thera), Erich Fromm Other terms were Sakyans or Sakyabhiksu in ancient India.Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity by Richard Cohen. Routledge 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-54444-0}}. pg 33. "Donors adopted Sakyamuni Buddha's family name to assert their legitimacy as his heirs, both institutionally and ideologically. To take the name of Sakya was to define oneself by one's affiliation with the Buddha, somewhat like calling oneself a Buddhist today."Sakya or Buddhist Origins by Caroline Rhys Davids (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1931) pg 1. "Put away the word "Buddhism" and think of your subject as "Sakya." This will at once place you for your perspective at a true point . . You are now concerned to learn less about 'Buddha' and 'Buddhism,' and more about him whom India has ever known as Sakya-muni, and about his men who, as their records admit, were spoken of as the Sakya-sons, or men of the Sakyas." Sakyaputto was another term used by Buddhists, as well as AriyasavakoP. 56 A Dictionary of the Pali Language By Robert Cæsar Childers and Jinaputto.P. 171 A Dictionary of the Pali Language By Robert Cæsar Childers Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez states they also used the term Bauddha.Curators of the Buddha By Donald S. Lopez. University of Chicago Press. pg 7 The scholar Richard Cohen in his discussion about the 5th-century Ajanta Caves, states that Bauddha is not attested therein, and was used by outsiders to describe Buddhists, except for occasional use as an adjective.Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity by Richard Cohen. Routledge 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-54444-0}}. pg 33.

Quote: [Bauddha is] "a secondary derivative of Buddha, in which the vowel's lengthening indicates connection or relation. Things that are bauddha pertain to the Buddha, just as things-saiva relate to Shiva and things-Vaisnava belong to Vishnu. (...) bauddha can be both adjectival and nominal; it can be used for doctrines spoken by the Buddha, objects enjoyed by him, texts attributed to him, as well as individuals, communities, and societies that offer him reverence or accept ideologies certified through his name. Strictly speaking, Sakya is preferable to bauddha since the latter is not attested at Ajanta. In fact, as a collective noun, bauddha is an outsider's term. The bauddha did not call themselves this in India, though they did sometimes use the word adjectivally (e.g., as a possessive, the Buddha's)."

File:sattapanni.jpg of Rajgir served as the location for the First Buddhist Council.]]

File:North Gateway - Rear Side - Stupa 1 - Sanchi Hill 2013-02-21 4480-4481.JPG

File:Gurubhaktulakonda Buddhist Monastery Remnants at Ramatheertham.jpg]]

The Buddha did not appoint any successor and asked his followers to work toward liberation following the instructions he had left. The teachings of the Buddha existed only in oral traditions. The Sangha held a number of Buddhist councils in order to reach consensus on matters of Buddhist doctrine and practice.

1. Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of the Buddha, presided over the first Buddhist council held at Rājagṛha. Its purpose was to recite and agree on the Buddha's actual teachings and monastic discipline. Some scholars consider this council fictitious.Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, Routledge, 1989, page 6
2. The Second Buddhist Council is said to have taken place at Vaiśālī. Its purpose was to deal with questionable monastic practices like the use of money, the drinking of palm wine, and other irregularities; the council declared these practices unlawful.
3. What is commonly called the Third Buddhist Council was held at Pāṭaliputra, and was allegedly called by Emperor Aśoka in the 3rd century BC. Organized by the monk Moggaliputta Tissa, it was held in order to rid the sangha of the large number of monks who had joined the order because of its royal patronage. Most scholars now believe this council was exclusively Theravada, and that the dispatch of missionaries to various countries at about this time had nothing to do with it.
4. What is often called the Fourth Buddhist council is generally believed to have been held under the patronage of Emperor Kaniṣka in Kashmir, though the late Monseigneur Professor Lamotte considered it fictitious.the Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Pali Text Society, page XCIII It is generally believed to have been a council of the Sarvastivāda school.

{{Main|Early Buddhist Schools}}

The Early Buddhist Schools were the various schools in which pre-sectarian Buddhism split in the first few centuries after the passing away of the Buddha (in about the 5th century BC). The earliest division was between the majority Mahāsāṃghika and the minority Sthaviravāda. Some existing Buddhist traditions follow the vinayas of early Buddhist schools.

• Theravāda: practised mainly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Bangladesh.
• Dharmaguptaka: followed in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan.
• Mūlasarvāstivāda: followed in Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to areas such as Afghanistan, Central Asia, and China, and they had great success in doing so.Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 278 Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs.

During the early period of Chinese Buddhism, the Indian Buddhist sects recognized as important, and whose texts were studied, were the Dharmaguptakas, Mahīśāsakas, Kāśyapīyas Sarvāstivādins, and the Mahāsāṃghikas.Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 281 Complete vinayas preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon include the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (T. 1421), Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya (T. 1425), Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (T. 1428), Sarvāstivāda Vinaya (T. 1435), and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya (T. 1442). Also preserved are a set of Āgamas (Sūtra Piṭaka), a complete Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma Piṭaka, and many other texts of the early Buddhist schools.

Early Buddhist schools in India often divided modes of Buddhist practice into several "vehicles" (yāna). For example, the Vaibhāṣika Sarvāstivādins are known to have employed the outlook of Buddhist practice as consisting of the Three Vehicles:Nakamura, Hajime. Indian Buddhism: A Survey With Bibliographical Notes. 1999. p. 189

1. Śrāvakayāna
2. Pratyekabuddhayāna
3. Bodhisattvayāna

In the sixth and fifth centuries BC, economic development made the merchant class increasingly important. Merchants were attracted to Buddhist teachings, which contrasted with existing Brahmin religious practices. The latter focused on the social position of the Brahmin caste to the exclusion of the interests of other classes."During the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E. (Before Common Era), commerce and cash became increasingly important in an economy previously dominated by self-sufficient production and bartered exchange. Merchants found Buddhist moral and ethical teachings an attractive alternative to the esoteric rituals of the traditional Brahmin priesthood, which seemed to cater exclusively to Brahmin interests while ignoring those of the new and emerging social classes." Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 43. Buddhism became prominent in merchant communities and then spread throughout the Mauryan empire through commercial connections and along trade routes."Furthermore, Buddhism was prominent in communities of merchants, who found it well suited to their needs and who increasingly established commercial links throughout the Mauryan empire". Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 46. In this way, Buddhism also spread through the silk route into central Asia."Merchants proved to be an efficient vector of the Buddhist faith, as they established diaspora communities in the string of oasis towns-Merv, Bukhara, Samarkand, Kashgar, Khotan, Kuqa, Turpan, Dunhuang – that served as lifeline of the silk roads through central Asia." Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 47-48.

{{further|Ashoka the Great|Mauryan empire}}

File:Asoka̠ Buddhist Missions.png in Asia during the reign of Ashoka]]

File:Ashoka's Pillar, Vaishali.jpg located in the ancient city of Vaishali, Bihar]]

The Mauryan Empire reached its peak at the time of emperor Ashoka, who converted to Buddhism after the Battle of Kalinga. This heralded a long period of stability under the Buddhist emperor. The power of the empire was vast—ambassadors were sent to other countries to propagate Buddhism.{{cite journal |author-last=Strong |author-first=John S. |author-link=John S. Strong |date=2002–2003 |title=Ashoka's Wives and the Ambiguities of Buddhist Kingship |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/asie_0766-1177_2002_num_13_1_1176 |editor-last=Faure |editor-first=Bernard |journal=Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie |location=Paris |publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient |volume=13 |pages=35–54 |doi=10.3406/asie.2002.1176 |doi-access= |eissn=2117-6272 |issn=0766-1177 |jstor=44167352 |access-date=9 August 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808225737/https://www.persee.fr/doc/asie_0766-1177_2002_num_13_1_1176 |url-status=live }} Greek envoy Megasthenes describes the wealth of the Mauryan capital. Stupas, pillars, and edicts on stone remain at Sanchi, Sarnath, and Mathura, indicating the extent of the empire.

Emperor Ashoka the Great (304 BC–232 BC) was the ruler of the Mauryan Empire from 273 BC to 232 BC. Ashoka reigned over most of India after a series of military campaigns. Emperor Ashoka's kingdom stretched from South Asia and beyond, from present-day parts of Afghanistan in the north and Balochistan in the west, to Bengal and Assam in the east, and as far south as Mysore.

According to legend, emperor Ashoka was overwhelmed by guilt after the conquest of Kalinga, following which he accepted Buddhism as a personal faith with the help of his Brahmin mentors Radhasvami and Manjushri. Ashoka established monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Śakyamuni Buddha, and according to Buddhist tradition was closely involved in the preservation and transmission of Buddhism.{{cite web|url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/chapter27.html|title=Fa-hsien: A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Chapter XXVII: Patalipttra or Patna, in Magadha. King Ashoka's Spirit Built Palace and Halls. The Buddhist Brahman, Radha-Sami. Dispensaries and Hospitals.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050717222211/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l//chapter27.html|archive-date=17 July 2005}}

In 2018, excavations in Lalitgiri in Odisha by the Archaeological Survey of India revealed four monasteries along with ancient seals and inscriptions which show cultural continuity from post-Mauryan period to 13 century AD. In Ratnagiri and Konark in Odisha, Buddhist history as discovered in Lalitagiri is also shared. A museum has been made to preserve the ancient history and was inaugurated in December of 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/pm-to-open-buddhist-site-museum-at-lalitgiri-in-odisha/article25814287.ece|title=PM to open Buddhist site museum at Lalitgiri in Odisha|first=Shiv Sahay|last=Singh|newspaper=The Hindu|date=23 December 2018|access-date=29 May 2019|archive-date=8 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108094906/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/pm-to-open-buddhist-site-museum-at-lalitgiri-in-odisha/article25814287.ece|url-status=live}}

Menander was the most famous Bactrian king. He ruled from Taxila and later from Sagala (Sialkot). He rebuilt Taxila (Sirkap) and Puṣkalavatī. He became Buddhist and is remembered in Buddhist records due to his discussions with a great Buddhist philosopher in the book Milinda Pañha.

By 90 BC, Parthians took control of eastern Iran and around 50 BC put an end to the last remnants of Greek rule in Afghanistan. By around 7 AD, an Indo-Parthian dynasty succeeded in taking control of Gandhāra. Parthians continued to support Greek artistic traditions in Gandhara. The start of the Gandhāran Greco-Buddhist art is dated to the period between 50 BC and 75 AD.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

The Kusana or Kushan Empire ruled large parts of north India from about 60 to 270 AD, as well as the strongly Buddhist region of Gandhara, including much of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kushan rulers were supporters of Buddhist institutions and built numerous stupas and monasteries. Some of their coins showed an image of Buddha. During this period, Gandharan Buddhism spread through the trade routes protected by the Kushans, out through the Khyber Pass into Central Asia. Gandharan Buddhist art styles also spread outward from Gandhara to other parts of Asia.

The monarchs of the next major dynasty, the Gupta Empire, with its peak c. 319 to 467, were Hindus, and the decline of Buddhism, especially in the west of north India, probably began in this period.

File:Karla caves Chaitya.jpg in the Karla Caves, Maharashtra. The structure dates back to the 2nd century AD]]

The first half of the millennium saw the increasing isolation of the Buddhist sangha from the general public as mahaviharas looked to become more self-sufficient. A new development was also the use of Buddha images with the compounds of monasteries.{{sfn|Fogelin|2015|p=146}} Politically much of North India was under the Gupta Empire and the Southern regions were under the Vakataka dynasty. Both of the kingdoms continued the patronisation of Buddhism along with nascent Hinduism and Jainism, with the fifth-century Vakataka king, Harishena, being a patron of the Ajanta caves.

Mahayana Buddhism began to gain prominence in India around the fifth century CE.{{sfn|Fogelin|2015|p=150}} Mahayana innovated on early Buddhism by adding several incarnations to the life of the Buddha while also revering Bodhisattvas. This contrasted with the early Buddhists who mainly revered the Buddha himself. A range of bodhisattvas were worshipped during this period including Avalokiteśvara, Tara and Manjushri among others. Faxian who had travelled to India in the fifth century noted that Mahayana Buddhists lived in the same monasteries as early Buddhists and they were present to varying extents in most regions. An important early philosopher of the Mahayana school was the philosopher Nagarjuna and although most details of his life are uncertain, most biographies agree that he lived in the first/second centuries in South India.{{sfn|Westerhoff|2018|p=107}}

There is an ongoing debate as to the exact geographic origins of Mahayana Buddhism ranging from the Gangetic plains or among small monastic communities on the fringes of the subcontinent in the South and the North East.{{sfn|Fogelin|2015|p=154}} The number of monasteries that supported Mahayana Buddhism gradually started to increase. In the Gangetic plains, Nalanda mahavihara emerged and gradually became a centre of Mahayana Buddhism receiving patronisation not just from Indian rulers but also from foreign monarchs and monks.{{sfn|Dalrymple|2024|p=106}} Within Nalanda, numerous scholars of note have been associated with it including Shantideva, Aryadeva, Dharmakirti and Chandrakirti.{{sfn|Edelglass|2022|p=236}}

Another important centre during this period was Nagarjunakonda which emerged in the region of modern-day Andhra Pradesh where numerous Buddhist monasteries have been discovered.{{sfn|Fogelin|2015|p=154}}

File:Isapur Buddha.jpg

The earliest Buddha images in India were sculpted in Mathura and spread to Sarnath, Sravasti and Kausambi in the second and third centuries CE.{{sfn|Fogelin|2015|p=155}} These images generally depicted scenes from the life of the Buddha and were more linked with the early schools of Buddhism than with Mahayana. Inscriptions on these images show that they were sculpted by a small group of monks who were all known to each other. It was only by the fifth century that Mahayana elements began to appear in Buddha images although it is speculated that there were earlier Mahayana images in the third-century CE. These Mahayana sculptures didn't just depict the Buddha but also Bodhisattvas and other deities.{{sfn|Fogelin|2015|p=157}}

{{main|Vajrayana}}

Various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Shaivism.Sanderson, Alexis. "The Shaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Shaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, 23, pp. 124. The Mañjusrimulakalpa, which later came to classified under Kriyatantra, states that mantras taught in the Shaiva, Garuda and Vaishnava tantras will be effective if applied by Buddhists since they were all taught originally by Manjushri.Sanderson, Alexis. "The Shaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Shaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, 23, pp. 129-131. The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, a work associated with the Guhyasamaja tradition, prescribes acting as a Shaiva guru and initiating members into Shaiva Siddhanta scriptures and mandalas.Sanderson, Alexis. "The Shaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Shaivism during the Early Medieval Period." In: Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009. Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series, 23, pp. 144-145. The Samvara tantra texts adopted the pitha list from the Shaiva text Tantrasadbhava, introducing a copying error where a deity was mistaken for a place.{{cite book|last1=Huber|first1=Toni|title=The holy land reborn : pilgrimage & the Tibetan reinvention of Buddhist India|url=https://archive.org/details/holylandrebornpi00hube_145|url-access=limited|date=2008|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=978-0-226-35648-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/holylandrebornpi00hube_145/page/n110 94]–95}}

Under the kings of the Pala Empire (c. 730-1130), large mahavihars flourished in what is now Bihar and Bengal, with considerable royal patronage. Tantric Buddhism dominated in this region and period, and was spread to Tibet.{{cite book |author=Heather Elgood |title=Hinduism and the Religious Arts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAcF8RgbtZ0C |year=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-8264-9865-6 |pages=150 |access-date=11 October 2016 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081254/https://books.google.com/books?id=tAcF8RgbtZ0C |url-status=live }} According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahavihars stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura, Odantapurā, and Jaggadala.Vajrayogini: Her Visualization, Rituals, and Forms by Elizabeth English. Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-329-X}} pg 15 The five monasteries formed a network; "all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a system of co-ordination among them . . it seems from the evidence that the different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the Pāla were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of institutions," and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them.Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. by Dutt, Sukumar. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London 1962. pg 352-3

{{Blockquote|

During this period [Pala dynasty] Mahayana Buddhism reached its zenith of sophistication, while tantric Buddhism flourished throughout India and surrounding lands. This was also a key period for the consolidation of the epistemological-logical (pramana) school of Buddhist philosophy. Apart from the many foreign pilgrims who came to India at this time, especially from China and Tibet, there was a smaller but important flow of Indian pandits who made their way to Tibet...

|Damien Keown|{{cite book|author=Damien Keown|title=A Dictionary of Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=985a1M7L1NcC&pg=PA208 |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-157917-2 |pages=208–209 }}}}

{{further|Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent}}

File:Mural of Sariputra at Palcho monastery.jpg, the last abbot of Bodh Gaya]]

The decline of Buddhism has been attributed to various factors. Regardless of the religious beliefs of their kings, states usually treated all the important sects relatively even-handedly.Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, page 182. This consisted of building monasteries and religious monuments, donating property such as the income of villages for the support of monks, and exempting donated property from taxation. Donations were most often made by private persons such as wealthy merchants and female relatives of the royal family, but there were periods when the state also gave its support and protection. In the case of Buddhism, this support was particularly important because of its high level of organization and the reliance of monks on donations from the laity. State patronage of Buddhism took the form of land grant foundations.Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, pages 180, 182.

Numerous copper plate inscriptions from India as well as Tibetan and Chinese texts suggest that the patronage of Buddhism and Buddhist monasteries in medieval India was interrupted in periods of war and political change, but broadly continued in Hindu kingdoms from the start of the common era through early 2nd millennium CE.{{cite book|author=Hajime Nakamura|title=Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0A7y4TCeVQC|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0272-8|pages=145–148 with footnotes|access-date=11 October 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081255/https://books.google.com/books?id=w0A7y4TCeVQC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Akira Shimada|title=Early Buddhist Architecture in Context: The Great Stūpa at Amarāvatī (ca. 300 BCE-300 CE)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfUyAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 |year=2012|publisher=BRILL Academic |isbn=978-90-04-23326-3 |pages=200–204 }}{{cite book|author=Gregory Schopen|title=Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks: Collected Papers on the Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Texts of Monastic Buddhism in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxdZ-BVNm_IC&pg=PA259|year=1997|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1870-8|pages=259–278}} Modern scholarship and recent translations of Tibetan and Sanskrit Buddhist text archives, preserved in Tibetan monasteries, suggest that through much of the 1st millennium CE in medieval India (and Tibet as well as other parts of China), Buddhist monks owned property and were actively involved in trade and other economic activity, after joining a Buddhist monastery.{{cite book|author=Gregory Schopen|title=Buddhist Monks and Business Matters: Still More Papers on Monastic Buddhism in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qW9Sn-cJd-0C&pg=PA1|year=2004|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2774-8|pages=1–16}}{{cite book|author=Huaiyu Chen|title=The Revival of Buddhist Monasticism in Medieval China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8qCNXQSG7mUC&pg=PA132|year=2007|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-0-8204-8624-6|pages=132–149}}

With the Gupta dynasty (~4th to 6th century), the growth in ritualistic Mahayana Buddhism, mutual influence between Hinduism and Buddhism,History and life: the world and its people, Patricia Gutierrez, T. Walter Wallbank, p. 67, In time, Indian Buddhism became so much like Hinduism that it was looked upon as a sect of Hinduism. This caused a steady decline. The differences between Buddhism and Hinduism blurred, and Vaishnavism, Shaivism and other Hindu traditions became increasingly popular, and Brahmins developed a new relationship with the state.Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, page 207-211. As the system grew, Buddhist monasteries gradually lost control of land revenue. In parallel, the Gupta kings built Buddhist temples such as the one at Kushinagara,{{cite journal|author=Gina Barns|title=An Introduction to Buddhist Archaeology|journal=World Archaeology|volume = 27| number = 2|year=1995|pages=166–168|doi=10.1080/00438243.1995.9980301}}{{cite journal|author=Robert Stoddard|year=2010|journal=Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art|title=The Geography of Buddhist Pilgrimage in Asia|publisher=Yale University Press|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/geographyfacpub/27|volume=178|pages=3–4|access-date=13 July 2016|archive-date=2 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402141717/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/geographyfacpub/27|url-status=live}} and monastic universities such as those at Nalanda, as evidenced by records left by three Chinese visitors to India.{{cite book|author=Hartmut Scharfe|title=Handbook of Oriental Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7s19sZFRxCUC |year=2002|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-12556-6|pages=144–153}}{{cite book|author=Craig Lockard|title=Societies, Networks, and Transitions: Volume I: A Global History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJPlCpzOY_QC|year=2007|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|isbn=978-0618386123|page=188|access-date=13 July 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081304/https://books.google.com/books?id=yJPlCpzOY_QC|url-status=live}}{{cite book |author=Charles Higham |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC |year=2014 |publisher=Infobase |isbn=978-1-4381-0996-1 |pages=121, 236 |access-date=13 July 2016 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081256/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC |url-status=live }}

According to Hazra, Buddhism declined in part because of the rise of the Brahmins and their influence in socio-political process.{{cite book|author=Kanai Lal Hazra|title=The Rise And Decline of Buddhism in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N3wEAAAAYAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|isbn=978-81-215-0651-9|pages=371–385|access-date=11 October 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081307/https://books.google.com/books?id=N3wEAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}} According to Randall Collins, Richard Gombrich and other scholars, Buddhism's rise or decline is not linked to Brahmins or the caste system, since Buddhism was "not a reaction to the caste system", but aimed at the salvation of those who joined its monastic order.Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, page 205-206{{cite book|author1=Christopher S. Queen|author2=Sallie B. King|title=Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZsTgY1lNNsC&pg=PA17|year=1996|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-2844-3|pages=17–18|access-date=11 October 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081307/https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZsTgY1lNNsC&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Buddhist Precept & Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqp4LuZQnHsC|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-15623-6|pages=344–345|access-date=11 October 2016|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081257/https://books.google.com/books?id=lqp4LuZQnHsC|url-status=live}}

The 11th-century Persian traveller Al-Biruni writes that there was 'cordial hatred' between the Brahmins and Sramana Buddhists.{{cite book|author1=Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni|translator=Edward C. Sachau|title=Alberuni's India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about AD 1030|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5949073_001|year=1910|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London|pages=21|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-date=5 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905191124/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_5949073_001/|url-status=live}} Buddhism was also weakened by rival Hindu philosophies such as Advaita Vedanta, growth in temples and an innovation of the bhakti movement. This rivalry undercut Buddhist patronage and popular support.Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, pages=189, 190. The period between 400 CE and 1000 CE thus saw gains by the Vedanta school of Hinduism over Buddhism{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history_2.shtml|title=BBC – Religions – Hinduism: History of Hinduism|access-date=27 February 2015|archive-date=5 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805180420/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history_1.shtml|url-status=live}} and Buddhism had vanished from Afghanistan and north India by the early 11th century as a result of the Muslim conquests of Afghanistan and incursions into India.

According to some scholars such as Lars Fogelin, the decline of Buddhism may be related to economic reasons, wherein the Buddhist monasteries with large land grants focused on non-material pursuits, self-isolation of the monasteries, loss in internal discipline in the sangha, and a failure to efficiently operate the land they owned.{{cite book|author=Lars Fogelin|title=An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPZzBgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-994823-9 |pages=229–230 }}

Chinese scholars travelling through the region between the 5th and 8th centuries, such as Faxian, Xuanzang, I-ching, Hui-sheng, and Sung-Yun, began to speak of a decline of the Buddhist Sangha, especially in the wake of the Hun invasion from central Asia.{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440 |url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-044-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780877790440/page/155 155]–157 }} Xuanzang, the most famous of Chinese travellers, found "millions of monasteries" in north-western India reduced to ruins by the Huns.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Historical-Development#toc68658|title=Historical Development of Buddhism in India – Buddhism under the Guptas and Palas|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=12 September 2015|archive-date=28 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128085023/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Historical-development#toc68658|url-status=live}}

File:Nalanda stucco.jpg.The Maha-Bodhi By Maha Bodhi Society, Calcutta (page 8)]]

The Muslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent was the first great iconoclastic invasion into South Asia.Levy, Robert I. (1990). Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press By the end of the twelfth century, Buddhism had mostly disappeared,{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Historical-Development#toc68658|title=Historical Development of Buddhism in India – Buddhism under the Guptas and Palas|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=13 September 2015|archive-date=28 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128085023/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Buddhism/Historical-development#toc68658|url-status=live}} with the destruction of monasteries and stupas in medieval northwest and western India (now Pakistan and north India).

In the north-western parts of medieval India, the Himalayan regions, as well as regions bordering central Asia, Buddhism had facilitated trade relations, states Lars Fogelin. With the Islamic invasion and expansion, and central Asians adopting Islam, the trade route-derived financial support sources and the economic foundations of Buddhist monasteries declined, on which the survival and growth of Buddhism was based.{{cite book|author=André Wink|title=Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75FlxDhZWpwC&pg=PA348 |year=1997|publisher=BRILL Academic |isbn=90-04-10236-1 |pages=348–349 }} The arrival of Islam removed the royal patronage to the monastic tradition of Buddhism, and the replacement of Buddhists in long-distance trade by the Muslims eroded the related sources of patronage.

In the Gangetic plains, Odisha, northeast and the southern regions of India, Buddhism survived through the early centuries of the 2nd millennium. The Islamic invasion plundered wealth and destroyed Buddhist images,{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC&pg=PA194 |year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4 |pages=194 }}, Quote: "From 986 CE, the Muslim Turks started raiding northwest India from Afghanistan, plundering western India early in the eleventh century. Forced conversions to Islam were made, and Buddhist art, iconography and holy sites were destroyed. Indeed, in India, the Islamic term for an 'idol' became 'budd'." and consequent take over of land holdings of Buddhist monasteries removed one source of necessary support for the Buddhists, while the economic upheaval and new taxes on laity sapped the laity support of Buddhist monks.

Monasteries and institutions such as Nalanda were abandoned by Buddhist monks or destroyed from the 8th through 15th centuries, who were forced to flee to escape the invading Muslim army, after which the site decayed over the Islamic rule in India that followed.{{cite book |author1=Richard H. Robinson |author2=Sandra Ann Wawrytko |author3=Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu |title=The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhUSAQAAIAAJ |year=1996 |publisher=Thomson |isbn=978-0-534-20718-2 |pages=50 |access-date=11 October 2016 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081257/https://books.google.com/books?id=LhUSAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author1=Mark Juergensmeyer|author2=Wade Clark Roof|title=Encyclopedia of Global Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ|year=2011|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6656-5|page=148|access-date=11 October 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111060832/https://books.google.com/books?id=WwJzAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}

The last empire to support Buddhism, the Pala dynasty, fell in the 12th century, and Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, a general of the early Delhi Sultanate, destroyed monasteries and monuments and spread Islam in Bengal. According to Randall Collins, Buddhism was already declining in India before the 12th century, but with the pillage by Muslim invaders it nearly became extinct in India in the 1200s.Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change. Harvard University Press, 2000, pages 184-185 In the 13th century, states Craig Lockard, Buddhist monks in India escaped to Tibet to escape Islamic persecution;{{cite book |author=Craig Lockard |title=Societies, Networks, and Transitions: Volume I: A Global History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yJPlCpzOY_QC |year=2007 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-618-38612-3 |pages=364 |access-date=13 July 2016 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081304/https://books.google.com/books?id=yJPlCpzOY_QC |url-status=live }} while the monks in western India, states Peter Harvey, escaped persecution by moving to south Indian Hindu kingdoms that were able to resist the Muslim power.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC&pg=PA194 |year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4 |pages=194–195 }}

{{See also|Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent#Survival of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent}}

Recent evidence has uncovered the existence of many late Indian Buddhist travellers and scholars who were active into the 15th and 16th centuries. The last abbot of the Bodh Gaya mahavihara in Bihar was Śāriputra who was active into the 1400s when he left India to travel in Tibet and China. Dhyānabhadra was another figure who was previously a student at Nalanda and left India in the early 1300s to travel to China and Korea. Other names of later Indian Buddhist figures include Vanaratna and Buddhaguptanātha.{{cite book |last1=McKeown |first1=Arthur P. |title=Guardian of a Dying Flame: Śāriputra (c. 1335-1426) and the End of Late Indian Buddhism |date=2018 |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=463 pages |isbn=9780674984356 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fb86tAEACAAJ}}

Many Indian Buddhists fled south. It is known that Buddhists continued to exist in India even after the 14th century from texts such as the Chaitanya Charitamrita. This text outlines an episode in the life of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533), a Vaishnava saint, who was said to have entered into a debate with Buddhists in Tamil Nadu.Amore, Roy C; Developments in Buddhist Thought: Canadian Contributions to Buddhist Studies, page 72

The Tibetan Taranatha (1575–1634) wrote a history of Indian Buddhism, which mentions Buddhism as having survived in some pockets of India during his time.Tharanatha; Chattopadhyaya, Chimpa, Alaka, trans. (2000). History of Buddhism in India, Motilal Books UK, {{ISBN|8120806964}}. He mentions the Buddhist sangha as having survived in Konkana, Kalinga, Mewad, Chittor, Abu, Saurastra, Vindhya mountains, Ratnagiri, Karnataka etc. The Jain author Gunakirti (1450-1470) wrote a Marathi text, Dhamramrita,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&q=kalika+purana+jain&pg=PA1781|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti|first=Amaresh|last=Datta|date=10 November 1988|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=9788126011940|via=Google Books|access-date=11 November 2020|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081259/https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC&q=kalika+purana+jain&pg=PA1781|url-status=live}} where he gives the names of 16 Buddhist orders. Vidyadhar Johrapurkar noted that among them, the names Sataghare, Dongare, Navaghare, Kavishvar, Vasanik and Ichchhabhojanik still survive in Maharashtra as family names.Shodha Tippana, Pro. Vidyadhar Joharapurkar, in Anekanta, June 1963, pp. 73-75. The mahavihara at Ratnagiri, Odisha seems to have continued with a reduced community, and some renovation of buildings, until the 16th century, perhaps funded by foreign pilgrims as it is near the coast accessible from South-East Asia.

Buddhism also survived to the modern era in Himalayan regions such as Ladakh, with close ties to Tibet.Warder, AK; Indian Buddhism, page 486 A unique tradition survives in Nepal's Newar Buddhism. The most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India, in particular Bodh Gaya, continued to receive pilgrims from outside India throughout the medieval and modern periods, which are now greatly increased with easier air travel.

In Bihar and Bengal, many Buddhist shrines and temples have remained intact with the Buddha or Bodhisattva inside, being appropriated and worshipped as a Brahmanical deity. Around the neighbourhood of Nalanda, the remains of votive stupas are worshipped as Shiva lingas. An image of the Buddha in bhūmisparśa mudrā at the village of Telhara receives full-fledged pūjā as Hanuman during Rama Navami. A sculpture of the Buddha has ended up as Vāsudeva at Gunaighar in Comilla.{{cite book |last1=Prasad |first1=Birendra Nath |title=Archaeology of Religion in South Asia: Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jaina Religious Centres in Bihar and Bengal, c. AD 600–1200 |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |page=614 |isbn=9781000416756 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TB4gEAAAQBAJ&q=P%C4%AB%E1%B9%ADhipati |access-date=27 November 2021 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115081258/https://books.google.com/books?id=TB4gEAAAQBAJ&q=P%C4%AB%E1%B9%ADhipati |url-status=live }}

Abul Fazl, the courtier of the Mughal emperor Akbar, states, "For a long time past scarce any trace of them (the Buddhists) has existed in Hindustan." When he visited Kashmir in 1597, he met with a few old men professing Buddhism, however he 'saw none among the learned'. This is can also be seen from the fact that Buddhist priests were not present amidst learned divines that came to the Ibadat Khana of Akbar at Fatehpur Sikri.{{cite book|title=The History and Culture of the Indian People: The struggle for empire|author=Ramesh Chandra Majumdar|page=426|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|year=1951}}

File:Ladakh Monastery.jpg|Thikse Monastery is the largest gompa in Ladakh, built in the 1500s.

File:Kye Gompa-10-Klosterburg-gje.jpg|Key Gompa in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh.

File:Tawang Monastery (Tibetan Buddhist).jpg|Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, was built in the 1600s, is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

File:Kalpa-46-Lochawa Lakhang-gje.jpg|A temple in Kalpa, Kinnaur. The local Kinnauri follow a syncretism of Hinduism and Buddhism.

File:Vikramjit-Kakati-Rumtek.jpg|Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim was built under the direction of Changchub Dorje, 12th Karmapa Lama in the mid-1700s.Achary Tsultsem Gyatso; Mullard, Saul & Tsewang Paljor (Transl.): A Short Biography of Four Tibetan Lamas and Their Activities in Sikkim, in: Bulletin of Tibetology Nr. 49, 2/2005, p. 57.

File:Golden Pagoda Namsai.jpg|The Golden Pagoda of Namsai is a temple of the Buddhist Khamti people in Namsai District of Arunachal Pradesh.

File:Kamalanagar Buddhist Temple.png|A stupa in Kamalanagar, Mizoram. The local Chakmas are Mahayana Buddhists.

File:Dragon Palace Temple.jpg|The Lotus Temple of Nagpur. Nagpur Division is home to more than a million Buddhist Dalits.

File:Yiga Choeling Monastery, Ghum 02.jpg|The Yiga Choeling Monastery in Ghum, West Bengal.

Some scholars suggest that a part of the decline of Buddhist monasteries was because it was detached from everyday life in India and did not participate in the ritual social aspects such as the rites of passage (marriage, funeral, birth of child) like other religions.McLeod, John, The History of India, Greenwood Press (2002), {{ISBN|0-313-31459-4}}, pg. 41-42.

File:Bodh Gaya 1899.jpg

File:A Buddhist temple at Sarnath.jpg]]

{{See also|Maha Bodhi Society}}

The modern revival of Buddhism in India began in the late nineteenth century, led by Buddhist modernist institutions such as the Maha Bodhi Society (1891), the Bengal Buddhist Association (1892) and the Young Men's Buddhist Association (1898). These institutions were influenced by modernist South Asian Buddhist currents such as Sri Lankan Buddhist modernism as well as Western Oriental scholarship and spiritual movements like Theosophy.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 41.

A central figure of this movement was Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala, who founded the Maha Bodhi Society in 1891.{{cite book

|last=Ahir

|first=D.C.

|title=Buddhism in Modern India

|year=1991

|publisher=Satguru

|isbn=81-7030-254-4

}} An important focus of the Maha Bodhi Society's activities in India became the recovery, conservation and restoration of important Buddhist sites, such as Bodh Gaya and its Mahabodhi temple. Dharmapāla and the society promoted the building of Buddhist vihāras and temples in India, including the one at Sarnath, the place of Buddha's first sermon. Dharmapāla died in 1933, the same year he was ordained a bhikkhu. There's another independent organization by the same name of Maha Bodhi Society that was founded by Acharya Buddharakkhita in Bengaluru in 1956. It is affiliated with Anagarika Dharmapala's Maha Bodhi Society of Kolkata.

Following Indian independence, India's ancient Buddhist heritage became an important element for nation-building, and prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru looked to the Mauryan empire for symbols of pan-Indian unity which were neither Hindu nor Muslim, such as the Dhammachakra.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 42. Indian Buddhist sites also received Indian government support in preparation for the 2,500th Buddha Jayanti held in 1956, as well as providing rent-free land in several pilgrimage centres for Asian Buddhist groups to build temples and rest houses.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 47.

Important Indian Buddhist intellectuals of the modern period include Rahul Sankrityayan (1893-1963), Dharmanand Kosambi (1876-1941) and Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 42, 50 The Bengal Buddhist Kripasaran Mahasthavir (1865-1926) founded the Bengal Buddhist Association in 1892. In Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Iyothee Thass (1845-1914) was a major figure who promoted Buddhism and called the Paraiyars to convert.Bergunder, Michael (2004). [http://theologie.uni-hd.de/rm/online-artikel/bergunder-2004-contested-past.pdf "Contested Past: Anti-Brahmanical and Hindu nationalist reconstructions of Indian prehistory"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924194957/http://theologie.uni-hd.de/rm/online-artikel/bergunder-2004-contested-past.pdf |date=24 September 2018 }} (PDF). Historiographia Linguistica. 31 (1): 59–104.

The Indian government and the states have continued to promote the development of Buddhist pilgrimage sites ("the Buddhist Circuit"), both as a source of tourism and as a promotion of India's Buddhist heritage which is an important cultural resource for India's foreign diplomatic ties.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 54. In 2010, the Nalanda University was established in Bihar.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 55.

{{main|Dalit Buddhist movement|Navayana|Twenty-two vows of Ambedkar}}

{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=440|caption_align=center

| align = left

|image_style = border:none;

|background color =

| title =

| image1 = Dr. Ambedkar delivering speech during conversion.jpg

| image2 = Deekshabhoomi - panoramio.jpg

| footer = (left) B. R. Ambedkar delivering a speech during conversion, Nagpur, 14 October 1956; (right) Deekshabhoomi monument, located in Nagpur, Maharashtra where B. R. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism in 1956 is the largest stupa in Asia.{{cite news|last=Bhagwat|first=Ramu|title=Ambedkar memorial set up at Deekshabhoomi|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Ambedkar-memorial-set-up-at-Deekshabhoomi/articleshow/189472379.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016083900/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2001-12-19/mumbai/27228796_1_dr-ambedkar-narayanan-smarak-samiti|url-status=live|archive-date=16 October 2013|access-date=1 July 2013|newspaper=The Times of India|date=19 December 2001}}

}}

In the 1950s, the Dalit political leader B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) influenced by his reading of Pali sources and Indian Buddhists like Dharmanand Kosambi and Lakshmi Narasu, began promoting conversion to Buddhism for Indian low caste Dalits. His Dalit Buddhist Movement was most successful in the Indian states of Maharashtra, which saw large scale conversions. Ambedkar's "Neo Buddhism" included a strong element of social and political protest against Hinduism and the Indian caste system.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 48. His magnum opus, The Buddha and His Dhamma, incorporated Marxist ideas of class struggle into Buddhist views of dukkha and argued that Buddhist morality could be used to "reconstruct society and to build up a modern, progressive society of justice, equality, and freedom".

The conversion movement has generally been limited to certain social demographics, such as the Mahar caste of Maharashtra and the Jatavs. Although they have renounced Hinduism in practice, a community survey showed adherence to many practices of the old faith including endogamy, worshipping the traditional family deity etc.{{cite book|last1=Shastree|first1=Uttara|title=Religious converts in India : socio-political study of neo-Buddhists|date=1996|publisher=Mittal Publ.|location=New Delhi|isbn=8170996295|pages=67–82|edition=1.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYInC70BSEgC&pg=PA81|access-date=30 November 2016}}

Major organizations of this movement are the Buddhist Society of India (the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha) and the Triratna Buddhist Community (the Triratna Bauddha Mahasangha).Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 49

File:Tibetan Library Dharamsala.jpg

Tibetan Buddhism has also grown in India during the modern era, mainly due to the growth of the Tibetan diaspora. The arrival of the 14th Dalai Lama with over 85,000 Tibetan refugees in 1959 had a significant impact on the revival of Buddhism in India.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 51. Large numbers of Tibetans settled in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, which became the headquarters of the Tibetan Government in Exile. Another large Tibetan refugee settlement is in Bylakuppe, Karnataka. Tibetan refugees also contributed to the revitalization of the Buddhist traditions in Himalayan regions such as Lahaul and Spiti district, Ladakh, Tawang and Bomdila. Tibetan Buddhists have also contributed to the building of temples and institutions in the Buddhist sites and ruins of India.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, p. 52.

The Dalai Lama's brother, Gyalo Thondup, himself lives in Kalimpong and his wife established the Tibetan Refugee Centre in Darjeeling.[http://tibetancentredarjeeling.com/] The 17th Karmapa also arrived in India in 2000 and continues education and has taken traditional role to head Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and every year leads the Kagyu Monlam in Bodh Gaya attended by thousands of monks and followers. Palpung Sherabling monastery seat of the 12th Tai Situpa located in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh is the largest Kagyu monastery in India and has become an important centre of Tibetan Buddhism. Penor Rinpoche, the head of Nyingma, the ancient school of Tibetan Buddhism re-established a Nyingma monastery in Bylakuppe, Mysore. This is the largest Nyingma monastery today. Monks from Himalayan regions of India, Nepal, Bhutan and from Tibet join this monastery for their higher education. Penor Rinpoche also founded Thubten Lekshey Ling, a dharma center for lay practitioners in Bangalore. Vajrayana Buddhism and Dzogchen (maha-sandhi) meditation again became accessible to aspirants in India after that.

File:Truly gold Global Vipassana Pagoda.jpg]]

The Vipassana movement is a modern tradition of Buddhist meditation practice. In India, the most influential Vipassana organization is the Vipassana Research Institute founded by S.N. Goenka (1924-2013) who promoted Buddhist Vipassana meditation in a modern and non-sectarian manner.[http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/vipassana-pioneer-sn-goenka-is-dead_880114.html "Vipassana pioneer SN Goenka is dead"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021210557/http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/vipassana-pioneer-sn-goenka-is-dead_880114.html |date=21 October 2013 }}. Zeenews.India.com. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013. Goenka's network of meditation centers who offered 10 day retreats. Many institutions—both government and private sector—now offer courses for their employees.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6322237.stm|title=BBC NEWS – South Asia – India's youth hit the web to worship|access-date=27 February 2015|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505181012/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6322237.stm|url-status=live}} This form is mainly practiced by elite and middle class Indians. This movement has spread to many other countries in Europe, America and Asia. In November 2008, the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda was completed on the outskirts of Mumbai.

File:Gate of Vipassana Buddha Vihar and Aurangabad caves, and Ambedkar statue.jpg area in Aurangabad, Maharashtra on 18 October 2018]]

File:Sravasti-gandhakuti.jpg.]]

• Marathi Buddhists (including Mahar) constitute the most populous Buddhist community in India. Various indigenous ethnic Buddhist communities such as the Sherpas, Bhutias, Lepchas, Tamangs, Yolmos, and ethnic Tibetans can be found in the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region.
• Beda people: The Beda people are a Buddhist community of the Indian union territory of Ladakh, where they practise their traditional occupation of musicianship.
• Bengali Buddhists: Bengali Buddhist people mainly live in Bangladesh (500,000), and the Indian states West Bengal (282,898) and Tripura (125,182). Bengali Buddhists are followers of Theravada Buddhism.{{Cite journal |jstor = 2943086|title = Theravada Buddhist Sangha: Some General Observations on Historical and Political Factors in its Development|journal = The Journal of Asian Studies|volume = 29|issue = 4|pages = 761–778|last = Bechert|first = Heinz|author-link = Heinz Bechert|year = 1970|doi = 10.2307/2943086| s2cid=154554678 }}
• Bhotiya
• Bhutia
• Bodh people
• Bugun
• Chakma people
• Chugpa tribe
• Gurung people
• Khamba people
• Khamti people
• Khamyang people
• Lepcha people
• Lishipa tribe
• Na people
• Rakhine people
• Sherpa people
• Tai Phake people
• Tamang people

Indian Buddhists celebrate many festivals. Ambedkar Jayanti, Dhammachakra Pravartan Day and Buddha's Birthday are three major festivals of Navayana Buddhism. Traditional Buddhists celebrate Losar, Buddha Purnima and other festivals.

• Ambedkar Jayanti (B. R. Ambedkar's birthday): Ambedkar Jayanti is a major festival in India, celebrated in the memory of B.R. Ambedkar, a champion of class rights in India.. The annual festival is observed on 14 April to commemorate the memory of B. R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar was a champion of class rights in India, He is also credited as being the "Father of the Indian Constitution".{{cite web|url=http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02est/12_6_2015_JCA-2-19032015.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405042913/http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02est/12_6_2015_JCA-2-19032015.pdf |archive-date=5 April 2015|date=19 March 2015|title=Declaration of Holiday on 14th April, 2015 – Birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar|publisher=Government of India: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions}}http://persmin.gov.in/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426141101/http://persmin.gov.in/DOPT_AboutUs_OrganisationUnderMOP.asp |date=26 April 2016 }} Webpage of Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievance & Pension Ambedkar Jayanti is celebrated in India as well as other countries.[http://mea.gov.in/ambedkar-final/mcelebration.htm 125th Dr. Ambedkar Birthday Celebrations Around the World.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103043414/http://mea.gov.in/ambedkar-final/mcelebration.htm |date=3 November 2018 }} mea.gov.in Ambedkar Jayanti processions are undertaken by his Buddhist followers at Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai and Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur. Large numbers of Indian Buddhists visit viharas, and local statues commemorating Ambedkar are carried in procession with a lot of fanfare.{{cite news|title=Ambedkar Jayanti – Bhim Jayanti – 14 April|url=http://jaibhimambedkar.com/ambedkar-jayanti-bhim-jayanti-14-april/184/|access-date=28 March 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328212351/http://jaibhimambedkar.com/ambedkar-jayanti-bhim-jayanti-14-april/184/|archive-date=28 March 2017|website=Jai Bhim Ambedkar}}

File:Dikshabhoomi on 'Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din' (Mass Conversion Ceremony Day) and 14 October.jpg

• Dhammachakra Pravartan Din is celebrated to mark the conversion to Buddhism of Ambedkar and approximately 600,000 followers on 14 October 1956 at Deekshabhoomi.{{cite web|title=53rd Dhammachakra Pravartan day celebrated in Nagpur|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-53rd-dhammachakra-pravartan-day-celebrated-in-nagpur-1293580|work=Daily News and Analysis|date=28 September 2009|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=13 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813014127/http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-53rd-dhammachakra-pravartan-day-celebrated-in-nagpur-1293580|url-status=live}} Every year on Ashoka Vijayadashami, millions of Buddhists gather at Deekshabhoomi to celebrate the mass conversion. Many Buddhists also visit local Buddhist sites there to celebrate the festival. Every year on that day thousands of people embrace Buddhism.{{cite web|last=Dahat|first=Pavan|title=Dalits throng Nagpur on Dhammachakra Pravartan Din|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dalits-throng-nagpur-on-dhammachakra-pravartan-din/article6469961.ece|work=The Hindu|date=4 October 2015|access-date=12 August 2017|archive-date=5 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205102449/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dalits-throng-nagpur-on-dhammachakra-pravartan-din/article6469961.ece|url-status=live}}
• Buddha Purnima Is celebrated by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists in India. It is believed to be a festival celebrating the adoption of the teachings of Siddharata Gautama. On this day Indian Buddhists wear white clothes and meditate, and are supposed to only consume vegetarian food. Mahabodhi Temple is a popular attraction during this time period.{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/buddha-purnima-2021-festival-marks-birth-anniversary-of-founder-of-buddhism-9653361.html|title=Buddha Purnima 2021: Festival marks birth anniversary of founder of Buddhism|date=26 May 2021|access-date=20 July 2021|archive-date=14 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614100135/https://www.firstpost.com/india/buddha-purnima-2021-festival-marks-birth-anniversary-of-founder-of-buddhism-9653361.html|url-status=live}}

{{pie chart

| thumb = right

| caption = Buddhism in India (2011 National Census){{Cite web|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/dalits-who-converted-to-buddhism-better-off-in-literacy-and-well-being/745230/|title=Dalits who converted to Buddhism better off in literacy and well-being: Survey|date=2 July 2017|access-date=10 November 2019|archive-date=3 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903210259/https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/dalits-who-converted-to-buddhism-better-off-in-literacy-and-well-being/745230/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/06/17/dalits-converting-to-buddhism|title=Dalits Are Still Converting to Buddhism, but at a Dwindling Rate|date=17 June 2017|website=The Quint|access-date=31 July 2017|archive-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729095011/https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/06/17/dalits-converting-to-buddhism|url-status=live}}

| label1 = Navayana Buddhism

| value1 = 87

| color1 = DodgerBlue

| label2 = Traditional Buddhism (Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana and others)

| value2 = 13

| color2 = Gold

}}

According to an IndiaSpend analysis of 2011 Census data, there are more than 8.4 million Buddhists in India of whom 87% are neo-Buddhists or Navayana Buddhists. They are converted from other religions, mostly Dalits (Scheduled Caste) who changed religion to escape the Caste system of Hinduism. The remaining 13% belong to traditional Buddhist communities (Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana and others) of the northeast and northern Himalayan regions.

File:District wise Buddhist population percentage, India census 2011.png

The Buddhist percentage has decreased from 0.74% in 1961 to 0.70% in 2011.1951 to 2011 Census of India Between 2001 and 2011, the Buddhist population declined in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, and Punjab.2001 and 2011 Census of India

According to the 2011 census there are 8.4 million Buddhists in India. Maharashtra has the highest number of Buddhists in India, with 5.81% of the total population.{{cite web|title=Population by religion community – 2011|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01%20MDDS.XLS|website=Census of India, 2011|publisher=The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825155850/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01%20MDDS.XLS|archive-date=25 August 2015}} Almost 90 per cent of Navayana or Neo-Buddhists live in this state. Marathi Buddhists, who live in Maharashtra, are the largest Buddhist community in India. Most Buddhist Marathi people belong to the former Mahar community.{{cite book|last=Jaffrelot|first=Christophe|author-link=Christophe Jaffrelot|title=Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste|year=2005|publisher=Orient Blackswan Publisher|isbn=8178241560|pages=119–131|chapter=The 'Solution' of Conversion}}{{cite book |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Bardwell L. |title=Religion and the Legitimation of Power in South Asia |year=1978 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9004056742 |pages=88–90 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2Jzn_LuLasC&pg=PA88 |first=Eleanor |last=Zelliot |author-link=Eleanor Zelliot |chapter=Religion and Legitimation in the Mahar Movement}}

{{Historical populations

| title = Buddhist population growth

| 1951 | 180823

| 1961 | 3250227

| 1971 | 3812325

| 1981 | 4720000

| 1991 | 6388000

| 2001 | 7955207

| 2011 | 8442972

| estimate =

| estyear =

| estref =

| source = Census of India

}}

In the 1951 census of India, 180,823 (0.05%) respondents said they were Buddhist.Kantowsky, Detlef (1997). [https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/4-publikationen/buddhismus-in-geschichte-und-gegenwart/bd2-k06kantowsky.pdf Buddhisten in Indien heute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801223235/https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/4-publikationen/buddhismus-in-geschichte-und-gegenwart/bd2-k06kantowsky.pdf |date=1 August 2019 }}, Indica et Tibetica 30, 111 The 1961 census, taken after B. R. Ambedkar adopted Navayana Buddhism with his millions of followers in 1956, showed an increase to 3.25 million (0.74%). Buddhism is growing rapidly in the Scheduled Caste (dalit) community. According to the 2011 census, Scheduled Castes Buddhists grew by 38 percent in the country. According to the 2011 census, 5.76 million (69%) Indian Buddhists belong to the Scheduled Caste.{{cite news|title=बौद्ध बढ़े, चुनावी चर्चे में चढ़े|url=https://aajtak.intoday.in/story/huge-increase-in-the-population-of-dalit-budhist-in-india-1-872858.html|access-date=30 January 2018|work=aajtak.intoday.in|language=hi|archive-date=30 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130145521/https://aajtak.intoday.in/story/huge-increase-in-the-population-of-dalit-budhist-in-india-1-872858.html|url-status=live}}

The majority (92%) of the people in the Chakma Autonomous region in Mizoram follows Theravada Buddhism.{{cite web |title=Religion PCA |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/Religion_pca/RL-1500.xlsx |work=Census of India 2011 |publisher=Office of the Registrar General |access-date=22 July 2021 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901061939/https://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/Religion_pca/RL-1500.xlsx |url-status=live }}

Shantirakshita - Google Art Project.jpg|Śāntarakṣita who was the abbot of Nalanda in the 8th century and played an important role in the spread of Buddhism in Tibet.

File:Nagarjuna with 84 mahasiddha cropped.jpg|Nagarjuna was active in the second-century and established the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism

Atisha.jpg|Atiśa lived during the 11th century and was one of the major figures in the spread of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and inspired Buddhist thought from Tibet to Sumatra.

In the Edicts of Ashoka, Ashoka mentions the Hellenistic kings of the period as a recipient of his Buddhist proselytism."The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400-9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pāṇḍyas, and as far as Tāmraparṇi." (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika) The Mahavamsa describes emissaries of Ashoka, such as Dharmaraksita, as leading Greek ("Yona") Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism.Geiger, Wilhelm; Bode, Mabel Haynes, trans.; Frowde, H. (ed.) (1912). [http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chapters.html The Mahavamsa or, the great chronicle of Ceylon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060905050433/http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chapters.html |date=5 September 2006 }}, London: Pali Text Society, Oxford University Press; chapter XII

Roman Historical accounts describe an embassy sent by the "Indian king Pandion (Pandey?), also named Porus," to Caesar Augustus around the 1st century. The embassy was travelling with a diplomatic letter in Greek, and one of its members was a sramana who burned himself alive in Athens, to demonstrate his faith. The event made a sensation and was described by Nicolaus of Damascus, who met the embassy at Antioch and related by Strabo (XV,1,73){{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&layout=&loc=15.1.73|title=Strabo, Geography, NOTICE.|access-date=27 February 2015|archive-date=4 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004061428/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239&layout=&loc=15.1.73|url-status=live}} and Dio Cassius (liv, 9). A tomb was made to the sramana, still visible in the time of Plutarch, which bore the mention:

:("The sramana master from Barygaza in India")

• Buddhabhadra - was the founding abbot and patriarchFaure, Bernard. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DWbFajDicgYC&dq=%22Faure%22+%22Chan+Insights+and+Oversights:+An+Epistemological+...%22+&psp=9 Chan Insights and Oversights: an epistemological critique of the Chan tradition], Princeton University Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0-691-02902-4}} of the Shaolin Temple. Buddhist monk and esoteric master from South India (6th century), Kanchipuram is regarded as the patriarch of the Ti-Lun school. Bodhidharma (c. 6th century) was the Buddhist Bhikkhu traditionally credited as the founder of Zen Buddhism in China.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9080361|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905192850/https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9080361|url-status=dead|title=Concise Encyclopædia Britannica Article on Bodhidharma|archive-date=5 September 2007}}
• Śāntarakṣita - 8th century CE abbot of Nalanda mahavihara{{sfn|Edelglass|2022|pp=463–480}}
• Nagarjuna - 2nd century CE philosopher{{sfn|Edelglass|2022|pp=211–236}}
• Atisa - 11th century CE philosopher and abbot of Vikramashila{{sfn|Edelglass|2022|pp=601–615}}
• Ashoka - Emperor of Magadha in the 3rd century BCE
• Aśvaghoṣa - 2nd century CE composer of the Buddhacharita{{cite journal |last1=Eltschinger |first1=Vincent |title=Aśvaghoṣa|journal=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2022 |pages=83–97|doi=10.4324/9781351030908-10 |isbn=978-1-351-03088-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh2EAAAQBAJ|url-access=subscription }}
• Nagasena - Monk and composer of the Milindapañhā{{cite journal |last1=Kachru |first1=Sonam |title=THE MILINDAPAÑHA|journal=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2022 |pages=97–113|doi=10.4324/9781351030908-11 |isbn=978-1-351-03088-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh2EAAAQBAJ|url-access=subscription }}
• Saraha - 8th century mahasiddha{{cite journal |last1=Jackson|first1=Roger|title=Saraha|journal=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2022 |pages=124–139|doi=10.4324/9781351030908-13 |isbn=978-1-351-03088-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh2EAAAQBAJ|url-access=subscription}}
• Moggaliputta-Tissa - Buddhist monk and scholar who presided over the Third Buddhist council in the 3rd century BCE{{cite journal |last1=Gethin |first1=Rupert |title=MOGGALIPUTTA TISSA'S POINTS OF DISCUSSION (KATHĀVATTHU): Reasoning and Debate in Early Buddhist Thought|journal=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2022 |pages=160–172|doi=10.4324/9781351030908-17 |isbn=978-1-351-03088-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh2EAAAQBAJ|url-access=subscription }}
• Aryadeva - second–third century CE Indian Buddhist author{{cite journal |last1=Tillemans |first1=Tom J. F . |title=ĀRYADEVA: Quietism and Buddhist Ethics|journal=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2022 |pages=236–252|doi=10.4324/9781351030908-23 |isbn=978-1-351-03088-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh2EAAAQBAJ|url-access=subscription }}
• Asanga - Scholar-monk from the 4th century CE
• Vasubandhu - Brother of Asanga and also a scholar-monk.
• Shantideva - 8th century monk and composer of the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra

{{Portal|Buddhism|India}}

• Buddhism in Himachal Pradesh
• Buddhism in Kashmir
• Buddhism in North Karnataka
• Index of Buddhism-related articles
• List of converts to Buddhism from Hinduism
• Lord Buddha TV
• Sambuddhatva jayanthi
• Surai Sasai
• Barua Buddhist Institutes in India and Bangladesh

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Fogelin |first1=Lars |title=An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199948215 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yPZzBgAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book |last1=Westerhoff |first1=Jan |title=The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198732662 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYFZDwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book |last1=Edelglass |first1=William |title=The Routledge Handbook of Indian Buddhist Philosophy |date=2022 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=9781351030885 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqh2EAAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book |last1=Dalrymple |first1=William |title=The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World |date=2024 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781408864449 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gj75EAAAQBAJ&q=the+golden+road+how+ancient+india+transformed+the+world}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Dutt |first=Nalinaksha |year=1998 |title=Buddhist Sects in India |place=New Delhi |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-0427-9 |ref=none}}
• {{cite book |author-link=Koenraad Elst |last=Elst |first=K. |year=2002 |title=Who is a Hindu? Hindu revivalist views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and other offshoots of Hinduism |place=New Delhi |publisher=Voice of India |isbn=978-81-85990-74-3 |ref=none}}
• {{cite book |last=Klostermaier |first=Klaus |author-link=Klaus Klostermaier |year=1999 |title=Buddhism: A Short Introduction |publisher=Oneworld Publications |isbn=978-1-85168-186-0 |ref=none}}
• {{cite book |author-link=Étienne Lamotte |last=Lamotte |first=E. |year=1976 |title=History of Indian Buddhism |place=Louvain |publisher=Peeters Press |ref=none}}

• Ober, Douglas. Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India (Stanford University Press, 2023) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=60143 Online review of this book.]

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Buddhism in India}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180708074717/http://blog.cpsindia.org/2016/01/religion-data-of-census-2011-xi_19.html?m=1 Indian Buddhist Data from the 1951 census to the 2011 census]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060908161751/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/BUDDHISM/DECLINE.HTM World Civilizations: The Decline of Buddhism in India. Publisher: Washington State University. Last accessed on 10 April 2007 ]

{{Buddhism topics}}

{{Asia topic|Buddhism in}}

{{India topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Buddhism in India}}

*

Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism

India

Category:History of Buddhism in Asia