I read up on some history after reading the post. Thought I share some info with everyone here. I was surprised to know that Buddhism was unheard of in the land of its birth as recent as a century ago!
The light of Buddhism was extinguished in India around B.E. 1700 [c. 1200 C.E.]. In India Buddhism was completely forgotten by the Indian people and it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that there was an awareness of her existence and prosperity in the past. This awareness may be regarded as the beginning of the modern period of Buddhism.
This happened due to some discoveries,
- In B.E. 2293 [1750], a broken piece of an Asokan pillar inscription was discovered by a British official in Delhi. Other discoveries follow suit and the interest in Buddhist traditions increased through the years.
- In B.E. 2362 [1819], he Ajanta cave was accidentally discovered by two British soldiers.
- The great stupa at Sanchi was discovered and in B.E. 2394 [1851] was opened by Sir Alexander Cunningham.
Active work of excavation and restoration of Buddhist archaeological sites carried on. The work of explorers and archaeologists was followed by literary activities of Western scholars from B.E. 2369 [1826] onwards. Translations and transliterations of the Pali canonical literature, treatises, commentaries, chronicles and grammar, essays and treatises on Pali and Buddhism, and Pali dictionaries were made by scholars of different nationalities: English, French, German, Danish, Dutch, American, and others.
The labours of Western scholars brought about an awakening among the scholars of India. The Buddhist Text Society was founded in Calcutta in B.E. 2435 [1892] and the pioneer work in the field of Buddhist studies was done in Bengal. In the course of time Santiniketan, Patna and Nalanda in eastern India and Bombay, Poona and Baroda in western India became active centres of Buddhist studies. Alongside literary activities, Buddhist revival in India began as an organized movement with the founding of the Maha Bodhi Society in B.E 2434 [1891].
In B.E. 2428 [1885], Sir Edwin Arnold, the author of The Light of Asia (a long poem about the Buddha, which made many converts and stimulated scholarly study of Buddhism), visited Bodhgaya, which was in the hands of the Mahants, Hindu Shaivites, and was shamefully neglected. He pointed out this fact in a series of articles in the London Telegraph.
Inspired by Sir Edwin Arnold's articles, Anaagaarika Dbarmapaala, a young Buddhist of Ceylon from a wealthy and influential Buddhist family in Colombo visited Bodh Gaya and was so shocked at what he saw that he made a vow to dedicate his life both to the task of restoring the Holy Place to Buddhist hands as a worthy place of pilgrimage, and to the revival of the Noble Dharma in the land of its birth.
Dharmapaala founded the Maha Bodhi Society in Colombo. In the same year, a mission was sent to Bodhgaya, and then, an international conference of Buddhists was held there. In the following year a journal was launched and headquarters of the new society were set up in Calcutta. Further branches of the Society were set up and in B.E. 2463 [1920] a Buddhist Vihara was opened at Culcutta. The revival movement was then well founded and continued steadily. Dharmapaala entered the monkhood in B.E. 2474 [1931] and passed away two years later, leaving his unfinished mission to be carried on by his colleagues and followers.
India achieved independence on August 15, 2490 [1947]. When questions arose as to what should be adopted as national symbols of free India, the Constituent Assembly ultimately turned towards the Buddhist heritage. Thus, the Dharma-cakra or the Wheel of the Law came to be represented at the centre of the national flag to remind the nation of the noble doctrine of the Buddha and of the Dharma-vinaya or Conquest by Righteousness of Asoka, while the Lion Capital of Asoka, representing the fearless proclamation of the Dharma to the four quarters of the world, has been adopted as the official seal of the Republic. The Chairman of the Committee which drafted the Constitution was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the leader of the untouchables who became converted to Buddhism and made the Buddhist revival a mass movement.
Two other important events increased the interest in Buddhism among the Indian masses, the home-coming of the sacred relics of the two Chief Disciples of the Buddha in B.E. 2492 [1949] and the Buddha-Jayanti or 2500th anniversary of the Buddha's Parinirvaana, in 1956. The relics were returned to India by the British Government to be enshrined at San chi, their original resting place, on the request of the Maha Bodhi Society. The enshrinement of the relics was celebrated together with the Maha Bodhi Society's Golden Jubilee and an international Buddhist conference attended by the Prime Ministers of India and Burma and world Buddhist leaders. The Indian Buddha-Jayanti celebrations commenced in May 1956 and lasted for one full year, till May 1957. The programme of the Government of India includes the publication of a Tripitaka in Devanaagarii script and '2500 Years of Buddhism,' a special volume which is an indication of the respect given to Buddhism by the Indian educated class.
On October 14 of the year of celebration, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar led half a million followers in a formal declaration of adherence to Buddhism. This event was followed by a fast increase in the Buddhist population in India, particularly through a number of similar conversions among the untouchables seeking social equality. By B.E. 2508 [1965] there were about 4,000,000 Buddhists in India in contrast to 50,000 in B.E. 2434 [1891]. Numbers of 13 Bhikkhus, Viharas, and Buddhist societies and organizations have also considerably increased. The study of Pali was introduced into Calcutta University as far back as the year B.E. 2451 [1908]. This example has been followed by many other Indian Universities. The establishment of the Naalanda Pali Institute in B.E. 2494 [1951] and the founding of the Magadh University in B.E. 2505 [1962] are also evidences of an important place modern India has given to Pali and Buddhist studies.
In the 1950s, when the Tibetans, fled to north India and found refuge in her hill country. There, a Buddhist community is taking shape and Tibetan Buddhism may make a significant contribution to the future of Indian Buddhism.
Just a century ago Buddhism was unheard of in the land of its birth, as nearly every trace of the religion had been effaced from the Indian soil. Today, the seed of the Bodhi tree, deeply planted under the soil, being fed by fertilizer from abroad, has sprouted and has signs of a glorious growth.
In some border areas of India such as some parts of Assam and in Bangladesh (East Bengal), Buddhism has never entirely disappeared. There the monastic life still survives and a small Buddhist population has persisted. Notable in this way is Chittagong, which has been closely connected with Burma both historically and geographically; there the monkhood consists of hundreds of monks and novices. Through some revival movement, Buddhism in these areas has begun to grow again and may do a good service to the development of modern Buddhism on the Indian Subcontinent.
Source: The Revival of Buddhism in India by Bhikkhu Prayudh Payutto
[Originally published in Rajavaramuni, Phra Prayudh Payutto. Thai Buddhism in the Buddhist World. (Bangkok: Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University, 1st Ed. 1984), pp. 59-66].
