Temple destruction by ‘Nationalists’

Topic started by vohsendhan (@ 202.88.143.68) on Sat Apr 6 03:33:57 .
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The Hindu fundamentalists who make a song and dance over the Babri Masjid having been constructed on a Hindu temple in the 16 th century AD forget the fact that the government of India had given a solemn assurance on the religious places of worship to protect it ‘as is what is’ basis, in 1947. This enactment does not permit any court to go beyond the year 1947 regarding the ownership of temples.

Still, the RSS walahs would not listen. Because, their intention is only to foment trouble on one or the other ground. They must travel a little farther from the 16th century to 12th century to find out how many Buddhist shrines were converted by them into Hindu temples. Their action in destroying the Nalanda university has attained world notoriety.

The following excerpts from an article of Mr. Moina (moina@aol.com) would tell you more of the atrocities committed by them. These historical facts must be made known to the innocent and suppressed ‘Sudras’ who are called as kins by the ‘Brahmins’ only to collaborate in their sins:

According to Sharmasvamin, a Tibetan pilgrim who visited Bihar three decades after the invasion of Bakhtiar uddin Khilji in the 12th century, the Brahmins had performed a Yajna, a fire sacrifice, and threw living embers and ashes from the sacrifice into the Buddhist temples. This produced a great conflagration which consumed Ratnabodhi, the nine-storeyed library of the Nalanda University. [Prakash, 213]. Numerous destroyed Buddhist shrines were converted into Hindu temples after their destruction.

Yuan Chwang s account reads, In recent times Shashanka, the enemy and oppressor of Buddhism, cut down the Bodhi tree, destroyed its roots down to the water and burned what remained. [Watters II p.115] He also says that Shashanka tried to have the image (of Lord Buddha at Bodhgaya) removed and replaced by one of Shiva .

Another independent account of Shashanka s oppressions is found in the Aryamanjushrimulakalpa, which refers to Shashanka destroying the beautiful image of Buddha [Jayaswal, 49-50].

And the famous Jagannatha temple at Puri in Orissa was also originally a Buddhist shrine.

Similarly, the Vishnupada temple at Gaya was also once a Buddhist shrine. As Rajendralal Mitra notes in his famous work of 1878 [quoted in Ahir, 59] the feet of Buddha at Gaya were rechristened the feet of Vishnu and held as the most sacred object of worship in the new Vishnupada temple.

The Divyavadana (ed. Vaidya, 282). The most important of the murderous Hindu bigots who carried out their systematic campaign of violence against the peaceful followers of Lord Buddha was Pushyamitra (184-48 B.C.), the founder of the Shunga dynasty

The celebrated Tibetan historian Lama Taranatha mentions the march of Pushyamitra from Madhyadesha to Jalandhara. In the course of his campaigns, the book states, Pushyamitra burned down numerous Buddhist monasteries and killed a number of learned monks The archaeological evidence for the ravages wrought by Pushyamitra and other Hindu fanatic
rulers on famous Buddhist shrines is abundant.

The Brhannaradiya-purana lays it down as a principal sin for a Brahmana to enter the house of a Buddhist even in times of great peril.

The drama Mrchchhakatika shows that in Ujjain the Buddhist monks were despised and their sight was considered inauspicious.

Yuan Chwang s account reads, In recent times Shashanka, the enemy and oppressor of Buddhism, cut down the Bodhi tree, destroyed its roots down to the water and burned what remained. [Watters II p.115]

For more on these issues, read:
Ahir, D.C. "Buddha Gaya Through the Ages", Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica
Series No. 134, Delhi 1994.
Goyal, S.R., "A History of Indian Buddhism", Meerut 1987.
Jayaswal, "An imperial history of India", Lahore 1934.
Joshi, L.M. "Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India", New Delhi 1967.
Marshall, John, "Taxila" Cambridge University Press 1951.
Prakash, Buddh, "Aspects of Indian History and Civilisation", Agra 1965.
Taranatha, "History of Buddhism in India", Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla, 1977.
Vaidya, P.L. ed. "Divyavadana", Darbhanga 1959.
Watters, T. "On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India," ed. by T. W. Rhys Davids
and S.W. Bushel, London 1904, 1905.

Thankyou dear Mr. Moina!

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