Reasons Why Buddhism Was India’s Dominant Religion In 100 BCE And Then It Declined

Reasons Why Buddhism Was India’s Dominant Religion In 100 BCE And Then It Declined – Buddhism became a really strong religion during the 1^st century BCE. Mostly notable was its influence in India. Where Buddhism succeeded to become the dominant religious philosophy. Beating not only Hinduism, but many other ancient religions. Although, after 100 BCE, Buddhism started to decline drastically in India. But it remained strong in other areas of Asia. And this event has many reasons.

5 Reasons Why Buddhism Was India’s Dominant Religion In 100 BCE And Then It Declined

The Hun Invasions – during the Hun invasion from central Asia, Buddhism started to experience decline in regions such as north-west of India. Mostly because the Huns ruined the monasteries in these regions.

The Turk-Mongol Raids – during the Muslim raids, Buddhism didn’t only experience decline in certain regions. But it vanished from regions such as today’s north India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Turk-Mongol raids destroyed all the monasteries and stupas in the conquered regions. Which made it hard for Buddhism to survive.

The Loss of Donations – the ancient religions relied on the kings and the wealthy. Therefore, Buddhism was the same. It needed donations and patronage from the kings and the wealthy merchants. But without these donations, the monasteries didn’t spread or multiply. Instead, the Buddhist monasteries reduced in number, leading to the slow decline of Buddhism in India.

Buddhism Was India’s Dominant Religion In 100 BCE. And Then It Declined

The Competition – another Reasons Why Buddhism declined in India. The competition was hard in this region. Hinduism and Jainism started to gain more and more popularity, influencing many people to leave Buddhism and to convert. This competition made it hard for the Buddhist monks to maintain the followers and to find new ones.

The Sects – numerous sects started to form which combined Buddhist, Hindu and other religious philosophies. This lead to many followers to join those sects and leave Buddhism. Some of these sects were: Tantrism, Mahayana Buddhism and even Orthodox Hinduism.

In conclusion, although Reasons Why Buddhism Was India’s Dominant Religion In 100 BCE. And Then It Declined, it still remained dominant in numerous parts of Asia. Mostly in parts of the continent where there was no competition, invasions or raids. But it managed to survive thousands of year. Becoming one of the dominant religions of our days.