BUDDHISM
 India was the home of Buddhism, which had its roots in the early Hinduism, or Brahmanism, of its time. Today it is practiced only on the margins of the subcontinent from Ladakh, Nepal and Bhutan in the north to Sri Lanka in the south. Although there are approximately 5 million Buddhists in India, most are very recent converts. The last adherents of the early schools of Buddhism have been killed or converted by the Muslim invaders of the 13th century.
India has sites of great significance for Buddhists around the world. Some say that the Buddha himself spoke of the four places his followers should visit. Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace, is in the Nepali foothills, near the present border with India. Bodh Gaya is about 80 kilometres south of the modern Indian city of Patna, where he attained what his ‘supreme enlightenment'.
The deer park at Sarnath, where he preached his first sermon and set in motion the Wheel of the Law, is just outside Varanasi. While Kushinagar, where he died at the age of 80, is 50 kilometres east of Gorakhpur.
There were four other sacred places of pilgrimage – Rajgir, where he tamed a wild elephant; Vaishali, where a monkey offered him honey; Sravasti, associated with his great miracle; and Sankasya, where he descended from heaven. The eight significant events associated with the holy places are repeatedly represented in Buddhist art.
In addition there are remarkable monuments, sculptures and works of art, from Gandhara in modern Pakistan to Sanchi and Ajanta in central India, where it is still possible to see the vivid evidence of the flowering of Buddhist culture in South Asia. In Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal the traditions remain alive. |
