Buddhism in Southern India
In the south of India, while there was no overt persecution of Buddhists, at least two Pallava rulers—Simhavarma and Trilochana—are known to have destroyed Buddhist stupas and have had Hindu temples built over them. Bodhidharma, a patriarch of Zen Buddhism was of the original Kshatriya caste.
Nagarjuna, a philosopher important to Mahayana Buddhism, was a Brahmin from southern India.
The Satavahanas were worshipers of Buddha as well as other Hindu gods such as Krishna, Shiva, Gauri, Indra, Surya, and Chandra. Under their reign Amaravati, the historian Durga Prasad notices that Buddha had been worshipped as a form of Vishnu.
Furthermore, a vigorous Hindu revival of Saivite and Vaishnavite Hinduism in the region led to a sharp decline of Buddhism. Nonetheless, it appears that Buddhism endured longer in southern India than in anywhere else, with a greatly diminished sangha still extant as late as 1500.
Read more about this topic: Decline Of Buddhism In India, Decline of Buddhism Under Various Governments
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