Hindu Timeline

GUPTA DYNASTY

• Temple-worship and Puranas consolidated.
• Brahmans give up Vedic sacrifices
• Kshatriya philosophy of Upanishads is adopted
• National heroes Rama & Krishna are adopted as religious system
• Kshatriya epic the Bhagavad Gita is incorporated into the Mahabharata
• Buddha becomes an avatar of Lord Vishnu
• “Brahmanism has never stood for any religious doctrine or faith. Its life and soul, then, as it is now, was the Caste System with the Brahman as the highest sacerdotal caste, and its vital interest was priestly exploitation. These two measures were achieved in an abundant measure by the new arrangements- in fact in a greater measure than was ever possible in the past, and Brahmans must have felt exhalted by the great victory of their cause” (DC Ahir, p42).

 

Sankaracharya is regarded as having restored the supremacy of Hindu religion over the ruins of Buddhism.

Buddha lays out 10 actions of moral conduct (right action 3, right thought 3, right speech 4). This gets copied almost verbatim in thhe Chapter XII of Manu Samhita. Even the terminology was copied, as it was perculia to Buddhism and Jainism.

Later Buddhists develop the ideal of Bodhisattvas who pass their lives in endless rebirths in moral activities. This is the essense of karma-yoga preached in Bhagavad Gita, the latest exponent being Swami Vivekananda who puts moral actions in right spirit above meditation or worship of god.

Bengali Hindus continue the practice of eating meat. Upper Caste North and Southern Hindus give the derogatory terms ‘masyhari’ (fish-eating Brahmanas) as hardly deserving the name Hindu, even though Bengalis are the ones sticking to orthodox Hindus and the others have adopted Buddhist/Jain ideals. Bengali Vaishnyas have even become vegetarian: so wide-spread did Buddhism & Jainism seep into Hinduism without Hindus even realising.

Today, all five Hindu pilgrimage sites were once Buddhist shrines: Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, Sabrimala in Kerala, Pandharpur in Maharashtra, Puri (Jagannath temple) in Orissa and Badrinath in Uttaranchal.

1590- Mahant Gosain Giri occupies the Great Maha Bodhi Temple at Buddha Gaya. He uprooted the Buddha image and instals a Shiva lingam. Anagarika Dharmapala in 1891 launches a movement to regain control of the temple from Hindu Mahant. In 1949 the Government of Bihar passes the Buddha Gaya Teple Management Act with 5 Hindu and 4 Buddhist Committee members. The eyesore of the Shivalingam remains in the sanctum sanctorum fo the Temple.