Taranatha

Tāranātha (1575–1634) was a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is widely considered its most remarkable scholar and exponent.

Quotes

Taranatha’s History Of Buddhism In India

Taranatha’s History Of Buddhism In India [1]

• At that time there lived in Kashmir a king called Turuska . He lived for a hundred years and was highly religious.... When the charmed circle was found inside the fruit, [the Persian king] became convinced of the use of black magic. So he [the Persian king] destroyed Magadha by the Turuska army, ruined many temples and heavily damaged Sri Nalendra. Even the ordained monks fled away.

• After the death of Rathilcasena, the few years of Labamsena’s reign were peaceful. Then came the Turuska king called the Moon to the region of Antaravedi in-between the Gahga and the Yamuna. Some of the monks acted as messengers for this king. As a result, the petty Turuska rulers of Bhamgala and other places united, ran over the whole of Magadha and massacred many ordained monks in Odantapuri. They destroyed this and also Vikramaslla. The Persians at last built a fort on the ruins of the Odanta vihara.

• He made lavish offerings in Vajrasana, renovated all the temples there and properly rebuilt the upper four storeys of the nine-storied maha-gandola which was destroyed by the Turuskas.

• Skilled image-makers abounded in every place wherever the Law of the Buddha flourished. In the regions that came under the influence of the mlecchas the art of image making declined.
  • quoted in Al-Hind-The-Making-of-the-Indo-Islamic-World-Vol-2-The-Slave-Kings-and-the-Islamic-Conquest-11th-13th-Centuries,

• The Turushka army conquered the whole of Magadha and destroyed many monasteries; at Nalanda they did much damage and the monks fled abroad.
  • as quoted from Al-Hind-The-Making-of-the-Indo-Islamic-World-Vol-2-The-Slave-Kings-and-the-Islamic-Conquest-11th-13th-Centuries, page 334ff

About

• A Tibetan author of the early seventeenth century, Taranatha, in his 'History of Buddhism in India', writes that during the time of the last four Sen a rulers the number of Buddhist monastic establishments had gone on increasing in Magadha, but that then many Stag-gzigs, 'Turks', of the mleeeha view, had started to appear.200 To protect places like U ddandapura and Vikramashila, the Sena kings converted these partially into fortresses and stationed some soldiers in them.201 The Stag-gzigs 'overran the whole of Magadha and massacred many ordained monks in Uddandapura'.202 They later built a fort on the ruins of the Uddandapura vihara, and destroyed Vikramashila, further to the northeast, as well.203 Taranatha leaves no doubt about the outcome: 'The Law became almost extinct in Magadha'.
  • A Wink, Al-Hind, The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume 2, 147