[Buddha-l] Nalanda's library destruction

[Artur Karp]

<<I have never seen anyone dispute the traditional story (given by Warder
et al) that the Turkish general Bhaktiar was responsible for the
destruction of the library.>>

>From Verardi (I hope the diacritical marks are not lost), p. 363:

<<The *dPag bsam ljon bzang *(whose first part deals with the rise, progress,
and downfall of Buddhism in India) reports that the destruction of the
Ratnodadhi Library at Nālānda was also a deliberate action of the *tīrthika-s.
*The Ratnodadhi was a nine-storeyed building where the *Prajñāpāramitā
Sūtra-s *and the Tantric works were pre­served. The damages inflicted by
the Turuṣka raids on the temples and *caitya-s *of the monastic town had
been repaired by Muditabhadra, and a new temple was erected by Kukuṭa
Siddha, minister of 'the king of Magadha'. During a sermon delivered there,
two young novices threw in disdain washing water on two indigent *tīrthika**
*mendicants who had appeared in the place. The latter spent twelve years
propitiating the sun, and eventually performed a *yaj**ñ**a, *after which
they threw live embers and ashes from the Sacrificial pit into the monastic
buildings. This produced a great conflagration that consumed the Ratnodadhi.
179 That two *tīrthika**-s *alone could cause a devastating fire is not, in
itself, incredible (arson is the easiest of crimes), but it is unlikely
that they spent twelve years preparing a solitary attack. We must set the
story in the right perspective, which is better done in the light of the
archaeological evidence.180>>


Artur


2013/5/14 Richard Hayes <richard.hayes.unm at gmail.com>

> On May 14, 2013, at 1:05, Ngawang Dorje <rahula_80 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > The burning of Nalanda's library was attributed to tirthikas, according
> to Tibetan source, provided in my initial email. Is this being disputed?
>
> In Buddhist writings, that term refers to any non-Buddhist. I don't think
> that anyone is suggesting that Buddhists burned the library at Nālandā. I
> have never seen anyone dispute the traditional story (given by Warder et
> al) that the Turkish general Bhaktiar was responsible for the destruction
> of the library. He was at least nominally Muslim and therefore would be
> called a tirthika in Buddhist texts.
>
> Richard Hayes
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