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Shvoong Home>Arts & Humanities>Philosophy>Buddhism in India Summary

Buddhism in India

Book Summary   by:Kawaljeet     Original Author: Gail Omvedt
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Buddhism in India Gail Omvedt (New Delhi: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., 2003), pages 314, price – Rs. 350/- Dr. Gail Omvedt, a prolific writer with many publications to her credit, has been living in India since 1978 and became an Indian citizen in 1983. She is actively involved in various social movements including the Dalit and anti-caste movements, farmers’ movements and especially with rural movement. The book Buddhism in India is the result of author’s committed and authentic research work. The study of Buddhism is well-focussed in this book. The author has dealt in a scholarly manner with the background of Buddhism, the basic teachings of Buddhism, different forms of Buddhism, decline of Buddhism and revival of Buddhism. Her lucid writing style and her unbiased perspective generates much interest. The book will be of interest to general readers as well as to research scholars. The author has raised two questions in her book: One, was ancient India “Hindu” or Buddhist? And two, why could Buddhism not co-exist with Brahminic Hinduism? These questions will certainly appeal to the readers, and such is the impact of her writing that the reader will be keen to know what her answers are, before pondering on them. Another highlight of the book is description of Hsuan Tsang’s visit to India from China in the seventh century CE. His travel in the subcontinent shows an impressive presence of Buddhism during that period. According to Dr. Omvedt, scholars and “searchers” played an important role in revival of Buddhism in India.
She points out that non-Indian effort had a pivotal role in this revival. According to her, while Max Muller and others lauded the Vedas, many Europeans looked upon Buddhism as the true religion of the East, and this interest and their researches helped to make Buddhist texts available in India itself. She rightly gives credit to British scholar Thomas William Rhys David, who founded the Pali Text Society in 1881. Revival of Buddhism began in Bengal and credit goes to Rajendralal Mitra, Hari Prasad Shastri. She gives credit to Dharmanand Kosambi, too. However, she has not mentioned Rahul Sankritayayan’s contribution to Buddhist scholarship. The omission is quite glaring. Jotiba Phule (Maharashtra) and Iyotee Thass (Tamil Nadu) have been called “searchers” by the author. In the twentieth century the credit of revival of Buddhism among the masses is rightly given to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who, though a Hindu by birth, had declared “I will not die a Hindu”. He is attributed with the formation of navayana Buddhism. Ambedkar led the mass conversion of dalits into Buddhism in his life time. His book Buddha and His Dhamma, published posthumously, is the central work for navayana (new vehicle) Buddhism.
Published: January 13, 2008   
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