Treachery by Buddhists

 Treachery by Buddhists

An excerpt from my history book “Swift horses Sharp Swords” with additional inputs.

Buddhism never fails to profess peace, moksha and nirvana, yet when it comes to the real world, they prove to be highly treacherous people. They never presented united efforts with Hindus in dealing with Muslim invaders and at least in two important battles, they openly supported Muslim invaders. That is an altogether different matter that they were later butchered by these invaders only.

Incidentally, both these battles happened in the 8th century. The first one was the battle of Sindh against Hindu King Dahar in 711-712 CE. Sindh was ruled by Hindus but the economy was in the hands of Buddhist traders. However, these traders were, for various reasons, unhappy with the Hindus. As soon as Arabs arrived at the doors of the city of Debal (Karachi), they made a beeline toward the Arab camp. Various Buddhist tribes such as the Bhuttos and Meds, and Buddhist rulers of Nerun, Siwistan, and Kaka Kolak offered their full-fledged support to Arabs. Qasim offered them substantial benefits and concessions in trade after capturing Sindh. Buddhist traders then spilled all the beans and shared every secret and weakness of the Sindh army.

Qasim had laid an elaborate siege on the Debal fort. He was informed by the Buddhists that the flag fluttering in the wind atop the temple was the talisman that protected the fort and he had to bring it down anyhow, if he harboured any chance of winning it. Qasim then trained the manjanik (Stone-throwing machine) towards the flag and could bring it down after several efforts. Seeing their god’s symbol down, the Sindh army became uncontrolled and disheartened at the bad omen. Utter confusion prevailed in the town. In anguish, the soldiers rushed out of the city and made an unorganized and chaotic attack on the Qasim’s forces. They soon lost the resolve to fight and were subsequently slaughtered. The fort was captured and the Muslim flag was hoisted for the first time on the soil of Bharatvarsha.

However, Arabs were in no mood to keep their promises and they went on to destroy each and every Buddhist monastery in Sindh and Afghanistan.

The next decisive battle was fought between the Tang Chinese and the Arabs at Talas in July, 751 CE at the banks of River Talas which forms the border between present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Tang and Abbasid armies met in the valley of the Talas River to assert their control over the Syr Darya region. At the last moment, Tibetan Buddhist soldiers chose to side with Arabs to defeat the Chinese as they had some running internal differences. This change of sides reversed the balance of power, resulting in a sudden Tang collapse. Lakhs of Chinese soldiers were killed and 25,000 were captured as slaves. The battle effectively ended the Chinese Buddhist presence in Central Asia and paved the way for Islam to take roots there. These very Turks would launch ferocious attacks on India in the coming centuries.

More than the Hindus, Muslim invaders hated Buddhists as the latter do not believe in the concept of God. At the turn of the 12th century, Bakhtiyar Khilji attacked Nalanda University and killed every single monk there. Like cowards, the rest of the Buddhists fled to Tibet, Bhutan and Burma. Not a single one took up the sword.

Even now, the Buddhists openly support Abrahamics, completely oblivious of history.