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Reasons for the Decline of Vikramshila - A Perspective !
To understand the circumstances which ultimately led to the decline of Vikramshila, all features of the period need to be appreciated in totality. Politically, India was witnessing a transition since the 7th century, and the establishment and growth of the Mahavihar was linked to agrarian expansion, successive ruralisation and gradual formation of the Pala state, which probably had no fixed capital initially, as it probably altered between places like Gaur, Patliputra, Mugdagiri, Vataparvataka, etc with administrative cum military centres at places like Naulagarh, Jaimanglagarh etc. Several Pala settlements are noticeable in the vicinity of Vikramshila including those at Shahkund and others in Bhagalpur district, while fortified settlements are noticed at Mudgagiri (Munger), probably the most prominent along with other places like Jaynagar (Lakhisarai), Champanagar and others, showing a gradual development.
The iconoclastic Turuskas (Turks) who wanted to spread their religious rule in newer territories are generally understood to have been formally responsible for the decimation of Vikramshila and other contemporary monasteries, as mentioned without any iota of doubt in contemporary Tibetan sources like the accounts of Dharmasvamin and Taranath. However, upon interpreting contemporary references, several historians have suggested that the sacking of Bihar was probably a part of the Sena strategy, since the attacker Bakhtiyar Khilji is stated as probably unaware of the nature of the fortified structure which was presumed to have been an enemy camp, only to be discovered after attack as being a monastic establishment. It has thus been conjectured that rivalry between the Hindus and the Buddhists may have been utilised by the local rulers for ensuring the destruction of Buddhists at the hands of the Turks. Such views have also gained credence from some records left by scholars of Mithila like Jyotirisvara Thakura, who in Varnaratnakara, signified that the scholars of Mithila treated the Buddhists, and not the Muslims, as their worst enemies till as late as the 14th century and the famous Vidyapati, who, in the second tale of his Purusapariksha accounted for the alliance between Alauddin Khilji and Saktisimha and praised the Sultan Ghyath-al-din Azam of Bengal and the Sharqi ruler of Jaunpur Ibrahim Shah (1402-40 A.D.).
To be continued.....