m and there are no traces of its
existence in the Deccan after 1150.

For the Konkan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, Hsuean Chuang's statistics are
fairly satisfactory. But in all this region the Sammitiya sect which
apparently was nearer to Hinduism than the others was the most
important. In Ujjain Buddhism was almost extinct but in many of the
western states it lingered on, perhaps only in isolated monasteries,
until the twelfth century. Inscriptions found at Kanheri (843 and 851
A.D.), Dambal (1095 A.D.) and in Miraj (1110 A.D.) testify that grants
were made to monasteries at these late dates.[267] But further north
the faith had to endure the violence of strangers. Sind was conquered
by the Arabs in 712; Gujarat and the surrounding country were invaded
by northern tribes and such invasions were always inimical to the
prosperity of monasteries.

This is even more true of the Panjab, the frontier provinces and
Kashmir. The older invaders such as the Yueeh-chih had been favourably
disposed to Buddhism, but those who came later, such as the Huns, were
predaceous barbarians with little religion of any sort. In Hsuean
Chuang's time it was only in Udyana that Buddhism could be said to be
the religion of the people and the torrent of Mohammedan invasion
which swept continuously through these countries during the middle
ages overwhelmed all earlier religions, and even Hinduism had to
yield. In Kashmir Buddhism soon became corrupt and according to the
Rajatarangini[268] the monks began to marry as early as the sixth
century. King Lalitaditya (733-769) is credited with having built
monasteries as well as temples to the Sun, but his successors were
Sivaites.

Bengal, especially western Bengal and Bihar, was the stronghold of
decadent Buddhism, though even here hostile influences were not
absent. But about 730 A.D. a pious Buddhist named Gopala founded the
Pala dynasty and extended his power over Magadha. The Palas ruled for
about 450 years and supplied a long and devout line of defenders of
the faith. But to the east of their dominions lay the principality of
Kanauj, a state of varying size and fortunes and from the eighth
century onwards a stronghold of Brahmanic learning.

The revolution in Hinduism which definitely defeated, though it did
not annihilate Buddhism, is generally connected with the names of
Kumarila Bhatta (_c._ 750) and Sankara (_c._ 800). We know the
doctrines of these teachers, for many of their works have com