Tāranātha's History of Buddhism

Summary

Tāranātha’s seventeenth‑century history of Buddhism is one of the most important Tibetan works for reconstructing the chronology of Indian Buddhism. Written in 1608, it compiles traditions from Sanskrit texts, earlier Tibetan chronicles and Chinese histories to tell the story of Buddhism’s rise, spread and decline in India from the Buddha’s time to the thirteenth century. The article summarises the scope of Tāranātha’s narrative and evaluates its usefulness to modern historians. The author outlines Tāranātha’s major themes, including the biographies of successive Buddhist teachers, the evolution of doctrinal schools and the patronage of kings. Particular attention is paid to Tāranātha’s dating of kings such as Aśoka, Kaniṣka and Harṣa, his account of the early divisions of the Saṅgha and his descriptions of monastic universities like Nālandā and Vikramaśīla. The paper also examines Tāranātha’s reliance on earlier Sanskrit sources—many of which are now lost—and assesses the accuracy of his quotations by comparing them with extant Pāli and Chinese texts. Tāranātha is shown to be a critical compiler who cross‑checked sources, rejected miraculous stories when they conflicted with reason and sometimes preserved information that is absent from other works. At the same time, his chronology sometimes compresses events and his sectarian affiliation may have coloured his interpretation of late Indian Buddhism. The article reviews modern scholarship on Tāranātha’s history, noting translations into Mongolian, Russian and English, and discusses the challenges faced by translators in rendering technical terminology. Overall, this article demonstrates that Tāranātha’s history remains indispensable for researchers. It preserves fragments of now‑lost literature, offers independent testimony on figures such as Padmasambhava and Dipankara Śrījñāna and provides a Tibetan perspective on the decline of Buddhism in India. By critically analysing Tāranātha’s methods and comparing his narrative with other sources, the author highlights the need to use his work cautiously but confidently as a window into India’s Buddhist past.