Pointing to the dearth of archaeological material and silence of indigenous literature on the disappearance of Buddhism in India that makes study of the phenomenon a difficult proposition, the volume attempts to examine the decline of the religion in the country. Referring to it as one of the most neglected topics in the history of India, it makes a region-wise survey of the decline: in Sind, Kashmir, north-western India, Bengal, Orissa, Assam. It explains the decline referring to various factors in this context like moral and ethical degeneracy among Buddhists, persecution by Brahmanical-Hindu kings, rise of Mahayana and Vajrayana, attacks by Arabs and Turks, and even the role of Sufism.