<P> In the Gangetic plains, Orissa, northeast and the southern regions of India, Buddhism survived through the early centuries of the 2nd millennium CE . The Islamic invasion plundered wealth and destroyed Buddhist images, and consequent take over of land holdings of Buddhist monasteries removed one source of necessary support for the Buddhists, while the economic upheaval and new taxes on laity sapped the laity support of Buddhist monks . </P> <P> Monasteries and institutions such as Nalanda were abandoned by Buddhist monks around 1200 CE, who flee to escape the invading Muslim army, after which the site decayed over the Islamic rule in India that followed . </P> <P> The last empire to support Buddhism, the Pala dynasty, fell in the 12th century, and Muslim invaders destroyed monasteries and monuments . According to Randall Collins, Buddhism was already declining in India before the 12th century, but with the pillage by Muslim invaders it nearly became extinct in India in the 1200s . In the 13th century, states Craig Lockard, Buddhist monks in India escaped to Tibet to escape Islamic persecution; while the monks in western India, states Peter Harvey, escaped persecution by moving to south Indian Hindu kingdoms that were able to resist the Muslim power . </P> <P> Many Indian Buddhists fled south . It is known that Buddhists continued to exist in India even after the 14th century from texts such as the Chaitanya Charitamrita . This text outlines an episode in the life of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486--1533), a Vaisnava saint, who was said to have entered into a debate with Buddhists in Tamil Nadu . </P>

Indian ruler who spread buddhist teaching widely was