The faith that disappeared from everywhere it mattered most
Buddhism was born in what is now Uttar Pradesh, reached its peak in Bihar, and was carried across Asia by monks who walked out of India in every direction. Then, somewhere between the 12th and 13th centuries, it effectively ceased to exist in India as a living institutional presence. The monasteries at Nalanda and Vikramashila were destroyed. The monks who survived scattered east and north. The tradition that had shaped Indian philosophy for over a millennium went quiet on its own soil.
