ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the investments in Buddhism on the part of a well-known Buddhologist based in Calcutta named Beni Madhab Barua from about 1918 when he published his first major work on Buddhism to 1946, shortly before he died, when he took part in the Indian Philosophical Congress at Delhi. A sympathetic reading of his work reveals very real attempts at tackling the problems of history according to the methodologies of his discipline as well as the ethics of his faith. In his activist career, Barua's primary concern was with Buddhism as a fitting faith for a nation coming into its own. Barua's writings in revivalist journals and transcripts of his speeches to various audiences were dominated by the idea that Buddhism was completely modern. The emphasis on Buddhism's universality did not mean that he stopped emphasizing India's position in Buddhist history.
