Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/317

 BUDDHIST SCULPTURE. CHAPTER XII THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS FROM 455 TO 606 A. D. THE general prevalence of Buddhism in Northern India, including Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Suwat, during the two centuries immediately preceding, and the two next following the Christian era, is amply attested by the numerous remains of Buddhist monu- ments erected during that period and a multitude of inscriptions, which are almost all either Buddhist or Jain. The Jain cult, which was closely related to the Buddhist, does not appear to have gained very wide popularity, although it was practised with great devo- tion at certain localities, of which Mathura was one. But the orthodox Hindu worship, conducted under the guidance of Brahmans, and associated with sacri- ficial rites abhorrent to Jain and Buddhist sentiment, had never become extinct, and had at all times retained a large share of both popular and royal favour. Kad- phises n, the Kushan conqueror, was himself conquered by captive India, and adopted with such zeal the wor- 275