Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/349

 RELIGION UNDER HARSHA 305 campaign was fought against the people of Ganjam (Kongoda) in 643 A. D., and then at last this king of many wars doffed his armour and devoted himself to the arts of peace and the practice of piety, as under- stood by an Indian despot. He obviously set himself to imitate Asoka, and the narrative of the doings in the latter years of Harsha's reign reads like a copy of the history of the great Maurya. At this period the king began to show marked favour to the quietist teachings of Buddhism, first in its Hina- yana, and afterward in its Mahayana form. He led the life of a devotee, and enforced the Buddhist pro- hibitions against the destruction of animal life with the utmost strictness and scant regard for the sanctity of human life. " He sought, " we are told, " to plant the tree of religious merit to such an extent that he forgot to sleep and eat," and forbade the slaughter of any living thing, or the use of flesh as food through- out the " Five Indies," under pain of death without hope of pardon. Benevolent institutions on the Asokan model, for the benefit of travellers, the poor, and the sick, were estab- lished throughout the empire. Rest-houses (dharmsala) were built in both the towns and rural parts, and pro- vided with food and drink. Physicians were stationed at them to supply medicines without stint to those who needed them. The king also imitated his prototype in the foundation of numerous religious establishments devoted to the service both of the Hindu gods and the Buddhist ritual.