Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/157

 144 THE INDIAN ANTIQUAET. [Mat, 1875- yanaputra and the other Arhanas and Bodhi- salvas had given him charge ; the whole Vai- blifisJiya contained a million of gdthas. After their composition, Katyayanaputra. engraved a command on stone that no person, knowing this doctrine, should cause it to spread ontof Kipine, and also that the composition itself should not pass beyond the frontier. He also took care that the other schools and the MaMyana should not profane or change this pure doctrine- This com- mand was also confirmed by the king. The kingdom of K i p i n e was surrounded on all sides by mountains, and there were gates only on one side ; all the prelates had set their guard of Takshas as sentinels to allow all those who wished to be instructed to pass in, but not to allow them to go out again. In the kingdom of A y o d h y a lived the master Vasasubh a d r a,* who was gifted with intelligence and a good memory ; as he wished to learn the Vaibh4tshya t he feigned madness and repaired to K i p i n e , where he listened for twelve consecutive years. Sometimes while they were explaining to him he began to inquire about the Hdvidi/ana j and on that account he was disdained by all, and was allowed to go out of Kipine, al- though the Yakshas had prevented the priests. After his return to his birthplace he declared that every one should hasten to learn of him the Va iUhdskya of K i p i n e, and, as he was old, his disciples wrote as quickly as he spoke, and in short everything was conducted towards a good end. About the ninth century after the death of Buddha theTLrthika V i n d h y a k a va s a lived ; he demanded the work Sene-ge-lune from the dragon who dwelt near the lake at the foot of the Vindhya mountains, and after having adapted it to his point of view, he came to A y o d h y a and asked king Vikramuditya to allow him to enter into discussion with the Buddhist priests. At this time the great masters, such aa M a n i r a t a, V a s u b a n d h n , and others, were away in other kingdoms. The only one remaining was B u d d h a m i t r a, the mas- ter of Vasubandhu, a very old and feeble man, but one who had deep knowledge ; he was called to argue, but he could only repeat what the Tirthika had said, and he was vanquished. The king re- compensed the Tirthika, who, upon returning to the Vindhya mountain, was changed into a pillar of stone, but his work Sene-geJune has been preserved till the present day. When, upon his return, Vasubandhu learned this circum- stance, he caused a search to be made for the Tirthika; but as he had been changed into stone, Va an band hu composed the Tz i-hme, in which he refuted all the pro- positions of the Sene-ge-lune, and for that he re- ceived from the king a gift of three lakshaso?god, with which he set up three idols,— one for the Bbikshunis, another for the SarvastivAda school, and the third for the school of the Mahayana ; after that the true doctrine (that is to say Buddhism) was established anew. Vasu- bandhu first studied the meaning of the Vai- bkdshja ; then, having adopted this teaching, he composed every day a gdiha in which was e< u- tained the meaning of all he had been teaching daring that day; after having written this gdtfta on a leaf of copper, he caused it to be carried about on the head of an intoxicated elephant, and called by the beating of a drum those who wished to dispute the meaning of the gdtlia ; but no one was found able to refute it. In this way more than 600 gdtha.? were composed, which con- tain all the meaning of the Vaibhdskya ; it is the Kosakarina, or the Kosa in verse. When Vas u ban d h n had added to it fifty pounds in gold, he sent it to K i p i n e to all those who were masters of the Abh idli arma, who were greatly rejoiced that their true doctrine wa3 spread abroad ; but as they found in the verses some incomprehensible passages, they themselves add* ed other fifty pounds in gold, and desired Va- subandhu to write an explanation in prose ; he thou composed the Abhidarmakosa, in which he has introduced the Sarvastivadine ideas refuted whatever deviated from the principles of the Sutra*. When this composition arrived at Kipine, the masters in these districts were irritated at seeing their opinions over- turned. The son of king Vikramuditya, who bore the name of P p a d i t y a (' new sun') made his vows toVasubandhu ; and his mother, who entered the religious calling, became his pupil. When P r a d i t y a mounted the throne, themother and son besought Vasubandhu to stay at Ayodhya and enjoy their fortune, which he consented to do; but the brother-in-law of tya, the Brahman Vasurata, who had • Po-sosO'Siui'la-to-lo.