Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/399

 364 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [December, 1875. he was deprived of it by his minister Pushya- ni i t r a,* who nsnrped it. We see that it waa at this time that the first inroad of strangers called T irthikas, or heretics, into India took place. After commencing war against Puahya- mi tra, they burned, it is said, a number of temples, beginning from Jalandhara (on the confines of Kasmir) and on as far as M a g a - dha; they killed a number of Bhikshus, but a great many of them fled to other countries, and Pushyamitra himself died in the north, five years after. Taranatha tells us that some years previous to this the Mtechha doctrine had appeared. Under this name, as translated into Thibetan, we now understand Muhammadanism; but naturally it has become the particular de- signation of the religion of the North-West, as being that of the nations who broke into India. The accounts of the origin of this religion are remarkable in this, that the Buddhists attribute it to a Bhikshu who, driven from the brotherhood, went into the kingdom of Sulik, situated be- yond Togara, took the name of M a & h a r a, and who himself hid his writing. At the same time a maiden gave birth to a boy, who, when he was grown up, began to persecute every one, saying that he belonged to no caste. Ho procured the writing hidden by Muthara, and after- wards met the latter himself, and upon arriving at the confines of M a k k a (Mecca) he began to preach his doctrine, and took the name of Paikhamba and Ardo (Ardesir).f After Salachandra reigned Chaudragupta, a king who acquired extraordinary power. He was succeeded by his son B i n d n s a r a, who at first ruled over the kingdom of G a u d a only ; but C h a n a k a, one of his great lords, procured the destruction of the nobles and kings of sixteen towns, and as king he made himself master of all the territory between the eastern and western seas {chap, xvxii.). This king reigned thirty five years, and waa succeeded by his heir, prince Srichandra, who again was followed by his son D h a r m a o h a n d r a, who was king only in the east (from what appears, of Bengal), and with whom the lord Vasubandhu lived. In the time of Dharraacbftndra (e/wij>. xix ) king Tnrushka was in Kasmir, and at Mnltan and Labor, Hun iman ta, king of t TirSaitha. explain* that the first decay of Buddhimn Persia, who, having quarrelled with Dharma- chandra (the canse of the quarrel was the same as that of Kanishka with tin? KanyaknbjaJ king), yielded up the kingdom of M a g a d h a and demolished the temples : the priests fled. Dharmachandra died, and hisnephew K anakacha nd r a. who succeed- ed him, found himself dependent on Turushka. At this time Budd hapaksha, Dharma- chandra's cousin-german, reigned at Bana- ras, and having entered into relations with the Emperor of China, he attracted to his side the kings of the west and of Central India, and after having quarrelled with Hunimanta be stew him, and re-established the religion of Buddha, which had declined, so to speak, for the second time. Under this king there was something like a third lapse of Buddhism, caused by the burning of the temple of Nalanda, but that had re- lation in particular to the Mahayana, because it was there that that doctrine flourished, and by the burning of the temple it lost, as it were, the greater number of its books. In the work of the restoration of the religion it is noticed that the Brahman a Sanlca and K 1 1 a k a took part with those who helped the king. After that, king Karmachandra appeared, whilst Gam. bhirapaksha established his capital at P a n c h ji 1 a j an d reigned there forty years A t this time the son of T urusbk a — T urusbka M a h a s a m m a t a — who reigned almost a hun- dred years, was king of Kasmir. He conquered Kasmir (?),Tnk hare stan, and Oa j ana (Gazna), as well as other territories, and waa a worshipper of the three precious things. After the death of Karmac ban dra his son V r i k s h a - o h a n d r a ascended the throne, but I diminished, and J a 1 6 r u li a. king of d i v i a a (0rwa),ruledover a great part of the east (chap. xxii.). It was now that Vasubandhu and A r y a s a n g a appeared, nine hundred years having elapsed since the death of Buddha. King G a m b h i r a p a k s h a was the protector of Aryasauga, and he assembled the priests, among whom was this teacher, in the Usliraa- pnra temple which was in the town of Sa- gar a, in the T a v an a kingdom, not far from the west (chap. xxii.). A 1*i i i Mho death of king Gambhirnpak- t-»ol£ place about five hundred Years after the death of Buddha t See buna, T»d. Alt. IL 840, 2nd ed ; Remand, JVajr- mente Araitea el Parians, p. I4i».
 * S2?Li >dm v nt ' ' ol * L pp 300 ' 35 ° ; ToL IL »• 57 > B9 «