Gilgit Manuscripts Vol 01

SR No.: 020346
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nalinaksha Dutt, D M Bhattacharya, Shivnath Sharma
Publisher: Government of Jammu
Total Pages: 266
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Catalogue
File Size: 20 MB

Page 25

14
BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
Buddhism was no less popular with them. It cannot be said with precision how far the fusion of the two religions took place within India, but there is no doubt that it did happen in Champa, Camboja, Java, Siam, Nepal and Tibet. In India no two religions are regarded as incompatible and the worship of images belonging to two or more religions is regarded in each as equally meritorious. No Hindu will hesitate to light a candle at the tomb of a Muslim Fakir or offer flowers to a Jaina or Buddhist image. So Kalhana's statements that kings, queens and ministers of Kashmir from Asoka downwards built temples both for Siva and Buddha can be accepted as correct.
The anti-Buddhistic spirit of Asoka's successors
(232-185 B.C.) There is yet a great deal of uncertainty about the successors of Aśoka. From the seventh Pillar Edict it is evident that Asoka had many queens and sons. This is corroborated by the Buddhist legends about Aśoka as also by Tāranātha who says that Asoka had eleven sons.' Names of four sons are known to us through various traditions. They are : -
(i) Tivara, son of queen Kāruvāki of the Aśokan inscriptions, Viceroy of Takşaśilā, Ujjayini, Suvarnagiri and Tosali;"
(ii) Kuņāla (also known as Dharma-vivardhana and Suyasas) son of queen Padmāvati; he was deputed to Takşaśilā for suppressing the rising of the frontier tribes, and was rendered blind through the machinations of his step-mother Tisyarakṣitā;"
(111) Mahinda, son of the Vidisa lady married by Asoka while he was a Viceroy at Ujjayini. He was the famous apostle of Buddhism to Ceylon"; and
1 Schiefner, p. 48.
2 Raychaudhury, op. cit., p. 237. 3 Raychaudhury, p. 238; Watters, I, p. 246; Przyluski, La Légende etc. p. 109; Schiefner, p. 48
4 Mahāvamsa, ch. v.
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