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 45

34
BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
lishment for the Buddhist monks (VIII, 2417). Cinta, wife of Jayasimha's commander Udaya, adorned the bank of the Vitasta by a monastery consisting of five buildings (VII. 3352-3), and Dhanya, one of the ministers, commenced the construction of a vihara in honour of his late wife (VIII. 3343-4). Evidently therefore the reign of Jayasimha was marked by a revival of Buddhist faith in Kashmir.
THE SAHIS OF KASHMIR
One of our Gilgit mss.' mentions in the colophon the name of Srideva Sahi Surendra Vikramaditya Nanda, and the spot of this ms. find is in the Dard country where the Sahis later on found their asylum. Dr. H. C. Ray has dealt exhaustively with the history of the Sahis of Afghanistan and the Punjab, and has furnished us with a list of coins bearing the names of the rulers. It will be observed that "Srideva" forms a part of all these names. It seems that the title “Vikramaditya" occurring in the ms. got currency in Kashmir since the reign of Pratapaditya, who was a nephew of Vikramaditya.
Prof. Sylvain Lévi3 thinks that "the Turk dynasty of Kipin is identical with Al-biruni's Shahiyas of Kabul and Kalhana's Sāhi dynasty. The Sahi princes, according to the testimony of Al-birūni, were Turks of Tibetan origin and were zealous followers of Buddhism. The Buddhist dynasty of Sahis continued without interruption upto the ninth century when they were replaced by Brahmanic dynasty carrying the same title, and which dynasty existed up to the 11th century."
a
Kalhana furnishes us with the following account of the career of the Sahis in Kashmir:
I See Bhaiṣajyagurusutra, p. 32.
2 Dynastic His. of N. India, vol. I, ch. ii. See above, p. 27.
3 14., 1895, b. 381.
4 See Albirūni (Sachau), II, pp. 10 ff.