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MAITRAKA-GURJARA PERIOD
157
C. 600
C. 600
C. 600
Grahavarman, Maukhari, governor of Kanauj, son and successor of Avantivarman, married Rajyasri, daughter of Prabhākaravardhana of Thāņeśvara(JBA, LVIII, pt. 1).
To this period belong : the poet Bāna, author of the Śri Harşacarita, Kādambari, and the Candiśataka : Mayūra, author of the Süryaśataka : Dandin, author of the Daśakumāracarita and the Kāvyādarşa, as the contemporaries of Harşavardhana of Kanauj. To the same period belongs Mänatunga, author of the Bhaktāmara-Stotra. The Jaina tradition makes Mayūra, the fatherin-law of Bāņa.
The objects excavated at the site of Valabhi contain a variety of clay-seals with the Buddhist formula ETH: 1 etc. imprinted on them. The references to Ratnatraya (frag. I ), Samgha (frag. 4), and Tathāgata (frag. 5) occurring in the fragmentary Stone-inscriptions discovered from Valā (Diskalkar, ABORI, XX, pp. 1-8, No. I ), show the further influence of Buddhism in the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. There are references even to fields belonging to Buddhist monks or to the Sangha in the copper-plates.
The earliest reference is found in a grant of the Maitraka king Dhruvasena I (Valabhi S. 216, C. 535 A.D.) wherein he donated villages to the Vihāra built by his niece ('Sister's daughter) Duddā, who laid the temporal foundation of Buddhism in or near Valabhi. This Vihāra gradually developed into a Vihāramandala, containing a number of Vihāras within its precincts.
Buddhism set its foot in Surāṣtra through the efforts of Asoka ; it might have enjoyed some popularity during the days of Milinda, and may have taken firm root in the region of the early Andhra Kings. But it certainly reached the height of its glory during the rule of the Maitraka kings of Valabhi.
We know from Hiuen Tsang's account that most of the bhikṣus in Mālava, Valabhi, and Anandapura studied Hinayāna according to the Sammatīya School, while the Bhikṣus of Bharukaccha and Surāṣtra followed the Mahāyāna, according to the Sthavira school and the bhikṣus of Khețaka and Ujjayini studied both the Yānas.
The Bappapadiya Vihara was constructed by Ācārya Bhikṣu Sthirmati at Valabhi and was meant for monks from foreign countries, belonging to the Hinayāna Sect. It is identified with the vihāra referred to by Hiuen Tsang in the account of Valabhi. This Sthirmati Sthavira was one of the famous disciples of Vasubandhu, the 21st patriarch who wrote commentaries on all the works of his master. Guņamati was also a disciple of Vasubandhu who wrote a commentary on Vasubandhu's Abhidharma Kośa (An Introduction to Mahāyāna).
Jinadeva, a Jaina Ācārya, had defeated in disputation, in Bharukaccha, two Buddhist monks who were brothers named as Bhadantamitra and Kuņāla who thereupon had become his pupils.-(JAG, P. II0).
C. 600
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