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political talent with a view to be appointed in the Government political services, " ( Takakusu, Records of the Western World, 1890, p. 177 ), only after they were assured of the excellence and correctness of their opinions from the learned in Valabhi, and after having spent at least two years in their monasteries.
The name of Valabhi, which in later times became one of the most important centres of Buddhism worthy to be called a Buddhist University, is not heard of till the beginning of the 6th Century A. D. From the copperplate grants of the Maitraka kings of Valabhi, we know of at least 14 Vihāras in the neighbourhood of Valabhi, which may be enumerated as under :
(1) Duddā Vihāra, (2) Buddha-Dāsa Vihāra, (3) Bhațţārka Vihāra, (4) Abhayārtarikā Vihāra, ( 5 ) Kakka Vihāra,(6) Gohaka Vihāra, (7) Vimalagupta Vihāra, (8) Sthiramati Vihāra, (9) Yakşa Sūra Vihāra, (10) Purnna Bhațţa Vihāra, (11) Ajita Vihāra, (12) Bappa-padiya Vihāra, (13) Vamsakata Vihāra, and (14) Yodhāvaka Vihära.
Of these, the most conspicuous one seems to be the one built by Duddā, wife's sister of the Maitraka king Dhruvasena. It was the head of a VihāraMandala. Duddā-Mahā-Vihāra, as it later on came to be called, included in it many others built by several devotees, (Vide, Nos. 2-8 above). This DuddaVihāra seems to have received numerous grants from the Maitraka kings, at least for 140 years (from G.E. 216 to 356) since its foundation, and must have been, therefore, the most active centre of Buddhism in Valabhi.
Another Vihāra-Mandala' known from the Valabhi grants is that built by Yakşa Sura, which included in it the Vihāras built by Purnna Bhatta and Ajit. This Vihāra-Mandala was meant for the use of Buddhist nuns, and like the Duddā Vihāra was situated in the svatala of Valabhi. In one of the copperplate grants referring to this monastery, we find that some nuns had come to stay in it, for want of accommodation in another.-(A. S. Gadre, 'Five Vala Plates ', BUJ., p. 79).
The Yodhāvaka and the Vamsakata Vihāras were situated in the villages of their respective names near Valabhi.-[M. G. Dikshit, 'Valabhi, the Ancient Buddhist University', Historical and Economic Studies, Silver Jubilee Volume, Fergussion College, Poona. 1947; (IHQ. XVI, p. 816-18)].
On the scholastic and educational activities in Valabhi, the accounts of the Chinese travellers are an important source of information. Hiuen Tsang, who visited Valabhi in 640 A.D., describes that there were over 100 monasteries in Valabhi with 6000 Sammatiya adherents. He refers to the famous Ācārya Sthiramati and Guņamati, who resided in a monastery outside the town. Sthiramati was the pupil of Vasubandhu, a well-known Pandit from Nálandā, and had writteen a treatise called Abhidharma-kośa, which was already translated into Chinese when Hiuen Tsang visited India. The Vihāra mentioned by
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