________________
Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
successors played havoc with the Buddhist monks and establishments from one end of India to the other including the valley of Kashmir.
The Greeks and the Sakas The only rule important for the history of Buddhism between the reigns of Pusyamitra and Kanishka is that of the Greek king Menander". The Milindapañha is our best source for information about the same, and the date of its Sanskrit original written in the north may safely be taken to be the ist century B.C. This treatise is particularly important for the history of Buddhism of Kashmir on account of the fact that the scene of discussions between Milinda and Nāgasena is laid in a spor 12 yojanas from Kashmir and 200 yojanas from Alasanda or Kalasigāma. The author of the work is familiar with the people of the north and he refers twice to Saka-Yavana, Cina-vilāta, Alasanda, Nikumba, Kashmir and Gandhāra, i.e. the region round about Kashmir.”
As regards king Milinda, the work says that he at first became a lay-devotee, built the Milinda-vihāra and then after some *** time handed over the reins of his administration to his son, joined the Buddhist Sangha as a monk, and ultimately attained arhathood."
Though only two Kharosthi inscriptions incised at the instance of the Greek chiefs have been discovered at Swat' and Taxila, they show that Buddhism obtained a firm footing in N.W. India and was welcomed by the foreign rulers.
1 Milindapañha, pp. 82-3.
2 Milinda, p. 327: Vilāta=Tukhāra (Tokharistan), a Mleccha country. (Cf. Nāgārjunikonda Inscr. in Epi. Indica, xx, i.
3 Ibid., p. 420.
4 CII., II, i, p. 4: "By Theodoros the Meridarkh were established these relics of the Lord sākyamuni for the purpose of security of many people."
5 lbid., p. 5: "By.........the Meridarkh together with his wife, the stūpa was established in honour of his parents for the presentation of a respectful offering."
.6 lbid., p. 49.
For Private and Personal Use Only
