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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1875.
soka. Afterwards, according to the accounts of the Buddhists, he gave himself up to violence, and procured for himself the surname of Chanda soka; but at last he was converted to Buddhism, and now the legends give him the name of Dharmaśoka and relate many marvels of him,-among others that he covered the whole land with monuments and temples in honour of Buddha. Then his dominions stretched from beyond Thibet on the north to the ocean on the south. But he showed still more atten. tion to the clergy when he distributed all his treasures among them, and finally mortgaged himself. The grandees relieved him, but probably they were dissatisfied with him,- perhaps they even deposed him, for the historian alludes, though obscurely, to a miserable end.
After the death of Asoka,* his grandson Vigatà soka was raised to the throne: he was the son of Kunala, and the legend about the blindness which his stepmother inflicted on him is known to all the Buddhists. Almost at the same time mention is made of king Vir&sena, who honoured Buddhism. (It is uncertain whether he was the successor of Vigatà so- ka, or Vigatasoka himself.) His son Nanda reigned twenty-nine years. In his reign lived Paạiri, the first Indian grammarian, and pro- bably also the first who introduced writing into India. To Nanda succeeded his son Mahilpadma, who reigned at Kusuma pura. The great Bhadra and Vararvchi were his contemporaries, and he protected Buddhism. Here we meet with the first mention of literature in a written form. Vararuchi carised a number of copies of the Vibhúshá to be prepared, and distributed them among the preachers. But how.are we to reconcile this account with what we find elsewhere, that the Vibhúshá was composed in Kaśmir, and at a time subsequent to this ? According to au authentic account the Vibháshá was composed either in the time of U pagupta or in that of the Arhan Y asas. It is most probable that works which preceded the Vibrashd are here to be understood. It is possible that Kåt yâyana, who composed one of the Abhidharmas, wrote also the commentary on the Vibháshd; whilst there still remain six other Abhidharnas making part of the whole
• Chap. viii. + Vide ante, vol. I. p. 21 ; vol. IV. pp. 102, 103. I Conf. ante, pp. 143, 144. It is assumed that the first appeared immediately after
number of ideas in this book. Inasmuch as history has preserved the memory of the sacri. fice of Vararuchi, we may readily conclude that writing was as yet a rare accomplishment (it has been remarked above that it was introduced in the time of Påņini). Although this is so, the remembrance of the Vibhasha rests upon the appearance, a short time after, of a third collection of the doctrines of Buddha & either in the kingdom of Kaśmir or Jalandhara (it is disputed which), but in either case it was under king Kanishka, who then reigned over these countries, and who lived four hundred years after Buddha. Although, according to Chinese sources, we are forced to the conclusion that Katy â ya na, the composer of the first Abhidharma, was president of this assembly, and that at this time he called on Ašvagosha to write down the Vibháshá, -everything go to assure us that Katy â ya n a lived much earlier, and that his name is used here only to remind us that he was the first representative of the Abhidharmists, who were then changed to Vaibhashists. In the list which has come down to us of his survivors, innumerable in China, Katy â yana is placed in the fifth or seventh generation after Buddha, whilst As vagosha is reckoned in the ninth or eleventh. After all, the account of Târanatha admits as very probable that king Kanishka convoked the priests under Parsva, the author of the Sátron the prophetic vision of king Kșikin, who, according to Chinese and Thibetan sources, iş regarded as having been converted by A sva - gosha, and who, though at one time an eremy of the faith, became a zealous worshipper: he was the first lyric poet, and by his hymns raised Buddhism out of the pedantic scholastic system, and taught the nation to praise Buddh: by singing lyric odes. If Târânâtha may be relied on, it was at this time that the denomination of Vaibhashists and Sautrantists first appeared ; Dharmatrata is said to have been the representative of the former at this time, but the first of the Sautrantists was the great Staavira- a proper name, as we see, which perhaps at this time only was changed into an appellative in the school which was called after him, and from which, as we see, the school of
the death of Buddha; the secourl on the occasion of the disputes at Vaiali; under the third it is necessary to in. clade the assembly during the reign of the second Azoka, but that is unknown to the Borthern Buddhiste.
