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170
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1911.
KUMARAGUPTA, THE PATRON OF VASUBANDHU.
BY PROF, K. B. PATHAK, BA.; POONA. IN VÄXANA's Kavydlankára-sitra-vritti, we have the following important passage to which I beg to invite the attention of Sanskrit scholars, who are interested in the history of Indinu literature :
सोर्य संप्रति चन्द्रगुप्ततनयश्चन्द्रप्रकाधो बुवा
जातो भूपतिराश्रयः कृतधियां दिष्टया कृतार्थश्रमः। भाश्रयः कृतधियामित्यस्य वसुबन्धुसाधिव्योपक्षेपपरत्वात्साभिप्रायत्वम्.
Kdvydlankdra-iltra-vitti, Chap. III, Sect. 2. Vâņivilâsa Press Ed., p. 86.
Translation. This very son of Chandragapta, young, shining like the moon, and the patron of men of letters bas now become king, deserving congratulations on the success of his efforts.
The phrase: the patron of letters' is an instance of allusion, containing a reference to the ministership of Vasabandhu." 1
Kumaragapta, the son of Chandragupta II of the Gapta dynasty, is alluded to, in the ball verse quoted by Vâmans, as the patron of the illustrious Buddhist author, Vasubandha, Paramartha, another famous Buddhist author, who lived between A.D. 499-569, tells us that Vasubandha died at the age of 80, during the reign of Baladitya (Narasimhagapta). This last-mentioned Gupta king was the grandson of Kumaragupta. Vasabandha was, therefore, contemporary with three successive Gupta kings, namely: Kumaragupta, Skandagapta, and Baláditya. Paramártba's statement about Vasubandhu being 80 years old at the time of his death is thus confirmed by the literary evidence discovered in Vamana's work, wbich belongs to the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century A.D. When Paramartha, in his Life of Vasubandhu, speaks of king Vikramaditya of Ayodhyâ and his crown prince Baladitya As patronizing Vasubandhu, the Buddhist biographer obviously refers to the famous Gupta king Skandagupta who had the title of Vikramaditya. This confirms the ideutification which has been already proposed by Dr. Takakusu in his very valuablo paper contributed to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for 1905, pp. 33-53. As regards the date of Vasubandhu, the Japanese scholar las very fully examined all the Chinese authorities bearing on the subject, and sums up his conclusion in the following words :
"At present we must rest satisfied with the result at which we have arrived, however small it may be, in establishing the date of Vasubandhu in the light of Paramartha's valuable work. We can thus take Vasubandhu's date, A.D. 420-500, as well-nigb settled, and with it those of Vindhyavása (lávaraksishna), c. 450 (died before 480), and Vasurita c. 480, being brother-in-law of Baladitya, who ruled from A.D. 481 or thereabouts."
This date of Vasubandhu and the identification of the Vikramaditya mentioned by Paramartha · with Skandagupta, the son of Kumâragupta is now confirmed by the literary reference given above.
Vasubandhu's most important work was the Abhidharma-kosa. Wben Sanghabhadra challenged Vasubandha to a personal discussion, the latter declined on the ground that even a complete
* Attention to this passage was first drawn by M. M. Haraprak latri, but his conclusions were different.
(Jour. Beng. As. Soc. for 1906. Vol. I, No 10, p. 253).-D. E. B. • Smith'. Early Hist. of India, p. 298.
Introd, to Kdvyamal4 edition,
