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AUGUST, 1911.] ORIGIN & DECLINE OF BUDDHISM & JAINISM IN S. I.. 213
case, it also suggests where we should look for the monument. We know that the powerful kings of the Satavahana dynasty flourished at the commencement of the 2nd century B. C. and advocated the Bauddha faith. To their exertions we owe one of the most exquisite and elaborate works of art, viz., the Amaravati Stúpa. The Andhra kings of the Satavahana line held sway over several parts of the Dekkan such as Dhânyakataka in Krishnâ, Chitaldrag and Shimoga in Mysore and Kolhapur, Paithan, etc., on the western side, where their coins and inscriptions have been traced.12 It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that under the Satavahanas, who were ardent Buddhists, Buddhism gained ground in those parts of sonthern India which had acknowledged their rule. Something about the state of Buddhism in the south is also found in the writings of Fa Hian the predecessor of Hiuen Tsiang by three centuries. Though he himself did not visit the Dekkan, he has recorded what he probably gathered from his enquiries. His interesting note on the splendid rock-cut monastery of five storeys with 1,500 cells,13 situated 200 yojanas to the south of Benares, shows what stronghold the religion of Gautama had on the people of the Dekkan. Rev. Mr. Foulkes writing on this says:-"There seem to be some considerations in Fa Hian's description which lead to the conclusion that the king of the country or some previous ruler or rulers of this kingdom was a patron of Buddhism, if not himself a Buddbist. It is scarcely probable that a colossal work of art, like Fa Hian's rock-cut monastery, could have been undertaken by any one but a powerful, rich and prosperous king; or rather considering the time which such a work would require for its completion, by a succession of such kings. And it is similarly improbable that a costly and everlasting monument of this description would have been so undertaken, unless the king or kings had religious convictions in harmony with the object for which such a magnificent building was constructed. 14"
It is thus evident that at a certain epoch there were Buddhists throughout the Dekkan. What contributed to the spread of that religion in the south, besides the missionary efforts of the Maurya emperor, Asoka, and the Singhalese king, Tissa, of the 3rd century B. C., was probably the migration of the Pallavas and the Guptas from their northern homes, which took place in the early centuries of the Christian era. That the early members of the Pallava dynasty could have been Buddhists might be inferred to a certain extent from the fact that they had Asôkavarman among their mythical ancestors. One of the Chola kings named Killi, who married the Nâga princess, Pilivalai, the daughter of Valaivanan, appears to have been a Buddhist, as he is reported to have been hearing the discourses of a Buddhist priest at Kâñchi. The account given in the Manimegalai, regarding the fortunes of the child born to this Naga princess, coincides with what is regarded of Tonḍaimân Ilandiraiyan, the earliest ancestor of the Pallava kings. It is not unlikely that there were several kings in the Chola and Pandya country, who professed the religion of Gautama, but all their names
have not come down to us.
We must not omit to mention the probability of there having been Jaina influence side by side with that of Buddhism. As Sir Alexander Cunningham puts it, both these sects were branches of one stock. Dr. Hamilton and Major Delamain have proved that Gautama of the Jainas and of the Bauddhas is the same personage. As Gautama of the Jainas has left no disciples, it has been correctly presumed by these writers that Gautama's followers constitute the sect of Buddha with tenets in many respects analogous to those of the Jainas or followers of Sudharma, but with a mythology or fabulous history of deified saints quite different. Both have adopted the Hindu pantheon or assembly of subordinate deities; both disdain the authority of the Vêdas, and both elevate their pre-eminent saints to divine supremacy. To show that the canons of belief of the Jainas and Bauddhas are in several respects identical, and that the gods of the former are represented
"
120 Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. X., p. 291 and Vol. XV., p. 357, 18 Above, Vol. VII., p. 2, footnote 2, quoted from Beal's translation. 14 lbid, pp. 3 and 4.
