Jain Journal 1981 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 16

10
JAIN JOURNAL
krmibhir vakşamānastu kālam kytvā adhogati amānuşākrāntavidhvastam tat puram ca abhūt tadal/ mānuşenaiva dosena jvarāto vyādhimurchitah/ mộto mantraprayogena rajasau kālagata stada ]
K. P. Jayswal comments that king Sasanka died a natural death inspite of the Buddhist wishes.
An echo of the tradition relating to the painful disease of Sasanka is found in the late geneological works of Bengalee Brahmins. According to the traditions preserved in the community of the grahavipras (also known as the Sakadvipi Brahminas), they are descended from the twelve Brahmanas living on the banks of the Sarayu river who were summoned to treat an incurable disease from which Sasanka, king of Gauda, was suffering. According to this tradition Sasanka was cured of the disease and the twelve Brahmins were rewarded.
Some scholars are of opinion that stories of persecution of the Buddhists by Sasanka can not be accepted as true on the following grounds:
(1) Hiuen-Tsang, himself found the flourishing condition of
Buddhism in Karnasuvarna, the capital city of Sasanka. The prosperity of the Buddhist community in Karnasuvarna is hardly compatiable with the view that Sasanka was a religious bigot and persecutor of Buddhism.
(2) Religious intolerance on the part of a king in ancient India was
rare especially of the type mentioned in the record of HiuenTsang.
(3) Hiuen-Tsang's patron was Harsavardhana of Kanauj who was
the bitterest enemy of Sasanka who assassinated the elder brother of Harsavardhana. Like Banabhatta, Hiuen-Tsang too, poured vituperation against Sasanka, whenever occasion arose to mention his name.
(4) Being a religious zealot, Hiuen-Tsang himself fiercely hated the
non-believers of Buddhism. In his account he makes no secret of his sentiment for the non-believers. So his statements about the persecution of the Buddhists should not be relied upon.