Vadnyaya

Author(s): Shantrakshit Acharya
Publisher: Mahabodhi Sabha

Page 8

INTRODUCTION
ground by making him a contemporary of the Gupta emperors Kumāra Gupta (415-55 A.c.) and Skanda Gupta (455-67 A.C.) and thus we will not be far from the truth if we accept the date of Vasubandhu as 400 A.C., and that of Dinnāga 425 A.C. (3) From Paramārtha's? (499-569 A.C.) 'the Life of Vasubandhu' in Chinese we know that Vasubandhu was a teacher of the family of king Vikramādityas (380-415 A.C.) of Ayodhyā and, the often quoted śloka referring to Subandhu or Vasubandhu' "1501 afar fra CAA: 79 tar" confirms it, since Guptas had Ayodhyā as their second capital if not the first. By making Vasubandhu a contemporary of Chandra Gupta II ( 380-415 A.C. ), we can get the same date. (4) From history it is clear that the period 319-495 A.C., when the whole northern India was ruled by the mighty Gupta emperors, is the golden age for Indian art, poetry, music, dancing and drama. This was the period when Samudra Gupta (340-75 A.C.), Chandra Gupta II–Vikramāditya (380-415 A.C.), Kumāra Gupta ( 415-55 A.C.) and Skanda Gupta ( 455-67 A.C.), ruled the vast empire one after the other. In such a peaceful and prosperous rule it was natural for the Indian genius to bloom in different spheres of life. Even the science of Astronomy and Mathematics found a Newton in Aryabhatta (b. 476 A.c.) who contradicted the geocentric theory of old Indian astronomers and made several important contributions to the mathe
? The date of Vasubandhu by J. Takakusu, JRAS. Janu
ary 1905. 8 Crown Prince Bālāditya may be same as Kumāragupta, the
successor of Chandragupta II. Bala-Kumāra. 9 Dr. S. C. Vidyābhusana's History of Indian Logic, p. 267.