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the little civilized kingdom of Bactria came to an untimely end through the invasions of the Yue-Chi and other cognate Turanian tribes, who swept through Central Asia, and subsequently conquered Kabul and occupied the country as far as the Indus.f Havishka, a king of this race, ruled in Cabul, and seems to have been driven out thence, and conquered Kashmir, where his successors, Hushka and the great Kanishka ruled after him, in the 1st century after Christ. Kanishka was a great conqueror, and his empire extended from Cabul and Yarkand as far as Agra and Gujrat. Nothing like this had been witnessed in India since the time of Asoka the Great. Houen Tsang tells us that tributary princes from China sent hostages to him, and the town where these hostages lived was called Chinapati. Kanishka was also a staunch Buddhist ; he * Our readers will remember, for instance, that Menander, the Bactrian ting, conquered Western India as far as the Ganges, and had a contro- versy with the renowned Buddhist philosopher, N agar j una. t Our readers wiU remember that this troublesome tribe had pene- trated into India 350 years before through the Himalayas, and was beaten back by Ajatasatru about the time of Gautama Buddha's death. Digitized by Google 54 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [book IV. held the Great Council of the Northern Buddhists, and emissaries were sent to introduce Buddhism in the neighbouring kingdoms. We have already said before that the era known as the Sak&bda was established from Kanishka's reign. Dr. Oldenberg maintains that the Saka Era is reckoned from the date of Kanishka's coronation, and not from his death, and this conclusion seems to be well founded. On Kanishka's death his vast empire fell to pieces, and Kashmir sank into the insignificance from which it had risen. This kingdom has a history of its own, called the R£ja Tarangini* by Kalhana Pandita, who lived in the 12th century after Christ, and we shall pause here to notice a few facts from this history. Little of any importance is noted before the time of Kanishka. We are told that 52 kings reigned for a period of 1266 years from the time of the Kuru Panch&la war to Abhimanyu, the successor of Kanishka. And this would place the Kuru Panchala war in the 1 2th century before Christ We are also told that Asoka the third king before Kanishka was a Buddhist and "a truthful and spotless king, and built many Stfipas on the banks of the Bitastl" His successor Jaloka was an orthodox Hindu king, and drove back the Mlechchas, who were pouring in from the west This * An English translation of this work has been completed by my esteemed brother, Mr. Jogesh Chunder Dutt. Two volumes, Stanhope Press, 249, Bowbazar Street, Calcutta, 1879 and 1887. Digitized by Google CHAP. IV.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. horde must have been the Turanians who conquered Kashmir so soon after. Jaloka was succeeded by Damodara II, and then came the foreign conquerors, and "during their long reign Buddhist hermits were all powerful in the country and Buddhist religion prevailed without opposition." We subjoin a list of the thirty-one kings from Kanishka, and up to the time of Matrigupta, the contemporary of Vikramaditya of Ujjayini. If we accept 78 A.D. as the date of Kanishka's coronation, and 550 A. D. as the date of Vikramaditya and Matrigupta, then we get the intervening 472 years for 31 reigns, giving a not improbable average of over 1 5 years for each reign. A. D. A. D. Kanishka ... . • I 78 Aksha > ... ... 340 Abhimanyu ... ... 100 GopSditya ... ... 355 Gonanda .. . • . . "5 Gokarna ... ... 370 Ribhisana I • • ... 130 Narendrdditya 1 . . . ... 385 Indrajit ... '45 Yudhisthira ... ... 400 R£>ana ... ... 160 Pratapaditya *• • ... 415 Bibhisana II ••• ... 17$ Jalauka ... ... 43° Kara I • ... 190 Tunjina ... . . 445 Siddha ••• . ■ . 2 5 Vijaya ... ... 460 Utpalaksha . . . ... 220 Jayendra ... ... 475 Hiranyaksha ••• ... 235 Sandhimati ... ... 490 Makula ... • . 250 Meghavahana ... • 505 Mihirakula . • . . • . 265 Shreshta Sena ... ... 520 Vaka ... ... 280 Hiranya ... 535 to 550 Kshitinanda • • • ... 295 And Hiranya was succeeded by Vasuoanda • •• 310 Matrigupta. Kara II • M • •• 325 Digitized by Google 56 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. A few of the kings deserve a passing notice. Nara I is said to have been a violent persecutor of Buddhists, and burnt numerous monasteries, and gave the villages which supported them to Brahmans. In the reign of Mukula the Mhchchas once more overran Kashmir, but his successor Mihirakula was a great conqueror, and is said to have spread his conquests as far as Karnata and Ceylon. He was also a persecutor of Buddhists. Pratdpaditya began a new dynasty. A severe famine visited Kashmir in the reign of his grandson Tunjina in consequence of the sdli grain being blighted by a sudden and heavy frost. Megha- vahana seems to have been favorably disposed towards Buddhism ; he is said to have carried his conquering arms as far as Ceylon, and he prohibited the slaughter of animals in his own kingdom and in all the kingdoms he conquered. His queens built numerous Buddhist monasteries. His son Shreshta Sena and then his grandson Hiranya succeeded ; and then a stranger MAtrigupta was helped to the throne of Kashmir by Vikramaditya of Ujjayini, then all powerful in India. From this brief account of Kashmir we now turn to Gujrat. We have stated before that the great Kanish- ka extended his conquests southwards as far as Gujrat. A race of rulers known as the Kshaharata family held sway in Gujrat as the vassals of Kanishka's successors. But after the time of Nahapana and his son-in-law Usavadata, these rulers became independent kings, and Digitized by Google CHAP. IV.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. 57 maintained their independence against the Andhras of Magadha, who claimed suzerainty over Saurashtra. These rulers generally known as the " Shah kings " are known to us only by their coins and inscriptions, and there has been much controversy as to the particular era which the Shah kings adopted in these coins and inscriptions. It is now, however, settled beyond a doubt that they adopted the Saka Era from their original masters the kings of Kashmir, and all their coins and inscriptions are dated according to this era. A list of the Shah kings is given below : — SHAH KINGS OF SAURASHTRA. Coin dates A.D. I Coin dates A.D. Xahapana ... ... Vira Daman ... ... Usaradata ... ... Isvara Datta • • • ••• Svami Chastana • • • ... Vijaya Shah 170 248 Jaya Dama ... Damajata Sri ... Jlva Dama ... ... Rudra Shah 197 275 Radra Daman 72 150 Visva Sinha ... • • • Rudra Sinha 102 180 Atri Daman *. . • • • Rudra Shah 104 182 Visva Shah 200 278 Sri Shah ... • •• Rudra Sinha 270 348 Sangha Daman ... • • Asa Daman 271 349 Daman Shah 144 222 Sv£mi Rudra Shah 292 370 Vasa Daman ... ... Svami Rudra Shah II Damajata Sri ••• ... Among the many inscriptions of this dynasty which have been found in different places in Western India, we will only quote one which is perhaps the earliest, and which will give our readers a fair idea of these in- Digitized by Google 58 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. scriptions. The following inscription found in the Nasik caves belongs to Nahapana, who heads the list given above : — To the Perfect One ! This cave and these small tanks were caused to be constructed on the mounts Trirasmi in Govardhana by the beloved UsavadSta, the son-in-law of King Kshaharata Satrap Nahapana, son of Dinika, who gave three hundred thousand cows, presented gold, and constructed flights of steps on the river Bamasaya, gave sixteen villages to gods and Brahmans, fed a hundred thousand Brahmans every year, provided eight wives for Brahmans at Prabhasu the holy place, construct- ed quadrangles, houses and halting places at Bharukachchha, Dasapura, Govardhana and Sorparaga, made gardens, tanks and wells, charitably enabled men to cross Iba, Parada, Damana, Tap!, Karabina and Dahu- nuka by placing boats on them, constructed Dharmaalas and endowed places for the distribution of water, and gave capital worth a thousand for thirty-two Nadhipreras for the Charanas and Parishads in Pinditaka- vada, Govardhana, Savarnamukha, Sorparaga, Rimatirtha, and in the village of Namagola. By the command of the lord, I went in the rainy season to Malaya to release Hirudha the Uttamabhadra. The Malayas fled away at the sound (of our war music), and were all made subjects of the Kshatriyas, the Uttamabhadras. Thence I went to Poksharani and there performed ablutions and gave three thousand cows and a village. The above inscription of Nahapana found in the Nasik caves is of great importance, as it shews how even a vassal of the Buddhist kings of Kashmir de- lighted in doing honor and making gifts to Brahmans, and how Hinduism and Buddhism flourished side by side in the centuries immediately succeeding the Christian Era, except when some intolerant prince occasionally filled the throne. To bestow gold and cattle and villages to Brahmans, to construct bathing Digitized by Google CHAP. IV.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT.