Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s2.2

c13.s2.2

With respect to the earlier Stūpas at Mathura we read in the life of Yuan Chwang: In the kingdom of Mathura there are still to be seen the Stūpas in which were deposited of old the relics of the holy disciples of Śākyamuni, viz. Śāriputra, Mudgalāyana, Pūrṇa-Maitrāyaṇīputra, Upāli, Ānanda, Rāhula and Mañjuśrī. On the yearly festivals, the religious assemble in crowds at these Stūpas, and make their several offerings at the one which is the object of their devotion. The followers of Abhidharma offer to Śāriputra, and those who practise contemplation (*dhyāna*) to Mudgalāyana, those who adhere to the Sūtras pay their homage to Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra. Those who study the Vinaya honour Upāli, religious women honour Ānanda, those who have not yet fully instructed (catechumens) honour Rāhula; those who study the Mahāyāna honour all the Bodhisattvas. Five or six *li*, i. e. about a mile and a quarter to the east of the town is a monastery on the hill said to have been built by the venerable Upagupta. His nails and beard are preserved there as relics.” These seven Stūpas with the exception of that of Rāhula, are the same as those noted by Fa-hian in the fourth century A. D. We know from the *Aṅguttara Nikāya* that Śāriputra, the foremost of the highly wise, Mahā Moggallāna, the foremost of the possessors of miraculous powers, Puṇṇa Mantaniputra, the foremost of the preachers of Dhamma, Rāhula, the foremost of the students, Ānanda, the foremost of the vastly learned, and Upāli, the foremost of the masters of Vinaya, were the most proficient disciples of the Buddha in subjects noted against them and their names can be reconised in Huen-Tsang’s list of saint’s whose Stūpas existed at Mathura from *days of old* with relics of the above worthies enshrined in them from a remote antiquity. What that period could possibly have been when Stūpas were raised over the relics of these great teachers? It seems but reasonable to suppose that it should have been the age of Aśoka when Mathura was fitly honoured by the construction of a number of holy Stūpas. Nor need the mention of Mañjuśrī disturb us, for Huen-Tsang is careful enough to associate the Mahāyānists with the worship of the Stūpa of Mañjuśrī and the other Bodhisattvas, who were thus isolated from the gallery of older patriarchs being worshipped by their respective followers.