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The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.s1: Buddhism

The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times c20.s1

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Buddhism

c20.s1.1

As stated already, Buddhism was losing ground rapidly in the Deccan of our period. The spread and popularity of Jainism may have been partly at its cost; tradition says that Akalanka, a Jain teacher of Sravan Belgol, defeated the Buddhists in c. 780 in a discussion held in the presence of king Hemaśitala of Kanchi and that the prince was converted to Jainism and the Buddhists were exiled to Candy.(160) The scene of victory is stated to be Kanchi but Akalanka belonged to the Jain establishment of Sravan Belgol, which was situated in the heart of Karnatak; the scholastic and missionary activities of the Jains of that centre may have proved detrimental to Buddhist interests in Karnatak and Maharashtra as well.

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¹⁵⁵ Sachau, II, pp. 162-3.

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¹⁵⁶ Sachau, I, pp. 19-20.

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¹⁵⁷ Ibn Batuta, p. 231.

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¹⁵⁸ Elliot, I, 39.

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¹⁵⁹ Ibn Batuta, p. 268.

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¹⁶⁰ I. A., VII, p. 25.

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Three Buddhist establishments are so far known to have flourished in our period, one at Kanheri near Bombay, the second at Kāmpilya in Sholapur district, and the third at Dambal in Dharwar district. Three inscriptions belonging to the reign of Amoghavarsha I¹⁶¹ attest to the existence of a Buddhist Sangha at Kanheri. Several records of the Andhra period¹⁶² preserved in these caves prove that Kanheri was a centre of Buddhism in that period. The inscriptions referred to above show that in our age also the place was a famous centre of Buddhism, for we find an inhabitant from distant Bengal constructing meditation halls and making permanent endowments for the benefit of the monks of this Sangha. The endowment made provision, inter alia, for the purchase of books; it would, therefore, appear that the Sangha had a library, and perhaps a school, attached to it. It resembled in this respect the famous monastic university at Valabhi, where also there was a library, which often received grants for the purchase of books.¹⁶³ The Śilāhāra administration, within whose immediate jurisdiction the Sangha was situated, did not look upon it with an hostile eye; for we find a premier of that state making an endowment, the interest of which was to be utilised for the purpose of supplying clothes to the monks.

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¹⁶¹ *Ibid*, XIII, pp. 136 ff.

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¹⁶² J. B. B. R. A. S., V, p. 23; VI, pp. 10 ff.

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¹⁶³ I. A., VII, p. 67.

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Dantivarman's grant¹⁶⁴ records the donation of a village to a Buddhist monastery at Kāmpailya. It is tempting to identify this Kāmpilya with the capital of southern Pañchāla, but it looks a little improbable that a monastery in southern Pañchāla should have been assigned a village in southern Gujrāt. This monastery was probably situated in Kampil, a village in Tuljapur Taluka of Sholapur district.¹⁶⁵

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¹⁶⁴ E. I., VI, p. 287.

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¹⁶⁵ I am indebted to the late Prof. R. D. Banerji for drawing my attention to this village in Sholapur district.

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An inscription of the time of Vikramāditya VI, dated 1095-6 A.D.,¹⁶⁶ proves the existence of two Buddhist monasteries at Dambal in Dharwar district. It is very likely that the antiquity of these establishments would go back at least to our, if not an earlier, period. There was a temple of the Buddha and Tārā at the place in the 11th century and the description and importance of Tārā, as attested to by our record, would suggest that the establishment was a Mahāyāna one. In the Mahāyāna system Tārā was invoked for help in distress on land and sea and our inscription also shows that similar was the conception about that deity in the Deccan of our period. Cf.:—

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¹⁶⁶ I. A., X, p. 185.

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हरिकरिंशिखिणितस्करविपज्जलार्णवपिशाच्चभयशमिनि ।
शशिकिरणकान्तिधारिणि भगवति तारे नमस्तुभ्यम् ॥
या ज्ञानार्णवमन्थनात् समुदिता प्रज्ञेति या कथ्यते
या बुद्धस्य विभूतिदा त्रिभुवने बोधिसुरूपा परा ।
या हृद्व्योम्नि तथागतस्य वसति स्फीतेव चांद्री कला
सा तारा भवदुःखतापशमिनी प्राशास्तु वस्सर्वदा ॥

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The above are the only known centres of Buddhism in the Deccan of our period. It is, therefore, clear that the religion had lost all hold on popular mind and was in the last stage of its decline.

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