The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.s1.8

c20.s1.8

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.