The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s10: I. Activities of Bengalis Outside India

The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c19.s10

Language: English

I. Activities of Bengalis Outside India

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The chief activities of the Bengalis outside India lay in religious and commercial spheres. The port of Tāmralipti was the great emporium of trade between Northern India and the Eastern world across the sea. Being situated in the eastern extremity of India, Bengal also served as the connecting link, by way of land, between the great sub-continent and the extensive regions in the east, from South China to Burma and thence to Malay Peninsula and Indo-China. The Chinese evidence leaves no doubt that there was an active intercourse by both the land and sea-routes, and streams of traders, merchants, pilgrims and other classes of people followed them in their journey between India and the Far East (supra pp. 659 ff).¹ Apart from being an intermediary in trade and commerce, Bengal must, therefore, have played an important part in the great cultural association between the diverse civilisations of Eastern and South-Eastern Asia which forms such a distinguished feature in the history of this great continent for nearly one thousand and five hundred years.

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¹ R. C. Majumdar,—Champa, pp. XIII-XXIV; Suvarnadvipa, Part I, Bk. I, specially Ch. IV.

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Fortunately, this view, mainly based on general grounds, is corroborated by some specific instances.

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As regards maritime and colonial activity, an inscription in Malay Peninsula, of the fourth or fifth century A.D., records the gift of a *Mahānāvika* (great captain) Buddhagupta, who was probably a native of Bengal.¹ Tradition also connects Bengal with the Indian settlement in the island of Ceylon (*v. supra* p. 39). The truth of the story of prince Vijaya may, however, be doubted, and no final conclusion is possible until fresh evidence is available.

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¹ R. C. Majumdar, *Suvarṇadvīpa*, I. 82-83.

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But we are on surer grounds when we come to missionary activities. It is now admitted on all hands that Bengal exercised great influence on the development of later Buddhism in Java and neighbouring regions during the Pāla period.² An inscription in Java³ definitely mentions that the *guru* (preceptor) of the Śailendra emperors was an inhabitant of Gauḍa (*Gauḍa-dvīpa-guru*). This royal preceptor, named Kumāraghosha, set up an image of Mañjuśrī in the year 782 A.D., and was probably also the *guru* for whose worship the famous temple of Tārā at Kalasan had been built four years earlier. We are told that at the command of the *guru* some officers of the king built a temple, an image of goddess Tārā, and a residence for monks proficient in Vinaya-Mahāyāna. Reference has already been made above (pp. 121-22) to the grant of five villages by Devapāla, at the request of king Bālaputradeva of Suvarṇadvīpa, for maintaining the monastery that the latter had built at Nālandā. The intimate intercourse between the Pāla and the Śailendra kingdoms explains the great influence exercised by the Pāla art upon that of Java.⁴ It has already been noted above (pp. 496-97), that such influence was by no means confined to Java, but also extended to the mainland, and the peculiar architectural style of a group of temples in Burma was probably derived from that of Bengal and neighbouring regions. As a further evidence of the close contact between Java and Bengal, reference may be made to the affinity between the scripts used on certain Javanese sculptures and the proto-Bengali alphabet.⁵ This contact continued till at least the 14th century A.D.⁶

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² *Ibid.* II. 121 ff.

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³ *Ibid.* I. 151-52.

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⁴ *Ibid.* II. 304.

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⁵ H. B. Sarkar in *IHQ.* XIII. 597. Several other instances of cultural contact, noted by him in the same article, are neither definite nor conclusive.

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⁶ A Javanese text, composed in 1365 A.D., includes Gauḍa in a list of countries whose people came to the Javanese capital "unceasingly in large numbers ...... They came in ships with merchandise. Monks and distinguished Brāhmaṇas also came from these lands and were entertained" (*Suvarṇadvīpa*, I. 336).

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The influence of Bengal upon the development of art and religion in the Far East must thus be regarded as considerable, although sufficient data are not available to trace in details the relationship between them. We are, however, more fortunate in this respect in regard to Tibet, the other region where Bengal exercised a deep influence on the evolution of culture.

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It is a matter of common knowledge that the form of Buddhist religion and monastic order in Tibet was largely shaped by a number of famous Buddhist teachers from Bengal. Fortunately, the Tibetan chronicles have preserved a detailed account of a large number of Indian Paṇḍits from the Pāla kingdom who visited the Land of Snow, and not only preached the Buddhist religion and translated Indian texts, but transmitted to that inaccessible region the various elements of Indian culture and civilisation. Their literary and religious activities have been treated in a general way in Chs. XI and XIII. Here we would refer to only a few distinguished persons among them who may be regarded, on reasonable grounds, to be inhabitants of Bengal. The detailed accounts of their lives are culled from Tibetan sources, and though much of them may be merely traditional, unsupported by positive testimony, they are still of great value, at least in so far as they hold out before us a general picture of the honour and respect accorded to the Bengali scholars and religious teachers in Tibet.

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The native religion of Tibet was Bon-po. It advocated demon-worship and other sacrifices. During the reign of Srong-tsan Gampo, as noted above (p. 91), Buddhism was introduced in Tibet. Bon, however, remained the predominant religion in Tibet till the accession of Khri-srong-lde-btsan (supra p. 124), a descendant of Srong-tsan Gampo, in the middle of the eighth century A.D. Khri-srong-lde-btsan was a great devotee of Buddha. He invited Śāntirakshita (supra pp. 332-33),¹ who was at that time living in Nepal, to Tibet in order to strengthen the cause of Buddhism there. Śāntirakshita went to Tibet. He had hardly preached there the Buddhist doctrine for four months when, we are told, the demi-gods of Tibet grew indignant and caused many phenomenal disturbances. Śāntirakshita was sent back to Nepal. Sometime afterwards he, on the request of the Tibetan king, went for a second time to Tibet. He introduced there the observance of the ‘ten virtues’ and Dharma. But the local gods, demi-gods, genii, and female spirits, finding the people inclined to Buddhism, became very violent again. They were evidently the adherents of the Bon religion. Śāntirakshita was not strong enough to cope with them. He advised the king to invite Padmasambhava, who knew mystic charms for combating the evil spirits. Padmasambhava, at the invitation of the king, went to Tibet, and within a very short period brought all the evil genii under his control. The king was highly pleased with Padmasambhava and Śāntirakshita, and built Bsam-ya, a monastery after the model of that at Odantapurī in Magadha (*supra* p. 115). Both the Indian teachers established there the order of the Lamas. Lama, in the true sense, means the head of the monastery, though in modern times the title is given to all the monks and priests in Tibet connected with the Buddhist order. The religion of the Lama is simply called “The Religion” or “Buddha’s Religion.” Its followers are called ‘Nan-pa,’ that is ‘within the fold.’ Padmasambhava and Śāntirakshita trained some Tibetans as monks, who carried on their mission assiduously, and translated many Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, after a residence of a short period, left Tibet in order to preach Buddhism in other lands. Śāntirakshita was made the first abbot of the monastery at Bsam-ya. He occupied that position for thirteen years. Shortly before his death Hoshang Mahāyāna, a Chinese missionary, visited Tibet. He started preaching Buddhism of an order which differed from that advocated by Śāntirakshita. Śāntirakshita, failing to meet his opponent in contro-

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¹ For the account of Śāntirakshita and Padmasambhava that follows, cf. L. A. Waddell, *Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism*, 20, 24, 25; IP. 49; *JASB*. LI. Part 1, 7-8; *Pag Sam Jon Zang*, Part II, 170 ff. (see table of contents, pp. x ff.); A. H. Francke, *Antiquities of Indian Tibet*, II. 87-88. Śāntirakshita, also known as Śāntarakshita, whose Tibetan name was Zi-ba-htsho, became the high priest of Nālandā monastery in the first half of the eighth century A.D. S. C. Das points out from the Tibetan authority that Śāntirakshita was a native of Gauḍa. The *Pag Sam Jon Zang*, a work compiled in 1747 A.D., states (p. 112) that Śāntirakshita was born in the royal family of Zahor during the reign of Gopāla, and died when Dharmapāla was ruling. The identification of Zahor has been discussed above (p. 331, f.n. 8). Dr. B. Bhattacharya remarks that Zahor is a regular phonetic equivalent of Sābhār, a well-to-do village in the Dacca district, Bengal. It is legitimate to infer, from all available evidences that Śāntirakshita was a native

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of Bengal (*supra* p. 332). His sister was Mandaravā The tradition runs that Indrabhūti, a king of Uḍḍiyāna, had a son named Padmasambhava (Waddell, *op. cit.* 380-82). Padmasambhava in his early age was tyrannical. The king, in order to please his subjects, banished the prince. Padmasambhava in course of his travel reached Zahor, and married the sister of Śāntirakshita. Waddell identifies Uḍḍiyāna with Udyāna in the Swat Valley (*op. cit.* p. 26). According to Pag Sam Jon Zang, the first Siddhāchārya Lui-pā belonged to the fisherman caste of Uḍḍiyāna, and was in the service of the king of Uḍḍiyāna as a writer. He is referred to in the Betan-hgyur as a Bengali (Cordier-Cat. II. 33). He composed some Bengali songs (BGD. 21). On this and other grounds it has been suggested that Uḍḍiyāna might have been situated in Bengal (IHQ. XI. 142-44). For other views *cf. supra* p. 333, f.n. 1.

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versy, requested the king to invite his disciple, Kamalaśīla to Tibet. Kamala was residing in Magadha. But Śāntirakshita, shortly before Kamalaśīla’s arrival in Tibet, died of an accident. Kamalaśīla defeated the Chinese missionary in a debate, and established the soundness of the doctrine preached by Śāntirakshita.

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The Tibetan literature closely connects another Bengali teacher named Dīpaṅkara Śrījñāna, also known as Atīśa,¹ with the religious movement in Tibet. Dīpaṅkara was born in 980 A.D. in the royal family of Gauḍa at Vikramapura in Baṅgala. He was known as Chandragarbha in his early age. His father was Kalyāṇaśrī and his mother was Prabhāvatī. While young, he learnt five minor sciences under the guidance of the great teacher Jetāri. He studied the important literature of the Hinayāna and Mahāyāna schools. Rāhulagupta taught him the meditative science of the Buddhists in the Krishnagiri monastery. Krishnagiri, modern Kanheri, in the Bombay Presidency, was an important centre of the Buddhists. Chandragarbha received there the name of Guhyajñāna-vajra. At the age of nineteen he took the sacred vows in the Odantapurī-vihāra from the Mahāsaṅghika Āchārya Śilarakshita, who gave him the name Dīpaṅkara Śrījñāna. Twelve years later, at the age of thirty-one, he was ordained as a Bhikshu. He received the vow of a Bodhisattva from Dharmarakshita. He intended to study Buddhism under the guidance of Chandrakīrti, the High Priest of Suvarṇadvīpa. Suvarṇadvīpa, which was a general name for Java and other islands in Eastern Archipelago, was at that time an important centre of Buddhism in the East. A merchant vessel, after several months’ strenuous journey, brought him to that island. He studied there for twelve years, and returned to Magadha, visiting Tāmradvīpa (Ceylon) on his way. He was invited to the Vikramaśīla monastery (supra p. 115) by the king Mahīpāla. Dīpaṅkara assumed the post of the High Priest of the Vikramaśīla monastery at the request of king Nayapāla, son of Mahīpāla. Sthavira Ratnākara was at that time the chief of the monastery.

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¹ Cf. supra pp. 334-35. Dīpaṅkara is mentioned as Phul-byuṅ in an inscription in Tibet (Francke, op. cit. ii. 169). For the account that follows Cf. IP. 50-76; Pag Sam Jon Zang, ii. 183 ff. (Cf. table of contents, xviii ff.); Francke, op. cit. 167, 169, 170.

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About the middle of the eleventh century A.D. Lha Lama Ye-śes-hod was the king of Tibet. He was a pious Buddhist. He intended to reform Buddhism in Tibet, which was debased by Tantric and Bon mysticism. He sent Rinchhen Zaṅ-po, the great Lochava, and Legs-pahi Śerab to India in order to invite some Indian scholars to Tibet.¹ Those two officers of the Tibetan king, in course of their sojourn, went to the Vikramaśīla monastery. They came to learn there that Dīpaṅkara was the best of the Buddhist scholars in Magadha. But realising that there was no chance of their request being complied with, they did not dare extend him their invitation to Tibet. They went back to their country and communicated to the king every thing they knew about the great Bengali teacher. The king despatched a Tibetan mission under Rgya-tson-gru Sengé, a native of Tag-tshal, in Tsang, to Vikramaśīla with rich presents to invite Dīpaṅkara to his country. Dīpaṅkara, on receipt of the invitation, replied to the Tibetan mission :

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¹ Francke (*op. cit.* 169-71) points out that Ye-śes-hod was a king of Gu-ge (Goggadeśa, in Western Tibet) which included parts of Kunawar and Spyi-ti, and that it was not he, but one of his descendants, that invited Atīśa to his country.

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"Then it seems to me that my going to Tibet would be due to two causes : first, the desire of amassing gold, and second, the wish of gaining sainthood by the loving of others ; but I must say that I have no necessity for gold nor any anxiety for the second at present."

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The Tibetans, thus having failed to achieve their end, went back to their country. About this time a great calamity befell the king of Tibet. He was taken prisoner by the king of Garlog in the frontier of Nepal. The king, shortly before his death in the enemy's prison, sent through his nephew and successor Chan Chūb the following message to Dīpaṅkara :

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"Lha Lama, the king of Tibet, has fallen into the hands of the Rājā of Garlog while endeavouring to collect gold for diffusing the religion of Buddha, and for the *Pandit* himself. The *Pandit* should therefore vouchsafe his blessings and mercy unto him in all his transformed existences. The chief aim of the king's life has been to take him to Tibet to reform Buddhism, but, alas that did not come to pass! With a longing look to the time when he could behold the *Pandit's* saintly face, he resigned himself absolutely to the mercy of the three Holies."

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After the death of the king, Chan Chūb sent a Tibetan mission in charge of Tshul Khrim-gyalwa to Dīpaṅkara at Vikramaśīla with the deceased king's letter. It was also instructed, in case Dīpaṅkara refused to come, to invite a scholar next to him to Tibet.

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Tshul Khrim-gyalwa, also known as Vinayadhara, formerly studied Buddhist literature in India for two years. He proceeded to Vikramaśīla with the mission, and met there unexpectedly his preceptor Gya-tson Sengé. The preceptor told him that the Tibetans had no influence there, and advised him not to disclose at once the object of his visit. Both of them saw Dīpaṅkara from time to time. Dīpaṅkara was very much moved when he heard the news of the king’s death under tragic circumstance. He consented to pay a visit to Tibet after finishing his work in hand, to which he would have to devote a period of eighteen months. He advised the Tibetan monks to keep the matter secret. Once Vinayadhara and Gya-tson made an attempt to know the opinion of Ratnākara on the matter of Dīpaṅkara’s visit to Tibet. Ratnākara discarded the idea with the remark,

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“in the absence of Atīśa, no other Paṇḍit would be able to preserve the moral discipline of the monks here. He holds the key to many a monastery of Magadha. For these reasons we can ill afford to lose his venerable presence.”

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The day of Dīpaṅkara’s departure for Tibet was drawing near. It was not, however, possible for him to leave the Vikramaśīla monastery without the permission of his chief, Ratnākara. Once he sought the permission of Ratnākara for leave to accompany Vinayadhara to many places of pilgrimages including Nepal. Ratnākara could, however, discover that Dīpaṅkara cherished an idea of visiting Tibet on that occasion. He eventually agreed to the proposal of Vinayadhara about Dīpaṅkara’s visit to Tibet on condition that the venerable teacher should return to Vikramaśīla within three years. He remarked :

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“without Atīśa India will be in darkness. He holds the key to many institutions. In his absence many monasteries will be empty. The looming signs prognosticate evil for India. Numerous Turushkas (Muhammadans) are invading India, and I am much concerned at heart. May you proceed to your country with your companions and with Atīśa to work for the good of all living beings there.”

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Dīpaṅkara started for Tibet, accompanied by Vinayadhara, Gya-tson, Paṇḍit Bhūmigarbha, and the Mahārāja Bhūmisaṅgha, the king of Western India, who was his disciple. Some Śaivas, Vaiṣṇavas, and Kāpilas, who did not like that Dīpaṅkara should preach Buddhism in Tibet, engaged some robbers to take his life as soon as he passed the border of India. The robbers, when they saw the saintly appearance of the teacher, could not raise their hands against him, and went away. As soon as Dīpaṅkara entered Nepal a local chief took fancy to a beautiful little table made of sandalwood, which was being carried by the venerable teacher. He set some brigands to rob him of it. But Dīpaṅkara, it is reported, averted the danger by some mystic charms. After this he paid his reverence to the temple of Ārya Svayambhū. Gya-tson unfortunately died there of fever. Dīpaṅkara was much moved by this calamity, as Gya-tson was his close companion, and was to serve him in Tibet as an interpreter (lochava). At this time he wrote a note to king Nayapāla. He met Ananta-kīrti, king of Nepal, at Palpa, then called Palpoi-than. He presented the king with an elephant, and the latter in gratitude laid the foundation of a monastery called Than-vihāra. His son Padmaprabha was ordained as monk by Dīpaṅkara. Padmaprabha accompanied the Bengal Pandit to Tibet.

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Dīpaṅkara was received by the officers and the army of the king Chan Chūb in the frontier of Tibet. He stopped on the bank of Mānasa-sarovara for a week. Finally he reached the monastery at Tholing¹ with his party. He was given a grand ovation by the king in the capital. He moved from province to province and preached Mahāyāna doctrine. Brom-ton, founder of the first great hierarchy of Tibet, became his disciple. Dīpaṅkara succeeded there in eliminating Tantric and foreign elements from the Buddhist creed. He wrote several books on Buddhism during his stay in Tibet. Bodhipatha-pradīpa is the most prominent among them.² The authorship of about two hundred books is ascribed to him.³ He lived in Tibet for thirteen years and died there c. 1053 A.D. at the age of seventy-three. His memory is still cherished by the people of that country.