Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c23.8

c23.8

Alberuni,³ writing in the eleventh century A. D. says, "In former times Khurāsān, Persis, Irāk, Mosul, the country up to the frontier of Syria, was Buddhistic, but then Zarathustra went forth from Ādharbaijān and preached Magism in Balkh (Baktra). His doctrine came into favour with king Gushtasp, and his son Isfendiyād spread the new faith both in East and West, both by force and by treaties. He founded fire-temples through his whole Empire, from the frontiers of China to those of the Greek Empire. The succeeding kings made their religion (i.e., Zoroastrianism) the obligatory state-religion for Persis and Irāk. In consequence the Buddhists were banished from those countries, and had to emigrate to the countries east of Balkh ......Then came Islam." The above account may not be correct in all its particulars. The statement that Buddhism flourished in the countries of Western Asia before Zoroaster is clearly wrong. But the prevalence of the religion of Śākyamuni in parts of Western Asia in a period considerably anterior to Alberuni and its suppression by Zoroastrianism and Islam may well be based upon fact. The antagonism of Buddhism to the fire-cult is hinted at in the *Bhūridatta Jātaka*.⁴ It has even been suggested that Zoroastrian scriptures allude to disputes with the Buddhists.⁵