The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c30.61

c30.61

But, while toleration and concord were the rule, exceptions occurred. The king of Central Bengal, Saśāṅka, who has been mentioned as the treacherous murderer of Harsha's brother, and probably was a scion of the Gupta dynasty, was a worshipper of Siva, hating Buddhism, which he did his best to extirpate. He dug up and burnt the holy Bodhi tree at Bōdh Gayā, on which, according to legend, Asoka had lavished inordinate devotion; broke the stone marked with the footprints of Buddha at Pātaliputra; destroyed the convents, and scattered the monks, carrying his persecutions to the foot of the Nepalese hills. These events, which are amply attested by the evidence of Hiuen Tsang, who visited the localities thirty or forty years later, must have happened about A. D. 600. The Bodhi tree was replanted after a short time by Pūrna-varman, the local Rāja of Magadha, who is described as being the last descendant of Asoka, and as such was specially bound to honour the object venerated by his great ancestor.