The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s7.69

v1.c7.s7.69

Next to the Vedic religion Buddhism commanded a large following. It gained a footing in the cis-Vindhyan lands long before the Sātavāhanas had made their mark on history. Archaeological research at Piṭālkhora and Kolhāpur in the west and at Ghaṇṭaśāla and Bhattiprolu in the east has brought to light very early Buddhist relics in this region. Brief inscriptions in the Mauryan script which may be assigned to the third century B.C.² have been discovered on the *stūpas* of Jaggayapeta, Amarāvatī, and Bhattiprolu in the Andhra area. According to the Buddhist chronicles Aśoka’s missionaries popularized the law of the Buddha in Mahishmaṇḍala and Mahārāshṭra.³ The Sātavāhanas and the Western Kshatrapas extended their patronage to the Buddhist ascetics. Almost the early caves so far found in the Deccan and dedicated to Buddhism were excavated during the Sātavāhana period. King Kaṇha (Kṛishṇa) appointed a *mahāmātra* at Nāsik to look after the comforts of the Buddhist monks. Hāla’s *Sattasai* refers to the worship of the feet of the Buddha.⁴ Buddhist monks and nuns were very numerous everywhere in the land. Pious people, not necessarily Buddhists, listened to their sermons and attended to their physical wants. These lay helpers at first improvised rock-cut *leṇas* (caves) and *chaityagṛhas* (shrines) for residence of the monks, and later built *vihāras* (monasteries) with brick and timber. They sometimes donated plots of land or even villages in order to provide food for the ascetic communities. It was also customary to supply the latter with new robes. Provision for this form of benefaction was generally made by investing large sums of money in a neighbouring guild, the annual interest on which was to be used for the purpose of buying clothes for the monks and nuns. Gotamī Balaśrī presented a cave to the monks of the Bhadayaniya sect. Her son assigned to the monks of Tekirasi hill a field of 200 *nivartanas*. Both the mother and the son made gifts of a field of 100 *nivartanas* to the monks living on the Tiranhu hill. Puḷumāvi II made a gift of a village for the support of the Mahāsānghika monks living in the caves of Valuraka (Kārle). Uṣabhadāta excavated a cave in the Triraśmi hills in Govardhana and gave a field costing 4,000 kāhāpaṇas to provide for feeding all monks, without distinction of sect, living in that cave. Besides this he made an endowment of 3,000 kāhāpaṇas ‘for cloth-money and money for outside-life (kusana)’ for twenty ascetics who kept vassa in his cave. This amount was invested in two weavers’ gilds belonging to the locality. The records of the period show that similar gifts in favour of the Buddhists were made by men and women of all ranks and denominations.¹ Buddhist monuments at Nāsik, Kārle, Kanheri, Junnār, Kuḍā, Mahāḍ, Kol, Bhāja, Beḍsā, Ajanta, Amarāvatī, Nāgārjunakoṇḍa, Jaggayyapet, Bhaṭṭiprolu, &c., prove the popularity of the Buddhist monks in this age.