The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c6.s3.t20.9

c6.s3.t20.9

We hear nothing more of Srâvasti until one century after Kanishka, or five centuries after Buddha, when, according to Hwen Thsang, Vikramâditya, king of Srâvasti, became a persecutor of Buddhists, and the famous Manorhita, author of the Vibhâsha Sâstra, being worsted in argument by the Brahmans, put himself to death. During the reign of his successor, whose name is not given, the Brahmans were overcome by Vasubandhu, the eminent disciple of Manorhita. The probable date of these two kings may be set down as ranging from A.D. 79 to 120. For the next two centuries Srâvasti would seem to have been under the rule of its own kings, as we find Khiradhâra and his nephew mentioned as Rajas between A.D. 275 and 319.† But there can be little doubt that during the whole of this time Srâvasti was only a dependency of the powerful Gupta dynasty of Magadha, as the neighbouring city of Sâketa is specially said to have belonged to them. "Princes of the Gupta race," says the Vâyu Purana, "will possess all those countries; the banks of the Ganges to Prayâga, and Sâketa, and Magadha."‡ From this time Srâvasti gradually declined. In A.D. 400 it contained only 200 families; in A.D. 632 it was completely deserted; and at the present day the whole area of the city, excepting only a few clearances near the gateways, is a mass of almost impenetrable jangal.