Tribes in Ancient India c50.351

c50.351

Fā-Hien came to Pāṭaliputra in the fifth century A.D. The Chinese pilgrim was so much impressed by the glory and splendour of the city that he says that ‘the royal palace and halls in the midst of the city were all made by spirits which Aśoka employed, and which piled up the stones, reared the walls and gates, and executed the elegant carving and inlaid sculpture-work in a way which no human hands of this world could accomplish’. There was in the city a Brahmin named Rādhasāmi, a professor of the Mahāyāna system of Buddhism. By the side of the tope of Aśoka there was also a Hinayāna monastery. The inhabitants of the city were rich, prosperous and righteous.⁴ Fā-Hien further gives an interesting description of a grand Buddhist procession at Pāṭaliputra.⁵