Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.655

c6.655

Śrāvastī declined in wealth, population and political importance. Anāthapiṇḍika, the famous donor of the Jetavana monastery, died penniless after having spent fifty-four crores on the erection of the Vihāra, lost eighteen crores in business and eighteen crores by the action of the river Aciravatī which swept away his hoarding on its bank (*Dhammapada Commentary*, III, 10). From the days of Buddha to about the middle of the 12th century A.D. this city with its most important establishment the Jetavana, continued to be the centre of Buddhism linking up with the vicissitudes of a great religion through a passage of about 1,800 years. For further details vide B. C. Law, *Śrāvastī in Indian Literature* (*M.A.S.I.*, No. 50); B. C. Law, *Tribes in Ancient India*, pp. 129ff.; *A.S.I.R.*, I, 330ff.; XI, 78ff.; *A.R.A.S.I.*, 1907/08, 81ff.; 1910/11, pp. 1ff.