On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c12.9

v1.c12.9

This passage reads like a romance founded on a basis of fact. The Mahirakula of our pilgrim has been identified with king Mihirakula of Kashmir, and his king Bālāditya of Magadha is supposed to be possibly the Nara Bālāditya of coins.¹ But there are difficulties in the way of accepting these identifications. There is first the difference in the forms Mahirakula and Mihirakula, but this is perhaps unimportant and need not be further noticed. The form Mahirakula seems to be confined to the pilgrim, and he may have used it to suit his erroneous rendering of the name by Ja-tsu or "Great Clan". But the Mihirakula of the Inscriptions began his reign in A. D. 515, while the king of whom Yuan-chuang tells lived "some centuries" before the pilgrim's time. Other authorities also seem to place Mikirakula at a date much before A. D. 515. Thus in the "Lien-hua-mien-ching" or "the sūtra of Lotus-flower-face" Mihirakula, a reincarnation of the Lotus-flower-face arhat, appears as the King who exterminates Buddhism in Kapin (Kashmir) and breaks the Buddha's bowl.² This sūtra must have been composed some time before A. D. 574 the date of its translation (according to one account), and the contents seem to indicate that it was written long after the death of Mihirakula. It relates that after this event seven deva-putras became incarnate in succession in Kashmir, and that they restored Buddhism. The meaning of this evidently is that the king was succeeded by seven sovereigns who were all patrons of Buddhism. Then in the "Fu-fa-tsang-yin-yuan-ching", translated A.D. 472, a persecuting king called *Mi-lo-ku* (彌羅鵠), that is evidently Mihirakula, destroys the Buddhist sacred buildings and slaughters the Brethren in Kapin (Kashmir).¹ He beheads the 23rd, and last (according to this work), of the great Buddhist Patriarchs, by name *Shili-tzu* (師子) that is, Simha. This last event according to the "Chih-yue-lu" occurred in A. D. 259.² No authority is given for this date and it is not to be implicitly accepted, but it is interesting to note that the Rājatarangini makes twelve reigns intervene between Kanishka and Mihirakula. If we allow an average of 15 years for these reigns we get A.D. 80 + 180 or A.D. 260 for the accession of Mihirakula.