On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c14.36

v1.c14.36

Before we take up again the thread of our pilgrim's account of Kanyākubja we may add a few words about the great king who treated him with such marked distinction and kindness. This king, Śīlāditya or Śrī-Harshadeva or Harsha, "the Akbar of the ‘Hindu period’ of Indian history", was not only a great and successful warrior and wise and benevolent ruler: he was also an intelligent devoted patron of religion and literature, and he was apparently an author himself. His father had been a sun-worshipper; but he himself, while retaining publicly the religion of his father, and tolerant and liberal to other sects, was evidently strongly attached to Buddhism. As to his literary tastes we learn from I-ching that the king once called for a collection of the best poems written: of the compositions sent in to him 500 were found to be strings of jātakas (Jātakamālā). According to this author also Śīlāditya put together the incidents of the Cloud-riding (Jīmūta-vāhana) Bodhisattva giving himself up for a nāga, into a poem to be sung, that is, he composed the "Nagānanda". An accompaniment of instrumental music was added, and the king had the whole performed in public, and so it became popular.¹ The king was also a great traveller, and a seeker after knowledge of various kinds. His information about the martial fame and exploits of the Chinese emperor T'ai-Tsung may have been acquired on one of his expeditions to distant provinces. In the year 641 he sent an envoy to the Chinese Court, and apparently he sent another soon after. His title in the documents connected with the former embassy seems to have been "king of Magadha".