On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c17.s1.40

v2.c17.s1.40

The summary account here given by Yuan-chuang differs considerably from the history of Virūḍhaka as related in the Buddhist books. Thus some authorities represent king Prasenajit as demanding from the Sakyas of Kapilavastu one of their daughters to be his queen in order that he might have an attraction for the Buddha in his palace.¹ The Sakyas, 500 in number, consider the demand in council. They fear to refuse, yet they cannot depart from their law which forbids the marriage of their females with aliens. Their President (or Elder) Mahānama gets them out of the difficulty by sending his daughter by a female slave (or, according to one version of the story, the slave herself) to be the king's bride. But there is also a different account which represents Prasenajit as falling in love with a kind and thoughtful young maiden who turns out to be a slave of the Sakya Mahānama.² The King demands the girl from her master, who had seized her for arrears of rent due to him by her late father as his agent. The master gladly complies with the King's request, and the slave-girl becomes queen. In due course she bears a son, the prince who receives the name Virūḍhaka (or Viḍūḍabha or Vaidūrya). When this son grows to be a boy he is sent to Kapilavastu to learn archery and other accomplishments, becoming a young prince in the household or under the supervision of Mahānama, supposed to be his maternal grand-father. But the night of his arrival at the city is spent in the New Hall or Chapel, and the young Sakyas, in the circumstances described by the pilgrim, treat the prince with rudeness and violence, or, according to others, after he has left, they speak of him very contemptuously and treat his presence in the Hall as a defilement of the building. In the course of time Virūḍhaka succeeds his father as King of Kosala, having played foully for the Kingdom. One of his first acts after his accession was to collect an army for the invasion of Kapilavastu, and the punishment of its inhabitants for their wanton insults to him in the days of his boyhood. On his way, and when only a short distance from Śrāvastī, he had the memorable interview with the Buddha seated under a dead tree as already related. When the Buddha left the Sakyas to the terrible fate which they made for themselves the king renewed the invasion. While his forces were encamped in the neighbouryood of Kapilavastu, the Sakyas in the city, following the Buddha's advice, resolved to shut themselves up within the walls aud make a passive resistance. But one man Shê-ma (that is, perhaps Sama, Mr. Rockhill's Samaka) living at a distance from Kapilavastu, took up arms against the invaders, defeated them, and slew many thousands of them.¹ According to the account followed by Yuan-chuang there were four country-men who fought and repulsed the invading enemy. As the fighting had taken place without the sanction of the Sakyas, and against their decision to make only a passive resistance, the brave patriot (or patriots) not only did not receive any recognition from the besieged clansmen, but actually had to undergo the punishment of expatriation. The crime of Śama (or of the four heroes) was that he, a Kshatriya and a member of the Buddhist community, had taken human life, and caused it to be taken, in violation of the principles to which they were all vowed. When Virūḍhaka found that the Sakyas would not fight he attacked their city the gates of which were opened to him through bad advice. He then destroyed the buildings of Kapilavastu, and massacred all its inhabitants except a few who managed to escape.¹