On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c19.93.4

v2.c19.93.4

The kaṣa robe which his two companions brought is represented as having been put on “the Buddha-seat of Mahābodhi”. It is possible that the beautiful image made by Maitreya may have been transferred to the great monastery. Yuan-chuang does not seem to have actually seen this image, and all his information about it seems to have been obtained from others. He gives us to understand, indeed, that the image was not to be seen by all visitors. As the brahmin Temple was made by a Śaivite brahmin for his own worldly advancement it may have been neglected and allowed to fall into decay. It does not seem to be impossible, however, that it may be the present old ruins which Cunningham calls the “Mahābodhi Temple”. The reader will remember that the Tibetans tell of a Dri-gtsan-k'an, that is, a gandha-kūṭa or temple to Buddha at the Bodhi-maṇḍa. In this temple, which was originally nine storeys high, was an image of Buddha which had a curious history. The temple was built by a converted young brahmin named Dge-ba, that is Kalyāṇa, “the virtuous” or “auspicious”, the youngest of three brothers. The making of the image was undertaken for him by divine artists, and they required seven days within which to finish the work. But on the sixth day the mother of Kalyāṇa insisted on seeing the image to console her in death. It was shewn to her as it stood unfinished, but the artists disappeared and the image remained incomplete.