History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t7.1

v5.c74.t7.1

Kāñcī is one of the seven holy cities of India (vide p. 678 n. 1535 above) and one of the most ancient towns in southern India. If we rely on the tradition recorded by Hiouen Thsang who stayed in Kāñcī about 640 A. D. it would follow that Buddha frequented the region around Kāñcīpura and that Kāñcī had a *stūpa* about 100 feet high built by Aśokarāja (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. II. p. 230). Hiouen Thsang informs us that Kāñcī was 30 *li* (or about 5½ miles) in circuit, that in his day there were eighty Deva temples and that there were many heretics called Nirgranthas (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. II. pp. 228-229). The next important datum is the mention of Kāñcī-puraka (resident of Kāñcīpura) in the Mahābhāṣya on Vārtika 26 to Pāṇ. IV. 2 104 (Kielhorn, vol. II. p. 298). Several early records relating to the ancient history of the Pallavas of Kāñcī (of about 250 to 350 A. D.) have been published, such as the Mayidavolu plates of Yuvamahārāja Śiva-skandavarman (E. I. vol. VI p. 84), the Hirahadagalli Inscription of the 8th year (E. I. vol. 1. p. 2), and the Talgunda Pillar Inscription of Kadamba Kākusthavarman (E. I. vol. VIII p. 24). The Allahabad Praśasti of Samudragupta (Gupta Inscriptions ed. by Fleet p. 7) states that Samudragupta vanquished Viṣṇugopa, king of Kāñcī (Kāñceyaka), in the first half of the 4th century A. D. In the 'Maṇimekhalai' there is an elaborate description of the town of Kāñcī where Maṇimekhalai ultimately attained to enlightenment (vide S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar's 'Manimekhalai in its historical setting' p. 20). It is not necessary for the present purpose to refer to the numerous inscriptions about the Pallavas and Kāñcī and the large number of papers contributed to learned Journals. Reference may, however, be made to the careful and scholarly work 'History of the Pallavas of Kāñcī' by R. Gopalan (1928), which brings together all relevant data published up to the date of its composition.