History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.311

v7.c91.311

¹⁶⁴⁴ The words in the Aśokāvadāna No. 29 (the Divyāvadāna ed. by Cowell and Neil, Cambridge, 1886, p 434) 'यावत् पुष्यमित्रो यावत्संङ्घारामं भिक्षूंश्च प्रघातयन् प्रस्थितः। स यावच्छाकलमनुप्राप्त.। तेनाभिहितम्। यो मे श्रमणशिरो दास्यति तस्याहं दीनारशतं दास्यामि। ** यदा पुष्यमित्रो राजा प्रघातितस्तदा मौर्यवंशः समुच्छिन्नः।'. Puṣyamitra is said by most authorities to be a Śuṅga and was called *senānī* in the Purāṇas, in Harṣacarita (VI) and in the Ayodhyā Inscription (in E I. vol. 20 p. 54), while the above *avadāna* calls him Maurya. This shows either the ignorance of the writer of the Divyāvadāna (which is a late work) or the text itself may be incorrect or corrupt. Vide Pro. of the 6th Indian History Congress (Aligarh, 1943) pp 109-116 where Mr. N. N. Ghosh propounds the theory that Puṣyamitra did persecute Buddhists, though his successors did not, on the other hand Dr Ray Chaudhari in 'Political History of India' (5th ed.) does not agree to the theory of persecution by पुष्यमित्र In the Āryamañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa (T. S S part III, 53rd chapter pp 619-620) it is stated in a prophetic vein that a certain king called Gomimukhya (and also Gomīṣaṇḍa) extending his rule from East India to Kashmīr will make Buddha's *śāsana* (system) disappear, will destroy *vihāras* and kill monks'. K. P Jayaswal in 'Imperial History of India in a Sanskrit text' (p. 19) holds that Gomimukhya is a concealed name for *(Continued from last page)* Puṣyamitra, that the portion above quoted was written about 800 A D and was translated into Tibetan in 1060 A D. (Intro. p 3). Vide 'Puṣyamitra and the Śuṅga Empire' by Ramaprasad Chanda in I H.Q. vol V pp. 393-407 at p. 397 (for the concluding sentences of the Divyāvadāna in English) and pp. 587-613 and a recent paper on 'Puṣyamitra Śuṅga and Buddhists' by Hari Kishore Prasad in JBRS. vol. 40 pp. 29-38