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The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c12: Chapter IX. From Kauṭalya to Varāhamihira (c. B.C. 300-600 A.C.)

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c12

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Chapter IX. From Kauṭalya to Varāhamihira (c. B.C. 300-600 A.C.)

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FROM KAUṬALYA TO VARĀHAMIHIRA

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It was a new India, this India of the Guptas—a new stage, new actors, and what is more, a new outlook. Extensive deplomatic relations with foreign powers, military renown of *digvijaya* at home, overthrow of the "barbarians" on the western borderland, international trade, maritime activity, expansion of the motherland, missionising abroad, the blending of races by which the flesh and blood of the population was almost renewed, and social transformation as epoch-making as the first Aryanization itself—all these ushered in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Christian era a thorough rejuvenation and a complete overhauling of the old order of things in Hindustan.

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This is one aspect of the age of Kālidāsa as described twenty years ago in another context.¹

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¹ Sarkar: *Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes* (Shanghai 1916) pp. 208, 217-218, 226.

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A consideration of equal if not greater significance about Kālidāsa was also noted.

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With the establishment of the Guptas at Pāṭaliputra, it was pointed out, we enter modern India. The currency of thought, the conventions and technique of life obtaining in the age of the *Raghuvamśa* are almost the same as today, but the Hindus of the age of the *Arthaśāstra* or even of Aśvaghoṣa's *Awakening of Faith in the* *Mahāyāna* thought in other terms and lived in other spheres.

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And in the message of Kālidāsa’s *Raghuvamśa* we have a synthesis of opposites,—the Machiavellian Kauṭalya shaking hands with the Nirvānist Śākyasimha. Here are secularism and other-worldlyism welded together into one artistic whole, a full harmony of comprehensive life.

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A great deal of the Pali texts—the *Piṭakas* and the *Jātakas*—discussed in a previous connection belongs to the period between the Mauryas and the Guptas (c B.C. 325-A.C. 550). The economic, political, juridical and social data of this vast literature constitute therefore some solid foundations of Hindu positivism for about eight to nine hundred years.

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Two important works in Pali deserve special mention in this connection. They are the Ceylonese chronicles, namely²:

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² B. C. Law: *History of Pali Literature* Vol. II. (London 1933) pp. 518, 548.

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1. The *Dīpavamśa* (Chronicle of the Island of Ceylon) in verse (c 300 A.C.).
2. The *Mahāvamśa* (c 500 A.C.) a reconstruction of the *Dīpavamśa*.

Mahāyāna Humanism

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The Buddhist *milieu* of this period, extensive as it is, has to be seen also in the tremendous amount of literature produced in Sanskrit. Students of Hindu politics as well as Sanskrit language and literature as a rule have bestowed but a stepmotherly attention on this mass of Sanskrit Buddhist texts.

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For the purpose of studies in secular life and institutions these texts are exceedingly valuable. They are mostly in the form of biographies, legends or legendary biographies and biographical legends bearing on Sākya who in most of this literature is not a mere man or monk or prophet, but a veritable god, the Buddha. These stories of new or rather the only Buddhism, i.e., the Buddha-cult, strictly so called, are as important in Indian social and moral thought as the *Jātakas*, the stories of Sākyaism, i.e., of old Buddhism (*Hīnayāna*).

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Although some of these texts bearing on the new Buddhism (*Mahāyāna*) possess psychological and purely "theological" interest, most of them are ethical addressed to the great problem of the remaking of man.

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Some of the more important of the Sanskrit Buddhist texts and their authors are being enumerated below :³

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³ G. K. Nariman : *Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism* (Bombay 1935) pp. 18, 28-36, 41-75, 92-97, 100.

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1. The *Mahāvastu* (the Book of Great Events), the life of Buddha in "mixed Sanskrit" (c B.C. 150—c A.C. 300).
2. *Avadānaśataka* (c 150 B.C.).
3. *Karmaśataka* (c 150 B.C.).
4. Aśvaghoṣa (c 100 A.C.) a contemporary of Kāṇiṣka, and a founder of *Mahāyāna* Buddhism: i. *Buddhacharita*, a poem ii. *Saundarānanda*, a poem iii. *Sutrālamkāra*, legends in prose and verse based on the *Jātakas* and the *Avadānas*.

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5. Nāgārjuna (c 150 A.C.), another founder of *Mahāyāna* :

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i. *Mādhyamikasūtra*
ii. *Mādhyamikakārikā*
iii. *Dharmasamgraha.*

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6. The *Divyāvadāna* (c 200 A.C.) which contains *Aśokāvadāna* in chs. XXVI—XXIX.

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7. The *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka* (Lotus of the Good Law), in prose and *gāthā* (verse) in "mixed Sanskrit" (c 200 A.C.).

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8. The *Karaṇḍavyūha* (c 200 A.C.) of the Bodhisattva, available in two recensions, prose and verse.

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9. The *Sukhāvatīvyūha* (The Land of Bliss) c. 200 A.C.

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10. Āryadeva (c 250 A.C.), described as a great master of Mahāyāna by Itsing and Yuan Chwang.

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i. *Śataka chatuśataka*
ii. *Śatakaśāstra.*

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11. Vasuvandhu Asanga (c 350 A.C.).

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i. *Abhidharmakoṣa* in sūtras and *kārikās*.
ii. *Gāthāsamgraha*
iii. *Paramārtha Saptati*

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12. Āryasūra (c 350 A.C.): *Jātakamālā* (*Bodhisattva Avadāna-mālā*).

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13. The *Lalitavistara* (Life of Buddha) (c 400 A.C.).

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14. The *Lamkāvatāra* (c 550 A.C.).

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15. Śāntideva (c 650 A.C.).

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i. *Śikṣāsamuchchaya*
ii. *Sūtrasamuchchaya*
iii. *Bodhicharyāvatāra.*

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As usual, most of the dates are questionable. The relative chronology also is not to be depended upon.

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It is this Buddhist Sanskrit literature that furnishes the spiritual inspiration for the peoples of Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet. It is to these texts that the "Greater India" movement of the epoch of the first six or seven centuries of the Christian era owed its *raison d'être*.

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In the history of Hindu positivism no documents are more valuable than these Sanskrit Buddhist texts. The *Mahāyāna* mentality is the most profoundly humanist mentality, the *Weltanschauung* of service to mankind and martyrdom in the interest of the oppressed and the suppressed, the lowliest and the miserablest.

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On the one hand, we have in these documents the most glorious Bibles of selfless social service. On the other hand, they contain the most optimistic messages of unending hope, of eternal possibilities of perfection (*pāramitā*) and of the diverse pragmatic ways to salvation for the meanest creature on earth. It is in the atmosphere of these humane and humanitarian stories, legends, ideals and fancies that the energism of men and women for whom the *Artha*, *Nīti* and other technically sociopolitical *Śāstras* were composed was nurtured.

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In Śāntideva's *Śikṣāsamuchchaya* we have a passage describing the ten things by which a Bodhisattva acquires power. The passage is quoted by the author from a work entitled *Tathāgataguhya-sūtra*.⁴ "How, O Great King," it is asked, "a Bodhisattva gives up his body and life, but he does not give up the Good Religion? He bows before all beings and does not allow his pride to rise. He has patience with the feeble beings and does not put any difficulties in their way. He gives up the best excellent food to the beings who are suffering from hunger. He gives security to those beings who fear. He is full of zeal for the complete healing of the sick. He satisfies the poor with riches. He repairs the shrines of the Tathāgata by lumps of plaster. He brings glad tidings to the beings. He shares his possessions with the poor and the unfortunate. He bears the burden of those who are weary and exhausted.''

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⁴ M. Winternitz: "Notes on the *Guhya samaja Tantra* and the Age of the Tantras" in the *I.H.Q.*, March 1933, Haraprasad Memorial.

The Positivism of the Jaina Siddhānta

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To the two classes of Buddhist texts, Pali and Sanskrit, have to be added the Prakrit texts of Jainism. The Jaina canon known as the *Siddhānta* was ''written down'' in present form about 550 A.C. We are to understand, however, that the Jaina social philosophy was a formative force in the intellectual and cultural world of India under the Mauryas, Āndhras, Kuṣaṇas, Vākāṭakas, Bhāraśivas and the Guptas.

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The Jaina *Angas* and *Dasāos* are like the Buddhist texts full of anecdotes and stories. The psychological and ethical discussions or commands in this Prakrit literature are brought out in and through extremely realistic and secular descriptions of villages and cities as well as of economic, political and social life. Works like the *Uvāsagadasāo*⁵ (The Religious Profession of a Uvāsaga), the *Antagada-dasāo*, the *Anuttaro vavai-dasāo* and the like are quite rich in the data of secular life and worldly interests, although meant to be treatises for monks and ascetics. For certain purposes these *Dasāos* may be treated like the *Panchatantra*, the *Kathāsaritsāgara* etc. Certainly they deserve recognition by students of the *Dharma-Artha-Kāma* complex as contributions from the angle of Jaina idealists or Utopists.

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⁵ See A. F. R. Hoernle's translation of the *Uvāsaga dasāo* (Bibliotheca Indica Series, Calcutta 1888); L. D. Barnett's translation of the *Antagadodasāo and Anuttarovavaiya-dasāo* (Oriental Translation Fund, London 1907).

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The positivism of the Jainas is embodied in the doctrine of four gifts (*āhārābhayabhaiṣajyasāstrādāna*).⁶ In the remaking of personality the Jaina social philosophy’s contribution consists in emphasizing the supreme need of service to others. The first service is the gift of food (*āhāra*), the second that of *abhaya* i.e. courage (non-fear or protection), the third that of *bhaiṣajya* (medicine), and the fourth that of *śāstra* (learning).

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⁶ Inscription in Banasamkari temple at Udri in Sorab, Shimoga District, Mysore, cited in R. Shamasastry : *Evolution of Indian Polity* (Calcutta 1920) p. 101.

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The *Siddhānta* comprises 45 texts grouped as follows :⁷

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⁷ Weber’s *Sacred Literature of the Jains* transl. by H. W. Smith for the *Indian Antiquary* (Bombay) October 1888, p. 285.

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| 1. | *Angas* : | 11 or 12 (one missing) |
| 2. | *Upāngas* : | 12 |
| 3. | *Painnas* : | 10 |
| 4. | *Chheda sūtras* : | 6 |
| 5. | *Sūtras* : | i. *Nandī* |
| | | ii. *Anuyogadvāram* |
| 6. | *Mūlasūtras* : | 4 |

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In the Jaina as in the Buddhist atmosphere the gods do not play a prominent part. Nay, in Vedic and post-Vedic Brāhmaṇism also the rôle of the gods, strictly speaking, is rather subordinate. Positivism is the fundamental feature of all the Indian systems.

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In the system of the Vedic Brāhmaṇas it is on account of the efficacy of the sacrifice that the gods are compelled to capitulate (*les dieux se voient obligés de capituler*) and the sacrificer rises to the celestial world and is assured a definite place for the future.⁸ Man is made super-human. It is man and his energy that are really adored through the sacrifices. The *milieu* is humanistic and secular.

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⁸ S. Lévi: *La Doctrine du Sacrifice dans les Brahmanas* (Paris 1898) pp. 9-12.

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This philosophy of the sacrifice pervades not only the *Upaniṣads* but Buddhism and Jainism also in spite of the prejudice of the last two systems against sacrifice. The concept of the *Ṛiṣi* who without the help of the gods and often against their will (*sans l'aide des dieux et souvent contre leur gré*) discovers by the sole force of his intelligence the ritual or the formula which assures the success is the immediate precursor of that of the Buddhas and the Jainas who discover the way to salvation by direct intuition and spontaneous enlightenment. It is not by chance that the sacred words of the *Arhat* and the Buddha figure already in the *Brāhmaṇas*. The very dogmas which these words symbolize reside also there in germ and are already in the process of growth. It is the touch of humanism and positivism that makes the diverse Indian systems kin.

Dharmaśāstras (Smritis)

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The compilers of the leading *Dharma sūtras (śāstras)*⁹ during the epoch from Kauṭalya to Varāhamihira were as follows :
1. Viṣṇu (c 250 A.C.)
2. Śankha (c 300 A.C.)
3. Yājnavalkya (c 350 A.C.)
4. Nārada (c 500 A.C.)
5. Brihaspati (c 550 A.C.)
6. Kātyāyana (c 550 A.C.)

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⁹ P. V. Kane : *History of Dharmasastras* Vol. I. (Poona 1930) pp. 59, 69, 79, 148, 187, 205, 210, 218, Winternitz : *Geschichte* III, 482, 498, 500. See the Chapter on "the concept of law" in A. K. Sen : *Studies in Hindu Political Thought* (Calcutta 1925) pp. 85-134.

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The political (*Artha*) tradition was kept up by the *Dharmaśāstras* during this period as before.

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It is to be recalled, as observed above (p. 203), that the *Dharma* or *Smriti* treatises are mainly books on "private" law (i.e. the law of family and property) while the *Artha* and *Nīti* treatises are books on "public" law (i.e. constitution or polity).

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Let us see a bit of the private law as expounded by Nārada, a leading jurist of the Gupta Empire.

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Nārada's exposition of private law commanded authority as well as a considerable degree of popularity in mediaeval India. A large part of his doctrines was incorporated sometimes without acknowledgment, in the works of subsequent writers on both civil and criminal law, while commentators ascribed to him all sorts of important texts bearing on legal institutions. Definitely secular and legalistic in his approach, Nārada emphasized the rule of reason as a source of law and maintained that where the sacred precept was at variance with custom, the latter should prevail.

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Nārada’s code of law deals in the introductory chapter with legal procedure, complaints and courts of justice. Then the law is classified under eighteen titles similar to those of Manu, except the minor differences and the fact that Nārada eschews entirely the social and religious items contained in the former's encyclopaedic treatise. Nārada's classification includes debt, deposits, partnership, breach of labour contracts, boundary disputes, marital relations, inheritance and heinous offences. Like Manu and Yājnavalkya he is liberal and sympathetic in his treatment of the rights of illegitimates, permitting an illegitimate son to inherit his maternal grandfather’s property (xiii : 18). But he differs substantially from these authorities in that he holds that even the youngest son, “if able,” may govern the family and manage its property (xiii : 5) and allows a father to distribute the property among his sons in whatever proportion he desires (xiii : 4, 15). In his system the widow may inherit part of her husband’s property, while unmarried daughters may share in their father’s estate (xiii : 3, 12, 13). The right to divorce and remarriage is allowed to women on many grounds (xii : 96-101). Books xii and xiii of the *Nārada-smriti* are the embodiments of modernism in ancient Hindu conceptions of property and marriage. As the exponent of a secular and realistic view of the law Nārada appears to be as prominent a figure in comparative jurisprudence as is Śukra in comparative politics.

The Tamil Classics

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A South Indian classic of this period which may be compared to the finest romances of Sanskrit literature and which enables us to feel a bit of the secular interests of Hindu India is the Tamil work, the *Maṇimekhalāi*. The kind of Buddhism propagated in and through it appears to have no reference to the *Mahāyāna* system associated with Āryadeva or Nāgārjuna. The romance is evidently *Hīnayāna* in general features.

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The *Maṇimekhalāi* may perhaps be placed in the first or second century A.C.¹⁰

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¹⁰ S. K. Aiyangar: "The Buddhism of Manimekhalai" in *Buddhistic Studies* (Calcutta 1931) pp. 10, 13, 16.

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South Indian culture was Brahmanized, *Piṭakized* and Jainized in succession. The Sanskritization of Tamil culture proceeded step by step.

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A prosperous epoch of Tamil literature in Southern India may be taken to have been synchronous with the Empire of the Guptas in Northern India, i.e., the age of Kālidāsa, the *Purāṇas* and the *Mahābhārata*. A Tamil classic, the *Kurāl* by Tiruvallu, which in certain sections, reads almost like the *Gītā*, may be referred to this era. This work, recognized as it was by the third Tamil Sangam, deserves a careful analysis by students of social philosophy.

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People have detected the ideas of the *Angas* and the *Āgamas*, i.e., Jainism in this Tamil classic (300 A.C.). On the other hand, it exhibits indebtedness to the Kauṭalyan *Arthaśāstra*, coincidences with the *Kāmandakīnīti*, *Manu Samhitā* and the *Mahābhārata* (*Bhīṣma Parva*).¹¹ Be this as it may, this book of verses, complete as it is in 1330 aphoristic stanzas, is divided into three parts according to *trivarga*, i.e., *dharma*, *artha* and *kāma*. We can then establish to a certain extent a psychological affinity between this South Indian moralist and Bhartrihari, the author of three *śatakas* or centuries of verses, namely, *Śringāraśataka* (on love), *Vairāgyaśataka* (on dispassion), and *Nitiśataka* (on morals and propriety). And in any case the student of positivism can find in this eclectic work a clue to some of the solid foundations of Hindu social life in southern India in the early centuries of the Christian era. It is worth while to observe that *porul* which corresponds to *artha* commands greater attention of the author than the other two interests. Indeed, we may take it almost as a *Kāmandakīnīti* in Tamil.

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¹¹ S. K. Aiyangar: *Some Contributions of South India to Indian Culture* (Calcutta 1925) pp. 125-29, 401; V. V. Aiyar: *The Kural or the Maxims of Tiruvalluvar* (Eng. transl.), Shermadevi, 1935.

The Joy of Life in Literature

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Secularism, *le joie de vivre*, has been the one grand theme of Hindu *belles lettres*. Political incidents and movements were worked upon by all the leading poets and dramatists. Those who study Hindu poetry, drama, fables and stories do not require to read the *Dharma*, *Artha* or *Nitiśāstras* separately. The social philosophy of Kauṭalya and Manu is to be found in this creative literature in an artistic form.

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Among the poets and dramatists who dealt with *Nīti* topics are to be enumerated in a somewhat chronological order the following for the period in question:¹²
1. Bhāsa (c. 350 A.C.): *Avimāraka*.
2. Śūdraka (c. 400 A.C.) *Mrichchhakaṭika*.
3. Kālidāsa (390-460) *Raghuvamśa*.
4. Bhāravi (c. 550 A.C.): *Kirātārjunīyam*.
5. Daṇḍin (c. 550 A.C.): *Daśakumāracharita*.
6. Viśākhadatta (c. 550 A.C. ?): *Mudrārākṣasa*.

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¹² Winternitz: *Geschichte* (1921) Vol. III., pp. 37, 45, 47. Keith: *History of Sanskrit Literature* (1928) pp. 82, 297; Hillebrandt: "Nīti und Mudrārākṣasa" and "Viśākhadatta" in *Jahresbericht der Sächsischen Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Culture* (Breslau, July 1908).

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To the same category as the Sanskrit Buddhist legends but more oriented to *Nīti* or political and social thought are the story-books of "Hindu India." Some of them are being named below:¹³
1. The *Tantrākhyāyika* (c. 350 A.C.)
2. The *Panchatantra* (c. 400 A.C.)
3. The *Brihatkathā* (c. 450 A.C.)
4. The *Hitopadeśa* (c. 500 A.C.)

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¹³ Winternitz: *Geschichte*, Vol. III. p. 37.

The Eighteen Purāṇas

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Each one the eighteen *Purāṇas* is an *Encyclopaedia Indica*. Economics, politics, law, social philosophy and morals constitute therefore a great part of this literature. A very substantial portion of these texts may be taken to have come into shape by the time of the Guptas.

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The *Matsya Purāṇa* brings the dynastic history to the fall of the Āndhras about 236 A.C.¹⁴ In the *Vāyu*, *Brahmāṇḍa*, *Viṣṇu* and *Bhāgavat Purāṇas* the narrative is carried down to the exploits of the Guptas previous to the *digvijaya* (world-conquest) of Samudragupta, say, 335 A.C. As the original authority for the *Matsya* and the *Vāyu* is known to be the *Bhaviṣya Purāṇa*, this last is considered to be the foundation of the entire Purāṇic tradition. The *Bhaviṣya* must have been in existence by 250 A.C. according to Pargiter.

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¹⁴ F. E. Pargiter: *The Purāṇa Text of the Dynasties of the Kali* *Age* (Oxford 1913), pp. vii, xlii, xliii, xvii; *Ancient Indian Historical Tradition* (London 1922) pp. 49-55.

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The *Bhaviṣya Purāṇa* is, it is said, the oldest only in so far as the dynastic lists are concerned. But many of the other *Purāṇas* “must be considerably older.”

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The *Purāṇas* in the form of definite texts existed in the days of Kauṭalya, i.e., the fourth century B.C. as authoritative works.¹⁵

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¹⁵ Pargiter: *Ancient Indian Historical Tradition* (London 1922) p. 55.

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Some of the *Purāṇas*, traces of which are not to be found today must have been known to Gautama (*c.* 550 B.C.) and Āpastamba (*c.* 450 B.C.), authors or compilers of *Dharmasūtras*.¹⁶

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¹⁶ Winternitz: *Geschichte der Indischen Literatur* Vol. I. (Leipzig 1909) pp. 441, 445, 451-480.

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The more important *Purāṇas* came into their present shape by the beginning of the sixth century A.C. They may have been brought together for the first time a few centuries earlier. And, of course, the traditions contained in the *Purāṇas* could be older by many centuries.

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The order in which the eighteen *Purāṇas* are almost uniformly mentioned is given below: 1. *Brahma*, 2. *Padma*, 3. *Viṣṇu*, 4. *Vāyu*, 5. *Bhāgavat*, 6. *Nārada*, 7. *Mārkaṇḍeya*, 8. *Agni*, 9. *Bhaviṣya*, 10. *Brahma-* *vaivarta*, 11. *Liṅga*, 12. *Varāha*, 13. *Skanda*, 14. *Vāmana*, 15. *Kūrma*, 16. *Matsya* 17. *Garuḍa*, 18. *Brahmāṇḍa*.

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The most important single event of Hindu culture under the Gupta Empire or in the age of Kālidāsa is the recasting, reinterpretation and final redaction of most of the great *Purāṇas*. These are the same texts which for over fifteen hundred years have remained virtually the Bibles of the people for social ethics and civic sense. It is to be understood that like the *Dharmaśāstras*, the *Purāṇas* also have been worked upon from generation to generation. It is impossible to establish a single date for an entire *Purāṇa*. Every chapter, sometimes every section will have to be dated on its own internal and external evidences.

The Epics

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It is during this period that the two great epics, the *Mahābhārata*¹⁷ and the *Rāmāyaṇa*, were compiled in the final form. Their value in politics, law, economics etc. is immense.¹⁸

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¹⁷ The *Adiparvan* of the *Mahābhārata* has been for the first time critically edited by V. S. Sukthankar for the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Poona 1933), with the co-operation of Shrimant Balasaheb Pant Pratinidhi, R. D. Karmarkar, A. B. Paranjpye, V. R. Rajavade, N. B. Utgikar, P. L. Vaidya, V. P. Vaidya, M. Winternitz, R. Zimmermann and others.

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¹⁸ E. W. Hopkins: "The Social and Military Position of Ruling Caste in Ancient India as represented by the Sanskrit Epic" (*Journal of the American Oriental Society* 1889); *The Great Epic of India* (New Haven 1920).

Varāhamihira

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The *Brihat Samhitā* of Varāhamihira (c. 505-587) is an *Encyclopaedia Indica* of the time, although of no huge dimensions. It furnishes information as much about climatology and astronomy, architecture and town planning as about the seven-limbed organism, the state. It is a landmark of Hindu scientific thought.

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We may indeed describe this period of nine hundred years as that of scientific growth and development from Pāṇini to Varāhamihira.

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"Treatises" on applied economics known as *Vārttāśāstras* can perhaps be not yet traced back to the Gupta period. But the literature on farming, cattle breeding, commerce and banking is to be found in the *Purāṇas*, the Epics, as well as in the *Brihat Samhitā*. The same remarks apply to the *Śilpaśāstras* (treatises on arts and crafts). No record of Gupta positivism can be complete without due orientations to the secular and "exact" sciences¹⁹ as many of the *Vārttā* and *Śilpa* books are. The subject deserves more than an incidental notice.

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¹⁹ B. K. Sarkar: *Hindu Achievements in Exact Science* (New York 1918).

The Vārttāśāstras

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*Vārttāśāstra* is a new category. *Vārttā* is known to the *Kauṭalyan Arthaśāstra* (Book I) as agriculture, animal husbandry and commerce. The same three professions constitute *Vārttā* in Somadeva's *Nītivākyāmrita* (VI, 1) also (c 950 A.C.). In such a late compilation as the *Śukranīti* (I. lines 305-312) it comprises a fourth item, namely, interest or banking. Of course the subject matter comprehended in *Vārttā* is as old as the Vedic culture-complex. But specialized treatises on *Vārttā* or any of its diverse topics can hardly be traced back even to such recent times as the great age of literary reconstructions, compilations, codifications and redactions, namely, the Gupta Epoch (c A.C. 320-550). The beginnings of *Vārttā* lore as idependent discipline in the thousand and one crafts and industries, occupations and professions, in one word, in the topics of applied economics may however be sought during the period covered by the Vardhanas, Chālukyas, Pālas, Senas, Gurjara-Pratīhāras, Rāṣṭrakūṭas, and Cholas (600-1300). Many of the handbooks on *Vārttā* mentioned among the Sanskrit manuscripts in Aufrecht's *Catalogus Catalogorum* as well as some of the printed texts on this branch of socio-economic science were made use of for the present work in the edition of 1911-14. The English translation of *Śukranīti* served to invite the attention of indologists and sociologists to the different branches of Hindu applied economics from town planning to veterinary science.

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Indeed, a substantial portion of the Vol. I. of the present work as executed in those days was based on *Vārttā* treatises and constitutes as such a contribution to Hindu *Vārttā* or applied economics. The chapters dealing with the data of Hindu mineralogy, Hindu botany (including *Vrikṣāyurveda*) and Hindu zoology (including *aśvaśāstra* and *gajaśāstra*) and along with them of Hindu medicine (*Āyurveda*) are essentially studies in the *Vārttā* positivism of the Hindus.

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'As usual, it is not possible to place many of these works in the proper chronological perspective. Perhaps most of them will have to be placed somewhere between 1300 and 1700. But in Indian literary history every document has its "unwritten" or rather unsystematized and uncompiled or unedited beginnings. The economic (*Vārttā*) treatises of the Hindus also, whether described as *vidyā* (science) or *kalā* (practical art) may perhaps be traced back to the age of Harṣavardhana (606-647). Varāhamihira's (c 506-585) *Brihat Samhitā* leaves no doubt about the existence of *Varttā* materials in the age of the Guptas. It has, besides, to be observed that many of the economic topics dealt with in the treatises of *Vārttāśāstra* are to be found in the *Mahābhārata* and the *Purāṇas* as well as in the *Dharma*-and especially in the '*Artha*-and *Nīti śāstras* whether in connection with the discussions on public finance, functions of the state, demographic structure, social classes, or professional groups.²⁰

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²⁰ For the topics of *Vārttā* (economics) see the notes in B. K. Sarkar: *Śukranīti* (English translation, Allahabad 1914) to which the present work is a preface, "The Economic Foundations of the State in Śukra's Political Theory" (*Modern Review*, Calcutta, 1920-21) which may be conveniently consulted in *The Positive Background* etc. Vol. II, Pt. i, (Allahabad 1921), "Gilde di Mestier e Gilde Mercantili nell' India Antica" (*Giornale degli Economisti e Rivista di Statistica*, Rome 1920), "The Public Finance of Hindu Empires" (*Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science* 1921), "Economics of Indian Guilds" (*Journal of the Indian Economic Society*, Bombay 1921), "Economics in Hindu Thought" (*Indian Historical Quarterly*, Calcutta, 1926); Balkrishna: "Economics in Ancient India" (*Indian Journal of Economics* 1918), "Hindu Taxation System" (*I.J.E.*); N. N. Law: "Vārttā or Hindu Economics" (*Indian Antiquary*, 1918), which may be conveniently consulted in *Studies in Indian History and Culture* (Calcutta, 1925), J. N. Samaddar: *The Economic Condition of Ancient India*, (Calcutta 1923), N. C. Bandyopadhyaya: *Economic Progress in Ancient India*, (Calcutta 1925), J. N. C. Ganguly: "Principles of Hindu Taxation" (*I.H.Q.*, December 1925, March 1926); S. K. Das: *Economic History of Ancient India* (Calcutta 1928), Pran Nath: *A Study in the Economic Condition of Ancient India*, (London 1929), U. N. Ghoshal: *Hindu Revenue System* (Calcutta 1929); K. V. R. Aiyangar: *Aspects of Ancient Indian Economic Thought* (Benares 1934).

The Śilpaśāstras

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While introducing the *Vārttāśāstra* we should perhaps at once enter the domain of *Silpaśāstra*, either as one of the branches of the former or perhaps as almost its twin in the Indian intellectual system. As a category *Śilpaśāstra* possesses by all means an independent status. It deals with the arts and crafts, especially those bearing on architecture, sculpture and painting as well as townplanning. But as belonging to applied economics we may name both *Varttāśāstra* (farming, cattle breeding, trade and banking) and *Śilpaśāstra* (housebuilding and the fine arts) in one and the same breath. It is interesting to observe that in the *Nītiśāstras*, e.g., in our *Śukranīti*²¹ the place of *Śilpaśāstra* is no less important than that of *Vārttāśāstra*. Apart from the fact that the Agni, Matsya, *Viṣṇudharmottara*, and other *Purāṇas* deal with the topics of *Śilpaśāstras* as much as they do with the *Vārttāśāstras*, the independent literature on housebuilding as well as temples, images, paintings, etc. is exceedingly large.

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²¹ The material of the *Śukranīti* has been extensively utilized in B. B. Dutt: *Town planning in Ancient India* (Calcutta 1925) and P. N. Bose: *Principles of Indian Śilpaśāstras* (Lahore 1926). The English translation of *Śukranīti* has been made use of in the most varied forms by students of all sorts of economic, political and social topics during the last quarter of the present century. One is convinced that while the *Kauṭalīya Arthaśāstra* has given rise to researches with special reference to politics, the angles from which the *Śukranīti* have been attacked, thanks to the encyclopædic character of its contents, have been most extensive and diverse. It is possible to assert that in certain fields recent indology has been virtually dominated by Kauṭalya and Śukra. It is worth mentioning and curious at the same time that although *Kāmandakīnīti* was rendered available in English in 1896 it has failed as yet to evoke considerable interest among scholars. See also the chapter on "The Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya and the Nītiśāstra of Śukra" in A. K. Sen: *Studies in Hindu Political Thought* (Calcutta 1926), pp. 135-179.

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The problem of dating in connection with the *Śilpaśāstras* is identical with that in connection with the *Vārttā-* *śāstras*. As in the case of the latter, the materials of the *Śilpaśāstra*²² can be traced in well developed forms at least to the Gupta age, e.g., to the *Brihat Samhitā* (c. 550 A.C.). Nay, in so far as town-planning, the establishment of villages and towns, the erection of buildings, dams etc., and the construction of roads belong to the *Kautalīya Arthaśāstra*, the *Śilpaśāstras* like the *Vārttāśāstras* can to this extent be seen even in that *milieu*.

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²² K. Rangachari: "Town-Planning and House-Building in Ancient India, according to Silpasastras" in the *I.H.Q.*, December 1927, March 1928.

Kāmandakīnīti

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A specialized political text of this period is the *Kāmandakīnīti*.

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It is necessary to observe that Kāmandaka did not depend exclusively on his alleged *guru* (II, 6) Kautalya but drew substantially upon other "old masters" as well. Indeed he offers only *yat kimchit*, i.e., just a bit of the *Arthaśāstra*. The practical items in regard to administration etc.,—the forte of Kautalya—have been excluded in the *Kāmandakīnīti*.

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The *Kāmandakīnīti*²³ excludes the whole of Books II, III, IV and XIV of the *Arthaśāstra* and abridges the others. On the other hand, the doctrine of *maṇḍala* ("geopolitical" sphere) plays an important rôle in this *Nīti* work.

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²³ Jacobi in the *S.K.P.A.W.* 1911, pp. 835-836.

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The *Smriti Śāstras* have for their subject-matter a greater amount of socio-religious topics than are usually dealt with in the *Nīti Śāstras*. Their authorship is, besides, attributed to *Ṛiṣis*, as we have seen in the previous enumeration. The *Ṛiṣi* upon whom *Śukranīti* has been fathered is mentioned in the above list as Uśanas. It is believed that Uśanas or Śukrāchāryya was the latest of the *Ṛiṣis* who meddled in polity, and that since his time the whole science of morals (social, economic and political) called *Nīti Śāstra* has been designated after him.

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Śukrāchāryya himself records the history of the abridgment of *Nīti Śāstras* towards the commencement of his work. “For the good of men”, says he, “Brahmā had spoken that treatise on morals which contained 100 *lakh* i.e., 10 million *ślokas*. By the process of selection the essence of that *Nīti Śāstra* which was an extensive argumentative thesis, has been compiled in an abridged form by Vaśiṣṭha and others like myself for the increase of prosperity of rulers of the earth and others whose life is of short span.”

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The same tradition ²⁴ is otherwise stated by Kāmandaka thus: “Formerly for the protection of creatures Brahmā wrote the science of polity in ten million chapters. Śiva obtained this from Brahmā and epitomised it in ten thousand chapters. His work is called *Vaiśālākṣya* from his name (*Viśālākṣa*, or large-eyed). Indra made an abridgment of it in five thousand chapters, and Śukra into one thousand. Thus it was gradually abridged by the various sages having in view the shortened life of the people around them.”

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²⁴ M. N. Dutt: *Kāmaṇdakāya Nīti Sāra* (Calcutta 1896).

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The *Kāmandakī* is divided into *sargas* or cantos and has been described by the commentator Śankarāchāryya as a *mahākāvya*. This work is not known to the *Tantrā-* *khyāyika* (which quotes the Kauṭalyan treatise), but is quoted by the *Panchatantra* in its later form. Bhavabhūti refers to in the *Mālatīmādhava* and Vāmana (c. 800 A.C.) in the *Kāvyālaṁkāravritti*.

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In Daṇḍin's *Daśakumāracharita* Kauṭalya is known as well as Śukra and Viśālākṣa as propounder of *Nītiśāstra* but not Kāmandaka. The *Kāmandakīnīti* is placed therefore somewhere between Daṇḍin and Vāmana, say, 700-750 A.C. by a certain school of indologists, e.g. Winternitz and Keith. But Jacobi places it somewhere earlier than the third century A.C.

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But some light comes from the Island of Bali in Indonesia or Insulindia. In the introduction to his English translation of the *Kāmandakīya Nītisāra* (Calcutta 1896) M. N. Dutt refers to a report submitted by Frederick to the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences on the *Saṁskrita* literature of Bali. "It appears," says Dutt, "that the most popular work in that island on polity is called *Kāmandakīya Nītisāra*, and all the Sanskrita books there extant are acknowledged to be counterparts of purely Indian originals." The researches of Stamford Raffles and Crawford show, says he further, that "the predominance of Buddhism in the island of Java obliged the Hindu inhabitants of that place to retire in the fourth century of the Christian era, with their household gods and their sacred scriptures to the island of Bali, where they carefully preserved the authenticity of their literature and their religion."

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"It has also been shown by the same authorities", says Dutt, "that since the period of their emigration the Hindu inhabitants of Java and Bali have not had any intercourse with India."

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One may, thereassociated, take it that the Sanskrit texts now available in Bali or elsewhere in Indonesia must have left India previous to the fourth century A.C. The *Kāmandakīya Nītisāra* is one such work and may therefore be believed to have been well known in India in the third century of the Christian era.

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Dutt observes, however, that the contents of the *Kāmandakīya Nītisāra* as found in Bali are unknown. It is "premature", therefore, to argue from the identity of titles the identity of that work with the treatise famous in Indian Sanskrit literature.

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As against the possibility of this suspicion there is the reassuring fact from the Balinese side to the effect that all the Sanskrit texts of that island were obtained from India. That is, no work in Sanskrit appears to have been composed in Bali. The *Kāmandakī* found in Bali was therefore not a Balinese but an Indian work, and as argued above, must have left India by the fourth century.

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The name of Bali in connection with the *Kāmandakī* has created a fresh complication, however.

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A treatise named *Kāmandakīnīti* is found in the "*Kawi*" literature of this land. But the *Blütezeit* or period of splendour for the literature in "*Kawi*" (or mixed i.e. Indonesianized Sanskrit) language cannot be placed before the tenth century.

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This circumstance should however appear to be irrelevant in the present case. The *Kāmandakīya Nītisāra* found in Bali was not a "*Kawi*" but a Sanskrit work. The later development of "*Kawi*" does not therefore affect the fate of the treatise in Sanskrit imported from India. As early as 413 A.C., be it observed, Brāhmans were found in Java by Fa Hien. We may, then, take the *Kāmandakī* as a text of the early Gupta period.²⁵

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²⁵ Winternitz: *Geschichte* Vol. III, (1921), pp. 524-526, R. Friedrich: *Ind. Stud.* II. 133, 145; *J.R.A.S.* 1876, 188); Keith: *History of Sanskrit Literature* (1928) pp. 462-463. On *"Kawi"* and Indonesian culture see H. B. Sarkar: *Indian Influence on the Literature of Java and Bali* (Calcutta 1934) pp. 18-24, 89-90. See also E. Kuhn: *Der Einfluss des arischen Indiens auf die Nachbarländer im Süden und Osten* (Munich 1903), p. 19.

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It is worth while to observe that the Italian indologist Carlo Formichi made use of the *Kāmandakīnīti* in his *Gl'Indiani e la loro scienza politica* (Bologna 1899). In his work entitled *Salus Populi* (Welfare of the People, Turin 1908) also the Hindu political thinker of the age of Kālidāsa was placed in the perspectives of the Italian Machiavelli and the British Hobbes. Formichi observed that all the three thinkers came to the same conclusion each in his own way and without knowing one another. Formichi's translation of the *Kāmandakīnīti* was published subsequently as *I Primi Principi della Politica secondo Kāmandakī* (Rome 1925). He believes that the *Kāmandakī* possesses even today more than an historical interest and is not in any case to be brushed aside as a curio of scientific literature.²⁶

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²⁶ B. K. Sarkar: Hindu Politics in Italian," *I.H.Q.*, 1925 26, also *Pos. Back* Vol. II, Part II.

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In *Alcuni Osservazioni sull' epoca del Kāmandakīya Nītisāra* (Bologna 1899), a paper based on the lecture delivered at the Twelfth Congress of Orientalists (Rome) Formichi contested Bühler's idea that the *Kāmandakī* was a pre-Christian work. In his own analysis the treatise was considered to be posterior to the *Nyāyasūtra* (third or fourth century A.C.) and contemporaneous with the *Brihat Samhitā* (sixth century A.C.), perhaps a little earlier.

Hindu Positivism in Indo-China, Insulindia, Tibet and China

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It is during the early centuries²⁷ of the Christian era that Hindu colonies were firmly established in Burma, Chinese territories like Yunnan, Champa (Annam), and Kamboja (Cambodia) i.e. the entire region comprising Further India, South-west China and Indo-China. Land route for trade can be traced of course as far as the second century B.C. The colonies were the results of military conquest by Indians and promoted the cultural expansion as well of the Hindus.

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²⁷ Pelliot in *Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d' Extrême Orient* 1904, p. 142, in R. C. Majumdar: *Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East* Vo. I. *Champa* (Lahore 1927) p. xiii, See also pp. 21, 27, 34, 48, 157, 159, 184, 234.

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King Bhadravarman, the Hindu ruler of Champa, who dedicated the temple of Myson to Śiva belonged to the fifth century A.C. (*c.* 413). By the first quarter of the sixth century Vijayavarman (*c.* 520-529) was king. About the time the Gupta Empire of India came to an end the Hindu Cham ruler of Champa was Śambhuvarman (565-620).

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An inscription says that Bhadravarman of the fifth century was "versed in the four *Vedas*." Another inscription says that his son Gangārāja abdicated in order to spend his last days on the banks of the Ganges. A third inscription says that Śambhuvarman is not the ordinary name of the ruler but the name he assumed as *abhiṣekanāma* at the time of the coronation or consecration according to Hindu custom. The worship of Śiva as national deity is referred to in the inscriptions about kings Bhadra and Śambhu.

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One can, therefore, feel convinced that the influence of the *Mahābhārata*, the *Dharmaśāstras*, the *Purāṇas*, the *Śilpaśāstras*, and the sixty four *Kalās* in the life and thought of the Cham people in Indo-China about which inscriptions of subsequent ages give information was already at work in the period in question, i.e., from Kauṭalya to Kālidāsa, or at any rate, the first six centuries of the Christian era. No study of Hindu positivism and secular arts and sciences can be complete without adequate emphasis on these aspects of Greater India during this early period.

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The colonisation of Insulindia has also to be placed in the same period. The chronicles of Java connect this island with Bengal and Madras ports. A Gujarati prince (c 75 A.C.) is believed to have been the first colonizer of Java.²⁸

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²⁸ R. C. Majumdar: *Champa* (Lahore 1927) p. xii.

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Not later than the first century A. C. is the reference to Java in the *Rāmāyaṇa* in connection with the search of Sītā. The Sanskrit name of Java, *Javadvīpa* (Isle of Barley), was used by Ptolemy for his *Geography* in the second century. In the fourth century the *vahusuvarṇaka* sacrifice was performed by Mūlavarman, a king with a Hindu name, of Borneo. Canals with Hindu names, Chandrabhāgā and Gomatī, were constructed in western Java by Pūrṇavarman in the fifth century. In 413 Fa Hien was fellow passenger with two hundred Hindu merchants *en route* to Canton from Java. Ten years later Nandī is described as a Hindu ship-owner in whose boat Guṇavarman, the Buddhist missionary of Kashmir, sailed for China. Down to the end of the period we are discussing, that of the Guptas, the Hindus were always in evidence in Insulindia in diverse capacities.²⁹

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²⁹ B. R. Chatterji: *India and Java* (Calcutta 1935) Part I. pp. 1-2, 14, Part II. pp. 7, 17, 20, 28, based to some extent on Krom: *De Sumatraansche Periode der Javaansche Geschiedenis* (1919) and *Hindoe Javaansche Geschiedenis* (1926); R. C. Majumdar: "Indo-Javanese Literature" (*Indian Culture*, Calcutta July 1934).

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The island of Sumatra also was under a Hindu dynasty in the fifth century. The dynasty was known as the *Śailendra* and the territory as *Śrīvijaya* (Modern Palembang). Mahāyāna Buddhism was the faith of the rulers.

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A Buddhist Sanskrit inscription of the Malay Peninsula (West Coast) can be ascribed to the fourth century. The fifth century inscriptions of king Mūlavarman of Borneo are also in Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, again, are the four rock inscriptions of king Pūrṇavarman in western Java. A Sanskrit inscription of the early sixth century refers to the River Gaṅgā.

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It may be inferred that the *Rāmāyaṇa* and the *Mahābhārata* which became so popular in Insulindian³⁰ literature, folk-play, architecture and sculpture were powerful forces in the morals and manners of the people during the Gupta period. We have already discussed this item in connection with the *Kāmandakīnīti*.

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³⁰ H. B. Sarkar: *Indian Influences on the Literature of Java and Bali* (Calcutta 1934) pp. 172-173, 234-235.

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The expansion of Hindu positivism in Tibet is to be seen in the influence of the *Śilpaśāstras* on the architecture, sculpture and painting of the Tibetan people. Literary evidences are forthcoming to the effect that the architectural terminology in connection with the construction of Chaityas used by the Tibetans was derived almost entirely from Indian masters.

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Treatises on iconography are mentioned in the Tibetan translation of Indian texts in the *Tanjur* collection.³¹ The more important documents of Hindu influence in Tibet belong to post-Gupta times.

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³¹ G. Tucci : *Indo-Tibetica*, Part I. *Mc'od Rten e Tsa Tsa nel Tibet Indiano e Occidentale* (1932) reviewed by B. K. Sarkar in the *I.H.Q.* for June, 1934, pp. 382-391.

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The name of Indian missionaries who carried on their work in China during the first two centuries and a half of the introduction of Buddhism is legion. Down to 300 A.C. all the translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese were non-Chinese scholars. While Fa Hien was studying Buddhist culture at first hand in India (399-413) the great Indian missionary Kumārajīva was working in China (385-417). With Kumārajīva and Fa Hien we enter a new era of Indo-Chinese relationships.

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It marks the beginning of an intimate cultural and spiritual union between the two peoples. For the next thousand years the life and activity of human beings from India to Japan were governed by one Asian science, art and philosophy.³² We must remember that the category Buddhism implied in China the entire *corpus* of Indian civilization from algebra to zoology. China, like the other countries of Northern, Eastern and Southern Asia is, then, a vast field for the study of Hindu positivism.

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³² See "A Period of So-called Anarchy in China" in B. K. Sarkar : *Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes* (Shanghai 1916), and Hirth : *The Ancient History of China* (New York, 1908). See also Hackmann : *Buddhism as a Religion* (London 1910); Parker : *Studies in Chiense Religion* (London 1910); Lloyd : *The Creed of Half Japan* (London 1911), Johnston : *Buddhist China* (London 1913).

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The first authentic Indian missionary in China appears to have been Kāśyapa Mātanga of Central India. It was as a guest of the Han Emperor Mingti that Kāśyapa Mātanga arrived at the Imperial capital, Loyang, the site of the present-day Honan-fu in 67 A.C. We ignore, for the present, the legendary traditions to the effect that the Celestials had knowledge of Śākya's teachings already in Chou times (c. B.C. 1122-249). Such legends are at any rate not unplausible in view of the fact that the Indian Asoka (B.C. 273-232) was an ardent embodiment of Śākyan (Buddhist) *appamāda* (energism) on the one hand and of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VII 15) cult of *charaiveti* (march on) on the other, in other words, an active internationalist bent on proselytizing and making converts among all and sundry. It is also a fact of Chinese culture-history that the Han Emperor Wuti (c. B.C. 140) was a great explorer of Central and Western Asia. The chances of the earlier Hans to come into contact with the Hindu arts and sciences are therefore quite conceivable. Historically, however, i.e., from the standpoint of datable events it is convenient to mark the official entry of Hindu culture into China with the advent of the Indian missionary Kāśyapa Mātanga, furnished, as he was, with Buddhist images and scriptures.

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It is not necessary to go into the vicissitudes of Chinese dynastic history. But for the period in question it is necessary to introduce a dichotomy in Chinese politics, namely, the politics of the North as distinguished from those of the South.

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Down to the middle of the third century the centre of Buddhist missionizing activity in North China was located at Loyang (68-265 A.C.). In 265 it was transferred to Changnan, where the work went on with occasional breaks or rather periods of depression down to 581. New centres of this period were located at Ku-chang, Pao-han, Heng-nan and Ye. In Southern China the centre was always at Kien-ye or Nanking from 222 to 589 A.C.

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The conversion of Southern China was consummated to a considerable extent or perhaps almost entirely independently of Northern or Northwestern China. India's contacts with Yunnan in South-western China had been going on by the land-route through Burma since the first century A.C. The sea-route to Southern China is as old as at any rate the second century A.C. Tonkin is to be treated as a part of South China.

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It is not yet possible to get the exact Indian equivalents of all the names given in Chinese.³³ A list is being compiled in the following account showing the dates within which Indian Buddhist missionaries were engaged in translation work at diverse centres.

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³³ The list is based on P. C. Bagchi: *Le Canon Bouddhique en Chine* (Paris 1927) which contains more details about the persons, their names and their activities than Nanjio: *A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripitaka, the Sacred Canon of the Buddhists int China and Japan* (Oxford 1883). This latter as well as Beal: *Buddhist Literature in China* (London, 1882) were utilized for the present author's *Chinese Religion* (1916). Eighty names are given in that work, pp. 237-240. Some of them are different from the names used in the present work based as they are on Bagchi's renderings.

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The names and dates of the Indian scholars who worked at Loyang and Changnan are given below :

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I. 68-220 A.C.: 1. Kāśyapa Mātanga,
2. Dharmaratna,
3. Lokakṣema,
4. Buddhadeva.

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II. 220-265 A.C.: 1. Dharmakāla,
2. Sanghavarman,
3. Dharmasatya (?)
4. Dharmabhadra (?)

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III. 265-316 A.C.: 1. Dharmarakṣa,
2. Kālaruchi,
3. Mokṣala,
4. Nārāyaṇa.

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IV. 384-417 A.C.: 1. Dharmayaśas,
2. Puṇyatrātā,
3. Kumārajīva,
4. Buddhayaśas.

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In the other centres of North China the propaganda was in the hands of the following Indian missionaries :

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I. 302-439 A.C.: 1. Dharmakṣema,
2. Buddhavarman.

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II. 387-534 A.C.: 1. Dharmaruchi,
2. Ratnamati,
3. Buddhasānta,
4. Bodhiruchi.

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III. 534-550 A.C.: 1. Gautama Prajnāruchi,
2. Upaśūnya,
3. Vimokasena,
4. Dharmabodhi.

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IV. 550-557 A.C. : 1. Narendrayaśas. V. 557-581 A.C. : 1. Jñānabhadra,
2. Jinayaśas,
3. Yaśogupta,
4. Jinagupta.

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The South China or Nanking centre was likewise the theatre of literary activity for a large number of Indian scholars some of whom are mentioned below :

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I. 222-280 A.C. : 1. Vighna.

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II. 317-420 A.C. : 1. Śrīmitra,
2. Dharmaratna,
3. Kālodaka,
4. Gautama Sanghadeva,
5. Vimalākṣa,
6. Dharmapriya,
7. Buddhabhadra,
8. Gītāmitra,
9. Nandi.

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III. 428-479 A.C. : 1. Buddhajīva,
2. Īśvara,
3. Guṇavarman,
4. Sanghavarman,
5. Guṇabhadra,
6. Dharmamitra,
7. Kālayaśas,
8. Guṇasatya (?)

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IV. 479-502 A.C. : 1. Dharmakritayaśas,
2. Mahāyāna (?)
3. Sanghabhadra,
4. Dharmamati,
5. Guṇavriddhi.

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V. 503-589 A.C. : 1. Mandrasena,
2. Sanghabhara,
3. Paramārtha,
4. Upaśūnya,
5. Subhūti.

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The names given in the above three lists are not all. Those names which cannot be definitely treated as Indian have been excluded. It is to be observed, further, that anonymous translations from original Sanskrit into Chinese were numerous, and that among the translators of such anonymous works there were evidently many Indians. Incidentally, it is worth mentioning that the bureaus of translation at the diverse Buddhist centres in China comprised not only Indian and Chinese scholars but also "Central Asians" of all races, Parthians, Huns, Afghans, Turks, Sogdians, etc. The inhabitants of Central Asia had become Indianized earlier, of course, than the Chinese and served to help forward the Indianization of China as good Buddhists.

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