Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.t2.1

v2.c35.s3.t2.1

At the time of Aśoka, therefore, we may hold that there were two centres of the Sarvāstivādins, one at Mathurā with Upagupta as the head of the Saṅgha and the other in Kashmir with Madhyāntika as its founder. It may be that the latter centre became in course of time the seat of the Mūlasarvāstivādins and the Vaibhāṣikas. On account of the popularity of this school in the north, there is no reference to it in the early inscriptions of Central India. Among the donees mentioned in the Barhut and Sañcī inscriptions, the name of this sect does not appear.³ Its name appears in the inscriptions of later dates, like Kamasi inscription,⁴ Set Mahet Image inscription⁵ of the time of Kaniṣka or Huviṣka and inscriptions on the Mathurā Lion Capital.⁶ In the Sārnāth inscription it is incidentally stated that the Sarvāstivādins ousted the Theravādins there and they in turn were overrun by the Sammitīyas in 300 A.D.⁷ There is no reference to the Sarvāstivādins in the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa and the Amarāvati inscriptions.