Manual of Indian Buddhism c7.s8.68

c7.s8.68

Our information regarding the external history of N. Buddhism from the second to the eighth century is very fragmentary. Numerous inscriptions dating from Kaniṣka, and ranging over a period of more than two centuries show that the Faith prospered at Mathurā, though Jainism would seem to have been predominant. From other sources we gather that the Church was in a flourishing condition in Kabul, Kashmir, N. W. India². The epigraphic evidence from Kārli, Nāsik and Amarāvatī proves that the Faith had many fervent devotees in W. and S. India. Some of the inscriptions dating from the time of Sri-Pulimāvi or Puḷumāvi — the Siri-Polemios of Ptolemy —, consequently from the second century, teach us that the sanctuary and monastery of Amarāvatī belonged to the Caitikas, a subdivision of the Mahāsāṅghikas; the latter possessed the shrine at Kārli, and the Bhadrāyaṇīyas a cave in Nāsik³.