Manual of Indian Buddhism c7.s8.71

c7.s8.71

Fa Hian found Buddhism very flourishing in Udyāna, Pañjāb, Mathurā, and in a satisfactory condition more eastward. He does not mention the college at Nālanda, which in the 7th century was the chief centre of Buddhist learning⁴. The great patron of the Faith in the 7th century was the celebrated Harṣa or Harṣavardhana, surnamed Śīlāditya by Huen Thsang, who describes that king as a fervent Mahāyānist, but tolerant and benevolent towards all sects, the Hinayānists excepted⁵. Now, it cannot be doubted that Harṣa had Buddhist sympathies. As we know from the Harṣacarita, his sister Rājyaśrī, widow of Grahavarman, had become a Buddhist nun⁶. Independently from other information tending to the same effect, the utterances of the Chinese traveller impress us with the conviction that in general the relations between the Buddhists and the various shades of Hinduism were peaceful; bitter enmity only raged between Hinayānists and Mahāyānists. Instances like that of Śaśāṅka, king of Karṇa-Suvarṇa, who is stigmatized as hostile to the Faith, are isolated⁷.