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Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c30: Chapter XXII: Education in the Seventh Century A.D.

Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c30

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English

Chapter XXII: Education in the Seventh Century A.D.

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[*Account of Hiuen Tsang (Yuan Chwang)*]

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**Period of Hiuen Tsang’s Travel in India.** We now turn to the evidence of Hiuen Tsang who followed Fa-Hien after an interval of nearly two centuries. Although during that interval there had been steady intercourse and exchange of visits between China and India, there have not been, unfortunately, preserved any records of the travellers concerned.

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Hiuen Tsang travelled for sixteen years (A.D. 629–645) through Central Asia and India (excluding the South and Ceylon, of which he gives only a hearsay account).

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**The object of his travel and its success.** The object of his travels was “to visit the holy land of his religion, to see its far-famed shrines, and all visible evidences of the Buddha’s ministrations, to procure the sacred books of his religion in their original language and to learn the true meaning of their doctrines from orthodox pundits in India” (p. 11, ed. Watters, to be referred to throughout). The traveller brought with him to his native land no less than 657 sacred books of Buddhism, “images of the Buddha and his saints in gold, and silver, and crystal, and sandalwood,” together with “many curious pictures, and, above all, 150 relics, true relics of the Buddha”, which had to be “borne on twenty horses” (p. 12).

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**Its Difficulties.** The Chinese regard for India and her culture expresses itself in the Chinese designation, *Yin-tu*, given to the country. According to Hiuen Tsang, the term means “moon”, and is applied to India because, like the moon, India is the only country which, through a regular succession of great sages, illumined the spiritual darkness in which humanity was merged at the setting of the sun of the Buddha (p. 138). It was the intense yearning after Indian wisdom that fortified the heart of Hiuen Tsang against the dangers and difficulties of his extensive travel which were even greater in his case than in that of his predecessor, Fa-Hien. “He had been where no other had been, he had seen and heard what no other had ever seen and heard Alone he had crossed trackless wastes tenanted only by fierce ghost-demons.

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Bravely he had climbed fabled mountains high beyond conjecture, rugged asd barren, ever chilled by icy wind and cold with eternal snow" (p. 12). The difficulties due to man were not less. An imperial edict forbade foreign travel The expected companions of his travel gave up the project. Once a chief, for his truthful-ness, revoked the order for his arrest! Once he had to go without a drop of water to drink for four nights and five days! At another time a royal host became too fond of him to part with him till he had to resort to hunger-strike as a means of release! Within India, while Fa-Hien travelled in perfect safety, Hiuen Tsang was once robbed of everything but his life and, on another occa-sion, while sailing down the Ganges from Kanouj with eighty country-folk, he was seized by a party of pirates as the most suitable human sacrifice for their deity till a storm arose to remind them of the wrath of Heaven and they set free the pilgrim and became his disciples! Even on his return journey Hiuen Tsang had to be conducted to the frontier by a mounted escort under a chief named Udhita (p. 297).

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**His Account of Brahmanical Education.** The facts and conditions of Indian education and culture had considerably changed since Fa-Hien's time. Hiuen Tsang testifies to the ascendancy of Brahmanism as a result of the impetus given to it by the official support of the Gupta emperors. He also noticed the growth and extension of the Mahāyāna schools of Buddhism, though the Hīnayāna school still claimed superiority as regards the number of its followers. Thus at every centre of Buddhism which the traveller chose to visit, he observed not merely the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna monks living either in the same or independent monasteries, but also numerous Deva-temples and Brahmanical sects and devotees "living pell-mell".

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In spite of his chief interest being in Buddhist life and thought, Hiuen Tsang has recorded certain observations on Brahmanical education and culture which are all the more valuable on that score. Hiuen Tsang speaks on them from his personal experience and first-hand study, uninfluenced by any prejudice in their favour. We propose to deal with his notices of Brahmanical education first.

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**Ascendancy of Brahmanism and Sanskrit : Its many Sects.** The ascendancy of Brahmanism in his time is demonstrated by the fact that the general name for India was "Country of the Brahmans". Says the traveller: "Among the various castes and clans of the country, the Brahmins were purest and in most esteem. So from their excellent reputation the name ‘Brāhmaṇa-country’ had come to be a popular one for India” (p. 140). The predominance of Brahmanism is further evident from the fact that Sanskrit became at that time the language of the cultured classes in which even wrote all the most famous Buddhist teachers. Hiuen Tsang regards the spoken and written language of “Mid-India” as at once the parent and the standard of all the dialects of “North India”: “The people of mid-India are pre-eminently explicit and correct in speech, their expressions being harmonious and elegant, like those of the Devas, and their intonation clear and distinct, serving as rule and pattern for others. The people of neighbouring territories and foreign countries repeating errors until these became the norm, and emulous for vulgarities, have lost the pure style” (p. 153). The vitality of Brahmanism was further manifested in the growth of numerous ascetic orders or sects, each distinguished by its own special garb: “Some wear peacocks’ tails; some adorn themselves with a necklace of skulls; some are quite naked; some cover the body with grass or boards; some pull out their hair and clip their moustaches; some mat their side-hair and make a top-knot coil. Their clothing is not fixed and the colour varies” (p. 148). Elsewhere Hiuen Tsang describes some of them as “professed Sectarians, Digambaras, and Pāṁśupatas, and those who wear wreaths of skulls as head ornaments” (p. 123). In another place (vol. ii, p. 47) he records: “Some of these cut off their hair, others made it into a top-knot; some went about naked and some smeared themselves with ashes.”

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**Study of Vedas.** As regards Brahmanical education, the students had to “learn the four Veda treatises”, viz. the Āyurveda, the Yajūr-Veda, the Sāmaveda, and the Atharva-Veda. Hiuen Tsang’s account of the contents of these works shows that he had very little direct knowledge of them. His omission to mention the Rigveda is probably due to the fact that he “had in view those Vedic works which were then in writing and known to or owned by the Brethren in North India. Some of these Buddhists were converted Brahmins, and it was perhaps by some of them as has been suggested, that the Vedas were reduced to writing” (Watters’ note, p. 160).

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**Oral Method of Teaching.** Instruction was imparted orally and characterized by much earnestness and painstaking labour on the part of the teacher. The pedagogic method followed was that of trying to quicken and rouse the latent powers of thinking in the student and lead him on to conclusions. The methods of teaching are thus described: "These teachers explain the general meaning and teach them the minutiae; they rouse them to activity and skilfully win them to progress; they instruct the inert and sharpen the dull. When disciples, intelligent and acute, are addicted to idle shirking, the teachers doggedly persevere, repeating instruction until their training is finished."

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**Period of Studentship.** The period of studentship was fairly long. It was ended when the pupil was thirty years old, when "their minds being settled and their education finished, they go into office". Hiuen Tsang refers to the practice referred to in the earlier Smṛitis of the retiring students paying the preceptor his fees for educating them. "The first thing they do then is to reward the kindness of their teachers."

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**Ascetics consecrating their lives to Learning.** But the race of Naishṭhika Brahmachārīs, who chose to consecrate themselves to lifelong studentship and celibacy in quest of learning and truth, was not extinct in India in Hiuen Tsang's time. The description given of these noble bands of seekers after truth by the Chinese traveller is well worth quoting: "There are men who, far seen in antique lore and fond of the refinements of learning, are content in seclusion, leading lives of continence. These come and go (lit. sink and float) outside of the world, and promenade through life away from human affairs. Though they are not moved by honours or reproach, their fame is far spread. The rulers treating them with ceremony and respect cannot make them come to court. Now as the State holds men of learning and genius in esteem, and the people respect those who have high intelligence, the honours and praises of such men are conspicuously abundant, and the attentions private and official paid to them are very considerable. Hence men can force themselves to a thorough acquisition of knowledge. Forgetting fatigue, they expatiate in the arts and sciences; seeking for wisdom while relying on perfect virtue they count not 1,000 *li* a long journey. Though their family be in affluent circumstances, such men make up their minds to be like vagrants, and get their food by begging as they go about. With them there is honour in knowing truth (in having wisdom), and there is no disgrace in being destitute."

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**Such Asceticism proves success of Indian Education.** Here is one of the best presentations of the essentials of that system of culture which is the unique achievement of the Hindu genius.

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Brahmanical education, indeed, stands justified by its results. The highest aim of a school of learning is to produce in its alumni an absorbing love of learning for its own sake. The ancient Hindū schools of learning poured out streams of scholars in whom the love of learning grew up to be the overmastering passion subduing all other passions of the human heart and compelling the consecration of their entire life to its satisfaction. The pedagogic methods pursued in these schools were not the mechanical, soulless, and oppressive ones which crush out the very taste for learning in the students when they leave them, as is so often the case with most modern schools. They were living and natural methods that, under the congenial conditions of education they created, helped the seeds of thought in the tender minds committed to it to germinate and fructify, to generate in the young learners a spirit of inquiry, of the quest of truth which is the highest gift a teacher can bestow upon them. Thus it was that Knowledge or Truth could claim so many votaries in ancient India, as was noticed by the foreign traveller. A special value attaches to his statements because, as has been already pointed out, they come from a foreigner free from any pro-Indian bias and also from an eye-witness who speaks from his personal observation and experience and not from the evidence of antiquated records or idealizing texts of religion.

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The second feature noticed by Hiuen Tsang in Brahmanical culture-system is the universal honour paid to learning by the kings and public at large. The honour was paid because it was not sought. This means that the learned men combined intellectual superiority with moral. In their sincere and earnest quest of Learning they renounced everything that might interfere with it, not merely goods and chattels, but even the tender ties of domestic love. They sought pleasure in learning alone and "honour in only knowing truth". With their life thus simplified and their wants reduced, they preferred poverty to affluence and beggary to an assured maintenance, as least disturbing to their Quest of the Ideal.

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Thirdly, as observed by Hiuen Tsang, these votaries of Learning "left the world to give the law unto the world". They left society only to qualify themselves for serving it better as teachers and preachers, lecturing and travelling through the country without knowing any fatigue and thus aiding in the spread of learning and public instruction. A system that can ensure a permanent supply of qualified men giving themselves up to the service of the country by a life of complete self-denial, of continence and celibacy, of poverty, beggary, and wandering homelessness, can stand comparison with any other system in the world.

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**Account of Buddhist Education.** We shall now deal with the conditions and circumstances of Buddhist education as observed by our traveller. Many were the centres of that education and the monks availing themselves of it. In the time of Hiuen Tsang Buddhist thought was represented by a good number of schools, each of which claimed and counted many monasteries specializing in the study of its doctrines and practices. We shall now refer to these institutions¹ in the order in which they are mentioned by our traveller.

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¹ In the notice of these institutions we shall include only such as were seen to be actually working by our traveller and not these which were in ruins.

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**Monasteries seen by Hiuen Tsang : Gaz.** In the country of Gaz he noticed more than ten monasteries with 300 monks of the Sarvāstivādin school (p. 114).

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**Bamian.** In Bamian "were some tens of Buddhist monasteries with several thousands of Brethren" of the Lokottaravādin school (p. 116).

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**Kapis.** In Kapis "were above 1,000 monasteries with more than 6,000 brethren who were chiefly Mahāyānists" (p. 123). Here was the Chinese hostage's monastery where our pilgrim was lodged and entertained during the rainy season of A.D. 630. It had then 300 brethren, all Hīnayānists. The Kapis, a monastery, along with two other monasteries in Gandhāra and Chīnabhukti, in eastern Panjab, was built by Kanishka for the residence of hostages surrendered to him by a tributary state of the Chinese empire. A pit in the monastery contained a buried treasure given to it by the hostages whose representations in painting adorned its walls. Religious services on their behalf were also annually offered at the beginning and end of the Rain-season Retreat by the grateful monastery. The monastery had some caves at a distance where the hostages practised *samādhi*, Part of the buried treasure was unearthed by Hiuen Tsang for the purpose of some urgent repairs to the building (p. 125). There was another monastery in the neighbourhood built by a statesman named Rāhula (p. 126).

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**Lampa (Laghman).** In the country of Lampa (Laghman) there were above ten Buddhist monasteries with only a few Brethren, mostly Mahāyānists, the non-Buddhists being very numerous (p. 181). The country is known for at least one distinguished Buddhist scholar, a Brahman, who visited China and translated in A.D. 700 from Sanskrit into Chinese a work of magical invocations (p. 182).

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**Nagarkot.** Nagara-kot had many Buddhist establishments but few Brethren in them (p. 183).

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**Gandhāra.** In Gandhāra, once a flourishing seat of Buddhism, "the majority adhered to other systems of religion" (p. 199). "There were above 1,000 Buddhist monasteries in the country, but they were utterly dilapidated and untenanted" (p. 202). These monasteries produced some of the greatest Buddhist scholars, such as "Nārāyana-deva (unidentified), Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Dharmatāra Manoratha (unidentified), and Pārśva" (ib.). The capital of the country was Purusha-pura, famous for the great Vihāra built by Kanishka, where there were still "a few Brethren, all Hīnayānists" (p. 208). Prior to Nālanda, it was perhaps the most celebrated Buddhist College of ancient India. "From the time it was built it had yielded occasionally extraordinary men, and the Arhats and Śāstra-makers by their pure conduct and perfect virtue were still an active influence" (ib.). Here lived Pārśva, with his chamber still marked off, who converted the celebrated Brahman teacher of Mid-India named Aśvaghosha. Here was also marked out the chamber where Vasubandhu composed the *Abhidharma-kośa-śāstra*, as well as that where Vasubandhu's teacher, Manoratha, composed his *Vibhāshā-lun* (p. 211).

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**Pushkarāvatī.** From the Kanishka monastery, the pilgrim came to the city of Pushkarāvatī (modern Hashṭanagar) where lived many Buddhist sages from Mid-India. It was here that Vasumitra composed his *Abhidharma-prakaraṇa-pada-śāstra* (p. 214). Close by was an old monastery where there were still a few Hīnayāna monks. "In it Dharmatrāta composed his *Tsa-abhidharma-lun* (unidentified)."

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**Palusha.** The city of Palusha had a monastery with above fifty Hīnayāna brethren, where "the Master of Śāstras, Īśvara, composed *Abhidharma-ming-cheng-lun* (not traced)" (p. 217). In the neighbourhood were two Mahāyāna monasteries (p. 218) with few Brethren.

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Hiuen Tsang, by the way, visited the city of Śalātura famous as "the birthplace of the Ṛishi Pāṇini" (p. 221).

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**Udyāna.** Udyāna was once a flourishing seat of Mahāyāna Buddhism. with 1,400 monasteries inhabited by 18,000 Brethren lining the two banks of its river, most of which were now in ruins. The few monks that lived there "occupied themselves with silent meditation; they were clever at reciting their books without penetrating their deep meaning; they lived strictly according to their rules and were specially expert in magical exorcisms". Their course of studies included the five redactions of the Vinaya of the Hīnayānists, although they were themselves Mahāyānists, viz. Dharmagupta, Mahīśāsika, Kāśyapīya, Sarvāstivādin, and Mahāsāṁghika (p. 226).

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**Bolor.** The next centre of Buddhist learning visited by Hiuen Tsang was Bolor, where he found "some hundreds of Buddhist Monasteries and some thousands of Brethren who were without definite learning, and were very defective in their observance of the rules of their Order" (p. 240).

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**Taxila.** From Bolor the pilgrim comes to Taksha-śilā, where the numerous old monasteries were now in ruins and the Brethren, who were all Mahāyānists, very few (ib.). At some distance from the city was "an old ruinous Monastery occupied by a few Brethren", where the great Sautrāntika Doctor of Buddhism, by name Kumāralabdha (recognized as one of the "four Suns illuminating the world" with Aśvaghosha, Deva, and Nāgārjuna), once composed his expository treatises (p. 245).

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Towards the northern confines of Taksha-śilā, near the great Mānikyāla Tope, was a monastery with above 100 Mahāyāna monks (p. 255), which was seen about the beginning of the fifth century A.D. to be a large establishment with about 5,000 Brethren by another Chinese pilgrim monk (note of Watters, p. 256). There were also in that locality two other monasteries of Mahāyāna school, one with few and another with 200 Brethren (ib.).

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**Kashmir.** Hiuen Tsang next visits Kashmir, where Buddhism was very flourishing. From the *Life* we gather that he entered the country by its western approach, passing on the way several Buddhist monasteries in which he performed worship and at one of which, the Hushkapura-Vihāra, he spent a night. On his arrival, he was lodged for the first night in the Jayendra Monastery and was transferred next day to the palace where the king appointed some score of Brethren headed by the illustrious Bhadanta (or? Yasa) to wait on him. He also had the Scriptures read and expounded by Hiuen Tsang and appointed as his assistants twenty clerks to copy out MSS., besides five other men as his attendants. The pilgrim spent here two years, studying certain Sūtras and Śāstras and visiting Buddhist sacred places. He gives 100 as the number of monasteries then existing and 5,000 as the number of the Brethren living therein (pp. 258–261). Regarding the history of Buddhism in Kashmir, Hiuen Tsang relates the legend of its introduction by the Arhat Madhyāntika, the disciple of Ānanda, and of the settlement of 500 Arhats from Pāṭaliputra during the reign of Asoka in 500 monasteries built by that emperor (pp. 265, 267). These Arhats founded the Sthavira school in Kashmir as distinguished from the Mahāsaṁghika school formed by the Brethren from whom they separated (p. 269). Among the existing monasteries of Kashmir, Hiuen Tsang mentions one containing above 300 Brethren with "a tope built for a Tooth-relic of the Buddha", another with a standing image of him, and another fine large old monastery on a mountain, of which only a two-storeyed building in one corner was inhabited by thirty Mahāyāna Brethren, which was famous as the dwelling-place of the Śāstra-master, Saṁghabhadra (p. 280). In the neighbourhood was another small monastery famous for its 'old boy', the great Śāstra-master, Skandhila (ib.). At a distance from the capital, the pilgrim noticed two other monasteries, one called the Merchant's-wood Monastery, where wrote the Śāstra-master Pūrṇa, and the other a Mahāsaṁghika Monastery with above 100 inmates, where wrote the Śāstra-master Bodhila (p. 282).

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From Kashmir the pilgrim passed through Punach and Rajaori, with five monasteries in ruins in the former and ten in the latter, with few Brethren (p. 284).

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**Cheh-ka.** Next he comes to the Cheh-ka country between the Beas and the Indus, where there were only ten Buddhist monasteries. The capital of the country was Śākala, with a monastery containing about 100 Brethren, all Hīnayānists, where Vasubandhu composed a work (p. 291).

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**Chīnabhukti.** The next place visited is Chīnabhukti with ten monasteries, in one of which, named "Pleasure-giving" monastery, was a monk named Vinītaprabha, distinguished for his learning and piety and the son of an Indian prince, under whom Hiuen Tsang studied various Abhidharma treatises for a period of fourteen months (p. 292).

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**Tamasāvana.** The pilgrim next comes to the famous Tamasāvana Monastery, the Brethren from which were invited by Asoka to his Council. Hiuen Tsang found there above 300 Brethren of the Sarvāstivādin School who were thorough students of the Hīnayāna (p. 294). The Monastery was also famous as having had as its pupil the Śāstramaster Kātyāyanīputra (ib.), who wrote here one of his works.

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**Jālandhara.** Jālandhara had more than fifty monasteries with over 2,000 Brethren of both Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna schools (p. 296). In one of these monasteries, the Nagaradhana Vihāra, Hluen Tsang found the learned brother named Chandravarma with whom he spent four months, studying an Abhidharma work, as related in the *Life* (p. 297).

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**Kuluto.** In Kuluto there were twenty monasteries with more than 1,000 Mahāyāna monks (p. 298).

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**Mathurā.** The next centre of Buddhism was Mathurā, with more than twenty monasteries and 2,000 Brethren of both Vehicles (p. 301). The same number of monasteries is mentioned by Fa-Hien.

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**Sthāneśvara.** At Sthāneśvara Hluen Tsang found three Buddhist monasteries with more than 700 Hīnayāna monks (p. 314). In the neighbourhood was the Govinda Monastery "with high chambers in close succession and detached terraces" where the Brethren "led pure strict lives" (p. 316).

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**Śrughna.** In Śrughna, "there were five Buddhist monasteries and above 1,000 Buddhist ecclesiastics, the majority of whom were Hīnayānists, a few adhering to other schools. The Brethren were expert and lucid expounders of abstract doctrines and distinguished Brethren from other lands came to them to reason out their doubts" (p. 318). It is also stated that these five monasteries were built at the places where these Śāstra-masters from other lands defeated in discussions the Tīrthikas and Brahmans to commemorate their victories (p. 319). One of these learned Doctors of Buddhism was Jayagupta by name, as we learn from the *Life*, with whom Hiuen Tsang stayed one winter and half of the spring following and "when he had heard all the *Vibhāshā* of the Sautrāntika School" he continued his journey (p. 322).

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**Matipura.** At Matipura, "there were above ten Buddhist monasteries with above 800 Brethren, mostly adherents of the Sarvāstivādin school of the Hīnayāna" (ib.). In the neighbourhood was a small monastery famous as the place where "the Śāstra-master Guṇaprabha composed above 100 treatises" (ib.). At a distance from it was another monastery with above 200 Brethren, all Hīnayānists, where the Śāstra-master, Saṁghabhadra, who was "a profound scholar in the Vaibhāsha śāstras of the Sarvāstivādin school" ended his life (p. 325). He was the contemporary of Vasubandhu, the great Buddhist Doctor far-famed as peerless in dialectics, the author of Abhidharmakośa-śāstra, to refute whose doctrines Saṁghabhadra had left a treatise (ib.). From the *Life*, we learn that Hiuen Tsang remained for several months in this district, studying the work of Guṇaprabha named *Tattvasandeśa-śāstra* and that he met hèra a ninety-year old disciple of his, Mitrasena by name, who was a profound scholar in Buddhist learning (p. 328).

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**Brahmapura.** At Brahmapura "there were five Buddhist monasteries with very few Brethren" (p. 329).

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**Goviśana.** At Goviśana, a centre of Hinduism, "there were two monasteries with above 100 Brethren, all Hīnayānists" (p. 331).

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**Ahichchhatra.** At Ahichchhatra "there were above ten Buddhist monasteries, and more than 1,000 Brethren, students of the Sammitiya School of the Hīnayāna" (ib.).

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**Vilaśāna.** At Vilaśāna, a Hindu centre, "there were two Buddhist monasteries with 300 Brethren, all Mahāyāna students" (p. 332).

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**Saṁkāśya.** At Saṁkāśya, or Kapitha, "there were four Buddhist monasteries with above 1,000 Brethren, all of the Sammatiya School" (p. 333). Near the capital was a large monastery containing "representations of Buddhist worthies in the highest style of ornament" (ib.), and peopled by "some hundreds of Brethren of the Sammatiya school" with myriads of lay dependents living outside it.

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**Kanyākubja.** At Kanyākubja, Hiuen Tsang noticed 100 monasteries with more than 10,000 Brethren of both the Vehicles (p. 340), showing a great increase of Buddhism from the time of Fa-Hien who found here only two monasteries. Kanyākubja was then under the rule of the great king Harshavardhana of the Vaiśya caste, with his headquarters at Kanouj. He gave a great impetus to Buddhism by prohibiting the use of animal food, erecting thousands of topes on the banks of the Ganges and Buddhist monasteries at the sacred places of the Buddhists. "Once a year he summoned all the Buddhist monks together, and for twenty-one days supplied them with the regulation requisites. He furnished the chapels and liberally adorned the common halls of the monasteries. He brought the Brethren together for examination and discussion, giving rewards and punishments according to merit and demerit. Those Brethren who kept the rules of their Order and were thoroughly sound in theory and practice he 'advanced to the Lion's Throne' (that is, promoted to the highest place), and from these he received religious instruction; those who, though perfect in the observance of the ceremonial code were not learned in the past, he merely honoured with formal reverence; those who neglected the ceremonial observances of the Order, and whose immoral conduct was notorious, were banished from his presence and from the country" (p. 344).

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In Kanyākubja the pilgrim remained for three months in the Bhadravihāra, studying with the learned Buddhist monk, Vīryasena, the *Vibhāshā* by Buddhadāsa (p. 353).

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**Navadevakula.** From Kanyākubja he goes to Navadevakula with three monasteries containing 500 Sarvāstivādin monks (p. 352).

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**Ayodhyā.** In the Ayodhyā country "were above 100 monasteries and more than 3,000 Brethren" of both Vehicles. The pilgrim noticed some old monasteries associated with the great Buddhist scholars, Vasubandhu, Śrīlabdha (the Sautrāntika), and Asaṅga (p. 355).

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**Hayamukha.** Then comes the Hayamukha country "with five monasteries with above 1,000 Brethren" of the Sammatiya school and in the neighbourhood another with above 200 Brethren, which was once the abode of Buddhadāsa (p. 359).

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**Prayāga.** Prayāga was a centre of Brahmanism with only two Buddhist establishments and very few Brethren, all Hīnayānists (p. 361)

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**Kosambī.** In Kosambī there were more than ten monasteries, all in ruins, with only 300 Hīnayāna Brethren (p. 366). In the neighbourhood were the old Ghositārāma and sundry old buildings associated with Vasubandhu and Asaṅga, who wrote there (p. 370).

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**Viśoka.** The country of Viśoka had above twenty monasteries with 3,000 Sammatiya Brethren and another large monastery where wrote the great Buddhist scholars, Devaśarman and Gopa, and where Dharmapāla "held a discussion for seven days with 100 Hīnayāna Śāstra-masters and utterly defeated them" (p. 374).

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**Śravastī.** In Śrāvastī, Buddhism was in decline, with hundreds of its old monasteries mostly in ruins, with but few Brethren, all Sammatiyas, inhabiting them (p. 377), where Fa-Hien had noticed ninety-eight (in some texts eighteen)

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monasteries, all, except one, peopled (p. 380). Hiuen Tsang finds the Jetavana Vihāra in desolate ruin (p. 382).

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**Jetavana Vihāra.** We may notice in this connection the past history of the Jetavana Vihāra and university as recovered from the Chinese texts by Watters (p. 386): "The original Jetavana monastery, which was probably neither very large nor substantial and was not well protected, was destroyed by fire in the Buddha's lifetime. After the death of Sudatta, the place was neglected as there was no one to look after the grounds and buildings. A new Vihāra was afterwards built on a greater scale, but this also was burnt to the ground. At one time, we read, the place was utterly abandoned by the Buddhist Brethren and was used as the king's stables, but the buildings were again rebuilt and reoccupied by Buddhist monks. In its palmy days before its final destruction and abandonment, the Jetavana monastery must have been a very large and magnificent establishment," with the extent of its Park given as 130 square acres and with 120 buildings of various kinds: "There were chapels for preaching and halls for meditation, messrooms and chambers for the monks, bath houses, a hospital, libraries, and reading rooms, with pleasant shady tanks and a great wall encompassing all. The libraries were richly furnished not only with orthodox literature but also with Vedic and other non-Buddhistic works, and with treatises on the arts and sciences taught in India at the time."

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**Kapilavastu.** In the Kapilavastu country were remains of above 1,000 monasteries and only one existing monastery with above thirty Sammatiya monks in it (p. 1, vol. ii).

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**Rāmagrāma.** In Rāmagrāma "was the Śrāmaṇera monastery so called because its temporal affairs were always managed by a śrāmaṇera or unordained Brother". In Fa-Hien's time it "was a recent institution; Hiuen Tsang found in it only a small number of brethren who were very civil and hospitable" (p. 21).

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**Vārāṇasī.** In the Vārāṇasī country where the people were known for their devotion to learning and were mainly followers of "the other systems", there "were above thirty Buddhist monasteries with more than 3,000 Sammatiya Brethren" (p. 47).

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**Sarnath.** At Sarnath was still existing the famous Deer-park Monastery dating from the time of the Buddha. It was in eight divisions, all enclosed within one wall; the tiers of balconies and the rows of halls were extremely artistic; there were 1,500 Buddhist Brethren, "all of the Sammatiya school" (p. 48).

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**Ghazipur.** In the district of Ghazipur "were above ten monasteries with nearly 1,000 Brethren" of the Little Vehicle (p. 59). Near the capital was the Abiddhakarṇa Saṁghārāma, "built for the use of Buddhist pilgrims from Tokhāra" (p. 60), and a few Mahāyāna monasteries in ruins.

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**Vaiśālī.** In the Vaiśālī country there were some hundreds of Buddhist establishments, all of which, except three or four, were in ruins and deserted. In the neighbourhood of the capital was a monastery with a few monks of the Sammatiya school (p. 63). "It must have been distressing for our pilgrim to go over the waste jungle-covered ruins of a district which he had known from the Buddhist scriptures to have been once very flourishing" (p. 77). He comes to the Śvetapura Monastery in the neighbourhood, "having sunny terraces and bright-coloured halls of two storeys," where the brethren "were strict in their lives" and Mahāyānists (p. 79). The *Life* tells us that here the pilgrim obtained a copy of the Mahāyāna treatise, Bodhisattva-piṭaka (p. 80).

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**Vṛiji.** In the Vṛiji country, the pilgrim saw monasteries above ten in number, with less than 1,000 Brethren, followers of both Vehicles (p. 81). In the neighbourhood was another monastery with "a few Brethren good and learned".

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**Nepal.** The pilgrim next visited the Nepal country where he found monasteries counting "above 2,000 Buddhist ecclesiastics" (p. 83).

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**Magadha.** In the country of Magadha he found "above fifty monasteries and more than 10,000 ecclesiastics" of the Mahāyāna school (p. 86) He refers to the old monastery of Kukkuṭārāma, now in ruins, where the Buddhists once lived along with the Tīrthikas, calling meetings by gong-beating. Once at a public discussion appointed by the king, the Buddhists were defeated by the Tīrthikas and had borne their humiliation for twelve years until the great Buddhist scholar, Deva, a disciple of Nāgārjuna in South India, obtained his master's permission to go to Pāṭaliputra city and meet the Tīrthikas in discussion who were utterly defeated in a twelve days' discourse by him (p. 100).

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**Tiloshika Vihāra.** Between 40 and 50 miles in a south-west direction from the Kukkuṭārāma, and about 20 miles to the west of Nālanda was the large and famous establishment of the Ti-lo-shi-ka monastery, originally "erected by the last descendant of King Bimbisāra", having "four courts with three-storeyed halls, lofty terraces, and a succession of open passages. It was the rendezvous of eminent scholars who flocked to it from all regions ". Hiuen Tsang found in it above 1,000 Brethren, all Mahāyānists (p. 105). From the *Life*, we learn that at the time of our pilgrim's visit, there lived in the monastery the learned Buddhist doctor, by name Prajñābhadra (p. 106).

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**Guṇamati Vihāra.** Another famous monastery in the neighbourhood was one on the slope of a mountain with its high bases backed by the ridge and chambers hewn out of the cliff, which "was built in honour of Guṇamati Bodhisattva who here vanquished in discussion the great Sāṁkhya doctor, Mādhava " (p. 108). This Guṇamati, associated with Sthiramati and distinguished with him at Nālanda for the elegance of composition, was from Valabhī in Western India (p. 109).

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**Śīlabhadra Vihāra.** Not far from the Guṇamati Monastery, on his way from Pāṭaliputra to Gayā, was another famous monastery built by the Śāstra-master Śīlabhadra, originally a scion of the Brahmanical royal family of Samataṭa, who, travelling through India in search of the wise, came to Nālandā and received instruction under Dharmapāla, of whose disciples he became the most eminent. A brahman of South India having come to Magadha to challenge the learning of his guru, Śīlabhadra utterly defeated him, and was rewarded by the king with the gift of a city which, however, he did not accept for himself as a monk but devoted to the endowment of a monastery (p. 110).

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**Mahābodhi Vihāra.** We next come to the pilgrim's account of the Great Monastery known as the Mahābodhi Saṁghārāma in Gayā built by a former king of Ceylon. "Its buildings formed six courts with terraces and halls of three storeys enclosed by walls between 30 and 40 feet high; the sculpture and pointing were perfect." "There were nearly 1,000 ecclesiastics, all Mahāyānists of the Sthavira school, and all perfect in the Vinaya observances" (p. 136).

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**Nālandā.** Hiuen Tsang next gives a detailed account of the famous Nālandā Monastery which is reserved for a separate treatment for the many important and interesting facts it gives regarding the working of that university.

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In the neighbourhood of the Nālandā Monastery were two other monasteries, one with the Haṁsa tope (where, according to a legend, Hīnayāna Brethren adopted Mahāyāna, changing their creed), and the other called the Pigeon Monastery (p. 175), with over 200 Sarvāstivādin Brethren. There was another small monastery in the locality which had above 50 Brethren all Hīnayānists (p. 176).

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**Monghyr.** Next the pilgrim comes to the district of Mount Īraṇa identified with modern Monghyr where were above ten monasteries and more than 4,000 Brethren, most of whom were Hīnayānists of the Sammatiya school. To these monasteries were added recently by a Buddhist neighbouring king, who had conquered the capital, two monasteries, each of which had 1,000 Brethren of the Sarvāstivādin school (p. 178). From the *Life* we learn that the pilgrim remained at the capital for a year studying the Vibhāshā-lun and another Abhidharma work under the teachers, Tathāgatagupta and Kshāntisiṁha (p. 180).

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**Champā.** In the Champā country were some tens of monasteries mostly in ruins, with above 200 Brethren, all Hīnayānists (p. 181).

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**Kajangala.** In the country of Kajangala, modern Rājmahal, were six or seven monasteries with above 300 Brethren (p. 183).

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**Puṇyavardhana.** In Puṇyavardhana there were twenty monasteries and above 3,000 Brethren following both the Vehicles. In the neighbourhood was a magnificent monastery with "spacious halls and tall storeyed chambers, and 700 Brethren" of Mahāyāna school, among whom were many distinguished monks from "East India" (p. 184).

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**Kāmarūpa.** Kāmarūpa was a centre of Brahminical religion and learning, of which the king, Bhāskaravarman or Kumāra, was a great patron who attracted for study there men of ability from distant lands. He treated accomplished Śramaṇas with great respect and invited our pilgrim to visit him (p. 186).

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**Samataṭa.** Thence our pilgrim came to the country of Samataṭa on the sea-side where were more than thirty monasteries and above 2,000 Brethren, followers of the Sthavira school (p. 187).

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**Tāmralipti.** The country of Tāmralipti had ten monasteries and more than 1,000 Brethren (p. 190).

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**Karṇasuvarṇa.** In Karṇasuvarṇa (according to Fergusson to be identified with the districts of Burdwan, Birbhum, and Murshidabad) were more than ten monasteries and above 2,000 Brethren, all of the Sammatiya school (p. 191). There were also three other monasteries of the sect of Devadatta. Near the capital was the Raktāmrita Monastery (modern *Rāṅgāmāṭi*), "a magnificent and famous establishment, the resort of illustrious Brethren" which "had been erected by a king of the country before the country was converted to Buddhism to honour a Buddhist Śramaṇa from South India who had defeated in public discussion a boasting disputant of another system also from South India" (p. 191).

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**Uḍra.** In the country called Wu-Tu or Oṭa (i.e. Uḍra, Odra, modern Orissa) was Buddhism very flourishing with "above 100 monasteries and a myriad Brethren, all Mahāyānists". Towards the south-west was the Pushpagiri mountain monastery with another hill-monastery in the locality (p. 193).

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**Kalinga.** Kalinga was more Brahmanical than Buddhistic, with only above ten monasteries and 500 Brethren, "students of the Mahāyānist Sthavira school system" (p. 198).

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**Southern Kosala (Vidarbha).** Southern Kosala (identified by Cunningham with Vidarbha or Berar) had "above 100 monasteries and about 10,000 Brethren, all Mahāyānists", and was famous as the home of the great Nāgārjuna for whom the king of the country had quarried in a mountain a wonderful five-storeyed monastery, probably the Pigeon Monastery of Fa-Hien. "The monastery had cloisters and lofty halls; these halls were in five tiers, each with four courts, with temples containing gold life-size images of the Buddha of perfect artistic beauty. It was well supplied with running water, and the chambers were lighted by windows cut in the rock... In the topmost hall was the library and in the lowest were the laymen attached to the monastery and the stores, and the three intermediate halls were the lodgings of the Brethren" (p. 201). Here the great scholar Deva who had come from 'Sengkala' to have a discussion with Nāgārjuna became his disciple. The king, who was the patron and friend of Nāgārjuna, was a Sātavāhana ('Sha-to-po-ha') and as the Sātavāhanas ruled from second century *B.C.* to the third century *A.D.* Nāgārjuna's date falls within that period. The mountain of his monastery is identified with that on which stands the famous Hindu temple of Śrī-Śailam by Burgess.

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**Andhra and Vengi.** The Andhra country (Telingāna, according to Cunningham, and Vengi, according to Fergusson) had "twenty odd monasteries with more than 3,000 Brethren. Near the capital was a large monastery with a succession of high walls and storeyed terraces wrought with perfect art, and containing an exquisite image of the Buddha". In the neighbourhood was an isolated hill on the ridge of which was a stone tope where was composed his treatise on Logic by Chen-na identified with the famous Buddhist scholar Diṅnāga, originally an orthodox Brahman of Kāñchi who later joined the Vatsīputra sect of the Hīnayāna school, from which he was expelled by his teacher whom he had displeased and transferred himself to the school of Vasubandhu. He sojourned for some time in Nālandā where he was victorious in his discussions with several exponents of various schools (pp. 209, 212).

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**Dhanakaṭaka (Bezwada).** In the country of Dhanakaṭaka (modern Bezwada) was a crowd of ruined monasteries, of which "about twenty were in use with 1,000 Brethren, mostly adherents of the Mahāsaṁghika system". Near the capital were the Pūrvaśilā and Avaraśilā monasteries built on steep hills the sides of which were utilized in their construction curiously identified by Burgess with the great Amarāvatī Tope. According to the *Life*, the pilgrim spent here several months, studying "certain Abhidharma treatises of the Mahāsaṁghika school with two local brethren whom he in turn instructed in Mahāyāna scriptures" (p. 217). In the neighbourhood is a mountain-cliff [identified as "the isolated steep mountain to the south of Bezwada" (p. 221)], associated with the famous Buddhist scholar Bhā(va)viveka, author of two works in which he makes use of Sāṁkhya terminology in explaining the system of Nāgārjuna.

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**Chola Country.** The Chola country was the country of Tīrthikas with the Buddhist monasteries in ruins, but Buddhism was more flourishing in the Dravida country with "more than 100 monasteries, with above 10,000 Brethren, all of the Sthavira school" with its capital Kāñchipura (but Negapatam according to Fergusson) famous as the birth-place of Dharmapāla. The capital had "a large monastery which was a rendezvous for the most eminent men of the country" (p. 226). From the *Life* we learn that at the time of Htuen Tsang's visit the capital was visited by 300 Bhikshus of Ceylon who had left the island in consequence of famine and revolution there. On the pilgrim telling them of his intended visit to Ceylon for instruction, they told him that there were no Brethren there superior to them. Then the pilgrim discussed some Yoga texts with them and found that their explanations could not excel those given to him by Śīlabhadra of Nālandā (p. 227).

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**Koṅkana.** The next seat of Buddhism was the Koṅkaṇa country with its "more than 100 monasteries and 10,000 Brethren who were students of both Vehicles. Close to the capital was a large monastery with above 300 Brethren all men of great distinction" (p. 237).

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**Mahārāshṭra.** The pilgrim next came to the Mahārāshṭra country then under Pulakesin II where there were above 100 monasteries and 5,000 Brethren of both Vehicles. Near the capital were an old monastery and another on a mountain range with its lofty halls and deep chambers quarried in the cliff with a temple, of which the walls had depicted on them the incidents of the Buddha's career as Bodhisattva. The monastery was built by Āchāra of West India and is supposed by some to be no other than the famous Ajaṇṭā Caves (p. 240).

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**Bharoch.** The next country visited is Bharoch where "were above ten monasteries with 300 Brethren, all students of the Mahāyānist Sthavira school" (p. 241).

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**Molapo (Mālwa).** Mo-la-po (Mālava) was a flourishing Buddhistic centre with "some hundreds of monasteries and more than 20,000 Brethren belonging to the Sammatiya school of the Hīnayāna" under the patronage of its great king Śīlāditya who had reigned for sixty years before the pilgrim's arrival and had instituted the custom of holding every year a great religious assembly of Brethren called from all sides, each of whom was "presented with the three robes and religious requisites, or with precious valuables". "This fine work had been continued for successive generations without interruption" (p. 242).

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**Kita (Kachchha).** In the country of Kita (probably Kạhchha), the pilgrim found more than ten monasteries and 1,000 Brethren who were adherents of both Vehicles (p. 245).

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**Valabhī.** Valabhī "had above 100 monasteries with 6,000 Brethren, adherents of the Hīnayāna Sammatīya school" under its King Dhurvabhaṭa (son-in-law of Harsha and nephew of Śīlāditya of Mo-la-po) who was a sincere believer in Buddhism. "Not far from the capital was a large monastery erected by Āchāra (more probably Achala) in which the famous Buddhist scholars, Guṇamati and Sthiramati, had lodged and composed treatises which had great vogue" (p. 246).

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**Ānandapura.** Ānandapura had "more than ten monasteries with nearly 1,000 Brethren belonging to the Hīnayānist Sammatīya school" (p. 247).

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**Surat.** In Surat "were more than fifty monasteries with above 3,000 Brethren, the majority being students of the Mahāyānist Sthavira system" (p. 248).

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**Kuchelo.** In the Ku-che-lo country with its capital Bhilmala "was only one Buddhist monastery with above 100 Brethren who were adherents of the Hīnayānist Sarvāstivādin school" (p. 249).

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**Ujjeni.** In Ujjeni which was a Brahmanical centre "there were some tens of Buddhist monasteries of which the majority were in ruins, and only three or four were in a state of preservation; the Brethren, who were students of both Vehicles, were above 300 in number" (p. 250).

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**Chitor.** In Chitor, another Brahmanical centre, were "some tens of monasteries with a few Brethren" (p. 251).

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**Sind.** In Sind where the inhabitants were "thorough believers in Buddhism", "there were several hundreds of monasteries and above 10,000 Brethren all of the Hīnayānist Sammatīya school. Most of these were indolent worthless persons" but there were some superior Brethren of whom many attained arhatship (p. 252).

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**Parvata.** In the Po-fa-to (Parvata) country to the north-east of Multan (probably the region of Jummoo in Kashmir were "above ten monasteries and 1,000 Brethren, adherents of the two Vehicles". By the side of the capital was a large monastery with above 100 Mahāyānist Brethren where lived the great Buddhist scholars Jinaputra, Bhadraruchi, and Guṇaprabha. The monastery was now in ruins (p. 255). From the *Life* we learn that the pilgrim stayed two years in this place studying with a few learned Brethren he had found there (p. 256).

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**Kachchheśvara.** South-west from Sind the pilgrim came to a country with its capital called Kachchheśvara where "there were above eighty monasteries with above 5,000 Brethren, the most of whom were of the Hīnayānist Sammatīya school" (ib.).

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**Lankala (Mekran).** In the country called Lankala (probably the eastern part of Mekran) which was subject to Persia "there were above 100 monasteries and more than 6,000 Brethren of both Vehicles". This place was on the way to the "West-Woman-Country", probably the same as the Strīrājya in the north-west division of the *Bṛihat Saṁhitā* (p. 257).

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**Pitāśilā.** In the Pitāśilā country were "above fifty monasteries and more than 3,000 Brethren, all of the Hīnayāna Sammatīya school". Here was another "old monastery built by the great Arhat Mahākātyāyana" (p. 258).

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**Afantu.** In the A-fan-tu country which was under Sind, there were "above twenty monasteries with 2,000 Brethren, of whom the majority belonged to the Sammatīya school" (p. 259).

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**Falana (Gomal).** In the country of Fa-la-na (identified with the valley of the Gomal River) were some tens of monasteries of which many were in ruins and above 300 Brethren, all Mahāyānists (p. 262).

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**Approximate number of Monks and Monasteries seen by the Chinese Pilgrim.** Here ends Hiuen Tsang's account of Buddhist education in India. The account shows that though the period of Harsha and Hiuen Tsang was one of 'decline for Buddhism in India, yet the number of monks and monasteries was fairly large. The monasteries that were seen to be in working order and tenanted by monks numbered approximately 5,000 (excluding those which Hiuen Tsang describes as being dilapidated and deserted). The total number of the monkish population in the parts of India visited by Hiuen Tsang (including Ceylon) was as high as 212,130. This number was distributed as follows among the various sects or schools of Buddhism then flourishing:—

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| 1. *Sthavira*: | | | | |
| In Gayā . | . | . | . | 1,000 (in a Vihāra founded by a Ceylon king). |
| „ Samataṭa | . | . | . | 2,000 |
| „ Kalinga | . | . | . | 500 |
| „ Dravida | . | . | . | 10,000 |
| „ Ceylon | . | . | . | 20,000 |
| „ Bhroach | . | . | . | 300 |
| „ Surat . | . | . | . | 3,000 |
| | | | | 36,800 |
| 2. *Sammatiya*: | | | | |
| In Ahichchhatra | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| „ Saṁkāśya | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| „ Hayamukha | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| „ Viśoka | . | . | . | 3,000 |
| „ Kapilavastu | . | . | . | 30 |
| „ Benares | . | . | . | 3,000 |
| „ Sarnath | . | . | . | 1,500 |
| „ Monghyr | . | . | . | 4,000 |
| „ Karṇasuvarṇa | . | . | . | 2,000 |
| „ Mālava | . | . | . | 20,000 |
| „ Valabhī | . | . | . | 6,000 |
| „ N. Sind | . | . | . | 10,000 |
| „ Karachi | . | . | . | 5,000 |
| „ Pitāśilā | . | . | . | 3,000 |
| „ Avanda (?) | . | . | . | 2,000 |
| „ Ānandapura | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| | | | | 63,530 |

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