Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c32.s6.32

c32.s6.32

In a.d. 557, China was visited by a learned mission of four Indian monks, including the two Āchāryas, Jñānabhadra and Jinayaśas, with their two disciples, Yasogupta and Jinagupta. Jinagupta became the most famous of these, as the author of thirty-six Chinese works including a rendering of *Buddha-Charita* and *Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka*. He was a native of Gandhāra, a citizen of Purushapura (Peshawar), and a Kshatriya. At 7 he became a monk and joined the Mahāvana Vihāra. Jinayasas was his Upādhyāya and Jñānabhadra his Ācharya. At 27 he joined his teachers to form a company of ten travellers to China, of whom only four named above survived the hardships of the journey and reached China in A.D. 557. The emperor had a new temple constructed for the residence of the Indian monks who translated there several Sanskrit works. After A.D. 577 there came to power a dynasty hostile to Buddhism, as already related, so that the Indian monks had to leave China. Jinagupta came to live among the Turks, and met in their country the Chinese Mission returning from India and held up there, as already narrated. Chinese politics took a favourable turn with the return to power of a pro-Buddhist dynasty in A.D. 581, as already stated, when the Chinese Mission from India found a safe passage to China, with their precious baggage of Sanskrit works for the translation of which the emperor appointed a Board of scholars under Narendrayasas and, later, under Jinagupta recalled from Turkish territory. He was assisted in his work by an Indian monk and two Chinese monks, while ten other Chinese monks were appointed to revise the translations and see that they preserved the original sense. Lastly, two more Chinese scholars were added to the Board for making the translations as perfect as possible. This combination of Sanskrit and Chinese scholars on the Board of Translators made its work very efficient. Jinagupta thus translated thirty-seven works, including a few astronomical texts. He died in A.D. 600 at 78.