- Dr. Radha Kumud Mookherji

  

 

 

For centuries, Kashmir has had close cultural ties with India. The history of Kashmir is derived from various works written in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese. The chief Sanskrit source is the chronicle called the Rajatarangini written by Kalhana in the twelfth century A.D., but the inclusion of confused ancient traditions detracts from its historical value. These traditions have to be examined carefully before they can be accepted as reliable records. The chief Tibetan source is the history of Tibetan Buddhism by Taranatha. The other two sources are mentioned elsewhere in the article.

 

 

 

Beginning from the fourth century onwards, Kashmir emerged into prominence as a part of the Maurya empire, and, under Asoka, it received his special imperial attention in many ways. The Chinese authority, Hiuen Tsang, who visited India in the seventh century AD, and wrote from personal observation, has recorded the tradition then current in Indin regarding Asokat's treatment of Kashmir As a devout Buddhist, the emperor was very anxious to introduce the civilizing influence of Buddhism in Kashmir. Beginnings had been made in this direction by the Arhat Madhyantika, the disciple of Ananda, the chief attendant and comrade of Lord Buddha. The foundations of Buddhism laid by Madhyantika were later strengthened by Asoka who had had as many as coo monasteries built in Kashmir, imported sooarhats from Pataliputra and had them settled in these monasteries. The arhats founded the Sthavira school in Kashmir as distinguished from the Maha-samghika school formed by the Brethren from whom they had separated. According to the tradi! tion recorded in the Rajatarangini, Asoka further beautified Kashmir by constructing a new capital named Srinagar located at a short distance from the modern Srinagar. Asoka's capital is still recognized by the site known as Pandrethan (meaning old town) situated at a distance of about three miles above it. Asoka is further stated to have made a gift of the whole province of Kashmir to the Buddhist Samgha as a fitting gift for its religious cause.

 

 

 

 

 

Kashmir also figures very prominently in the history of Buddhism under the great Kushan Emperor, Kanishka I, who ruled in the first century A.D. over a vast expanse of territory in India and outside, which together constituted a kind of Greater India in those times. Though a foreigner by descent, Kanishka, like his predecessors, came under the influence of Indian thought, especially Buddhism. He studied Buddhist scriptures! With great avidity in his leisure hours under the inspiring guidance of a Buddhist monk who attended the king's palace daily to give him lessons. This teacher was the venerable Buddhist divine named Parsva. In those days, Buddhist thought had its ramifications in a number of sects and schools presenting conflicting doctrines and obscuring the essential principles of Buddhism. Kanishka, hopelessly puzzled by these divergent doctrines, approached his teacher with the suggestion that it was time steps were taken to obtain an authoritative version and exposition of the primary truths of Buddhism. Parsva at once gave his wholehearted approval to the suggestion of the emperor who then set about making arrangements for convening a general assembly of the most learned Buddhist divines and theologians of the day. The first question that had to be settled regarding the proposed assembly was its venue. The king naturally proposed his own capital Purushapura (Peshawar) in Gandhara. But it was objected to because of its uncongenial climate which was at once hot and damp. Then there was a suggestion that the assembly might be held at the historical city of Rajagriha in Magadha where, according to tradition, the first Buddhist Council had met in the time of Emperor Ajatasatru. Eventually, it was decided that the Assembly might be convoked in the bracing climate of Kashmir. A monastery, Kundalavana by name, near Srinagar, was found suitable for the purpose. According to the democratic procedure which was followed by the Buddhist samgha of those days, the Assembly elected as its vice president, Asvaghosha, the famous author, whom, as tradition has it, Kanishka had carried off from Pataliputra as his comrade. The Assembly then commenced its proceedings in which as many as 5oo Buddhist theologians took part, but it was not like the ordinary religious or philosophical conferences of our times where only papers are read. On the contrary, its members devoted themselves to the more difficult and serious task of a thorough exam. ination of the entire Buddhist religious literature from the remotest antiquity and completed their labours by composing at the monastery itself, the place of their meeting, elaborate commentaries on each of the three main divisions of the canon.

 

 

 

The works thus prepared included the Maha-vibhasha which still exists in Chinese and is regarded as an encyclopaedia of Buddhist philosophy. This work is a valuable source of the history of the Fourth Buddhist Council. The vast commentaries emerging from the labours of these learned Buddhist scholars were deposited in a special stupa built for this purpose by an order of King Kanishka. Perhaps, these valuable records may still exist buried near Srinagar and may be unearthed by some archaeological excavation in the future. As soon! as the Council had completed its task, Kanishka announced his donation of the entire kingdom of Kashmir to the Buddhist Samgha after a similar donation by Asoka made earlier. He returned home through the Baramula Pass.

 

 

 

Taranatha records other interesting facts. The Buddhist Council, according to him, was called upon to settle the differences between the eighteen principal Buddhist Schools which were all recognized as orthodox.

 

 

 

The Council is said to have reduced the three Pitakas to writing probably for the first time. If any written record existed before its time, presumably the Council had it re. vised and corrected.

 

 

 

Kashmir continued as a part of the Kushan Empire under Huvishka. In Kashmir. Huvishka constructed a new town called Hushkapura after him at a site of exceptional importance just inside the Baramula Pass, then known as the Western Gate of the Valley. This old town of Hushkapura is now represented by the small village of Ushkur where ruins of an ancient stupa are still to be found.

 

 

 

 

After the Kushan Empire, the next source of our information is the record of Hiuen Tsang. He visited Kashmir about A.D. 631. At the outset he was received very hospitably at the Hushkapura monastery where he stayed for several days. From there he was escorted with pomp and ceremony to Srinagar, where he found numerous religious institutions with some 500 monks living in them. He also noticed some special monasteries, one containing above three hundred Brethren with a Tope built for a tooth relic of the Buddha, another with a standing image of a Buddha and a third built on a mountain which was famous as the abode of Samghabhadra who was a master of the sastras. There was another neighbouring monastery famous for its "old boy", Skandhila, another great master of the sastras. He also noted two other monasteries as the abodes of the two great masters, Purna and Bodhila.

 

 

 

 

Hiuen Tsang was provided with special facilities for his study of Buddhism at his palace by the king of Kashmir who deputed a score of Buddhist monks headed by the illustrious Bhadanta (or Yasa) as Hiuen Tsang's assistants. The king also took advantage of Hiuen Tsang's presence by having the Buddhist scripture read and expounded to him by the great Chinese master. Hiuen Tsang spent two years studying select Buddhist sutras and sastras and visiting some of the Buddhist sacred places in Kashmir. He has recorded that he saw as many as 100 monasteries.

 

 

 

 

In course of time, Kashmir became more and more famous as the centre of Buddhist religion and scholarship and a foreign country like China looked to Kashmir for its supply of Buddhist teachers. It was, however, the Sarvastivada school of Buddhism of which Kashmir was the chosen home. Chinese texts name the more famous of the Kashmir scholars who elected to work in China as exiles from their mother-country for the sacred mission of carrying to China the message of Indian and Buddhist culture. These are the scholars who have been mentioned: (1) Sanghabhum (391 A.D.) who wrote a commentary on Vinaya-Pitaka, (2) Gautama Samgha who was a specialist in Abhi Dharma and translated Buddhist texts into Chinese; (3) Punyatrata, (4) his pupil Dharmayasas (404 A.D.); (5) Yasa who worked with Kumarajiva in Kuchi and also in China, (6) Vimalaksha, another collaborator with Kumarajiva, (7) Buddhajiva, who was a collaborator with Fa-Hien and who came to China by sea, (8) Guna Varman who was a prince but became a monk, went to Ceylon, thence to Java where he converted the king and his family to Buddhism. Most of these scholars knew Sanskrit and Chinese and translated select Buddhist texts into Chinese.

 

 

 

Along with Buddhism, Kashmir naturally was also subject to some extent to the influence of Brahmanical thought and Hindu religion. It became the seat of specialized study of Shaiva religion and philosophy of which valuable texts are still extant in the country. Hinduism is also represented in Kashmir by many shrines and temples dedicated to its representative deities. The best example of these is the Martanda Temple which was built by the famous king of Kashmir called Lalitaditya Muktapida (A.D. 733-769). As some of the kings of Kashmir were ardent devotees of Hinduism, Kashmir became the home of Sanskrit represented by her renowned writers like Kalhana, author of the Rajata. rangini, and Somadeva, author of the Kathasaritsagara, the "Ocean of Stories" possessed of an interest and appeal not confined to the boundaries of Kashmir and India alone.