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XXX
INTRODUCTION.
death in a dark dungeon, he invoked the goddess Tara with the
utmost concentration of his mind. When fire blazed up from
the piled firewood, and all the 108 men were led in chains to the
pyre, a heavy shower of rain fell which extinguished the fire
within a short time and converted the whole plain where the
sacrifice was being performed into a large sheet of water re-
sembling a lake. The king and his ministers hearing that this
was due to the mercy of the goddess Tara, who was invoked by
the victim who had sold himself to save others, now acquired
faith in the religion of Buddha aud, having released all the 108
victims of the unholy sacrifice, sent them to their respective homes
loaded with presents. Sarvajña-mitra, before whom the goddess
had miraculously appeared, held fast a corner of her celestial
robe and was carried to the land of his birth."
The same story is related in Lama Taranatha's history of
Buddhism (vide A. Schiefner, p. 168 f.).
The date of the Sragdhara-stotra.
any
Neither in the Sragdharastotra nor in its commentary is there
mention of the date of either of the two works. The Raja-
tarangini, the well-known chronicle of Kaśmira, supplies us
however, with some data to determine the age of Sarvajña-mitra,
the author of Sragdhara-stotra. In book IV., verse 210 of the
Rajatarangini, we find that Bhikṣu Sarvajña-mitra, who appeared
as another Jina, resided in Kayyavihara, which had been built by
king Kayya. This Kayya is stated to have been a king of Lata
or Central and Southern Guzerat, and was subordinate to king
Muktāpida-Lalitāditya of Kāśmira. As Lalitāditya is generally
held to have lived early in the Sth century A.D., Sarvajña-mitra
who resided in Kayyavihāra could not have flourished before that
time. As the monastery of Nalanda was destroyed in the 9th
century A.D., Sarvajña-mitra, who was educated there, could not
have lived after that time. This leads me to suppose that Sar-
vajña-mitra lived in the middle of the 8th century A.D.
King Vajramukuta or Sarana has not yet been identified.
Vajramukuta is perhaps identical with Vajraditya, son of Lali-
tāditya, King of Kaśmira in the 8th century A.D.
SATIS CHANDRA VIDYABHUSANA.
Calcutta
The 30th Jul 1907.}
INTRODUCTION.
death in a dark dungeon, he invoked the goddess Tara with the
utmost concentration of his mind. When fire blazed up from
the piled firewood, and all the 108 men were led in chains to the
pyre, a heavy shower of rain fell which extinguished the fire
within a short time and converted the whole plain where the
sacrifice was being performed into a large sheet of water re-
sembling a lake. The king and his ministers hearing that this
was due to the mercy of the goddess Tara, who was invoked by
the victim who had sold himself to save others, now acquired
faith in the religion of Buddha aud, having released all the 108
victims of the unholy sacrifice, sent them to their respective homes
loaded with presents. Sarvajña-mitra, before whom the goddess
had miraculously appeared, held fast a corner of her celestial
robe and was carried to the land of his birth."
The same story is related in Lama Taranatha's history of
Buddhism (vide A. Schiefner, p. 168 f.).
The date of the Sragdhara-stotra.
any
Neither in the Sragdharastotra nor in its commentary is there
mention of the date of either of the two works. The Raja-
tarangini, the well-known chronicle of Kaśmira, supplies us
however, with some data to determine the age of Sarvajña-mitra,
the author of Sragdhara-stotra. In book IV., verse 210 of the
Rajatarangini, we find that Bhikṣu Sarvajña-mitra, who appeared
as another Jina, resided in Kayyavihara, which had been built by
king Kayya. This Kayya is stated to have been a king of Lata
or Central and Southern Guzerat, and was subordinate to king
Muktāpida-Lalitāditya of Kāśmira. As Lalitāditya is generally
held to have lived early in the Sth century A.D., Sarvajña-mitra
who resided in Kayyavihāra could not have flourished before that
time. As the monastery of Nalanda was destroyed in the 9th
century A.D., Sarvajña-mitra, who was educated there, could not
have lived after that time. This leads me to suppose that Sar-
vajña-mitra lived in the middle of the 8th century A.D.
King Vajramukuta or Sarana has not yet been identified.
Vajramukuta is perhaps identical with Vajraditya, son of Lali-
tāditya, King of Kaśmira in the 8th century A.D.
SATIS CHANDRA VIDYABHUSANA.
Calcutta
The 30th Jul 1907.}