[Footnote 182:  Bhag.  G. VIII. 5.]

[Footnote 183:  Commentary on Dhammapada, P.T.S. edition, pp. 25 ff. especially p. 33.]

[Footnote 184:  See Ramanuja, Sribhashya, II. 2, 27 and Padma-Purana uttarakanda 43 (quoted by Suhtankar in Vienna Oriental Journ. vol.  XXII. 1908).  Mayavadam asacchastram pracchannam bauddham ucyate.  The Madhvas were specially bitter in their denunciation of Sankara.]

[Footnote 185:  Or as itself forming four separate Upanishads.  For other arguments in favour of an early date see Walleser, Aelterer Vedanta, pp. 14 ff.  He states that the Karika is quoted in the Tibetan translations of Bhavaviveka’s Tarkajvala.  Bhavaviveka was certainly anterior to the travels of Hsuean Chuang and perhaps was much earlier.  But if he died about 600 A.D. a work quoted by him can hardly have been later than 550 and may be much earlier.  But see also Jacobi in J.A.O.S. April, 1913, p. 51.]

[Footnote 186:  For the resemblances to Nagarjuna see J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 136 ff.  Especially remarkable are II. 32 na nirodho na cotpattir, etc., and IV. 59 and the whole argument that causation is impossible.  Noticeable too is the use of Buddhist terms like upaya, nirvana, buddha and adibuddha, though not always in the Buddhist sense.]

CHAPTER XXII

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

Tradition, as mentioned above, connects the rise of the Mahayana with the reign of Kanishka.  Materials for forming a picture of Indian life under his rule are not plentiful but it was clearly an age of fusion.  His hereditary dominions were ample and he had no need to spend his reign in conquests, but he probably subdued Kashmir as well as Khotan, Yarkand and Kashgar.[187] Hostages from one of these states were sent to reside in India and all accounts agree that they were treated with generosity and that their sojourn improved the relations of Kanishka with the northern tribes.  His capital was Purushapura or Peshawar, and the locality, like many other features of his reign, indicates a tendency to amalgamate India with Persia and Central Asia.  It was embellished with masterpieces of Gandharan sculpture and its chief ornament was a great stupa built by the king for the reception of the relics of the Buddha which he collected.  This building is described by several Chinese pilgrims[188] and its proportions, though variously stated, were sufficient to render it celebrated in all the Buddhist world.  It is said to have been several times burnt, and rebuilt, but so solid a structure can hardly have been totally destroyed by fire and the greater part of the monument discovered in 1908 probably dates from the time of Kanishka.  The base is a square measuring 285 feet on each side, with massive towers at the corners, and on each of the four faces projections bearing staircases.  The sides were ornamented with stucco