1865.1 Report of the Archceological Survey. 155 



Report of the Proceedings of the Archceological Surveyor to the Govern- 

 ment of India for the Season of 1862-63. — By Major-General 

 A. Cunningham, Archceological Surveyor to the Govt, of India. 

 [Received 3rd Feb., 1865.] [Read 1st March, 1865.] 



(Continued from Vol. XXXIII. page lsxxvii.) 



II.— MATHURA. 



159. In the Brahmanical city of Mathura, in A. D. 634, the 

 temples of the gods were reckoned by Hwen Thsang at five only, 

 while the Buddhist monasteries amounted to 20, with 2,000 resident 

 monks. The number of Stupas and other Buddhist monuments was 

 also very great, there being no less than seven towers, containing 

 relics of the principal disciples of Buddha. The king and his minis- 

 ters were zealous Buddhists, and the three great fasts of the year 

 were celebrated with much pomp and ceremony, at which times the 

 people flocked eagerly to make their offerings to the holy Stujjas 

 containing the relics of Buddha's disciples. Each of them, says 

 Hwen Thsang, paid a special visit to the statue of the Bodhisativa 

 whom he regarded as the founder of his own school. Thus the follow- 

 ers of the Abhidharma, or transcendental doctrines, made their offerings 

 to Sdriputra ; they who practised Samddhi or meditation, to Mudga- 

 lapxdra ; the followers of the Sautrdntikas, or aphorisms, to Purva 

 Maitreyani Putra ; they who adhered to the Vinaya or discipline, to 

 Updli ; the Bhikshuni or Nuns, to Ananta ; the Anupcisampannas, or 

 novices, to Rdhula (the son of Buddha) ; and they who studied the 

 " Greater means of advancement," to the great Bodhisatwa Manju 

 Sri or Avalokiteswara, who plays such a conspicuous part in later 

 Buddhism. But notwithstanding this apparently flourishing condition 

 of Buddhism, it is certain that the zeal of the people of Mathura 

 must have lessened considerably since A. I). 400, when Fa Hian 

 reckoned the body of monks in the 20 monasteries to be 3,000, or 

 just one-half more than their number at the time of Hwen Thsang's 

 visit in A. D. 634. 



160. Fa Hian and his companions halted at Mathura for a whole 

 month, during which time " the clergy held a great assembly and 

 discoursed upon the law." After the meeting they proceeded to the 

 Stupa of Sdriputra, to which they made an offering of all sorts of 



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