321 
1893.] H. Beveridge — The Site of Kama Suvarna. 
lie said that he had studied much, and had great wisdom, and so was 
afraid that he would hurst ; and that he carried a torch because he was 
moved with pity for the blindness of men. Ten days passed without 
any one being able to cope with him in argument. The king was in des- 
pair and said, “ In the whole of my states are there no enlightened men ? 
“ If no one can answer the difficult questions of this stranger, it will be 
t( a great disgrace for my kingdom. We must search again, and in the 
most obscure places.” Then some one said, that there was an extra- 
ordinary sramana who lived in a forest. The king went in person to 
bring him. The sramana said that he, too, came from Southern India *, 
and that his learning was but small. However, he would endeavour to 
satisfy the king on condition that, if he was not worsted, the king would 
build a monastery, and send for monks to promulgate the law of 
Buddha. The king assented, and the sramana came to the hall of dis- 
cussion. The heretical doctor produced a writing containing 30,000 
words, but, in spite of his profundity and science, he was vanquished 
by the sramana after a hundred words, aud had to retire in disgrace. 
Thereon the king fulfilled his promise of building a monastery, and has 
since that time, says the biography, zealously propagated the teachings 
of the law. In the preface of the Si-yu-ki* there is an allusion to the 
copper-sheathed belly which seems to imply that Hiuen Tsiang was ihe 
victorious sramana , but as M. Julien remarks, this does not agree with 
the account in the body of the work. 
Probably the king who built the monastery was Siladitya (the 
Sun of Righteousness), the Buddhist ruler of Kanauj.f The expression 
kj hi) j i — '■61 1 
* jiah «>li j f.1* Ji ijs ^/o \)*£j 
In English ; — 
“Among them is a sect called the Bakrantinis (sic: conjectured to be Bakra- 
hantiya, = Vajrabandhiya), that is to say, those who chain themselves with iron chains 
Their custom is to shave their heads and faces and to go naked, except as to their 
private parts. It is their rule not to instruct anyone, or to speak with him, until he 
spontaneously becomes a member of their sect. And they enjoin upon those accept- 
ing their religion to do alms in order that their pride may be humbled. One who 
joins their body does not put on the iron chains until he reaches the degree which 
entitles him to do so. They wear the chains from their waists to their breasts, as 
a protection against the bursting of their bellies-so they say-from excess of know- 
ledge and stress of thought.” 
The conjecture Yajrabandhiya is Haarbriicker’s (see Fihrist, Vol. II, p. 183). 
The passage appears to recur in Shahristdni’s Kitdbu-n-Nihal wal-Mtlal, p. 449.— Ed.] 
* II. XXXVII; Beal’s translation, 1, 4. 
t Possibly however it was Purnavarmau of Magadha and who according to Hiuen 
Tsiang was the last descendant of Asoka. 
