1882,] 
Sarat Chandra Das —Life of Nag drjuna. 
115 
X.—LIFE AND LEGEND OF NAGARJUNA. 1 
When the dynasty of Asoka waned and gave place to that of the 
illustrious Ckandras, Nagarjuna was born in Central India destined to play 
an important part in the religious history of Buddhism. According to 
the Tibetan historians who wrote on the authority of Indian historians, ‘ he 
was born a century before Chandra Gupta’s accession to the throne of 
Magada. But to conform his age to the conjectural chronology of the 
occidental orientalists one would be required to bring that date more than 
a century later than Alexander’s invasion of India. Nagarjuna’s age must 
remain a positive uncertainty as long as we cannot get hold of the histori¬ 
cal works of the Indian authors of the Buddhistic period. I am sanguine of 
being able to bring to light much about Buddhistic history from the works 
about Nagarjuna and other Indian philosophers. For the present I will 
only mention certain legendary accounts of Nagarjuna which I have gather¬ 
ed from detached sources. 
A rich Brahman of the Yidarbha country to whom no son had been 
born for many years, once saw in a vision, that if he gave alms to, and 
entertained one hundred Brahmans, he could get a son. Accordingly he 
made offerings and prayers to the gods and entertained one hundred 
Brahmans. After ten months his wife gave birth to a son. The rich man 
invited learned astrologers to predict the fortune of his child, but they 
found that it would not live more than a week. In all other respects the 
child was calculated to be fortunate. In consequence of this sad intelli¬ 
gence, the minds of the parents were overwhelmed with extreme sorrow, 
and in their deep anxiety they urged the astrologers to discover some 
remedy to save the child. The astrologers assured them that if they 
observed some religious ceremonies and paid money for virtue’s sake, read 
religious books, and entertained one hundred Brahmans, the child would 
live seven months, and if they entertained one hundred Bhikshus, it would 
live seven years, beyond which its life could not be prolonged by any 
means whatever. They accordingly underwent all sorts of ceremonies and 
observances calculated to prolong the child’s life. When the seventh year 
was about to expire the parents were overwhelmed with grief. 
To avoid the painful sight of their son’s predicted death, they caused 
him to be removed to a certain solitary place in company with a few retainers. 
As the boy was passing his mournful days, on,e day the Mahabodhisattva 
Avalokiteswar Khasharpana visited him in disguise and advised him to 
go to the great monastery of Nalendra in Magadha as the surest means of 
escaping from the hands of death. He accordingly repaired to that famous 
Vihara and arriving at the gate recited some gatkas. During that time 
1 The great Buddhist reformer of ancient India and founder of the Madhyamika 
Philosophy. 
