IS82 ] 
Sarat Chandra Das —Legend of Nag dr] mm. 
110 
fragrance with a stone railing which he furnished with Vajragavaksha or 
the precious niches, and outside of which he erected 108 smaller chapels. 
He also surrounded the great shrine of STidhanyakataka with railings. 
Again, there having occurred an encroachment of the river Nairanjana 
on the east of Yajrasana which threatened the safety of the most holy 
spot, Nagarjuna constructed seven huge images of Buddha hewn from 
rocks, and placed them facing the river in order to make the river, out 
of fear, change its devastating course. During this period, Manja king of 
Otisha (Orisha) with one thousand of his subjects embraced Buddhism. 
In the west, in the country of Malva in the city of Dhara, king Bhojadeva 
with many hundreds of his subjects embraced Buddhism. These conversions 
are attributed to the saintly influence of Nagarjuna who wrote many 
volumes on the Madhyamika philosophy, such as Mula Jnana, sixth 
assemblage of Yidya, Dharma dhatu strotra, Sutra sangraha, &c. He 
erected many viharas in Pratapesa, Otisha, Bangala, and the country 
of Ikshuvardhana. In the latter part of his life Nagarjuna visited 
Dakshina (Southern India), where he did many things for the preserva¬ 
tion of the Southern congregation (of Buddhists). In the country of 
Dravida there lived two Brahmans of the name of Madhu and Supra- 
madhu, the fame of whose opulence had startled even the kings and 
princes of the day. They held a series of discussions with Nagarjuna 
on the four Yedas and the eighteen sciences of the Brahmans, in all of 
which they found themselves infinitely inferior to the Buddhist disputants. 
At the end they remarked that they really wondered how a SYamana 
of S'akya Simha could possess such profound knowledge in the Yedas and 
S'astras. Nagarjuna replied—It was very easy to master the Brahmanical 
S'astras, but the sacred Dharma was too profound to be comprehended. Ho 
at last succeeded in converting them to Buddhism. Madhu having pro¬ 
pitiated the goddess Sarasvati, acquired great knowledge in the sacred 
literature of the Brahmans and Buddhists; Supramadhu by propitiating 
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, obtained immense wealth with which he fed 
the Buddhist congregation. The former prepared many copies of Prajna 
Paramita. One hundred and fifty monks conducted religious service in 
their chapels. Thus the great teacher Nagarjuna being eminently versed in 
all the classes of sciences and the S'astras, filled Jambudvipa with trophies 
of his pious deeds. His assiduity in asceticism, erudition in science, faith 
in Dharma, profundity in Yoga, acuteness in disputation, liberality in 
giving alms, constructing shrines and chaityas, and furnishing of food to 
the congregations were all incomparable. He is given the appellation of a 
second Buddha ; for he consolidated what Buddha had only commenced. 
Nagarjuna is said to have been a great friend of king De-chye (Sankara) 
of Southern India, whom he had converted to Buddhism. Both the friends 
