A PUZZLE FOR THE SCHOLARS OF BUDDHIST HISTORY

Kalidāsa, the great Sanskrit poet, is fond of referring to important historical events and personalities, provincial peculiarities and geographical characteristics, etc. We know that he in his Meghadūta refers to Dignāga (c.355 440 A. D.), a great Buddhist logician, by employing double entendre, as also to his work ‘Hastavāla (prakarna)' by using the word 'hastāval-epa'.'

Transcribed from the prepared edition. This is the beginning of the article, not a summary — open the PDF to read it in full.

नगीन जे. शाह रघुवंश (१३.७) में श्लेष पढ़ते हैं — 'महीध्राः' से महीशासक निकलते हैं, जो पक्षच्छेद और गोत्रभेद से आहत होकर तथा अन्यों से पीड़ित होकर मध्यस्थ धर्मोत्तर की शरण लेते हैं। लेखक उस घटना, उन व्यक्तियों और उसके काल को बौद्ध इतिहासकारों के लिए खुले प्रश्न छोड़ देते हैं। Shah finds a slesa in Raghuvamsa XIII.7, where mahidhrah yields Mahisasakas: humbled by paksaccheda and gotrabheda, harassed by others, they take refuge in an impartial Dharmottara. He leaves the event, the persons and its date as open questions for Buddhist historians.

Written by the archive’s cataloguers, not by the author.