प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

110 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch. of Learning. The Hūṇa avalanche came at the middle of the 5th century A. D. and ruined whatever was left after the Little Yueh-chi depradations. At the time when Yuan Chwang visited the city in the 7th century A. D., it had lost all its glory and importance. The famous monastery of Kumāralabdha, where that celebrated Sautrāntika scholar had composed his expository works, was in ruins and the condition of the vast majority of the remaining Buddhist establishments was no better.¹ When it is remembered that the inhabitants of Taxila at this time were plucky and devoted adherents of Buddhism, the sad plight of their monasteries will at once convince us that the city was completely wrecked by the Hūṇa invasions. Gone were the days of its former educational glory, never to return. BENARES² Early History. In early Vedic literature Benares does not figure either as a centre of pilgrimage or as a centre of learning. This is but natural, for it took centuries for the Vedic religion to penetrate to eastern United Provinces, Bihar and Bengal. The people of Benares accepted the new religion rather reluctantly and for a long time³ their loyalty to it was by no means unswerving. In the Upanishadic period however Benares became a centre of Aryan religion and culture. One of its kings, Ajātaśatru, figures as a philosopher in the Upanishads,

1. Watters, I, p. 240, p. 245
2. See Altekar, Benares : Past and present, for original sources of this section.
3. King Dhṛitarāshṭra of Benares is known to have given up sacrificial fires because his horse of the Aśvamedha sacrifice was carried away by the Bharata king Śatānīka Satrājīt. Ś. Br., XIII. 5. 4. 19.