भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

did not hesitate this time to act treacherously towards their motherland when the foreign Kushan aggression was at her throat. 246. Had the Indian Buddhists put down the Sakas and founded a kingdom of their own, the Buddhist King would certainly have had the rightful claim to the credit of liberating India like any other Vedic King, and like the Vedic King Salivahan or Emperor Pushyamitra, we would have gladly felicitated them. But how could the Buddhists ever show this staunch national spirit! Even when Vedic patriotic republics and states like the Youdheyas and Satavahanas were engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Saka-Kushans for a hundred-and-twenty-five years or more, these Indian Buddhists did not trouble themselves in the least for the cause of national liberty. But as soon as the strongest of these national enemies, Kanishka, proclaimed his conversion, albeit half-heartedly, to Buddhism, the whole of the Buddhist population submitted their most affectionate loyalty at the feet of that national foe. They extolled him like a God to the skies! They prayed fervently in their vihars for the everlasting existence of that Saka-Kushan Mlenchcha State. What wonder, if the inevitable consequence followed! As a result of the extreme hatred, which the Vedic Hindus felt towards the Buddhists for their high treason, Buddhism continued to decline, as it had begun to do right from the time of Pushyamitra, in spite of the royal support of Emperor Kanishka. Kanishka’s Grandson Embraces Vedic Religion 247. Moreover, when Kanishka was killed, as has already been told, by his rebellious soldiers while he was fighting in China, the Indian Buddhists were in a miserable plight, as they found themselves utterly lost both ways. For, the successor of Kanishka, his son Emperor Havishka, remained comparatively cold in his sympathy towards the Buddhists. And after Kanishka, Kanishka’s grandson, who became the ruler of the Saka- Kushans, actually abandoned Buddhism and embraced the Vedic cult with a public ceremony! He even changed his original name and took for himself the purely Sanskrit appellation, Samrat Vasudeo and struck coins with the images of Siva and Nandi imprinted on them! After Kanishka’s Death 248. As soon as Emperor Kanishka died, his Indian empire fell to pieces. His rule in India was not far extended even in north India. It was never very strong. It had covered only a small north-western strip of India, which comprised Punjab, Malava, Sourashtra and Gujrat and a small