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.