Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

Aśvaghoṣa and his School – 40
On the uncertainty of the age of Kaniṣka see above vol. I, p. 437;
Franke and Fleete independently come to the conclusion that
Kaniṣka came to power in 5253 B.C. On the contrary, R. G.
Bhandarkar (Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, XX ff 19,385 ff) is of opinion that Kaniṣka lived in the third
century A.D. Boyer in Journale Asiatique 1900, V. XV. p.526 ff.
makes it probable that he lived at the end of the first and the
beginning of the second century A.D. In his latest investigation on
the era of Kaniṣka, Oldenberg comes to the conclusion that he is to
be assigned to the close of the first century A.D. (Nachrichten von
der K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen 1911, p. 421-
427). To the same result arrives on other grounds Pandit
Haraprasada Shastri (Sundaranandam Kāvyam, p.427). He would also
identify the poet with Aśvaghoṣa Rājā occurring in an inscription of
[29] the times of Kaniṣka. (Ep. Ind, VIII, 171 f.) which however
Vogel considers to be an unsuccessful attempt.
Life of Aśvaghoṣa
Quite positively Aśvaghoṣa came of a Brahman family and had a
sound Brahmanic education before he went over to Buddhism. As a
Buddhist he joined, we may surmise, at first the Sarvāstivāda school
but laid great stress on Buddha Bhakti and thus prepared for the
Mahāyāna. As his birthplace or home is mostly mentioned Sāketa or
Ayodhya, modern Oudh. But Benares and Patna are also mentioned
in this connection. His mother’s name was Suvarṇakṣī. The Tibetan
life of Aśvaghoṣa says of him: “There was no question that he could
not solve, there was no objection which he would not remove; he
threw down his opponents as fast as a strong wind breaks down
decayed trees.”