The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

56 - How Far Historical in Character?
is described with all the romantic embellishments of a prospective
Buddha. Invasions could be readily undertaken as far north as the
Himalayas, and the specific statement that the Ganges had to be
crossed by means of boats and that wars were actually carried on [22]
on the northern banks of it cannot be dismissed altogether, as
figments of the imagination. Whether the actual war as described
took place or no, they had ideas that such were feasible.
One other feature must be referred to here. The religious condition of
Puhār, of which we get a fairly full description, was what was to be
expected of a flourishing Hindu capital. It is not merely a question of
confusion of languages but even confusion of religions. Temples to
the gods of the Hindu pantheon, vihāras set apart for the votaries of
Buddhism, and garden retreats for the saintly among the Jains lay side
by side, at any rate not far apart of each other. They sometimes
formed part of the city but were generally located just outside the
inner city and the fortress. Votaries of other religions lived side by
side and taught, unmolested by others. Sometimes the one, sometimes
the other sect had the superiority in one or other of the branches of
religious learning.
Maṇimēkhalai found enough to learn of Buddhism in the initial
stages at Puhār, but she could gain real insight into the heretical
systems only at Vañji. She could get the most orthodox and the
authoritative teaching in Buddhism only from a particular teacher,
and he happened to be at Kāñcī at the time. He was in Puhār before, so
that these religious teachers were allowed to teach what they believed,
unmolested in the one royal capital as in the other vice-regal capital
or elsewhere as they actually liked. Being a Buddhist work it throws
into prominent relief the condition of Buddhism and Buddhist shrines.