rjuna and Aryadeva were southerners, their peculiar
doctrines were coloured by Dravidian ideas. But our available
documents indicate that the Buddhism of southern India was almost
entirely Hinayanist, analogous to that of Ceylon and not very
sympathetic to the Tamils.

The pilgrims Sung-Yuen and Hui-Sheng[243] visited Udyana and Gandhara
during the time of the Hun domination (518-521). They found the king
of the former a pious Buddhist but the latter was governed by an
Ephthalite chieftain, perhaps Mihiragula himself, who was a worshipper
of demons. Of the Yetha or Ephthalites they make the general
observation that "their rules of politeness are very defective." But
they also say that the population of Gandhara had a great respect for
Buddhism and as they took back to China 170 volumes, "all standard
works belonging to the Great Vehicle," the Ephthalite persecution
cannot have destroyed the faith in north-western India. But the evil
days of decay were beginning. Henceforward we have no more pictures of
untroubled piety and prosperity. At best Buddhism receives royal
patronage in company with other religions; sectarian conflicts
increase and sometimes we hear of persecution. About 600 A.D. a king
of Central Bengal named Sasanka who worshipped Siva attempted to
extirpate Buddhism in his dominions and destroyed the Bo tree at Bodh
Gaya.[244] On the other hand we hear of the pious Purnavarman, king
of Magadha, who made amends for these sacrileges, and of Siladitya,
king of the country called Mo-lo-po by the Chinese, who was so careful
of animal life, that he even strained the water drunk by his horses
and elephants, lest they should consume minute insects.

We know more of Indian Buddhism in the seventh century than in the
periods which precede or follow it. The epoch was marked by the reign
of the great king, or rather emperor, Harsha-Vardhana (606-648 A.D.),
and the works written by Bana, Bhartrihari and others who frequented
his court have come down to us. Also we are fortunate in possessing
the copious narrative of Hsuean Chuang, the greatest of the Chinese
pilgrims, who spent sixteen years (629-645) in India as well as the
work known as the "Record of the Buddhist religion as practised in
India and the Malay Archipelago," composed by I-Ching who travelled in
those countries from 671 to 695. I-Ching also wrote the lives of sixty
Chinese pilgrims who visited India during the seventh century and
probably there were many