Ashvaghosha

Also called: Asvaghosa · Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Ashvaghosha (also spelt Asvaghosa) was a Buddhist poet, playwright and thinker. Tradition places him at the court of the Kushana king Kanishka, c. 1st–2nd century CE. His best-known work is the Buddhacharita, a long Sanskrit poem on the life of the Buddha. He also wrote the Saundarananda.

He matters because he is one of the earliest known poets of classical Sanskrit (the polished literary Sanskrit of later court poetry). He was also among the first to tell the Buddha's story in Sanskrit, not in Pali. This shows Buddhism moving into the language of the educated elite.

Explanation

Background: who he was

• Later Buddhist tradition says he was born a Brahmin, probably at Saketa (Ayodhya), and was trained in Vedic learning. He then became a Buddhist. These details come from tradition and the closing lines of his poems, so they are not fully certain.
• He lived in the Kushana period. This was a time of strong royal support for Buddhism, especially under Kanishka.
• According to Buddhist tradition, he took part in the Fourth Buddhist Council, held in Kashmir under Kanishka. The council's president is usually named as Vasumitra. Tradition calls Ashvaghosha its vice-president.
• His Brahmin training explains his skill in Sanskrit. He took the language of the priests and used it to spread the Buddha's teaching.

His main works

• Buddhacharita ("Acts of the Buddha"):
• It is a mahakavya (a long, ornate Sanskrit court poem divided into cantos, or chapters).
• Only about the first half survives in Sanskrit. The full poem of 28 cantos survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations.

• It tells the familiar life story. Siddhārtha is born into the Śhākya clan at Lumbini. He grows up in a sheltered palace. He sees the four sights: an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a calm mendicant (a wandering holy man who owns nothing). He leaves home, tries harsh bodily mortification (starving and punishing the body), and then gives it up. He faces Māra (the tempter) and gains enlightenment under the pipal tree at Bodh Gaya [3].

• Saundarananda ("Sundari and Nanda"):

• It is a Sanskrit poem about Nanda, the Buddha's half-brother.
• Nanda loves his beautiful wife Sundari and does not want to become a monk. The Buddha slowly turns him away from desire and towards the path of liberation.

• The poem uses love poetry to teach detachment. This fits the Buddha's view that avidyā (ignorance) and attachment cause suffering.

• Shariputraprakarana:

• It is a Sanskrit drama about the conversion of the Buddha's disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana.
• Only fragments survive, found at Turfan in Central Asia.

• It is among the oldest surviving pieces of Sanskrit drama.

• Doubtful works: the Mahayana-shraddhotpada ("Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana") and the Vajrasuchi (an attack on caste) are sometimes credited to him. Most scholars think these were written by other, later authors.

How his work fits the sources on the Buddha

• NCERT says the Buddha's life story comes from hagiographies, which are biographies that praise a saint or religious leader. These were written down at least a century after the Buddha. NCERT warns that they "may not always be literally accurate".
• The Buddhacharita is a hagiography of this kind, and it was written centuries after the Buddha:
• It tells us what Buddhists of the Kushana age believed about the Buddha.

• It does not prove that the palace story or the four sights really happened.

• Only the places in the story have firm early proof, such as Ashoka's pillar at Lumbini (249 BCE) [1] and his vajrasana ("diamond throne", a stone slab marking the seat of enlightenment) at Bodh Gaya [2].

Results and legacy

• He helped make Sanskrit, rather than only Pali, a language for Buddhist writing. Later Mahayana works mostly used Sanskrit.
• His polished verse style looks ahead to the later classical poets, such as Kalidasa. Many scholars therefore see him as a forerunner of Kalidasa.
• His works travelled outside India. Chinese and Tibetan translations, and the drama fragments from Turfan, show that his writing spread along Buddhist routes into Central Asia and China.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: c. 1st–2nd century CE. The exact date is uncertain because Kanishka's own dates are still debated.
• Dynasty and ruler: the Kushanas, under Kanishka, according to Buddhist tradition.
• Places: tradition links him to Saketa (Ayodhya) as his birthplace and to Kashmir for the Fourth Buddhist Council. The fragments of his drama were found at Turfan in Central Asia.
• Key people in his stories: the Buddha, his half-brother Nanda, Nanda's wife Sundari, and the disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana.
• How we know:
• The Sanskrit manuscripts of the Buddhacharita (incomplete) and the Saundarananda.
• Chinese and Tibetan translations, which keep the full 28-canto Buddhacharita.
• The Turfan manuscript fragments of the Shariputraprakarana.
• Later Buddhist tradition, for his link with Kanishka and the Fourth Council. This is tradition, not hard proof.

Don't confuse with

• Buddhaghosha: a Pali commentator who worked in Sri Lanka in about the 5th century CE and wrote the Visuddhimagga. Ashvaghosha wrote Sanskrit poetry in the Kushana age.
• Nagarjuna: the Buddhist philosopher who founded the Madhyamika (Middle Way) school of Mahayana thought. Ashvaghosha is known mainly as a poet and dramatist.
• Jatakas: Pali stories about the Buddha's previous births. The Buddhacharita is a Sanskrit poem about his present life, from birth to enlightenment and after.
• Kalidasa: a classical Sanskrit poet of the later Gupta age. Ashvaghosha came earlier and is often called his forerunner.

Prelims Hooks

• Buddhacharita and Saundarananda were written by Ashvaghosha, in Sanskrit, not Pali.
• Buddhist tradition places Ashvaghosha at the court of Kanishka of the Kushana dynasty.
• Fourth Buddhist Council: held in Kashmir under Kanishka, with Vasumitra as president and Ashvaghosha as vice-president, according to tradition.
• Saundarananda tells how Nanda, the Buddha's half-brother, was converted.
• Fragments of his drama Shariputraprakarana were found at Turfan (Central Asia). It is among the earliest known Sanskrit dramas.
• Trap: Ashvaghosha (Sanskrit poet, Kushana age) is a different person from Buddhaghosha (Pali commentator, Sri Lanka).

Mains Points

• Poetry as a historical source. The Buddhacharita is a hagiography written centuries after the Buddha. NCERT says such texts "may not always be literally accurate".
• It is strong evidence for what Kushana-age Buddhists believed: the palace, the four sights, Māra and the middle path.
• Datable proof exists only for the sacred sites, such as Ashoka's Lumbini pillar of 249 BCE [1] and the vajrasana at Bodh Gaya [2].

• A good GS-I answer keeps faith-based story and datable evidence apart.

• Language shift in Buddhism. The early Buddhist canon was in Pali. Ashvaghosha, a Brahmin convert, wrote in Sanskrit.

• This let Buddhism speak to educated, courtly audiences in their own literary language.
• It prepared the ground for later Sanskrit Mahayana writing.

• It shows exchange between Brahmanical learning and a heterodox faith, not only conflict between them.

• Royal patronage and culture. Kushana support for Buddhism produced councils, art and literature together. Ashvaghosha's spread to Central Asia (Turfan) and his Chinese and Tibetan translations show that India's literary heritage moved along trade and pilgrimage routes. This connects Indian culture to world history.

Related concepts

• Gautama Buddha
• Sakya clan
• Kapilavastu
• Lumbini
• Great Departure
• Bodh Gaya
• Bodhi tree
• Mahabodhi Temple
• Kushinagar
• Mahaparinibbana Sutta

Read more

• The Buddha: life and the quest for enlightenment