Mathura Vrindavan
The earliest known records of Mathura's existence date back to more
than 2500
years ago, even before Alexander's time. The Buddha
founded monasteries here, in what the Greeks later called Madoura
ton Theon (Mathura of the Gods). The city first witnessed glory as
the home of the Indo-Bactrian Kushans, and especially during the
reign of Kanishka, who came to the throne in 78 AD.
Buddhism played an integral role in Mathura's growth, and the
Buddhist monasteries in the city received patronage from Emperor
Ashoka, and mention from Ptolemy and those Chinese travellers Fahien
(who visited between 401 and 410 AD) and Xuan Zhang (between 634-662
AD). Fahien reported that the city's 20 monasteries were home to
3,000 Buddhist monks. By Xuan Zhang's time, the number of inmates
had dwindled to 2,000. Clearly, Buddhism in the region was on its
way out.
Indeed, its death knell was sounded by Mahmud of Ghazni, who arrived
from Afghanistan in 1017 to ravage the city's Hindu and Buddhist
shrines. In 1500, Sikander Lodi continued where Ghazni had left off,
and not much later, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb razed the Kesava
Deo temple, built on the site of an important Buddhist monastery,
and installed a mosque in its place. The Afghan Ahmad Shah Abdali
completed the carnage by torching Mathura in 1757.
