Born in a Brahman family, Asvaghosa was a noted poet and is considered
to be instrumental in the spread of Buddhism. He was born in Central
India and was a noted philosopher and poet. He was considered as great
as Kalidasa. Though a written biography of Asvaghosa does not exist,
legends say that he was a strict opponent of Buddhism. Then one day he
lost a heated debate to the noted Buddhist scholar. It is said that this
incident triggered him to accept Buddhism and he became one of the most
noted disciples of Buddhism. The term Ashwaghosa Bodhisattva has an
interesting story behind it.
Asvaghosa was once teaching and singing the principles of Dharma to a
crowd in the royal city, when the king deliberately fed seven hungry
horses to test their reaction to Asvaghosa's teaching. The horses were
distressed due to hunger, but they did not touch the food to be relieved
of their distress. Instead they understood Asvaghosha's sermon and were
relieved. That is how the name Ashwaghosa bodhisattva came into being.
It literally means "horses that listen to Bodhisattva".
Asvaghosa was a great orator and spoke in great details about the
Buddhist doctrine and its principles. He could easily explain complex
concepts of Mahayana Buddhism. His famous works include
Mahayana-sraddhotpada-sastra, which means Awakening of faith in
Mahayana, Buddhacharita or Life of Buddha and Mahalankara or the Book of
Glory. He also wrote a poem called Saundarananakavya. It was about the
conversion of Nanda (Buddha's half brother) to Buddhism in order to
attain salvation.
