Hwui Lun
Hwui Lun , alias Prajnavarma, was a Buddhist Korean traveler who visited Magadha about 690 A.D.
Came to India
Hwui Lun came to India through the northern route and was moving into India from north-west to south-east. He refers to China Temple built by Shri Gupta 500 years ago. Shri Gupta had granted land for the maintenance of the temple which was meant for pilgrims and scholars from China. At the time Hwui Lun, Devavarman, the king of east India was 'willing to give back the temple, land and endowment to the Buddhis priests in case any priest came from China'. [1]
Hwui Lun, a Korean, otherwise called Prajnavarma,came by sea from his own country to Fuchau, and proceeded thence to Chang'an. Following after the priest Hiuen Chiu, he reached the west, and during ten years dwelt in the Amravat Country and in the Sin-Che Temple (north of the Ganges). Passing through the eastern frontiers, and thence proceeded northward he came to the Tu-ho-lo (Tukhar) Temple.[2]
Visited Nalanda
K.P. Jayaswal[3] writes....Hwui Lun (IA., X. 110) visited Magadha about 690 A.D. He found a temple under construction by Jih-kwan (sun-army = Adityasena). In this temple the people from the South were to reside. It is remarkable that the temple mentioned before this was the Chalukya temple, which was probably raised as a memorial by the Chalukya Vijyaditya in the heart of his enemy's kingdom. It was about 40 stages west of Nalanda. Adityasena was dead at the time and 'Devavarma' that is, Deva-Gupta' was ruling as 'the king of Eastern India' (Prachi). The approximate time of the visit of Hwui Lun may be gathered in this way. Itsing extracted this account. Itsing died in 713 A.D. Hwui Lun was sent out by the Chinese Emperor to follow the steps of and to attend on
An Imperial History Of India: End of page 69
Yuan-chau, a Chinese pilgrim, who had left for India a second time in 665 A.D. Yuan-chau had tarried in Dardistan for 4 years and then came to Magadha and died in Central India. Hwui Lun did not meet him, and lived for 10 years in a convent in the North and then came to Magadha. Thus if Yuan-chau died about 670 A.D., Hwui Lun reached Magadha later than 680 A.D. or later still. Deva Gupta had come to the throne and was reigning about 685-690 A.D. and he certainly flourished before 713 A.D., the date of the death of Itsing. The temple begun by his father was being finished and there had been no interruption in the dynastic regime up to that time.
The identity of Y. is established on the basis of the facts stated to wit that he was an outsider who interposed for 8 years, that Yasovarman did rule in Magadha on the authority of the Nalanda inscription, and that he killed a king of Magadha-Gauda in the battle of the Sone, according to the Gaudavaho. Under Adityasena he must have been considered a subordinate to the Gauda (Later Gupta) Dynasty. According to Hwui Lun, Deva was reigning about 700 A.D. Yasovarman's rise dates a little after 700 A.D. According to the other section (26) Deva (Gupta) was surrounded by enemy forces and killed. We are therefore justified in placing Deva Gupta immediately after Adityasena, and treating him as the king killed by Yasovarman.