Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2

290

See B.H. Hodgson, Essays on the languages, literature and religion of Nepal and Tibet, 1874. For the religion of Nepal see also Wright, History of Nepal, 1877; C. Bendall, Journal of Literary and Archæological Research in Nepal, 1886; Rajendralal Mitra, Sanskrit Buddhist literature of Nepal; and especially S. Lévi, Le Nepal, 3 vols. 1905-8.

291

S. Lévi in J.A. II. 1904, p. 225. He gives the date as 627.

292

The doctrine of the Âdi-Buddha is fully stated in the metrical version of the Kâraṇḍa-vyûha which appears to be a later paraphrase of the prose edition. See Winternitz, Gesch. Ind. Lit. II. i. 238.

293

Compare the fusion of Śivaism and Buddhism in Java.

294

Or Vajrâcârya-arhat-bhikshu-buddha, which in itself shows what a medley Nepalese Buddhism has become.

295

See above chap. XX. for some account of these works.

296

Dedicated to the sacred river Vâgvatî or Bagmati.

297

Hardly any Buddhist Tantras have been edited in Europe. See Bendall, Subhâshita-sangraha for a collection of extracts (also published in Muséon, 1905), and De la Vallée Poussin, Bouddhisme, Études el Matériaux. Id. Pancakrama, 1896.

While this book was going through the press I received the Tibetan Tantra called Shrichakrasambhara (Avalon's Tantric Texts, vol. VII) with introduction by A. Avalon, but have not been able to make use of it.

298

See Foucher, Iconographie bouddhique, pp. 8 ff. De la Vallée Poussin, Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, pp. 213 ff. For Japanese tantric ceremonies see the Si-Do-In-Dzon in the Annales du Musée Guimet, vol. VIII.

299

In ancient Egypt also the Kher ḥeb or magician-priest claimed the power of becoming various gods. See Budge, Osiris, II. 170 and Wiedemann, Magic im alten Aegypten, 13 ff.

300

The Brahmâ-vihâras. E.g. Dig. Nik. XIII.

301

Mahâsukhakâya or vajrakâya.

302

De la Vallée Poussin, Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, p. 153.

303

See Subhâshita-saṅgraha edited by Bendall. Part II. pp. 29 ff. especially p. 41. Parasvaharaṇam kâryam paradârânishevaṇam Vaktavyam cânṛitam nityam sarvabuddhâṃśca ghâtayet. See also Tathâgata-guhyaka in Rajendralal Mitra's Sanskrit Literature in Nepal, pp. 261-264.

304

For instance De la Vallée Poussin in his Bouddhisme, Études et Matériaux, 1896. In his later work, Bouddhisme, Opinions sur l'histoire de la dogmatique, he modifies his earlier views.

305

See Dig. Nik. XX. and XXXII.

306

KathâV. XXIII. 1 and 2.

307

These appendices are later additions to the original text but they were translated into Chinese in the third century. Among the oldest Sanskrit MSS. from Japan is the Ushṇisha-vijaya-dhâraṇî and there is a goddess with a similar name. But the Dhâraṇî is not Śâktist. See text in Anec. Oxon. Aryan series.

308

He speaks of Kwan-shih-yin but this is probably the male Avalokita.

309

Mahâyâna-sûtrâlankâra, IX. 46. Of course there may be many other allusions in yet unedited works of Asanga but it is noticeable that this allusion to maithuna is only made in passing and is not connected with the essence of his teaching.

310

Transl. Takakusu, p. 51.

311

Târanâtha, chap. XXII seems also to assign a late origin to the Tantras though his remarks are neither clear nor consistent with what he says in other passages. He is doubtless right in suggesting that tantric rites were practised surreptitiously before they were recognized openly.

312

It is about this time too that we hear of Tantrism in Hinduism. In the drama Mâlatî and Mâdhava (c. 730 A.D.) the heroine is kidnapped and is about to be sacrificed to the goddess Candâ when she is rescued.

313

See the latter part of Appendix II in Nanjio's Catalogue.

314

E.g. Lalitavajra, Lîlâvajra, Buddhaśânti, Ratnavajra. Târanâtha also (tr. Schiefner, p. 264) speaks of Tantras "Welche aus Udyana gebracht und nie in Indien gewesen sind." It is also noticeable, as Grünwedel has pointed out, that many of the siddhas or sorcerers bear names which have no meaning in Aryan languages: Bir-va-pa, Na-ro-pa, Lui-pa, etc. A curious late tradition represents Śâktism as coming from China. See a quotation from the Mahâcînatantra in the Archæological Survey of Mayurabhanj, p. xiv. Either China is here used loosely for some country north of the Himalayas or the story is pure fancy, for with rare exceptions (for instance the Lamaism of the Yüan dynasty) the Chinese seem to have rejected Śâktist works or even to have expurgated them, e.g. the Tathâgata-guhyaka.

315

His account of Udyâna and Kashmir will be found in Watters, chapters VII and VIII.

316

Traces of Buddhism still exist, for according to Bühler the Nilamata Purâṇa orders the image of Buddha to be worshipped on Vaisakha 15 to the accompaniment of recitations by Buddhist ascetics.

317

For notices of Kashmirian religion see Stein's translation of the Râjataranginî and Bühler, Tour in Search of Sanskrit manuscripts. J. Bomb. A.S. 1877.

318

VI. 11-13, VII. 278-280, 295, 523.

319

I. 122, 335, 348: III. 99, V. 55.

320

Also called Kumâra.

321

Similarly statues of Mahâdevî are found in Jain temples now, i.e. in Gujarat.

322

This very unbuddhist practice seems to have penetrated even to Japan. Burnt offerings form part of the ritual in the temple of Narita.

323

See for instance the account of how Kamalarakshita summoned Yamâri.

324

So too the Saṃhitâs of the Vaishṇavas and the Âgamas of the Śaivas are said to consist of four quarters teaching Jñâna, Yoga, Kriyâ and Caryâ respectively. See Schrader, Introd. to Pâncarâtra, p. 22. Sometimes five classes of Tantras are enumerated which are perhaps all subdivisions of the Anuttara-yoga, namely Guhyasamâja, Mâyâjâla, Buddhasammâyoga, Candraguhyatilaka, Manjuśrîkrodha. See Târanâtha (Schiefner), p. 221.

325

Chap. XLIII. But this seems hardly consistent with his other statements.

326

The Lamas in Tibet have a similar theory of progressive tantric revelation. See Waddell, Buddhism of Tibet, pp. 56, 57.

327

In the reign of Mahîpâla, 978-1030 A.D.

328

Târanâtha, p. 275. For the whole subject see Grünwedel, Mythologie des Buddhismus, pp. 41-2 and my chapters on Tibet below.

329

Schiefner (transl. Târanâtha, p. 221) describes these Śrâvakas or Hinayanists as "Saindhavas welche Çrâvakas aus Simhala u.s.w. waren." They are apparently the same as the Saindhava-çrâvakas often mentioned by Târanâtha. Are they Hinayanists from Sindh where the Sammitiya school was prevalent? See also Pag Sam Jon Zang, pp. cxix, 114 and 134 where Sarat Chandra Das explains Sendha-pa as a brahmanical sect.

330

The curious story (Târanâtha, p. 206) in which a Buddhist at first refuses on religious grounds to take part in the evocation of a demon seems also to hint at a disapproval of magic.

331

This passage was written about 1910. In the curious temple at Gaya called Bishnupad the chief object of veneration is a foot-like mark. Such impressions are venerated in many parts of the world as Buddha's feet and it seems probable, considering the locality, that this footprint was attributed to Buddha before it was transferred to Vishnu.

332

There are no very early references to this Avatâra. It is mentioned in some of the Puranas (e.g. Bhâgavata and Agni) and by Kshemendra.

333

But see the instances quoted above from Kashmir and Nepal.

334

See especially Dig. Nik. XX. and XXXII.

335

But the lists may be pieces of folk-lore older than the suttas in which they are incorporated.

336

The Dionysus of Megasthenes is a deity who comes from the west with an army that suffers from the heat of the plains. If we could be certain that he meant Śiva by Dionysus this would be valuable evidence. But he clearly misunderstood many things in Indian religion. Greek legends connected Dionysus with India and the East.

337

Macdonell seems to me correct in saying (J.R.A.S. 1915, p. 125) that one reason why Indian deities have many arms is that they may be able to carry the various symbols by which they are characterized. Another reason is that worship is usually accompanied by dhyâna, that is forming a mental image of the deity as described in a particular text. E.g. the worshipper repeats a mantra which describes a deity in language which was originally metaphorical as having many heads and arms and at the same time he ought to make a mental image of such a figure.

338

But some forms of Śivaism in southern India come even nearer to emotional Christianity than does Vishnuism.

339

I cannot discover that any alleged avatâra of Śiva has now or has had formerly any importance, but the Vâyu, Liṅga and Kûrma Purâna give lists of such incarnations, as does also the Catechism of the Shaiva religion translated by Foulkes. But Indian sects have a strong tendency to ascribe all possible achievements and attributes to their gods. The mere fact that Vishṇu becomes incarnate incites the ardent Śivaite to say that his god can do the same. A curious instance of this rivalry is found in the story that Śiva manifested himself as Śarabha-mûrti in order to curb the ferocity of Vishṇu when incarnate in the Man Lion (see Gopinâtha Rao, Hindu Icon. p. 45). Śiva often appears in a special form, not necessarily human, for a special purpose (e.g. Vîrabhadra) and some tantric Buddhas seem to be imitations of these apparitions. There is a strong element of Śivaism borrowed from Bengal in the mythology of Tibet and Mongolia, where such personages as Hevajra, Saṃvara, and Mahâkâla have a considerable importance under the strange title of Buddhas.

340

The passage from one epithet to the other is very plain in R.V. I. 114.

341

Book XVI.

342

In the play Mricchakaṭikâ or The Clay Cart (probably of the sixth century A.D.) a burglar invokes Kârtikeya, the son of Śiva, who is said to have taught different styles of house-breaking.

343

A similarly strange collocation of attributes is found in Daksha's hymn to Śiva. Mahâbhârata, XII. Sec. 285.

344

Atharva, V. xi. 2. 24.

345

It is not certain if the Śisṇadevâh whom Indra is asked to destroy in Ṛig. V. VII. 21. 5 and X. 99. 3 are priapic demons or worshippers of the phallus.

346

VII. secs. 202, 203, and XIII. sec. 14.

347

The inscriptions of Camboja and Champa seem to be the best proof of the antiquity of Linga worship. A Cambojan inscription of about 550 A.D. records the dedication of a linga and the worship must have taken some time to reach Camboja from India. Some lingas discovered in India are said to be anterior to the Christian era.

348

See F. Kittel, Ueber den Ursprung der Linga Kultus, and Barth, Religions of India, p. 261.

349

As is also its appearance, as a rule. But there are exceptions to this. Some Hindus deny that the Linga is a phallic emblem. It is hardly possible to maintain this thesis in view of such passages as Mahâbh. XIII. 14 and the innumerable figures in which there are both a linga and a Yoni. But it is true that in its later forms the worship is purged of all grossness and that in its earlier forms the symbol adored was often a stûpa-like column or a pillar with figures on it.

350

Such scenes as the relief from Amarâvati figured in Grünwedel, Buddhist art in India, p. 29, fig. 8, might easily be supposed to represent the worship of the linga, and some of Aśoka's pillars have been worshipped as lingas in later times.

351

But not of course the soul which, according to the general Indian idea, exists before and continues after the life of the body.

352

Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, I. 84; II. 219.

353

They are however of some importance in Vishnuite theology. For instance according to the school of Râmânuja it is the Śakti (Śrî) who reveals the true doctrine to mankind. Vishṇu is often said to have three consorts, Śrî, Bhû and Lîlâ.

354

E.g. Śat. Brâh. I. 2. 5. See also the strange legend Ib. XI. 1. 1 where Vishṇu is described as the best of the gods but is eaten by Indra. He is frequently (e.g. in the Śata Brâh) stated to be identical with the sacrifice, and this was probably one of the reasons for his becoming prominent.

355

See many modern examples in Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk Lore of Northern India, chap. IV. and Census of India, 1901, vol. VI. Bengal, pp. 196-8, where are described various deified heroes who are adored in Bengal, such as Goveiyâ (a bandit), Sailesh, Karikh, Lárik, Amar Singh, and Gobind Raut (a slayer of tigers). Compare too the worship of Gopi Nath and Zinda Kaliana in the Panjâb as described in Census of India, 1901, vol. XVII. pp. 118-9.

356

The Bhâgavata Purâna (I. iii.) and the Bhaktamâlâ (see J.R.A.S. 1909, pp. 621 ff.) give longer lists of 22 and 26, and the Pâncarâtra gives 39. See Ahirbudhnya Saṃhitâ, V. 50-55.

357

Book I, cantos 74-76.

358

A parallel phenomenon is the belief found in Bali, that Buddha is Śiva's brother.

359

For Brahmanic ideas about Buddha see Vishṇu Purâṇa, III. 18. The Bhâgavata Purâṇa, I. 3. 24 seems to make the Buddha incarnation future. It also counts Kapila and Ṛishabha, apparently identical with the founder of the Sânkhya and the first Jain saint, as incarnations. The Padma Purâṇa seems to ascribe not only Buddhism but the Mâyâ doctrine of Śankara to delusions deliberately inspired by gods. I have not been able to find the passage in the printed edition of the Purâṇa but it is quoted in Sanskrit by Aufrecht, Cat. Cod. Bib. Bodl. p. 14, and Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, p. 198.

360

See Norman in Trans. Third Int. Congress of Religions, II. p. 85. In the Ind. Ant. 1918, p. 145 Jayaswal tries to prove that Kalkî is a historical personage and identical with King Yaśodharman of Central India (about A.D. 500) and that the idea of his being a future saviour is late. This theory offers difficulties, for firstly there is no proof that the passages of the Mahabharata which mention Kalkî (III. 190, 13101; III. 191, 13111: XII. 340, 12968) are additions later than Yaśodharman and secondly if Kalkî was first a historical figure and then projected into the future we should expect to hear that he will come again, but such language is not quoted. On the other hand it seems quite likely (1) that there was an old tradition about a future saviour called Kalkî, (2) that Yaśodharman after defeating the Huns assumed the rôle, (3) and that when it was found that the golden age had not recommenced he was forgotten (as many pseudo-Messiahs have been) and Kalkî again became a hope for the future. Vincent Smith (Hist. of India, ed. III. p. 320) intimates that Yaśodharman performed considerable exploits but was inordinately boastful.

361

Another version of the story which omits the expedition to Laṅka and makes Sîtâ the sister of Râma is found in the Dasaratha Jâtaka (641).

362

But this colonization is attributed by tradition to Vijaya, not Râma.

363

See especially book VI. p. 67, in Growse's Translation.

364

See Muir's Sanskrit Texts, vol. IV. especially pp. 441-491.

365

Ekanâtha, who lived in the sixteenth century, calls the Adhyâtma R. a modern work. See Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, page 48. The Yoga-Vasishtḥa R. purports to be instruction given by Vasishṭha to Râma who wishes to abandon the world. Its date is uncertain but it is quoted by authors of the fourteenth century. It is very popular, especially in south India, where an abridgment in Tamil called Jñâna-Vasishṭha is much read. Its doctrine appears to be Vedântist with a good deal of Buddhist philosophy. Salvation is never to think that pleasures and pains are "mine."

366

Châṇḍ. Up. III. 17.6

367

The Kaush. Brâhm. says that Kṛishṇa was an Âṅgirasa XXX. g. The Anukramanî says that the Kṛishṇa of Ṛig Veda, VIII. 74 was an Âṅgirasa. For Ghora Âṅgirasa "the dread descendent of the Angirases" see Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index, s.v.

368

E.g. Dig. Nik. V. The Pâncarâtra expressly states that Yoga is worship of the heart and self-sacrifice, being thus a counterpart of the external sacrifice (bâhyayâga).

369

Pâṇ. IV. 3. 98, Vâsudevârjunâbhyâm vun. See Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Śaivism, p. 3 and J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 168. Sûtra 95, just above, appears to point to bhakti, faith or devotion, felt for this Vâsudeva.

370

Especially the Besnagar column. See Rapson, Ancient India, p. 156 and various articles in J.R.A.S. 1909-10.

371

X. i, vi.

372

III. i. 23, Ulâro so Kaṇho isi ahosi. But this may refer to the Rishi mentioned in R.V. VIII. 74 who has not necessarily anything to do with the god Kṛishṇa.

373

See Hemacandra Abhidhânacintâmani, Ed. Boehtlingk and Rien, p. 128, and Barnett's translation of the Antagada Dasāo, pp. 13-15 and 67-82.

374

Apparently the same as the Vṛishṇis.

375

III. XV.

376

It would seem that the temple of Dvârakâ was built between the composition of the narrative in the Mahâbhârata and of the Vishṇu Purâṇa, for while the former says the whole town was destroyed by the sea, the latter excepts the temple and says that whoever visits it is freed from all his sins. See Wilson, Vishṇu Purâṇa, V. p. 155.

377

A most curious chapter of the Vishṇu Purâṇa (IV. 13) contains a vindication of Kṛishṇa's character and a picture of old tribal life.

378

Neither can I agree with some scholars that Kṛishṇa is mainly and primarily a deity of vegetation. All Indian ideas about the Universe and God emphasize the interaction of life and death, growth and decay, spring and winter. Kṛishṇa is undoubtedly associated with life, growth and generation, but so is Śiva the destroyer, or rather the transmuter. The account in the Mahâbhâshya (on Pân. III. 1. 26) of the masque representing the slaughter of Kaṃsa by Kṛishṇa is surely a slight foundation for the theory that Kṛishṇa was a nature god. It might be easily argued that Christ is a vegetation spirit, for not only is Easter a spring festival but there are numerous allusions to sowing and harvest in the Gospels and Paul illustrates the resurrection by the germination of corn. It is a mistake to seek for uniformity in the history of religion. There were in ancient times different types of mind which invented different kinds of gods, just as now professors invent different theories about gods.

379

The Kṛishṇa of the Chândogya Upanishad receives instruction but it is not said that he was himself a teacher.

380

Hopkins, India Old and New, p. 105.

381

Bhandarkar. Allusions to Kṛishṇa in Mahâbhâshya, Ind. Ant. 1874, p. 14. For the pastoral Kṛishṇa see Bhandarkar, Vaishṇavism and Śaivism, chap. IX.

382

The divinity of Râdhâ is taught specially in the Brahma-vaivarta Purâṇa and the Nârada pâncarâtra, also called Jñânâmṛitasâra. She is also described in the Gopâla-tâpanîya Upanishad of unknown date.

383

But Kaṃsa appears in both series of legends, i.e., in the Ghata-Jâtaka which contains no hint of the pastoral legends but is a variant of the story of the warlike Kṛishṇa.

384

Vishṇu Purâṇa, V. 10, 11 from which the quotations in the text are taken. Much of it is repeated in the Harivamsa. See for instance H. 3808.

385

The Muttra cycle of legends cannot be very late for the inscription of Glai Lomor in Champa (811 A.D.) speaks of Nârâyana holding up Goburdhan and a Cambojan inscription of Prea Eynkosey (970 A.D.) speaks of the banks of the Yamunâ where Kṛishṇa sported. These legends must have been prevalent in India some time before they travelled so far. Some of them are depicted on a pillar found at Mandor and possibly referable to the fourth century A.D. See Arch. Survey Ind. 1905-1906, p. 135.

386

Strom, III. 194. See M'Crindle, Ancient India, p. 183.

387

Vincent Smith, Fine Art in India, pp. 134-138.

388

In the Sutta-nipâta Mâra, the Evil One is called Kaṇha, the phonetic equivalent of Kṛishṇa in Prâkrit. Can it be that Mâra and his daughters have anything to do with Kṛishṇa and the Gopîs?

389

Compare the Greek stories of the infant Hermes who steals Apollo's cattle and invents the lyre. Compare too, as having a general resemblance to fantastic Indian legends, the story of young Hephæstus.

390

Mgr. Bongard, Histoire de la Bienheureuse Marguérite Marie. Quoted by W. James, Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 343.

391

Viṭṭhal or Viṭṭoba is a local deity of Pandharpur in the Deccan (perhaps a deified Brahman of the place) now identified with Kṛishṇa.

392

Life and Sayings of Râmakṛishṇa. Trans. F. Max Müller, pp. 137-8. The English poet Crashaw makes free use of religious metaphors drawn from love and even Francis Thompson represents God as the lover of the Soul, e.g. in his poem Any Saint.

393

Though surprising, it can be paralleled in modern times for Kabir (c. 1400) was identified by his later followers with the supreme spirit.

394

Mahâbhâr. Sabhâp. XIV. Vishṇu Pur. V. xxxiv. The name also occurs in the Taittirîya Âraṇyaka (i. 31) a work of moderate if not great antiquity Nâzâyanâya vidmahe Vasudevâya dhîmahi.

395

See. Vishṇu Pur. VI. V. See also Wilson, Vishṇu Purâṇa, I. pp. 2 and 17.

396

Thus the Saura Purâṇa inveighs against the Mâdhva sect (XXXVIII.-XL.) and calls Vishṇu the servant of Śiva: a Purâṇic legal work called the Vriddha-Harita-Samhitâ is said to contain a polemic against Śiva. Occasionally we hear of collisions between the followers of Vishṇu and Śiva or the desecration of temples by hostile fanatics. But such conflicts take place most often not between widely different sects but between subdivisions of the same sect, e.g., Tengalais and Vadagalais. It would seem too that at present most Hindus of the higher castes avoid ostentatious membership of the modern sects, and though they may practise special devotion to either Vishṇu or Śiva, yet they visit the temples of both deities when they go on pilgrimages. Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya in his Hindu Castes and Sects says (p. 364) that aristocratic Brahmans usually keep in their private chapels both a salâgram representing Vishṇu and emblems representing Śiva and his spouse. Hence different observers vary in their estimates of the importance of sectarian divisions, some holding that sect is the essence of modern Hinduism and others that most educated Hindus do not worship a sectarian deity. The Kûrma Purâṇa, Part I. chap. XXII. contains some curious rules as to what deities should be worshipped by the various classes of men and spirits.