Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2

496

Mahâbhâr. XII.

497

Mahâbhâr. XII. 13702 ff. It is recited by Daksha when he recognizes the might of Śiva after the unfortunate incident of his sacrifice.

498

Śânti-parvan, section cclxxxv especially line 10, 470 ff.

499

See Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha, chap. VI. and the comments of Râmânuja and Śankara on Vedânta Sûtras, II. 2. 36.

500

E.g. Śaṅkara-dig-vijaya. The first notice of these sects appears to be an inscription at Igatpuri in the Nâsik district of about 620 A.D. recording a grant for the worship of Kapaleśvara and the maintenance of Mahâvrâtins (= Kàpàlikās) in his temple. But doubtless the sects are much older.

501

The principal are, the Pâśupatas, the Śaivasiddhântam of southern India and the Śivaism of Kashmir.

502

The Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha, chap. VII. gives a summary of it.

503

The Pâśupatas seem to attach less importance to this triad, though as they speak of Pati, Paśu and the impurities of the soul there is not much difference. In their views of causation and free will they differed slightly from the Śaivas, since they held that Śiva is the universal and absolute cause, the actions of individuals being effective only in so far as they are in conformity with the will of Śiva. The Śaiva siddhânta however holds that Śiva's will is not irrespective of individual Karma, although his independence is not thereby diminished. He is like a man holding a magnet and directing the movements of needles.

504

There is some difference of language and perhaps of doctrine on this point in various Śivaite works. Both Śivaites and Pâncarâtrins sometimes employ the language of the Advaita. But see Schrader, Int. to Pâncarâtra, pp. 91 ff.

505

The five Kañcukas (or six including Mâyâ) are strictly speaking tattvas of which the Śaivas enumerate 36 and are kâla, niyati, râga, vidyâ and kalâ contrasted with nityatva, vyâpakatva, pûrṇatva, sarvajnatva, sarvakartṛitva which are qualities of spirit. See Chatterji, Kashmir Śaivism, 75 ff., 160, where he points out that the Kañcukas are essentially equivalent to Kant's "forms of perception and conception." See too Schrader, Int. to Pâncarâtra, 64, 90, 115.

506

See for names and other details Schomerus, Der Śaiva-Siddhânta, pp. 7, 23: also many articles in the Siddhânta-Dipika.

507

They are taken from the Âgama called Raurava. The Śivaites of Kashmir appear to have regarded the extant Śiva-sûtras as an Âgama.

508

The Sanskrit text and translation of the Mṛigendra are published in the Siddhânta-Dipika, vol. IV. 1901 ff. It is sometimes described as an Upâgama and sometimes as the Jñânapâda of the Kâmika Âgama.

509

So Tirumûlar. Nîlakanṭḥa in his commentary on the Vedânta Sûtras says: "I see no difference between the Veda and the Śaivâgama."

510

Or Śrîkaṇṭha. The commentary is translated in Siddhânta-Dipika, vol. I. ff. In spite of sectarian views as to its early date, it seems to be influenced by the views and language of Râmânuja.

511

In various allusions to be found in the Kâdambarî and Harshacarita.

512

The best known of these is the Tantravârttika, a commentary on the Pûrva-mîmâmsâ.

513

This is the generally accepted date and does not appear to conflict with anything else that is at present known of Śankara. An alternative suggestion is some date between 590 and 650 (see Telang, I.A. XIII. 1884, p. 95 and Fleet, I.A. XVI. 1887, p. 41). But in this case, it is very strange that I-Ching does not mention so conspicuous an enemy of the Buddhists. It does not seem to me that the use of Pûṛnavarman's name by Śankara in an illustration (Comm. on Vedanta Sut. II. i. 17) necessarily implies they were contemporaries, but it does prove that he cannot have lived before Pûṛnavarman.

514

Another tradition says he was born at Chidambaram, but the temple at Badrinath in the Himalayas said to have been founded by him has always been served by Nambuthiri Brahmans from Malabar. In 1910 a great temple erected in his honour was consecrated at Kaladi.

515

His conflicts with them are described in works called Śankara-vijaya of which at least four are extant.

516

They are called Daśanâmis which merely means that each ascetic bears one or other of ten surnames (Sarswati, Bharati, Tirtha, etc.). See for a further account of them Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, pp. 374-379.

The order in all its branches seems to have strong pantheistic inclinations. They mutter the formula Sivo'ham, I am Śiva.

517

I have been told by south Indian Pandits that they think Śaṅkara was bom in a Bhâgavata family and that there is some evidence his kinsmen were trustees of a temple of Kṛishṇa. The Śâktas also claim him, but the tradition that he opposed the Śâktas is strong and probable. Many hymns addressed to Vishṇu, Śiva and various forms of Durgâ are attributed to him. I have not been able to discover what is the external evidence for their authenticity but hymns must have been popular in south India before the time of Śaṅkara and it is eminently probable that he did not neglect this important branch of composition.

518

See Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 16.

519

This maṭh has an endowment of about £5000 a year, instituted by the kings of Vijayanagar. The Guru is treated with great respect. His palankin is carried crossways to prevent anyone from passing him and he wears a jewelled head-dress, not unlike a papal tiara, and wooden shoes covered with silver. See an interesting account of Śringeri in J. Mythic Society (Bangalore), vol. VIII. pp. 18-33.

Schrader in his catalogue of the Sanskrit MSS. in the Adyar Library, 1908, notices an Upanishad called Mahâmâyopanishad, ascribed to Śaṅkara himself, which deals with the special qualities of the four maṭhs. Each is described as possessing one Veda, one Mahâvâkyam, etc. The second part deals with the three ideal maṭhs, Sumeru, Paramâtman and Śâstrâthajnâna.

520

There is some reason to suppose that the Maṭh of Sringeri was founded on the site of a Buddhist monastery. See Journal of Mythic Society, Bangalore, 1916, p. 151.

521

Pracchanna-bauddha. See for further details Book IV. chap. XXI. ad fin.

522

The old folk-lore of Bengal gives a picture of Śiva, the peasant's god, which is neither Vedic nor Dravidian. See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Bengali Lang. and Lit. pp. 68 ff. and 239 ff.

523

J.R.A.S. 1899, p. 242.

524

See some curious examples in Whitehead's Village Gods of South India.

525

Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, pp. 27 and 204.

526

The early Brahmi inscriptions of southern India are said to be written in a Dravidian language with an admixture not of Sanskrit but of Pali words. See Arch. Survey India, 1911-12, Part I. p. 23.

527

See Rice, Mysore and Coorg, pp. 3-5 and Fleet's criticisms, I.A.. XXI. 1892, p. 287.

528

The various notices in European classical authors as well as in the Sinhalese chronicles prove this.

529

Except in the first chapter.

530

A complete list of them is given in Foulkes, Catechism of the Shaiva religion, 1863, p. 21.

531

Tamilian Antiquary, 3, 1909, pp. 1-65.

532

Edited and translated by Pope, 1900.

533

Established opinion or doctrine. Used by the Jains as a name for their canon.

534

Thus the catechism of the Śaiva religion by Sabhapati Mudaliyar (transl. Foulkes, 1863) after stating emphatically that the world is created also says that the soul and the world are both eternal. Also just as in the Bhagavad-gîtâ the ideas of the Vedanta and Sâṅkhya are incongruously combined, so in the Tiruvaçagam (e.g. Pope's edition, pp. 49 and 138) Śiva is occasionally pantheized. He is the body and the soul, existence and non-existence, the false and the true, the bond and the release.

535

E.g. Hymn vi.

536

Pope's Tiruvaçagam, p. 257.

537

Yet I have read that American revivalists describe how you play base ball (an American game) with Jesus.

538

Pope's Tiruvaçagam, p. 101.

539

It does not seem to me that the legend of Śiva's drinking the hala-hala poison is really parallel to the sufferings of the Christian redeemer. At the most it is a benevolent exploit like many performed by Vishṇu.

540

Although Śiva is said to have been many times incarnate (see for instance Catechism of the Shaiva religion, p. 20) he seems to have merely appeared in human form on special occasions and not to have been like Christ or Kṛishṇa a god living as a man from birth to death.

541

The lines which seem most clearly to reflect Christian influence are those quoted by Caldwell from the Nana nuru in the introduction to his Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian languages, p. 127, but neither the date of the work nor the original of the quotation is given. This part of the introduction is omitted in the third edition.

542

Tamilian Antiquary, 4, 1909, pp. 57-82.

543

Ib. pp. 1-57; Sesha Aiyer gives 275 A.D. as the probable date, and 375 as the latest date.

544

The Śaiva catechism translated by Foulkes says (p. 27) that Śiva revealed the Tiruvaçagam twice, first to Manikka-Vaçagar and later to Tiru-Kovaiyar.

545

Sanskrit, Siddha.

546

Space forbids me to quote the Śiva-vâkyam and Paṭṭaṇaṭṭu Piḷḷai, interesting as they are. The reader is referred to Gover, Folk-Songs of southern India, 1871, a work which is well worth reading.

547

The date of the Skanda Purâṇa creates no difficulty for Bendall considered a MS. of it found in Nepal to be anterior to 659 A.D.

548

One of his maxims was adu, adu âdal, that is the mind becomes that (spiritual or material) with which it identifies itself most completely.

549

It is contained in fourteen śâstras, most of which are attributed to the four teachers mentioned above.

550

For the Kashmir school see Barnett in Muséon, 1909, pp. 271-277. J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 707-747. Kashmir Sanskrit series, particularly vol. II. entitled Kashmir Śaivism. The Śiva sûtras and the commentary Vimar'sinî translated in Indian Thought, 1911-12. Also Srinivasa Iyengar, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, pp. 168-175 and Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha, chap. VIII.

551

Among them may be mentioned Kallata, author of the Spanda Kârikâs and Somânanda of the Śivadṛishti, who both flourished about 850-900. Utpala, who composed the Pratyabhijñâ-kârikâs, lived some fifty years later, and in the eleventh century Abhinava Gupta and Kshemarâja composed numerous commentaries.

552

Kashmirian Śaivism is often called Trika, that is tripartite, because, like other varieties, it treats of three ultimates Śiva, Śakti, Anu or Pati, Paśu, Pâśa. But it has a decided tendency towards monism.

553

Also called the Śakti or Mâtrikâ.

554

See Epig. Carn. VII. Sk. 114. 19, 20 and Jour. Mythic Society, 1917, pp. 176, 180.

555

To say nothing of Śivaite temples like the Kailas at Ellora, the chief doctrines and even the terminology of Śivaite philosophy are mentioned by Śankara on Ved. Sutras, II. 2. 37.

556

In the Samyuktavastu, chap. XL. (transl. in J.A. 1914, II. pp. 534, etc.) the Buddha is represented as saying that Kashmir is the best land for meditation and leading a religious life.

557

Chatterji, Kashmir Śaivism, p. 11, thinks that Abhinava Gupta's Paramârthasâra, published by Barnett, was an adaptation of older verses current in India and called the Âdhâra Kârikâs.

558

See Thurston, Castes and Tribes of southern India, s.v. vol. IV. pp. 236-291 and Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, vol. XXIII. article Bijapur, pp. 219-1884.

559

An inscription found at Ablur in Dharwar also mentions Ramayya as a champion of Śivaite monotheism. He is perhaps the same as Channabasava. The Lingâyats maintain that Basava merely revived the old true religion of Śiva and founded nothing new.

560

They have also a book called Prabhuling-lila, which is said to teach that the deity ought to live in the believer's soul as he lives in the lingam, and collections of early Kanarese sermons which are said to date from the thirteenth century.

561

The use of the Linga by this sect supports the view that even in its origin the symbol is not exclusively phallic.

562

Their creed is said to have been the state religion of the Wodeyars of Mysore (1399-1600) and of the Nayaks of Keladi, Ikken or Bednur (1550-1763).

563

At Kadur, Ujjeni, Benares, Śrîsailam and Kedarnâth in the Himalayas. In every Lingâyat village there is a monastery affiliated to one of these five establishments. The great importance attached to monastic institutions is perhaps due to Jain influence.

564

Such as the Vishṇu Purâṇa, Vishṇu Dharma, said to be a section of the Garuda Purâṇa and the Bhagavad-gîtâ.

565

The Hindus are well aware that the doctrine of Bhakti spread from the south to the north. See the allegory quoted in J.R.A.S. 1911, p. 800.

566

Thus Râmânuja says (Śri Bhâshya, II. 2. 43) that the Vedânta Sûtras do not refute the Sânkhya and Yoga but merely certain erroneous views as to Brahman not being the self.

567

It has been described as the earliest of the Vishnuite Churches and it would be so if we could be sure that the existence of the doctrine called Dvaitâdvaita was equivalent to the existence of the sect. But Bhandarkar has shown some reason for thinking that Nimbâditya lived after Râmânuja. It must be admitted that the worship of Râdhâ and the doctrine of self-surrender or prapatti, both found in the Daśaśloki, are probably late.

568

See Grierson in E.R.E. vol. II. p. 457.

569

The Church of the Nimavats is also called Sanakâdi-sampradâya because it professes to derive its doctrine from Sanaka and his brethren who taught Nârada, who taught Nimbârka. At least one sub-sect founded by Harivamsa (born 1559) adopts a doctrine analogous to Saktism and worships Râdhâ as the manifestation of Kṛishṇa's energy.

570

Called the Daśaśloki. It is translated in Bhandarkar's Vaishṇ and Śaivism, pp. 63-5.

571

Also spelt Alvar and Azhvar. The Tamil pronunciation of this difficult letter varies in different districts. The word apparently means one who is drowned or immersed in the divine love. Cf. Azhi, the deep sea; Azhal, being deep or being immersed.

572

An educated Vaishṇava told me at Śrîrangam that devas and saints receive the same homage.

573

It is possible that the poems attributed to Namm'âr̤vâr and other saints are really later compositions. See Epig. Ind. vol. VIII. p. 294.

574

XI. 5. 38-40.

575

Bhandarkar (Vaishṇ. and Śaivism, p. 50) thinks it probable that Kulaśekhara, one of the middle Âr̤vârs, lived about 1130. But the argument is not conclusive and it seems to me improbable that he lived after Nâthamuni.

576

The first called Mudal-Âyiram consists of nine hymns ascribed to various saints such as Periyâr̤var and Andal. The second and third each consist of a single work the Periya-tiru-mor̤i and the Tiru-vay-mor̤i ascribed to Tiru-mangai and Namm'âr̤vâr respectively. The fourth part or Iyar-pa is like the first a miscellany containing further compositions by these two as well as by others.

577

Nityânusandhânam series: edited with Telugu paraphrase and English translation by M.B. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Madras, 1898.

578

The best known is the Guru-paramparâ-prabhâvam of Brahmatantra-svatantra-swâmi. For an English account of these doctors see T. Râjagopala Chariar, The Vaishṇavite Reformers of India, Madras, 1909.

579

Âgamaprâmâṇya. He also wrote a well-known hymn called Âlavandâr-Stotram and a philosophical treatise called Siddhi-traya.

580

He states himself that he followed Boddhâyana, a commentator on the Sûtras of unknown date but anterior to Śaṅkara. He quotes several other commentators particularly Dramiḍa, so that his school must have had a long line of teachers.

581

See Gazetteer of India, vol. XXIII. s.v. There is a Kanarese account of his life called Dibya-caritra. For his life and teaching see also Bhandarkar in Berichte VIIth Int. Orient. Congress, 1886, pp. 101 ff. Lives in English have been published at Madras by Alkondaville Govindâcârya (1906) and Kṛishṇaswami Aiyangar (? 1909).

582

He also wrote the Vedârtha Saṅgraha, Vedârtha Pradîpa, Vedânta Sâra and a commentary on the Bhagavad-gîtâ.

583

S.B.E. XLVIII. p. 3.

584

II. 2. 36-39.

585

II. 2. 43 ad fin.

586

Râmânuja's introduction to the Bhagavad-gîtâ is more ornate but does not go much further in doctrine than the passage here quoted.

587

This fivefold manifestation of the deity is a characteristic Pâncarâtra doctrine. See Schrader, Int. pp. 25, 51 and Śrî Bhâshya, II. 242.

588

See Br. Ar. Up III. 7. The Śrî Vaishṇavas attach great importance to this chapter.

589

Only relatively northern and southern. Neither flourish in what we call northern India.

590

Hence the two doctrines are called markaṭa-nyâya and marjâra-nyâya, monkey theory and cat theory. The latter gave rise to the dangerous doctrine of Doshabhogya, that God enjoys sin, since it gives a larger scope for the display of His grace. Cf. Oscar Wilde in De Profundis, "Christ, through some divine instinct in him, seems to have always loved the sinner as being the nearest possible approach to perfection in man.... In a manner not yet understood of the world, he regarded sin and suffering as being in themselves beautiful holy things and modes of perfection.... Christ, had he been asked, would have said—I feel quite certain about it—that the moment the prodigal son fell on his knees and wept, he made his having wasted his substance with harlots, his swine herding and hungering for the husks they ate beautiful and holy moments in his life."

591

Also called Veṅkatanâtha. For some rather elaborate studies in the history of the Śrî-Vaishṇavas see V. Rangacharis' articles in J. Bombay R.A.S. 1915 and 1916 and J. Mythic Society, 1917, Nos. 2 ff.

592

Prapatti and âcâryabhimâna.—The word prapatti seems not to occur in the Śrî Bhâshya and it is clear that Râmânuja's temperament was inclined to active and intelligent devotion. But prapatti is said to have been taught by Nathamuni and Sathagopa (Râjagopala Chariar, Vaishṇavite Reformers, p. 6). The word means literally approaching.

593

The Artha-pañcaka and Tattva-traya are the best known. See text and translation of the first in J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 565-607.

594

Râmânuja set less store than Śankara on asceticism and renunciation of the world. He held the doctrine called samucchaya (or combination) namely that good works as well as knowledge are efficacious for salvation.

595

Also called Ânandatîrtha and Pûrṅaprajña. According to others he was born in 1238 A.D. See for his doctrines Grierson's article Madhvas in E.R.E. and his own commentaries on the Chândogya and Bṛihad Ar. Upanishads published in Sacred Books of the Hindus, vols. III. and XIV. For his date Bhandarkar, Vaishṇ. and Śaivism, pp. 58-59 and I.A.. 1914, pp. 233 ff. and 262 ff. Accounts of his life and teaching have been written by Padmanabha Char. and Kṛishṇa Svami Aiyer (Madras, 1909). His followers maintain that he is not dead but still alive at Badarî in the Himalayas.

596

See Padmanabha Char. l.c. page 12. Madhva condemned the worship of inanimate objects (e.g. com. Chând. Up. VII. 14. 2) but not the worship of Brahman in inanimate objects.

597

In a work called the Pâshanda capetikâ or A Slap for Heretics, all the adherents of Madhva are consigned to hell and the Saurapurâṇa, chaps. XXXVIII.-XL. contains a violent polemic against them. See Jahn's Analysis, pp. 90-106 and Barth in Mélanges Harlez, pp. 12-25. It is curious that the Madhvas should have been selected for attack, for in many ways they are less opposed to Śivaites than are other Vishnuite sects but the author was clearly badly informed about the doctrines which he attacks and he was probably an old-fashioned Śivaite of the north who regarded Madhvism as a new-fangled version of objectionable doctrines.

The Madhvas are equally violent in denouncing Śankara and his followers. They miswrite the name Saṃkara, giving it the sense of mongrel or dirt and hold that he was an incarnation of a demon called Maṇimat sent by evil spirits to corrupt the world.

598

See his comment on Chând. Up. VI. 8. 7. Compare Bhag.-g. XV. 7. The text appears to say that the soul (Jîva) is a part (amsa) of the Lord. Madhva says it is so-called because it bears some reduced similitude to the Lord, though quite distinct from him. Madhva's exegesis is supported by a system of tantric or cabalistic interpretation in which every letter has a special meaning. Thus in the passage of the Chând. Up. mentioned above the simple words sa ya eshah are explained as equivalent to Sâra essence, yama the controller, and ishta the desired one. The reading atat tvam asi is said not to have originated with Madhva but to be found in a Bhâgavata work called the Sâmasamhitâ.

599

In his commentary on the opening of the Chând. Up. Madhva seems to imply a Trinity consisting of Vishṇu, Ramâ (=Lakshmî) and Vâyu.

600

This is expressly stated at the end of the commentary on the Brih. Ar. Upan.

601

Life and teachings of Śrî-Madhvacharyar by Padmanabha Char. 1909, p. 159. Some have suspected a connection between Madhva's teaching and Manicheism, because he attached much importance to an obscure demon called Manimat (see Mahâbh. III. 11, 661) whom he considered incarnate in Śankara. It is conceivable that in his Persian studies he may have heard of Mani as an arch-heretic and have identified him with this demon but this does not imply any connection between his own system (or Śankara's either) and Manicheism.