Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume II Part 16

[Footnote 350: Such scenes as the relief from Amaravati figured in Grunwedel, _Buddhist art in India_, p. 29, fig. 8, might easily be supposed to represent the wors.h.i.+p of the linga, and some of Asoka's pillars have been wors.h.i.+pped as lingas in later times.]

[Footnote 351: But not of course the soul which, according to the general Indian idea, exists before and continues after the life of the body.]

[Footnote 352: Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India_, I. 84; II. 219.]

[Footnote 353: They are however of some importance in Vishnuite theology. For instance according to the school of Ramanuja it is the Sakti (Sri) who reveals the true doctrine to mankind. Vishn?u is often said to have three consorts, Sri, Bhu and Lila.]

[Footnote 354: _E.g._ Sat. Brah. I. 2. 5. See also the strange legend _Ib._ XI. 1. 1 where Vishn?u is described as the best of the G.o.ds but is eaten by Indra. He is frequently (_e.g._ in the Sata Brah) stated to be identical with the sacrifice, and this was probably one of the reasons for his becoming prominent.]

[Footnote 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 Goveiya (a bandit), Sailesh, Karikh, Larik, Amar Singh, and Gobind Raut (a slayer of tigers). Compare too the wors.h.i.+p of Gopi Nath and Zinda Kaliana in the Panjab as described in _Census of India_, 1901, vol. XVII. pp. 118-9.]

[Footnote 356: The Bhagavata Purana (I. iii.) and the Bhaktamala (see _J.R.A.S._ 1909, pp. 621 ff.) give longer lists of 22 and 26, and the Pancaratra gives 39. See Ahirbudhnya Sam?hita, V. 50-55.]

[Footnote 357: Book I, cantos 74-76.]

[Footnote 358: A parallel phenomenon is the belief found in Bali, that Buddha is Siva's brother.]

[Footnote 359: For Brahmanic ideas about Buddha see Vishn?u Puran?a, III. 18. The Bhagavata Puran?a, I. 3. 24 seems to make the Buddha incarnation future. It also counts Kapila and R?ishabha, apparently identical with the founder of the Sankhya and the first Jain saint, as incarnations. The Padma Puran?a seems to ascribe not only Buddhism but the Maya doctrine of Sankara to delusions deliberately inspired by G.o.ds. I have not been able to find the pa.s.sage in the printed edition of the Puran?a but it is quoted in Sanskrit by Aufrecht, _Cat. Cod.

Bib. Bodl._ p. 14, and Muir, _Original Sanskrit Texts_, p. 198.]

[Footnote 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 Kalki is a historical personage and identical with King Yasodharman 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 pa.s.sages of the Mahabharata which mention Kalki (III. 190, 13101; III. 191, 13111: XII. 340, 12968) are additions later than Yasodharman and secondly if Kalki 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 Kalki, (2) that Yasodharman after defeating the Huns a.s.sumed the role, (3) and that when it was found that the golden age had not recommenced he was forgotten (as many pseudo-Messiahs have been) and Kalki again became a hope for the future. Vincent Smith (_Hist. of India_, ed. III. p. 320) intimates that Yasodharman performed considerable exploits but was inordinately boastful.]

[Footnote 361: Another version of the story which omits the expedition to Lan?ka and makes Sita the sister of Rama is found in the Dasaratha Jataka (641).]

[Footnote 362: But this colonization is attributed by tradition to Vijaya, not Rama.]

[Footnote 363: See especially book VI. p. 67, in Growse's _Translation._]

[Footnote 364: See Muir's _Sanskrit Texts_, vol. IV. especially pp.

441-491.]

[Footnote 365: Ekanatha, who lived in the sixteenth century, calls the Adhyatma R. a modern work. See Bhandarkar, _Vaishn. and Saivism_, page 48. The Yoga-Vasishth?a R. purports to be instruction given by Vasisht?ha to Rama 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 Jnana-Vasisht?ha is much read. Its doctrine appears to be Vedantist with a good deal of Buddhist philosophy. Salvation is never to think that pleasures and pains are "mine."]

[Footnote 366: Chan?d?. Up. III. 17.6]

[Footnote 367: The Kaush. Brahm. says that Kr?ishn?a was an an?girasa x.x.x. g. The Anukramani says that the Kr?ishn?a of R?ig Veda, VIII. 74 was an an?girasa. For Ghora an?girasa "the dread descendent of the Angirases" see Macdonell and Keith, _Vedic Index_, s.v.]

[Footnote 368: _E.g._ Dig. Nik. V. The Pancaratra expressly states that Yoga is wors.h.i.+p of the heart and self-sacrifice, being thus a counterpart of the external sacrifice (bahyayaga).]

[Footnote 369: Pan?. IV. 3. 98, _Vasudevarjunabhyam vun._ See Bhandarkar, _Vaishnavism and Saivism_, p. 3 and _J.R.A.S._ 1910, p.

168. Sutra 95, just above, appears to point to _bhakti_, faith or devotion, felt for this Vasudeva.]

[Footnote 370: Especially the Besnagar column. See Rapson, _Ancient India_, p. 156 and various articles in _J.R.A.S._ 1909-10.]

[Footnote 371: X. i, vi.]

[Footnote 372: III. i. 23, Ularo so Kan?ho isi ahosi. But this may refer to the Ris.h.i.+ mentioned in _R.V._ VIII. 74 who has not necessarily anything to do with the G.o.d Kr?ishn?a.]

[Footnote 373: See Hemacandra Abhidhanacintamani, Ed. Boehtlingk and Rien, p. 128, and Barnett's translation of the _Antagada Dasao_, pp.

13-15 and 67-82.]

[Footnote 374: Apparently the same as the Vr?ishn?is.]

[Footnote 375: III. XV.]

[Footnote 376: It would seem that the temple of Dvaraka was built between the composition of the narrative in the Mahabharata and of the Vishn?u Puran?a, 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, _Vishn?u Puran?a_, V. p. 155.]

[Footnote 377: A most curious chapter of the Vishn?u Puran?a (IV. 13) contains a vindication of Kr?ishn?a's character and a picture of old tribal life.]

[Footnote 378: Neither can I agree with some scholars that Kr?ishn?a is mainly and primarily a deity of vegetation. All Indian ideas about the Universe and G.o.d emphasize the interaction of life and death, growth and decay, spring and winter. Kr?ishn?a is undoubtedly a.s.sociated with life, growth and generation, but so is Siva the destroyer, or rather the trans.m.u.ter. The account in the Mahabhashya (on Pan. III. 1. 26) of the masque representing the slaughter of Kam?sa by Kr?ishn?a is surely a slight foundation for the theory that Kr?ishn?a was a nature G.o.d. 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 ill.u.s.trates 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 G.o.ds, just as now professors invent different theories about G.o.ds.]

[Footnote 379: The Kr?ishn?a of the Chandogya Upanishad _receives_ instruction but it is not said that he was himself a teacher.]

[Footnote 380: Hopkins, _India Old and New_, p. 105.]

[Footnote 381: Bhandarkar. Allusions to Kr?ishn?a in Mahabhashya, _Ind. Ant._ 1874, p. 14. For the pastoral Kr?ishn?a see Bhandarkar, _Vaishn?avism and Saivism_, chap. IX.]

[Footnote 382: The divinity of Radha is taught specially in the Brahma-vaivarta Puran?a and the Narada pancaratra, also called Jnanamr?itasara. She is also described in the Gopala-tapaniya Upanishad of unknown date.]

[Footnote 383: But Kam?sa appears in both series of legends, _i.e._, in the Ghata-Jataka which contains no hint of the pastoral legends but is a variant of the story of the warlike Kr?ishn?a.]

[Footnote 384: Vishn?u Puran?a, 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.]

[Footnote 385: The Muttra cycle of legends cannot be very late for the inscription of Glai Lomor in Champa (811 A.D.) speaks of Narayana holding up Goburdhan and a Cambojan inscription of Prea Eynkosey (970 A.D.) speaks of the banks of the Yamuna where Kr?ishn?a 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.]

[Footnote 386: Strom, III. 194. See M'Crindle, _Ancient India_, p.

183.]

[Footnote 387: Vincent Smith, _Fine Art in India_, pp. 134-138.]

[Footnote 388: In the Sutta-nipata Mara, the Evil One is called Kan?ha, the phonetic equivalent of Kr?ishn?a in Prakrit. Can it be that Mara and his daughters have anything to do with Kr?ishn?a and the Gopis?]

[Footnote 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 Hephaestus.]

[Footnote 390: Mgr. Bongard, _Histoire de la Bienheureuse Marguerite Marie_. Quoted by W. James, _Varieties of Religious Experience_, p.

343.]

[Footnote 391: Vit?t?hal or Vit?t?oba is a local deity of Pandharpur in the Deccan (perhaps a deified Brahman of the place) now identified with Kr?ishn?a.]

[Footnote 392: _Life and Sayings of Ramakr?ishn?a_. Trans. F. Max Muller, pp. 137-8. The English poet Crashaw makes free use of religious metaphors drawn from love and even Francis Thompson represents G.o.d as the lover of the Soul, _e.g._ in his poem _Any Saint._]

[Footnote 393: Though surprising, it can be paralleled in modern times for Kabir (_c._ 1400) was identified by his later followers with the supreme spirit.]

[Footnote 394: Mahabhar. Sabhap. XIV. Vishn?u Pur. v. x.x.xiv. The name also occurs in the Taittiriya aran?yaka (i. 31) a work of moderate if not great antiquity Nazayanaya vidmahe Vasudevaya dhimahi.]

[Footnote 395: See. Vishn?u Pur. VI. V. See also Wilson, _Vishn?u Puran?a_, I. pp. 2 and 17.]

[Footnote 396: Thus the Saura Puran?a inveighs against the Madhva sect (x.x.xVIII.-XL.) and calls Vishn?u the servant of Siva: a Puran?ic legal work called the Vriddha-Harita-Samhita is said to contain a polemic against Siva. Occasionally we hear of collisions between the followers of Vishn?u and Siva or the desecration of temples by hostile fanatics.