Hinduism and Budd h 02

HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM

VOLUME

II

HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH

BY

SIR

CHARLES ELIOT

In three volumes

VOLUME

II

ROUTLEDGE

&

KEGAN PAUL LTD

Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane,
London, E.C.4.

First published 1921

Reprinted 1954 Reprinted 1957
Reprinted 1962

PRINTED

IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON BRADFORD

ft*

75187

CONTENTS
BOOK
IV

THE MAHAYANA
CHAPTER MAIN FEATURES OF THE MAHAYANA XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.

...

PAGE
3
7

BODHISATTVAS

THE BUDDHAS or MAHAYANISM
MAHAYANIST METAPHYSICS
MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA

XIX.

XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU INDIAN BUDDHISM AS SEEN BY THE CHINESE
PILGRIMS

.... .... ....

26 36

47
63 76 90

XXIV.

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM

iNr

INDIA

107

BOOK V
HINDUISM
XXV.
XXVI.
SIVA AND VISHNU
136

FEATURES OF HINDUISM: RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

166

XXVII. THE EVOLUTION OF HINDUISM. BHAGAVATAS AND PASUPATAS
XXVIII. ^ANKARA. SlVAISM LlNGAYATS
IN

186

SOUTHERN INDIA. KASHMIR.
206

XXIX.

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

228
.
. .

XXX.
XXXI.

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA AMALGAMATION OF HINDUISM AND ISLAM. KABIR AND THE SIKHS

242

262 274
291

XXXII. SAKTISM XXXIII. HINDU PHILOSOPHY

BOOK

IV

THE MAHAYANA

CHAPTER XVI
MAIN FEATURES OF THE MAHAYANA
obscurest period in the history of Buddhism is that which follows the reign of Asoka, but the enquirer cannot grope for long in these dark ages without stumbling upon the word
is the name given to a movement which in its various phases may be regarded as a philosophical school, a sect and a church, and though it is not always easy to define its relationship to other schools and sects it certainly became a

THE

Mahayana. This

prominent aspect of Buddhism in India about the beginning of our era besides achieving enduring triumphs in the Far East. The word 1 signifies Great Vehicle or Carriage, that is a means of conveyance to salvation, and is contrasted with Hinayana, the Little Vehicle, a name bestowed on the more conservative party though not willingly accepted by them. The simplest description of the two Vehicles is that given by the Chinese traveller I-Ching (635-713 A. D.) who saw them both as living realities in India. He says 2 "Those who worship Bodhisattvas and read Mahayana Sutras are called Mahayanists, while those who do not do this are called Hinayanists." In other words, the Mahayanists have scriptures of their own, not included in the Hinayanist Canon and adore superhuman beings in the stage of existence immediately below Buddhahood and practically differing little from Indian deities. Many characteristics could be added to I-Ching s description but they might not prove universally true of the Mahayana nor entirely absent from the Hinayana, for however divergent the two Vehicles may have

become when separated geographically, for instance in Ceylon and Japan, it is clear that when they were in contact, as in
Sanskrit, Mahdydna; Chinese, Ta Ch eng (pronounced Tai SMng in many southern provinces); Japanese, Dai-jo; Tibetan, Theg-pa-chen-po; Mongolian, Ydkd-kulgdn: Sanskrit, Hinayana; Chinese, Hsiao-Ch eng; Japanese, Sho-jo; Tibetan, Theg-dman; Mongolian Ut sukan-kvlgan. In Sanskrit the synonyms agra1

yana and uttama-yana are also found. 2 Record of Buddhist practices. Transl. Takakusu, 1896, p. 14. Hsiian Chuang seems to have thought that acceptance of the Yogacaryabhumi (Nanjio, 1170) was essential for a Mahayanist. See his life, transl. by Beal, p. 39, transl. by Julien, p. 50.

4

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

was not always sharp. But in India and China, the distinction was more popular, not in the sense of general the Mahayana of its teaching were exceedingly abstruse, being simpler, for parts or include doctrines agree of striving to invent but in the sense monastic than the older less was It masses. able to the warmer in charity, more Buddhism, and more emotional; more ornate in art, literature and ritual, personal in devotion, and development, whereas the evolution to more disposed was conservative and rigid, secluded in its cloisters

Hinayana and open to the plausible if unjust accusation of selfishness. The two sections are sometimes described as northern and southern Buddhism, but except as a rough description of their distribution at the present day, this distinction is not accurate,
for the

Mahayana penetrated to Java, while the Hinayana reached Central Asia and China. But it is true that the develop
of the Mahayana was due to influences prevalent in northern India and not equally prevalent in the South. The terms Pali and Sanskrit Buddhism are convenient and as accurate as can be expected of any nomenclature covering so

ment

large a field.

Though European writers usually talk of two Yanas or and though this is clearly the great and the little the important distinction for historical purposes, yet Indian and Chinese Buddhists frequently enumerate three. These are the Srdvakaydna, the vehicle of the ordinary Bhikshu who hopes to become an Arhat, the Pratyekabuddhaydna for the rare beings who are able to become Buddhas but do not preach the law to others, and in contrast to both of these the Mahayana or vehicle of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As a rule these three Vehicles are not regarded as hostile or even incompatible. Thus the
Vehicles

maintains that there is really but one vehicle though by a wise concession to human weakness the Buddha lets it appear that there are three to suit divers tastes. And the Mahayana is not a single vehicle but rather a train comprising many carriages of different classes. It has an unfortunate but distinct later phase known in Sanskrit as Mantrayana and Vajrayana but generally described by Europeans as Tantrism. This phase took some of the worst features in such
,

Lotus sutra 1

Hinduism,

1

title ; of

S^harma-Pundarika, The Lotus.

chap. in. For brevity,

I

usually cite this

work by J the

xvi]

MAIN FEATURES OF THE MAHAYANA
and the worship
of goddesses,

5

as spells, charms,

and with mis

placed ingenuity fitted them into Buddhism. I shall treat of it in a subsequent chapter, for it is chronologically late. The
silence of Hsiian

century
is

Chuang and I-Ching implies that in the seventh was not a noticeable aspect of Indian Buddhism. Although the record of the Mahayana in literature and art clear and even brilliant, it is not easy either to trace its rise
it

its development with other events in India. Its annals are an interminable list of names and doctrines, but bring before us few living personalities and hence are dull. They are like a record of the Christian Church s fight against Arians, Monophysites and Nestorians with all the great figures

or connect

of Byzantine history omitted or called in question. Hence I fear that readers (if I have any) may find these chapters repellent,

my

a mist of hypotheses and a catalogue of ancient paradoxes. I can only urge that if the history of the Mahayana is uncertain, its teaching fanciful and its scriptures tedious, yet it has been a force of the first magnitude in the secular history and art of China, Japan and Tibet and even to-day the most metaphysical of its sacred books, the Diamond Cutter, has probably more readers than Kant and Hegel. Since the early history of the Mahayana is a matter for argument rather than precise statement, it will perhaps be best to begin with some account of its doctrines and literature and proceed afterwards to chronology. I may, however, mention that general tradition connects it with King Kanishka and
asserts that the great doctors Asvaghosha and Nagarjuna lived in and immediately after his reign. The attitude of Kanishka and of the Council which he summoned towards the Mahayana
is

far

from clear and

I shall

say something about this

difficult

subject below. Unfortunately his date is not beyond dispute for while a considerable consensus of opinion fixes his accession at about 78 A. D., some scholars place it earlier and others in the

second century A.D. 1 Apart from this, it appears established that the Sukhavati-vyuha which is definitely Mahayanist was translated into Chinese between 147 and 186 A.D. We may assume that it was then already well known and had been com posed some time before, so that, whatever Kanishka s date may
1

The date 58

B.C.

has probably few supporters

among

scholars now, especially

after Marshall s discoveries.

6

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

xvi

must have been in existence have been, Mahayanist doctrines and perhaps considerably about the time of the Christian era, can be a like reign or a council earlier Naturally no one date school. Such a body of a
selected to
of doctrine
it

mark

the beginning

great

bef must have existed piecemeal and unauthorized than older are tenets some and was collected and recognized
<

s definition we may find in the Enlarging I-Ching or practice. All are not found Mahayana seven lines of thought the Hinayana but probably with in all sects and some are shared the Mahayana. Many of outside none are found developed

others.

fully

them have
1.

the parallels in

contemporary phases of Hinduism.

A A

belief in

Bodhisattvas and in the power of

human

beings to
2.

become Bodhisattvas.

code of altruistic ethics which teaches that everyone must do good in the interest of the whole world and make over to others any merit he may acquire by his virtues. The aim of the religious life is to become a Bodhisattva, not to become an
Arhat.

A doctrine that Buddhas are supernatural beings, distri 3. buted through infinite space and time, and innumerable. In the language of later theology a Buddha has three bodies and still later there is a group of five Buddhas. 4. Various systems of idealist metaphysics, which tend to
regard the
5.

Buddha

essence or Nirvana

much

as

Brahman
later

is

regarded in the Vedanta.

A canon composed in Sanskrit and apparently

than

the Pali Canon.
6.

There
7.

is

Habitual worship of images and elaboration of ritual. a dangerous tendency to rely on formulae and charms.

A

special doctrine of salvation

by

usually Amitabha,

can exist

and invocation without this doctrine but
essential

of his
it is

and considered

faith in a Buddha, name. Mahayanism tolerated by most sects

by some.

CHAPTER XVII
BODHISATTVAS
first the worship This word means one whose essence is know ledge but is used in the technical sense of a being who is in process of obtaining but has not yet obtained Buddhahood. The Pali Canon shows little interest in the personality of Bodhisattvas and regards them simply as the preliminary or larval form of a Buddha, either Sakyamuni 1 or some of his predecessors. It was incredible that a being so superior to ordinary humanity as a Buddha should be suddenly produced in a human family nor could he be regarded as an incarnation in the strict sense. But it was both logical and edifying to suppose that he was the product of a long evolution of virtue, of good deeds and noble resolutions extending through count

LET

us

now

consider these doctrines and take

of Bodhisattvas.

less ages and culminating in a being superior to the Devas. Such a being awaited in the Tushita heaven the time fixed for his appearance on earth as a Buddha and his birth was accom panied by marvels. But though the Pali Canon thus recognizes the Bodhisattva as a type which, if rare, yet makes its appear

ance at certain intervals, it leaves the matter there. It is not suggested that saints should try to become Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, or that Bodhisattvas can be helpers of mankind 2 But both these trains of thought are natural developments of the older ideas and soon made themselves prominent. It is a characteristic doctrine of Mahayanism that men can try and should try to become Bodhisattvas.
.

1 In dealing with the Mahayanists, I use the expression Sakyamuni in preference to Gotama. It is their own title for the teacher and it seems incongruous to use the

purely

human name

of

Gotama
of

in describing doctrines

which represent him as

superhuman. 2 But Kings Hsin-byu-shin
left inscriptions

Burma and

Sri

Suryavamsa

Rama

of

Siam have

Burma

recording their desire to become Buddhas. See my chapters on and Siam below. Mahayanist ideas may easily have entered these countries
is

from China, but even in Ceylon the idea of becoming a Buddha or Bodhisattva not unknown. See Manual of a Mystic (P.T.S. 1916), pp. xviii and 140.

o

THE MAHAYAN A

[

CH

-

the Buddha is admit that the career of to the Jataka it is, as the Introduction noble, and also that to school resolution of an earnest recounts simply the result the long chain of Mmself and help others, kept firmly through

ButTwe

better

and

existences, there

is

nothing

illogical

our goal not the quest of personal the state of those who may aspire of Bodhisattvaship, that is the Arhat, engrossed in his own to become Buddhas. In fact his humility and is open to the salvation, is excused only by an since the passion for Nirvana is charge of selfish desire, bes be can salvation ambition like any other and the quest for

presumptuous in making salvation, but the attainment
or

others. But though followed by devoting oneself entirely to the Mahayanist point of view object here is to render intelligible I must defend the latter including its objections to Hinayanism, and authorita from the accusation of selfishness. The vigorous mankind as all tive character of Gotama led him to regard

my

treatment patients requiring if they themselves cure could they
;

and to emphasize the* truth that would try. But the Buddhism and of the Pali Canon does not ignore the duties of loving 1 save to it merely insists on man s power instructing others himself if properly instructed and bids him do it at once: all that thou hast and follow me." And the Mahayana, if less It is self-centred, has also less self-reliance, and self-discipline. teaches it more human and charitable, but also more easygoing the believer to lean on external supports which if well chosen may be a help, but if trusted without discrimination become
"sell
:

paralyzing abuses. And if we look at the abuses of both systems the fossilized monk of the Hinayana will compare favourably
E.g. in Itivuttakam 75, there is a description of the man who is like a drought and gives nothing, the man who is like rain in a certain district and the man who is Sabbabhutanukampako, compassionate to all creatures, and like rain falling everywhere. Similarly ib. 84, and elsewhere, we have descriptions of persons (ordinary disciples as well as Buddhas) who are born for the welfare of gods and
1

men bahujanahitaya, bahujanasukhaya, lokanukampaya, atthaya,
devamanussanam.

hitaya,

sukhaya

xvn]

BODHISATTVAS

9

with the tantric adept. It was to the corruptions of the Mahayana rather than of the Hinayana that the decay of Buddhism in India was due. The career of the Bodhisattva was early divided into stages (bhumi) each marked by the acquisition of some virtue in his triumphant course. The stages are variously reckoned as five, seven and ten. The Mahavastu 1 which is the earliest work where
,

described, enumerates ten without distinguishing them very clearly. Later writers commonly look at the Bodhisattva s task from the humbler point of view of the beginner

the progress

is

who wishes

to

learn the

initiatory

stages.

For them the

Bodhisattva is primarily not a supernatural being or even a saint but simply a religious person who wishes to perform the
duties
like

and enjoy the privileges of the Church to the full, much a communicant in the language of contemporary Christianity.

We

have a manual for those who would follow this path, in the Bodhicaryavatara of Santideva, which in its humility, sweetness and fervent piety has been rightly compared with the De Imitatione Christi. In many respects the virtues of the Bodhi sattva are those of the Arhat. His will must be strenuous and

concentrated; he must cultivate the strictest morality, patience, energy, meditation and knowledge. But he is also a devotee, a bhaktd: he adores all the Buddhas of the past, present and future as well as sundry superhuman Bodhisattvas, and he con fesses his sins, not after the fashion of the Patimokkha, but by
accusing himself before these heavenly Protectors and vowing to sin no more.

Santideva lived in the seventh century 2 but tells us that he follows the scriptures and has nothing new to say. This seems to be true for, though his book being a manual of devotion presents its subject-matter in a dogmatic form, its main ideas are stated and even elaborated in the Lotus. Not only are eminent figures in the Church, such as Sariputra and Ananda,
there designated as future Buddhas, but the same dignity is predicted wholesale for five hundred and again for two thousand
1 2

Ed. Senart,

vol.

i.

p. 142.

The Bodhicaryavatara was edited by Minayeff, 1889 and also in the Journal of the Buddhist Text Society and the Bibliotheca Indica. De la Vallee Poussin published parts of the text and commentary in his Bouddhisme and also a translation
in 1907.

10

THE MAHAYAN A

[CH.

to be followed monks while in Chapter x is sketched the course ladies of good family" who wish to by "young men or young 1 The chief difference is that the Bodhibecome Bodhisattvas a more spiritual life, it speaks more of caryavatara portrays that compose the heavenly devotion, less of the million shapes merits of reading host: more of love and wisdom, less of the to it and the faith that While sutras. rendering particular is typical of it all honour, we must remember that it
.

produced

the

Mahayana only in the

typical of

Roman
s

Santideva

sense that the De Imitatione Christi is Catholicism, for both faiths have other sides. Bodhisattva, when conceiving the thought of

He addresses to the joy in the good actions of all living beings. Buddhas a prayer which is not a mere act of commemoration, but a request to preach the law and to defer their entrance into
Nirvana.

Bodhi or eventual supreme enlightenment to be obtained, it may be, only after numberless births, feels first a sympathetic

He

then makes over to others whatever merit he

may

and all his possessions, possess or acquire and offers himself moral and material, as a sacrifice for the salvation of all beings. This on the one hand does not much exceed the limits of ddnam
or the virtue of giving as practised by Sakyamuni in previous births according to the Pali scriptures, but on the other it

contains in

embryo the doctrine

of vicarious merit

and salvation

through a saviour. The older tradition admits that the future Buddha (e.g. in the Vessantara birth-story) gives all that is asked from him including life, wife and children. To consider
the surrender and transfer of merit (pattidana in Pali) as parallel is a natural though perhaps false analogy. But the transfer of Karma is not altogether foreign to Brahmanic

thought, for

it is it

held that a wife

may

share in her husband
.

s

Karma nor is

wholly

unknown

thus deliberately rejecting all the neophyte makes a vow (pranidhana) to acquire enlighten ment for the good of all beings and not to swerve from the
rules of
1

Buddhism 2 After personal success and selfish aims,
to Sinhalese

life

and

faith requisite for this end.

He

is

then a

"son

The career of the Bodhisattva is also discussed in detail in the Avatamsaka sutra and in works attributed to the Lakshana-vimuktaNagarjuna and
Sthiramati, hridaya-Sastra and the Mahayana-dharma-dhatvavi&shata-sastra. these works as quoted by Teitaro Suzuki. 2 See Childers, Pali Diet. s.v. Patti, and
I

only

know

of

Pattianuppadanain

Punno.

xvii]
of
Buddha,"

BODHISATTVAS

11

a phrase which is merely a natural metaphor for 1 is one of the household of faith that but still paves he saying the way to later ideas which make the celestial Bodhisattva an emanation or spiritual son of a celestial Buddha.
2 Asanga gives a more technical and scholastic description of the ten bhumis or stages which mark the Bodhisattva s progress

towards complete enlightenment and culminate in a phase bearing the remarkable but ancient name of Dharmamegha

known
muditd

also to the
(joyful):

Yoga philosophy. The other stages

are called

:

vimald (immaculate): prabhdkari (light giving): arcismati (radiant): durjaya (hard to gain): abhimukhi (facing, because it faces both transmigration and Nirvana) duramgamd (far-going): acald (immovable): sddhumati (good minded). The incarnate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Tibet are a travesty of the Mahayana which on Indian soil adhered to the sound doctrine that saints are known by their achievements as men and cannot be selected among infant prodigies 3 It was the general though not universal opinion that one who had entered on the career of a Bodhisattva could not fall so low as to be reborn in any state of punishment, but the spirit of humility and self-effacement which has always marked the Buddhist ideal tended to represent his triumph as incalculably distant. Meanwhile, although in the whirl of births he was on the upward grade, he yet had his ups and downs and there is no evidence that Indian or Far Eastern Buddhists arrogated to themselves special claims and powers on the ground that they were well advanced in the career of Buddhahood. The vow to suppress self and follow the light not only in this life but in all future births contains an element of faith or fantasy, but has any religion formed a nobler or even equivalent picture of the soul s destiny or built a better staircase from the world of men to the immeasurable spheres of the superhuman? One aspect of the story of Sakyamuni and his antecedent births thus led to the idea that all may become Buddhas. An
:

.

1

It occurs in the Pali

Canon,

e.g.

Itivuttakam 100.

Tassa

me tumhe

putta

orasa,
2

mukhato

jata,

dhammaja.
"

See Sylvain Levi, Mahdydna-sdtrdlankdra: introduction and passim. For much additional information about the Bhumis see De la Vallee Poussin s article Bodhiaattva"

in E.R.E.

8

sattvas just aa eminent
E. n.

Eminent doctors such as Nagarjuna and Asanga are often described as Bodhi Hindu teachers, e.g. Caitanya, are described as Avataras.
2

12

THE MAHAY ANA
natural

[CH.

equally

development

in

another direction

created
held

and superhuman Bodhisattvas. The Hinayana dwelt in the Tushita heaven that Gotama, before his last birth, and splendour of an Indian god and it looked enjoying the power admitted no other forward to the advent of Maitreya. But it
celestial

of the doctrine that Bodhisattvas, a consequence apparently the luxuriant there can only be one Buddha at a time. But soon broke to loves divinities, which of multiply India, fancy this restriction and fashioned for itself beautiful images

Nirvana that they we can judge, may the figures of these Bodhisattvas took shape just about the same time that the personalities of Vishnu and Siva were in both cases is the same, acquiring consistency. The impulse accessible to human a form in to desire the express namely the forces which emotion to human and sympathetic prayer rule the universe. But in this work of portraiture the Buddhists laid more emphasis on moral and spiritual law than did the Brahmans: they isolated in personification qualities not found isolated in nature. Siva is the law of change, of death and rebirth, with all the riot of slaughter and priapism which it entails: Vishnu is the protector and preserver, the type of good energy warring against evil, but the unity of the figure is smothered by mythology and broken up into various incarna tions. But Avalokita and Manjusri, though they had not such

through of benevolent beings

who

refuse the bliss of
.

1 alleviate the sufferings of others

So

far as

strong roots in Indian humanity as Siva and Vishnu, are genii of purer and brighter presence. They are the personifications

and knowledge. Though manifold in shape, they do with mythology, and are analogous to the archangels of Christian and Jewish tradition and to the Amesha Spentas of Zoroastrianism. With these latter they may have some historical connection, for Persian ideas may well have influenced Buddhism about the time of the Christian era. How ever difficult it may be to prove the foreign origin of Bodhisat tvas, few of them have a clear origin in India and all of them
of kindness
little

have

to

1

The idea that Arhats may postpone
is

the world the

Mahayanist

himself might have done so. Legends which cannot be called definitely relate how Pindola and others are to tarry until Maitreya come and how Kasyapa in a less active role awaits him in a cave or tomb, ready to revive at his advent. See J.A. 1916, n. pp. 196, 270.

Buddha

their entry into Nirvana for the good of not unknown to the Pali Canon. According to the Maha Parin-Sutta

xvn]
are

BODHISATTVAS
better

13

much

known

in Central Asia

and China. But they

are represented with the appearance and attributes of Indian Devas, as is natural, since even in the Pali Canon Devas form the Buddha s retinue. The early Buddhists considered that

these spirits, whether called Bodhisattvas or Devas, had attained their high position in the same way as Sakyamuni himself, that
is

by the practice of moral and intellectual virtues through countless existences, but subsequently they came to be regarded as emanations or sons of superhuman Buddhas. Thus the
Karanda-vyuha relates how the original Adi-Buddha produced Avalokita by meditation and how he in his turn produced the
universe with
Millions of
its

gods.

are freely mentioned and even in the older books copious lists of names are found 1 but two, Avalokita and Manjusri, tower above the rest, among whom only few have a definite personality. The tantric school counts eight of the first rank. Maitreya (who does not stand on the same footing as the others), Samantabhadra, Mahasthanaprapta and above all Kshitigarbha, have some importance, especially in China and Japan. Avalokita 2 in many forms and in many ages has been one of the principal deities of Asia but his origin is obscure. His
,

unnamed Bodhisattvas

main attributes are plain. He is the personification of divine mercy and pity but even the meaning of his name is doubtful. In its full form it is Avalokitesvara, often rendered the Lord who looks down (from heaven). This is an appropriate title for
but the obvious meaning of the participle is passive, the Lord who is looked at. Kern 3 thinks it may mean the Lord who is everywhere visible as a very present help in trouble, or else the Lord of View, like the epithet Drishtiguru applied to Siva. Another form of the name is Lokesvara or Lord of the world and this suggests that avalokita may be a synonym of loka, meaning the visible uni verse. It has also been suggested that the name may refer to the small image of Amitabha which is set in his diadem and thus looks down on him. But such small images set in the head of a larger figure are not distinctive of Avalokita they are found
the
of Mercy,

God

avalokita in Sanskrit

:

1

E.g. Lotus, chap.

I.

a

De

3

Poussin s article Lotus, S.B.E. xxi. p. 407.
la Vallee

Avalokita"

in

E.R.E.

may

be consulted.

14

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

and also outside India, in other Buddhist statues and paintings Tibetan translation of the name* for instance at Palmyra. The
Hsiian Chuang s rendering but the more usual 2 Kwan-tzu-tsai expresses the same idea, the deity who Chinese translation Kuan-yin or Kuan-shih-yin,

means he who

sees with bright eyes.

looks

of voices, seems to imply a upon voices or the region use of Yin or voice makes us the For verbal misunderstanding.
.

translator identified the last part of Avalokitesuspect that the 3 lord but with s-vara sound Isvara with tvara not Avalokitesvara is unknown to the Pali Canon and the in Milir.da Pafiha. So far as I can discover he is not mentioned

work attributed to Divyavadana, Jatakamala or any occur in the Lalita-vistara but not does name His Asvaghosha. a list of Bodhisattvas in its introductory chapter includes Mahakarunacandin, suggesting Mahakaruna, the Great Com one of his epithets. In the Lotus 4 he is passionate, which is list of Bodhisattvas after placed second in the introductory is which But probably a later addition, Chapter xxiv, Manjusri. is dedicated to his praises as Samantamukha, he who looks every way or the omnipresent. In this section his character as
the

the all-merciful saviour
call

is

fully developed.

He

saves those

who

on him from shipwreck, and execution, from robbers and all violence and distress. He saves too from moral evils, such as passion, hatred and folly. He grants children to women who worship him. This power, which is commonly exercised by female deities, is worth remarking as a hint of his subsequent transformation into a goddess. For the better achievement of his merciful deeds, he assumes all manner of forms, and appears in the guise of a Buddha, a Bodhisattva, a Hindu deity, a goblin, or a Brahman and in fact in any shape. This chapter was translated into Chinese before 417 A. D. and therefore can hardly be later than 350. He is also mentioned in the Sukhavati-vyuha.
sPyan-ras-gzigs rendered in Mongol by Nidiibar-udzakci. The other common Mongol name Ariobalo appears to be a corruption of Aryavalokita. * Meaning apparently the seeing and self -existent one. Of. Ta-tzu-tsai as a name
of Siva.
3 1

A

clear
*

maidservant in the drama Malatimadhava is called Avalokita. whether it is a feminine form of the divine name or an

It

is

not

looked-at, or admirable.

adjective meaning

S.B.E. xxi. pp. 4 and 406 ff. It was translated in Chinese between A.D. 265 and 316 and chap, xxiv was separately translated between A.D. 384 and 417. See
Nanjio, Catalogue Nos. 136, 137, 138.

xvii]

BODHISATTVAS

15

The records of the Chinese pilgrims Fa-Hsien andHsiian Chuang 1
indicate that his worship prevailed in India from the fourth till the seventh century and we are perhaps justified in dating its

beginnings at least two centuries earlier. But the absence of 2 any mention of it in the writings of Asvaghosha is remarkable Avalokita is connected with a mountain called Potala or
.

Potalaka. The
at Lhassa

name is borne by the palace of the Grand Lama and by another Lamaistic establishment at Jehol in

north China. It reappears in the sacred island of P u-t o near Ningpo. In all these cases the name of Avalokita s Indian residence has been transferred to foreign shrines. In India there were at least two places called Potala or Potalaka one at the mouth of the Indus and one in the south. No certain connection has been traced between the former and the Bodhisattva but in the seventh century the latter was regarded as his abode. Our information about it comes mainly from Hsiian Chuang 3 who describes it when speaking of the Malakuta country and as near the Mo-lo-ya (Malaya) mountain. But apparently he did not visit it and this makes it probable that it was not a religious centre but a mountain in the south of which Buddhists in the north wrote with little precision 4 There is no evidence that Avalokita was first worshipped on this Potalaka, though he is often associated with mountains such as Kapota in Magadha and Valavati in Kataha 5 In fact the connection of Potala with Avalokita remains a mystery. Avalokita has, like most Bodhisattvas, many names. Among the principal are Mahakaruna, the Great Compassionate one,
. .

Lokanatha or Lokesvara, the Lord of the world, and Padmapani, or lotus-handed. This last refers to his appearance as portrayed in statues and miniatures. In the older works of art his figure
1 Hsiian Chuang (Watters, n. 215, 224) relates how an Indian sage recited the Sui-hsin dharani before Kuan-tzii-tsai s image for three years.

be noticed from time to time in these pages, the sudden appearance of Indian literature often seems strange. The fact is that until deities are generally recognized, standard works pay no attention to them. 3 Watters, vol. n. pp. 228 ff. It is said that Potalaka is also mentioned in the Hwa-yen-ching or Avatamsaka sutra. Tibetan tradition connects it with the Sakya family. See Csoma de KOTOS, Tibetan studies reprinted 1912, pp. 32-34. 4 Just as the Lankavatara sutra purports to have been delivered at Lankapurathe city of Lanka samudra-malaya-sikhara rendered in the Chinese translation as on the summit of the Malaya mountain on the border of the sea." 8 See Foucher, Iconographie bouddhique, 1900, pp. 100, 102.
will

2

As

new

deities in

"in

16
is

THE MAHAYAN A

[CH.
in

and represents a youth human, without redundant limbs,

a high jewelled chignon, the costume of an Indian prince with is usually surmounted head-dress The or sometimes a crown. His Amitabha. right hand is extended in by a small figure of 1 In his left he of the as charity the position known gesture a on stands often he larger blossom. His carries a red lotus and he has four arms and Sometimes or red. complexion is white carries besides the He then number. in later images a great of nectar 2 a and a as a book, jug lotus such rosary
.

objects

.

The images with many eyes and arms seem an attempt to after the unhappy in all quarters and represent him as looking
stretching out his hands in help tvas of the Gandhara sculptures,
.

3

It is doubtful

if

the Bodhisat-

of
all

Avalokita, represent him rather than any

though approaching the type other, but nearly

the Buddhist sites of India contain representations of him which date from the early centuries of our era 4 and others are
5 preserved in the miniatures of manuscripts one of Hindu god. Some He is not a mere adaptation any of Brahma. of his attributes are also those Though in some late
.

texts he

is

said to have evolved the world

from himself,

his

characteristic function is not to create but, like Vishnu, to save

and

like

Vishnu he holds a
is

lotus.

But

also he has the title of

specially applied to Siva. Thus he does not issue from any local cult and has no single mythological pedigree but is the idea of divine compassion represented with such

Isvara, which

materials as the art

and mythology of the day

offered.
.

often accompanied by a female figure Tara 6 In the tantric period she is recognized as his spouse and her images,
is

He

common
1

in northern India

from the seventh century onwards,

Varamudra. These as well as the red colour are attributes of the Hindu deity Brahma. 3 A temple on the north side of the lake in the Imperial City at Peking contains a gigantic image of him which has literally a thousand heads and a thousand hands. This monstrous figure is a to warning against an
2

attempt

represent metaphors

literally.
*

of Avalokita, J.R.A.S. 1894, pp. 51 ff. thinks they are not earlier than the fifth century, See especially Foucher, Iconographie Bouddhique, Paris, 1900. 6 See especially de Blonay, titudes pour servir a I histoire de la dtesse bouddhique Ira .Paris, 1895. Tara continued to be worshipped as a Hindu goddess after
1

Waddell on the Cult

uddhism had disappeared and several works were written

in her honour.

See

Kaj. Mitra, Search for Sk.

MSS.

iv. 168, 171, x.

67

XVTI]

BODHISATTVAS

17

show that she was adored as a female Bodhisattva. In Tibet Tara is an important deity who assumes many forms and even before the tantric influence had become prominent she seems to have been associated with Avalokita. In the Dharmasangraha she is named as one of the four Devis, and she is mentioned twice under the name of To-lo Pu-sa by Hsiian Chuang, who saw a statue of her in Vaisali and another at Tiladhaka in Magadha. This last stood on the right of a 1 gigantic figure of Buddha, Avalokita being on his left
.

Hsiian Chuang distinguishes To-lo (Tara) and Kuan-tzu-tsai. The latter under the name of Kuan-yin or Kwannon has become
the most popular goddess of China and Japan, but is apparently a form of Avalokita. The god in his desire to help mankind assumes many shapes and, among these, divine womanhood has by the suffrage of millions been judged the most appropriate. But Tara was not originally the same as Kuan-yin, though the fact that she accompanies Avalokita and shares his attributes 2 may have made it easier to think of him in female form The circumstances in which Avalokita became a goddess are obscure. The Indian images of him are not feminine, although his sex is hardly noticed before the tantric period. He is not a male deity like Krishna, but a strong, bright spirit and like the Christian archangels above sexual distinctions. No female form of him is reported from Tibet and this confirms the idea that none was known in India 3 and that the change was made in
.

,

China. It was probably facilitated by the worship of Tara and of Hariti, an ogress who was converted by the Buddha and is frequently represented in her regenerate state caressing a child.
1 About the time of Hsiian Chuang s travels Sarvajiiamitra wrote a hymn to Tara which has been preserved and published by de Blonay, 1894. 2 Chinese Buddhists say Tara and Kuan-Yin are the same but the difference between them is this. Tara is an Indian and Lamaist goddess associated with

form

Avalokita and in origin analogous to the Saktis of Tantrism. Kuan-yin is a female of Avalokita who can assume all shapes. The original Kuan-yin was a male deity : male Kuan-yins are not unknown in China and are said to be the rule in Korea. But Tara and Kuan-yin may justly be described as the same in so far as they are attempts to embody the idea of divine pity in a Madonna. s But many scholars think that the formula Om manipadme hum, which is supposed to be addressed to Avalokita, is really an invocation to a form of Sakti
called

Manipadma. A Nepalese inscription says that "The Saktas call him Sakti" (E.R.E. vol. ii. p. 260 and J.A. ix. 192), but this may be merely a way of saying that he is identical with the great gods of all sects.

18

THE MAHAYANA
is

[CH.

She

yin

mentioned by Hsiian Chuang and by I-Ching in China. The Chinese also that her image was already known ien-hou or T ou-mu. KuanT called worshipped a native goddess Chinese heroine called ancient was also identified with an
Miao-shen 1
.

who adds

This

is

parallel

to the legend of Ti-tsang (Kshiti-

a male Bodhisattva, was a virtuous garbha) who, though maiden in two of his previous existences. Evidently Chinese sentiment required a Madonna and it is not unnatural
religious
if

T ang dynasty usually a as a youth with slight moustache and represented Avalokita the evidence as to early female figures does not seem to me
in a feminine form.

the god of mercy, who was reputed to assume many shapes and to give sons to the childless, came to be thought of chiefly

The

artists of the

though a priori I see no reason for doubting their exis tence. In 1102 a Chinese monk named P u-ming published a romantic legend of Kuan-yin s earthly life which helped to later popularize her worship. In this and many other cases the developments of Buddhism are due to Chinese fancy and have no connection with Indian tradition. Tara is a goddess of north India, Nepal and the Lamaist Church and almost unknown in China and Japan. Her name
strong
2
,

to cross, that is who saves, life and its troubles being by a common metaphor described as a sea. Tara also means a star and in Puranic mythology is the name given

means she who causes

name was

Buddha, the planet Mercury. Whether the used by Buddhists or Brahmans is unknown, but after the seventh century there was a decided tendency to
to the
of
first

mother

give Tara the epithets bestowed on the Saktis of Siva and assimilate her to those goddesses. Thus in the list of her 108 names 3 she is described other more amiable attributes as

among

Harlez, Lime, des esprits et des immortels, p. 195, superstitions en Chine, pp. 94-138.
2

1

and Dor6, Kecherches sur

les

SeeFenottossi, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art,i. pp. 105 and 124; Johnston, Buddhist China, 275 ft. Several Chinese deities appear to be of uncertain or varying sex. Thus Chun-ti is sometimes described as a deified Chinese General and sometimes identified with the Indian goddess Marici. Yii-ti, generally masculine, is sometimes feminine. See Dore, I.e. 212. Still more strangely the Patriarch Asvaghosha (Ma Ming) is represented by a female figure. On the other hand the monk Ta Sheng (c. 705 A.D.) is said to have been an incarnation of the female Kuan Yin. Manjusri is said to be worshipped in Nepal sometimes as a male, sometimes as a female bee Bendall and Haraprasad, Nepalese MSS. p. Ixvii. 1 de Blonay, I.e. pp. 48-57.

xvii]

BODHISATTVAS

19

terrible, furious, the slayer of evil beings, the destroyer, and Kali also as carrying skulls and being the mother of the Vedas. Here we have if not the borrowing by Buddhists of a Saiva deity, at least the grafting of Saiva conceptions on a Bodhisattva.
:

The second great Bodhisattva Mafijusri 1 has other similar names, such as Manjunatha and Manjughosha, the word Maiiju meaning sweet or pleasant. He is also Vagisvara, the Lord of Speech, and Kumarabhuta, the Prince, which possibly implies that he is the Buddha s eldest son, charged with the government under his direction. He has much the same literary history as Canon nor in the Avalokita, not being mentioned in the earlier Sanskrit works such as the Lalita-vistara and Divyavadana. But his name occurs in the Sukhavati-vyuha he is the principal interlocutor in the Lankavatara sutra and is extolled
Pah"
:

In the greater part of the Ratnakaranda-vyuha-sutra Lotus he is the principal Bodhisattva and instructs Maitreya, because, though his youth is eternal, he has known many Buddhas through innumerable ages. The Lotus 3 also recounts how he visited the depths of the sea and converted the inhabi tants thereof and how the Lord taught him what are the duties of a Bodhisattva after the Buddha has entered finally into Nirvana. As a rule he has no consort and appears as a male Athene, all intellect and chastity, but sometimes Lakshmi or Sarasvati or both are described as his consorts 4 His worship prevailed not only in India but in Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan and Java. Fa-Hsien states that he was honoured in Central India, and Hsiian Chuang that there were stupas dedicated to him at Muttra 5 He is also said to have been incarnate in Atisa, the Tibetan reformer, and in Vairocana who introduced Buddhism to Khotan, but, great as is his benevo lence, he is not so much the helper of human beings, which is
in the
.

2

.

.

Avalokita

s special

function, as the personification of thought,

1 Chinese, Man-chu-shih-li, orWen-shu; Japanese, Monju; Tibetan, hJam-pahidbyans (pronounced Jam-yang). Mafiju is good Sanskrit, but it must be confessed that the name has a Central-

Asian ring. 2 Translated into Chinese 270 A.D.
4

3

Chaps, xi and xnr.

A

special

work Manjusrivikridita (Nanjio,

184, 185) translated into Chinese

313 A.D. is quoted as describing Manjusri s transformations and exploits. 6 Hsiian Chuang also relates how he assisted a philosopher called Ch en-na
(

= Dinnaga) and bade him study Mahayanist

books.

20

THE MAHAYANA
It is for this that

[CH.

book. A beautiful figure hands the sword of knowledge and a 1 is in the Berlin Museum emblems these from Java bearing the hands colour with Miniatures represent him as of a yellow set in the position known as not emblems) do carry (when they 2 Other signs which distinguish his images are teaching the law lion on which he sits. the and lotus blue the An interesting fact about Manjusri is his association with in Chinese but in late Indian legends. The China 3 not
. .

knowledge, and meditation.

he has in his

,

only

mountain Wu-t ai-shan in the province of Shan-si is sacred to 4 The him and is covered with temples erected in his honour name (mountain of five terraces) is rendered in Sanskrit as Pancasirsha, or Pancasikha, and occurs both in the Svayambhu
.

Parana and in the text appended to miniatures representing is said to have been erected Manjusri. The principal temple between 471 and 500 A.D. I have not seen any statement that the locality was sacred in pre -Buddhist times, but it was probably regarded as the haunt of deities, one of whom perhaps some spirit of divination was identified with the wise
Manjusri. It is possible that during the various inroads of Grseco-Bactrians, Yiieh-Chih, and other Central Asian tribes into India, Manjusri was somehow imported into the pantheon
of the

Mahayana from China or Central

Asia,

and he has,

especially in the earlier descriptions, a certain pure and abstract quality which recalls the Amesha-Spentas of Persia. But still

and there is little positive evidence of a foreign origin. I-Ching is the first to tell us that the Hindus believed he came from China 5 Hsiian Chuang does not mention
his attributes are Indian,
.

this belief,

detail

and probably did not hear of it, for it is an interesting which no one writing for a Chinese audience would have

omitted.

We may therefore suppose
By that
s

about 650 A.D.
1

that the idea arose in India date the temples of Wu-t ai-Shan would
Buddhist Art in India. Translated by Gibson,

It is

reproduced in Griinwedel

1901, p. 200.
2

3
4

Dharmacakramudra. For the Nepalese legends see S. Levi, Le Nepal, 1905-9. For an account of this sacred mountain see Edkins,
See

Religion in China, chaps,

xvii to xix.
I-tsing, trans. Takakusu, 1896, p. 136. For some further remarks on the possible foreign origin of Manjusri see below, chapter on Central Asia. The verses attributed to King Harsha (Nanjio, 1071) praise the reliquaries of China but without
details.
6

XVH]

BODHISATTVAS

21

have had time to become celebrated, and the visits paid to India by distinguished Chinese Buddhists would be likely to create the impression that China was a centre of the faith and
1 We hear that Vajrabodhi (about frequented by Bodhisattvas and both went to China to adore Manjusri. 700) Prajna (782) In 824 a Tibetan envoy arrived at the Chinese Court to ask for an image of Manjusri, and later the Grand Lamas officially 2 Another recognized that he was incarnate in the Emperor to adore relates that came from Wu-t ai-Shan legend Manjusri a miraculous lotus 3 that appeared on the lake which then filled Nepal. With a blow of his sword he cleft the mountain barrier and thus drained the valley and introduced civilization. There may be hidden in this some tradition of the introduction of culture into Nepal but the Nepalese legends are late and in their collected form do not go back beyond the sixteenth century. After Avalokita and Manjusri the most important Bodhisattva is Maitreya 4 also called Ajita or unconquered, who is the 5 This is because he does only one recognized by the Pali Canon not stand on the same footing as the others. They are super human in their origin as well as in their career, whereas Maitreya is simply a being who like Gotama has lived innumerable lives and ultimately made himself worthy of Buddhahood which he awaits in heaven. There is no reason to doubt that Gotama regarded himself as one in a series of Buddhas: the Pali scriptures relate that he mentioned his predecessors by name, and also spoke of unnumbered Buddhas to come 6 Nevertheless 7 Maitreya or Metteyya is rarely mentioned in the Pali Canon
.

.

,

.

.

.

1 Some of the Tantras, e.g. the Mahacinakramacara, though they do not connect Manjusri with China, represent some of their most surprising novelties as having been brought thence by ancient sages like Vasishtha. J.R.A.S. new series, xn. 522 and J.A.S.B. 1882, p. 41. The name Manchu perhaps contributed to this belief. 8 It is described as a Svayambhu or spontaneous manifestation of the Adi-

Buddha.
Sanskrit, Maitreya; Pali, Metteyya; Chinese, Mi-li; Japanese, Miroku; Mongol, Maidari; Tibetan, Byams-pa (pronounced Jampa). For the history of the Maitreya idea, see especially Peri, B.E.F.E.O. 1911, pp. 439-457. 6 But a Siamese inscription of about 1361, possibly influenced by Chinese Mahayanism, speaks of the ten Bodhisattvas headed by Metteyya. See B.E.F.E.O. 1917, No. 2, pp. 30, 31.
9
7 *

E.g. in the

Dig. Nik. xxvi. 25 said to be an addition.

Mahaparinibbana Sutra. and Buddhavamsa, xxni.

19,

and even

this last verse is

22

THE MAHAYAN A
is,

[CH.

He

literature,

to in the exegetical Pali however, frequently alluded in the earlier Sanskrit and in the

Anagata-vamsa

works such as the Lalita-vistara, the Divyavadana a prominent part, but still is vastu. In the Lotus he plays he was eclipsed by the subordinate to Manjusri. Ultimately in the but early centuries of our era he two great Bodhisattvas His images are frequent in all parts of received much respect. to watch over the propaga believed was he the Buddhist world 1 made have to and special revelations to tion of the Faith 2 a golden colour: his of is he In usually
:

and Maha-

,

Asanga

paintings show him standing or sitting statues, which are often gigantic, not and fashion cross-legged. He appears to in the European Gandharan earliest in the be represented sculptures and there
.

was a famous image

of

him

in

Udyana

of

which Fa-Hsien
.

were already ancient 3 Hsiian (399-414 A.D.) speaks as if it 4 Chuang describes it as well as a stupa erected to commemorate s prediction that Maitreya would be his successor.

Sakyamuni

Buddhahood he will become lord of a terrestrial hold three assemblies under a dragon flower tree 5 and paradise have been good Buddhists in previous births who at which all Arhats. will become I-Ching speaks of meditating on the advent in of Maitreya language like that which Christian piety uses of the second coming of Christ and concludes a poem which is incorporated in his work with the aspiration Deep as the depth of a lake be my pure and calm meditation. Let me look for the first meeting under the Tree of the Dragon Flower when I hear

On

attaining

,

"

the deep rippling voice of the
1 a

Buddha Maitreya 6

."

But messianic

See e.g. Waiters, Yuan Chu-ang, i. 239. See Watters and Peri in B.E.F.E.O. 1911, 439. A temple of Maitreya has been found at Turfan in Central Asia with a Chinese inscription which speaks of him as an active and benevolent deity manifesting himself in many forms. 3 He has not fared well in Chinese iconography which represents him as an

enormously fat smiling monk. In the Liang dynasty there was a monk called Pu-tai (Jap. Hotei) who was regarded as an incarnation of Maitreya and became a popular subject for caricature. It would appear that the Bodhisattva himself has become superseded by this cheerful but undignified incarnation.
4

clear

The stupa was apparently at Benares but Hsiian Chuang s narrative and other versions make Rajagriha or Sravasti the scene of the
special

is

not

prediction.

Campa. This is his bodhi tree under which he will obtain enlightenment as Sakyamuni under the Ficus religiosa. Each Buddha has his own kind of
bodhi
6

tree.

Record of the

BuMhit

religion, Trans.

Yuan Chwang,

Takakusu,

p. 213.

See too Watters,

n. 57, 144, 210, 215.

xvn]
ideas were not

BODHISATTVAS
much developed in either Buddhism
figures of

23
or Hinduism

both Maitreya and Kalki owe some thing to Persian legends about Saoshyant the Saviour. The other Bodhisattvas, though lauded in special treatises, have left little impression on Indian Buddhism and have obtained in the Far East most of whatever importance they possess. The makers of images and miniatures assign to each his proper shape and colour, but when we read about them we feel that we are dealing not with the objects of real worship or even the products of a lively imagination, but with names and figures which have a value for picturesque but conventional art.

and perhaps the

known is Samantabhadra, the all gracious 1 a popular deity in Tibet and the patron saint of the sacred mountain Omei in China, with which he is associated as Manjusri with Wu-t ai-shan. He is represented as green and riding on an elephant. In Indian Buddhism he has a moderately prominent position. He is mentioned in the Dharmasangraha and in one chapter of the Lotus he is charged with the special duty of protecting those who follow the law. But the Chinese pilgrims do not mention his worship. 2 Mahasthamaprapta is a somewhat similar figure. A chapter of the Lotus (xix) is dedicated to him without however giving any clear idea of his personality and he is extolled in several descriptions of Sukhavati or Paradise, especially in the Amitayurdhyana-sutra. Together with Amitabha and Avalokita he forms a triad who rule this Happy Land and are often repre sented by three images in Chinese temples. Vajrapani is mentioned in many lists of Bodhisattvas (e.g. in the Dharmasangraha) but is of somewhat doubtful position as Hsiian Chuang calls him a deva 3 Historically his recognition as a Bodhisattva is interesting for he is merely Indra trans formed into a Buddhist. The mysterious personages called Vajradhara and Vajrasattva, who in later times are even

Among

the best

,

who

is still

.

1 Chinese P u-hsien. See Johnston, From Peking to Mandalay, for an interesting account of Mt. Omei. 2 Or Mahasthana. Chinese, Tai-shih-chih. He appears to be the Arhat Maudgalyayana deified. In China and Japan there is a marked tendency to regard all Bodhisattvas as ancient worthies who by their vows and virtues have risen to their present high position. But these euhemeristic explanations are common in the Far East and the real origin of the Bodhisattvas may be quite different.

3

E.g. Watters,

I.

p. 229, n. 215.

24

THE MAHAYANA
Buddha
spirit,

[CH.

identified with the original

ments

of Vajrapani.

He

Vajra, originally truth. as a mystical expression for the highest

meaning simply

are further develop owes his elevation to the fact that thunderbolt, came to be used

More important than these is Kshitigarbha, Ti-tsang or to Kuan-yin. Jizo 1 who in China and Japan ranks second only 2 which Visser has consecrated to him an interesting monograph shows what strange changes and chances may attend spirits
and how ideal figures may alter as century after century they travel from land to land. We know little about the origin of to mean Earth-womb and he Kshitigarbha. The name seems
has a shadowy counterpart in Akasagarbha, a similar deity of the air, who it seems never had a hold on human hearts. The 3 Earth is generally personified as a goddess and Kshitigarbha has some slight feminine traits, though on the whole decidedly masculine. The stories of his previous births relate how he was twice a woman in Japan he was identified with the mountain goddess of Kamado, and he helps women in labour, a boon
:

by goddesses. In the pantheon of India he 4 an inconspicuous part though reckoned one of the eight played great Bodhisattvas, but met with more general esteem in Turkestan, where he began to collect the attributes afterwards defined in the Far East. It is there that his history and trans formations become clear. He is primarily a deity of the nether world, but like Amitabha and Avalokita he made a vow to help all living creatures and specially to deliver them from hell. The Taoists pictured hell as divided into ten departments ruled over by as many kings, and Chinese fancy made Ti-tsang the superintendent of these
generally accorded
,

functionaries.

He

thus becomes not so

much

a Saviour as the

kindly superintendent of a prison who preaches to the inmates and willingly procures their release. Then we hear of six Titsangs, corresponding to the six worlds of sentient beings, the
gracious spirit being supposed to multiply his personality in
Kshitigarbha is translated into Chinese as Ti-tsang and Jizo is the Japanese pronunciation of the same two characters. 2 In Ostasiat. Ztsft. 1913-15. See too Johnston, Buddhist China, chap. vin. The Earth goddess is known to the earliest Buddhist legends. The Buddha called her to witness when sitting under the Bo tree.
*

1

Nos. 64, 65, 67.

Three Sutras, analysed by Visser, treat of Kshitigarbha.

They are Nanjio,

xvn]
as a

BODHISATTVAS
all.

25
is

order to minister to the wants of

He

often represented

hand and with shaven head. The origin of this guise is not clear and it perhaps refers to his previous births. But in the eighth century a monk of Chiu Hua 1 was regarded as an incarnation of Ti-tsang and after death his body was gilded and enshrined as an object of worship. In later times the Bodhisattva was confused with the incarnation, in the same
monk,
staff in

way as the portly figure of Pu-tai, commonly known as the laughing Buddha, has been substituted for Maitreya in Chinese
iconography. In Japan the cult of the six Jizos became very popular. 2 They were regarded as the deities of roads and their effigies ultimately superseded the ancient phallic gods of the cross ways. In this martial country the Bodhisattva assumed yet another
character as Shogun Jizo, a militant priest riding on horseback 3 and wearing a helmet who became the patron saint of warriors
identified with the Japanese war god, Hachiman. Until the seventeenth century Jizo was worshipped principally

and was even
by
soldiers

all classes

and and

priests, but subsequently his cult spread among in all districts. His benevolent activities as a

guide and saviour were more and more emphasized: he heals
sickness, he lengthens life, he leads to heaven, he saves from hell: he even suffers as a substitute in hell and is the special protector of the souls of children amid the perils of the under

world.

Though

this

modern
in the

ancient materials,

it is

figure of Jizo is wrought with main a work of Japanese senti

ment.

A celebrated monastery in the portion of An-hui which lies to the south of the Yang-tse. See Johnston, Buddhist China, chaps, viu, ix and x. 2 There is some reason to think that even in Turkestan Kshitigarbha was a god
1

of roads.
3

In

Annam

too Jizo

is

represented on horseback.

CHAPTER

XVIII

THE BUDDHAS OF MAHAYANISM
THIS mythology did not grow up around the Buddha without To understand the extraordinary affecting the central figure. both of mythological and metaphysical which meaning changes

word Buddha undergoes in Mahayanist theology we must keep in mind not the personality of Gotama but the idea that he is one of several successive Buddhas who for convenience ma;y be counted as four, seven or twenty-four but who really form an infinite series extending without limit backwards into the past and forwards into the future 1 This belief in a series of Buddhas produced a plentiful crop of imaginary personalities and also of speculations as to their connection with one another, with the phenomena of the world and with the human soul. In the Pali Canon the Buddhas antecedent to Gotama are
the
.

introduced

much

like ancient kings as

part of the legendary

But in the Lalita-vistara (Chap, xx) and the Lotus (Chap, vn) we hear of Buddhas, usually described as
history of this world.

Tathagatas, who apparently do not belong to this world at all, but rule various points of the compass, or regions described as Buddha-fields (Buddha-kshetra). Their names are not the same in the different accounts and we remain dazzled by an endless

panorama

of

an

Buddhas, illuminating

infinity of universes with infinite space.

an

infinity of shining

five of these unearthly Buddhas were formed and described as Jinas 2 or Dhyani Buddhas (Buddhas of contemplation), namely, Vairocana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi. In the fully developed form of this doctrine these five personages are

Somewhat later

into a pentad

1 In Mahaparinib. Sut. 1. 16 the Buddha is made to speak of all the other Buddhas who have been in the long ages of the past and will be in the long ages of the future. z Though Dhyani Buddha is the title most frequently used in European works

it

is more usual in Sanskrit works, and in fact Dhyani outside Nepalese literature. Ratnasambhava and Amoare ghasiddhi rarely mentioned apart from the others. According to Getty (Gods of Northern Buddhism, pp. 26, 27) a group of six, including the Adi-Buddha himself under the name of Vajrasattva, is sometimes

would appear that Jina
is

Buddha

hardly

known

worshipped.

CH.

xvm]

THE BUDDHAS OF MAHAYANI8M

27

produced by contemplation from the Adi-Buddha or original Buddha spirit and themselves produce various reflexes, including
Bodhisattvas, human Buddhas and goddesses like Tara. The date when these beliefs first became part of the accepted Mahayana creed cannot be fixed but probably, the symmetrical arrangement of five Buddhas is not anterior to the tantric
1 of Buddhism. The most important of the five are Vairocana and Amitabha. Akshobhya is mentioned in both the Lotus and Smaller Sukhavati-vyuha as the chief Buddha of the eastern quarter, and a work purporting to be a description of his paradise still extant

period

in Chinese 2 is said to

have been translated in the time of the

Eastern
find

Han dynasty. But even in the Far East he did not many worshippers. More enduring has been the glory of

is the chief deity of the Shingon sect in Japan and is represented by the gigantic image in the temple at Nara. In Java he seems to have been regarded as the principal and supreme Buddha. The name occurs in the Mahavastu as the designation of an otherwise unknown Buddha of luminous attributes and in the Lotus we hear of a distant Buddha-world

Vairocana who

called Vairocana-rasmi-pratimandita, embellished by the rays Vairocana is clearly a derivative of Virocana, a of the sun 3 title of the sun in Sanskrit, and is rendered in Chinese recognized
.

by Ta-jih meaning great Sun.
to be regarded as a

How
not

this solar deity first

came

Buddha

is

known but

the connection

between a Buddha and

light has always been recognized. Even the Pali texts represent Gotama as being luminous on some occasions and in the Mahayanist scriptures Buddhas are radiant

and light-giving beings, surrounded by halos of prodigious extent and emitting flashes which illuminate the depths of space. The
visions of innumerable

paradises in

all

quarters containing

jewelled stupas and lighted by refulgent Buddhas which are frequent in these works seem founded on astronomy vaporized
all

under the influence of the idea that there are millions of universes equally transitory and unsubstantial. There is no reason, so
1

below,
1

About the same period Siva and Vishnu were worshipped Book v. chap. in. sec. 3 ad fin.

in five forms.

See

Nanjio, Cat. No. 28. Virocana also occurs in the Chandogya Up. vm. 7 and 8 as the Amira who misunderstood the teaching of Prajapati. Verocana is the
3

name name

of

of

an an

Asura

in

Sam. Nik.

I.

xi.

1. 8.

E n.

3

28

THE MAHAYANA
Gotama
1

[CH.

as a mythical solar hero, but the have many solar attributes. This is celestial Buddhas clearly in Vedic mythology that abundant so are deities natural. Solar benevolent a be to god without having it is hardly possible of the sun. The stream of foreign character of the something flowed into India from Bactria and Persia about religions which era brought new aspects of sun worship the Christian of the time and Helios as such Mithra, Apollo and strengthened the tendency was peculiarly and to connect divinity light. And this connection in the case of a Buddha, for Buddhas obvious and appropriate are clearly revealers and light-givers, conquerors of darkness
far as I see, to regard

and dispellers of ignorance. Amitabha (or the Buddha of measureless light), rising suddenly from an obscure origin, has like Avalokita and Vishnu become one of the great gods of Asia. He is also known as Amitayus or measureless life, and is therefore a god of light and immortality. According to both the Lotus and the Smaller Sukhavati-vyuha he is the lord of the western quarter but he is unknown to the
It gives the ruler of the west a lengthy title 2 which suggests a land of gardens. Paradise, which has biblical authority as a name for the place of departed spirits,

Lalita-vistara.

,

Now

appears to mean in Persian a park or enclosed garden and the Avesta speaks of four heavens, the good thought Paradise, the good word Paradise, the good deed Paradise and the Endless 3 This last expression bears a remarkable resemblance Lights to the name of Amitabha and we can understand that he should rule the west, because it is the home to which the sun and departed spirits go. Amitabha s Paradise is called Sukhavati or Happy Land. In the Puranas the city of Varuna (who is suspected of having a non-Indian origin) is said to be situated in the west and is called Sukha (Linga P. and Vayu P.) or
.

(so Vishnu P. and others). The name Amitabha also occurs in the Vishnu Purana as the name of a class of gods and 4 it is curious that they are in one place associated with other

Mukhya

1 The names of many of these Buddhas, perhaps the majority, contain some word expressive of light such as Aditya, prabha or tejaa.

2

pp. 317 and 344. The title Pure Land (Chinese Ch ing-t u, Japanese Jo-do) has also a Persian ring about it. See further in the chapter on Central Asia. 4 Vishnu P., Book in. chap. n.

3

Chap. xx. Pushpavalivanarajikusumitabhijna. E.g. Yashts. xxn. and xxiv. S.B.E. vol. xxm.

xvin]

THE BUDDHAS OF MAHAYANISM

29

Mukhyas. The worship of Amitabha, so far can be traced, goes back to Saraha, the teacher of history He is said to have been a Sudra and his name seems Nagarjuna. un-Indian. This supports the theory that this worship was 1 foreign and imported into India This worship and the doctrine on which it is based are an almost complete contradiction of Gotama s teaching, for they
deities called the
its

as

.

to this, that religion consists in faith in Amitabha and to him, in return for which he will receive his followers prayer after death in his paradise. Yet this is not a late travesty of
relatively early development which must have about the Christian era. The principal works in which begun it is preached are the Greater Sukhavati-vyuha or Description of the Happy Land, translated into Chinese between 147 and 186 A.D., the lesser work of the same name translated in 402 A.D. and the Sutra of meditation on Amitayus 2 translated in 424. The first of these works purports to be a discourse of Sakyamuni himself, delivered on the Vulture s Peak in answer to the questions of Ananda. He relates how innumerable ages ago there was a monk called Dharmakara who, with the help of the Buddha of that period, made a vow or vows 3 to become a Buddha but on conditions. That is to say he rejected the Buddhahood to which he might become entitled unless his merits obtained certain advantages for others, and having obtained Buddhahood on these conditions he can now cause them to be fulfilled. In other words he can apportion his vast store of accumulated merit to such persons and in such manner as he chooses. The gist of the conditions is that he should when he obtained Buddhahood be lord of a paradise whose inhabitants live in unbroken happiness until they obtain Nirvana. All who have thought of this paradise ten times are to be admitted therein, unless they have committed grievous sin, and Amitabha will appear to them at the moment of death so that their thoughts may not be troubled. The Buddha shows Ananda a
Section on Central Asia, and Griinwedel, Mythologie, 31, 36 and Taranatha (Shiefner), p. 93 and notes. 2 Amitayur-dhyana-sutra. All three works are translated in 8.B.E. vol. XLIX. 8 Pranidhana. Not only Amitabha but all Bodhisattvas (especially Avalokita and Kshitigarbha) are supposed to have made such vows. This idea is very common in China and Japan but goes back to Indian sources. See e.g. Lotus, xxiv.
1

amount

Buddhism but a

See below
:

:

notes

verse

3.

30

THE MAHAY ANA

[CH.

miraculous vision of this paradise and its joys are described in account of the New Jerusalem in the language recalling the book of Revelation and, though coarser pleasures are excluded, as jewels, gardens, all the delights of the eye and ear, such the faithful. await of birds rivers and the songs
flowers,

The smaller Sukhavati-vyuha, represented as preached by almost entirely with a Sakyamuni at Sravasti, is occupied a new departure in marks It description of the paradise.
not by works, though dwelling on the efficacy a merit of faith, also makes requisite for life in heaven. But the shorter discourse says dogmatically "Beings are not born in that Buddha country as a reward and result of good works or women who hear performed in this present life. No, all men for and bear in mind one, two, three, four, five, six or seven
definitely preaching salvation whereas the previous treatise,

by

faith only,

nights the
will

stand before them

this life

Amitayus, when they come to die, Amitayus in the hour of death, they will depart with quiet minds and after death they will be born in

name

of

Paradise."

The Amitayur-dhyana-sutra also purports to be the teaching of Sakyamuni and has an historical introduction connecting it with Queen Vaidehi and King Bimbisara. In theology it is more
advanced than the other
of

treatises it
:

Dharma-kaya (which

will

is familiar with the doctrine be discussed below) and it represents

Amitayus being assisted by Avalokita and Mahasthamaprapta 1 Admission to the paradise can be obtained in various ways, but the method recommended is the practice of a series of meditations which are described in
.

the rulers of paradise as a triad,

detail.

The system is comprehensive, for salvation can be ob tained by mere virtue with little or no prayer but also by a single invocation of Amitayus, which suffices to free from deadly sins.
Strange as such doctrines appear when set beside the Pali texts, it is clear that in their origin and even in the form which

they assume in the larger Sukhavati-vyuha they are simply an 2 Amitabha is exaggeration of ordinary Mahayanist teaching 1 These Bodhisattvas are also mentioned but without much emphasis in the
.

Greater Sukhavati-vyuha. 8 Even in Hinayanist works such as the Nidanakatha Sumedha s resolution to become a Buddha, formed as he lies on the ground before Dipankara, has a resem blance to Amida s vow. He resolves to attain the truth, to enable mankind to cross the sea of the world and only then to attain Nirvana.

xvm]
merely a

THE BUDDHAS OF MAHAYANISM
monk who
devotes himself to the religious
life,

31

namely

seeking bodhi for the good of others. He differs from every day devotees only in the degree of sanctity and success obtained by
his exertions. The operations which he performs are nothing but examples on a stupendous scale of parinamana or the assignment of one s own merits to others. His paradise, though in popular esteem equivalent to the Persian or Christian heaven, is not really so strictly speaking it is not an ultimate ideal but a blessed region in which Nirvana may be obtained without toil
:

or care.
this teaching had brilliant success in China and where it still flourishes, the worship of Amitabha was Japan, never predominant in India. In Nepal and Tibet he is one among many deities the Chinese pilgrims hardly mention him his figure is not particularly frequent in Indian iconography 1 and, except in the works composed specially in his honour, he appears as an incidental rather than as a necessary figure. The whole doctrine is hardly strenuous enough for Indians. To pray to the Buddha at the end of a sinful life, enter his paradise and obtain ultimate Nirvana in comfort is not only open to the same charge of egoism as the Hinayana scheme of salvation but is much easier and may lead to the abandonment of religious effort. And the Hindu, who above all things likes to busy himself with his own salvation, does not take kindly to these expedients. Numerous deities promise a long spell of heaven as a reward for the mere utterance of their names 2 yet the believer continues to labour earnestly in ceremonies or meditation. It would be interesting to know whether this doctrine of salvation by the utterance of a single name or prayer originated among Buddhists or Brahmans. In any case it is closely related to old ideas about the magic power of Vedic verses. The five Jinas and other supernatural personages are often regarded as manifestations of a single Buddha-force and at This admittedly last this force is personified as Adi -Buddha 3

Though

:

:

,

.

See Foucher, Iconographie Bouddhique dans VInde. The Bhagavad-gita states quite clearly the doctrine of the death-bed prayer (vm. ad init.). "He who leaves this body and departs remembering me in his last moments comes to my essence. Whatever form (of deity) he remembers when he finally leaves this body, to that he goes having been used to ponder on 8 See art. Adi-Buddha in E.R.E. Asanga in the Sutralankara (ix. 77) condemns the doctrine of Adi-Buddha, showing that the term was known then, even if it
*
it."

1

32
theistic

THE MAHAY AN A
form
of

[CH.

and is recorded from Nepal, Tibet (in the Kalacakra system) and Java, a distribution which from Bengal 1 But another form implies that it was exported in which the Buddha-force is impersonal and analogous to the Parabrahma of the Vedanta is much older. Yet when this in popular language it comes very philosophic idea is expressed near to Theism. As Kern has pointed out, Buddha is not called Deva or tsvara in the Lotus simply because he is above such he has existed and will exist for beings. He declares that incalculable ages and has preached and will preach in innumer able millions of worlds. His birth here and his nirvana are weak disciples but do illusory, kindly devices which may help not mark the real beginning and end of his activity. This implies a view of Buddha s personality which is more precisely defined 2 and in the doctrine known as Trikaya or the three bodies

Buddhism

is

late

.

in the Mahayana-sutralankara, the Awakening of 3 Faith, the Suvarna-prabhasa sutra and many other works. It may be stated dogmatically as follows, but it assumes somewhat

expounded

divergent forms according as
physically.

it is

treated theologically or

meta
first

A Buddha
is

has three bodies or forms of existence. The

the Dharma-kaya, which is the essence of all Buddhas. It is true knowledge or Bodhi. It may also be described as Nirvana

and and

also as the
all

individuals.

one permanent reality underlying all phenomena The second is the Sambhoga-kaya, or body

had not the precise dogmatic sense which it acquired later. His argument is that no one can become a Buddha without an equipment (Sambhara) of merit and knowledge. Such an equipment can only be obtained from a previous Buddha and therefore the series of Buddhas must extend infinitely backwards. 1 For the prevalence of the doctrine in mediaeval Bengal see B. K. Sarkar,
Folklore Element in

The Dharma

Hindu Culture, which or Niranjana of the Sunya

is however sparing of precise references. Purana seems to be equivalent to Adi-

Vajrakaya Svabhavakaya. For this doctrine see especially De la Vallee Poussin, J.R.A.S. 1906, pp. 943-997 and Mutton, 1913, pp. 257 ff. Jigs-med nam-mka, the historian of Tibetan Buddhism, describes four. See Huth, Ges. d. Bud. in d, Mongolei, vol. ir. pp. 83-89. Hinduism
also assigns to living beings three bodies, the Karana-sarira, lingas. 3 Translated into Chinese Dharmaraksha between

is identified with Vajrasattva or Samantabhadra, although these beings are otherwise classified as Bodhisattvas. This appears analogous to the procedure common in Hinduism by which a devotee declares that his special deity is all the gods and the supreme spirit. 2 It would appear that some of the Tantras treat of five bodies, adding to the three here given others such as the and Anandakaya,

Buddha. Sometimes the Adi-Buddha

and

sthulas.

by

397 and 439 A.D.

xviii]
of

THE BUDDHAS OF MAHAYANISM

33

enjoyment, that is to say the radiant and superhuman form which Buddhas appear in their paradises or when otherwise manifesting themselves in celestial splendour. The third is the
in

Nirmana-kaya, or the body of transformation, that is to say the human form worn by Sakyamuni or any other Buddha and
regarded as a transformation of his true nature and almost a distortion, because it is so partial and inadequate an expression of it. Later theology regards Amitabha, Amitayus and Sakyamuni as a series corresponding to the three bodies. Amitabha
does not really express the whole Dharma-kaya, which is incapable of personification, but when he is accurately dis
tinguished from Amitayus (and frequently they are regarded as synonyms) he is made the more remote and ethereal of the two. Amitayus with his rich ornaments and his flask containing the

water of eternal

life is

the ideal of a splendidly beneficent saviour
.

and represents the Sambhoga-kaya 1 Sakyamuni is the same beneficent being shrunk into human form. But this is only one aspect, and not the most important, of the doctrine of the three bodies. We can easily understand the Sambhoga-kaya and Nirmana-kaya they correspond to a deity such as Vishnu and his incarnation Krishna, and they are puzzling in Buddhism simply because we think naturally of the older view (not entirely discarded by the Mahayana) which makes the human Buddha the crown and apex of a series of lives that find in him their fulfilment. But it is less easy to understand the Dharma-kaya. The word should perhaps be translated as body of the law and the thought originally underlying it may have been that the essential nature of a Buddha, that which makes him a Buddha, is the law which he preaches. As we might say, the teacher li ves in his teaching while it survives, he is active and
: :

not dead.

The change from metaphor to theology is illustrated by Hsiian Chuang when he states 2 (no doubt quoting from his edition of the Pitakas) that Gotama when dying said to those around him "Say not that the Tathagata is undergoing final
1

The prototype of the Sambhoga-kaya is found in the Pali Canon, for the Buddha

Bays (Mahaparinib. Sut. in. 22) that when he appears gods his form and voice are similar to theirs.
2

among

the different classes of

Watters, vol. n.

kaya.
of all

Another passage

my

is Fa-shen in Chinese, i.e. Dharma"Spiritual essence" quoted to the effect that "henceforth the observances disciples constitute the Tathagata s Fa-shen, eternal and imperishable."

p. 38.
is

34

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

ever unchangeable." extinction: his spiritual presence abides for 1 the to passage in the Pali Canon This corresponds
apparently which runs
"It

,

may be that in some of you the thought may Master is ended: we have no more a arise, the word of the that you should regard it. The truths thus not teacher. But it is set forth, let them, after I am gone, have I and the rules which in Buddhist writings, including But be the Teacher to you." Dhamma has another important or Dharma the oldest Pali texts, or mental state (the two being meaning. It signifies phenomenon idealistic an identical for philosophy) and comprises both the
external and the internal world. Now the Dharma-kaya is but it may be regarded as the emphatically not a phenomenon of or substratum phenomena or as that which gives totality

use phenomena whatever reality they possess and the double of such rendered dharma word of the meaning divagations easier 2 Hindus have a tendency to identify being and know he who knows ledge. According to the Vedanta philosophy therefore he Brahman and is himself he that knows Brahman, the true same In the Brahman. is body of the way actually Buddha is prajna or knowledge 3 By this is meant a knowledge which transcends the distinction between subject and object and
.

.

which sees that neither animate beings nor inanimate things have individuality or separate existence. Thus the Dharmakaya being an intelligence which sees the illusory quality of the world and also how the illusion originates 4 may be regarded as the origin and ground of all phenomena. As such it is also called Tathagata-garbha and Dharma-dhatu, the matrix or storehouse of all phenomena. On the other hand, inasmuch as it is beyond them and implies their unreality, it may also be regarded as the annihilation of all phenomena, in other words as Nirvana. In fact the Dharma-kaya (or Bhuta-tathata) is sometimes 5 defined in words similar to those which the Pali Canon makes the Buddha use when asked if the Perfect Saint exists after death is neither that which is existence nor that which is non"it

1
1

Mahaparinib. Sut.

vi.

i.

Something similar might happen in English if think and thing were pro nounced in the same way and a thing were believed to be that which we can think.
3
1

See Ashtasahasrika PrajGa-paramitd, chap, iv, near beginning. It is in this last point that no inferior intelligence can follow the thought of

a Buddha.
6

The Awakening of Faith, Teitaro Suzuki,

p. 59.

xvm]

THE BUDDHAS OF MAHAYANISM
which
is

35

existence, nor that

at once existence

nor that which

is

neither existence nor

non-existence."

and non-existence In more

theological language it may be said that according to the general opinion of the Mahayanists a Buddha attains to Nirvana by
is therefore beyond Yet the compassion which he feels for mankind and the good Karma which he has accumu lated cause a human image of him (Nirmana-kaya) to appear among men for their instruction and a superhuman image,

the very act of becoming a

Buddha and

everything which we

call existence.

perceptible yet not material, to appear in Paradise.

CHAPTER XIX
MAHAYANIST METAPHYSICS
the theory of the three bodies, especially of the Dharmawith a theory of ontology. Metaphysics kaya, is bound up became a passion among the travellers of the Great Vehicle as had been in earlier times. They may indeed be

THUS

psychology Buddhists since they insisted on reproached with being bad on those questions which Gotama had declared to
speculating

be unprofitable and incapable of an answer in human language. He refused to pronounce on the whence, the whither and the nature of things, but bade his disciples walk in the eightfold such analysis con path and analyse the human mind, because last was the India duces to spiritual progress. country in the be observed. to Much were world where such restrictions likely all but meta at not is simply religious Mahayanist literature
physics treated in an authoritative and ecclesiastical manner. The nature and origin of the world are discussed as freely as in the Vedanta and with similar results: the old ethics and psy

chology receive scant attention. Yet the difference is less than might be supposed. Anyone who reads these treatises and notices the number of apparently eternal beings and the talk about the universal mind is likely to think the old doctrine that nothing has an atman or soul, has been forgotten. But this
is not correct; the doctrine of Nairdtmyam is asserted so uncompromisingly that from one point of view it may be said that even Buddhas do not exist. The meaning of this

impression

that no being or object contains an unchangeable permanent self, which lives unaltered in the same or in different bodies. On the contrary individual existences consist of nothing but a collection of skandhas or a santdna, a succession or series
doctrine
is

of

mental phenomena. In the Pali books this doctrine

is

applied

chiefly to the soul and psychological enquiries. applied it to the external world and proved

The Mahay ana

ments that nothing at

all

exists.
it is

Karma

is

maintained, though

by ingenious argu Similarly the doctrine of seriously modified by the

OH. xix]

MAHAYANIST METAPHYSICS

37

admission that merit can be transferred from one personality The Mahayana continued to teach that an act once a particular series of mental states until its affects performed
to another.
effect is exhausted, or in

popular language that an individual

enjoys or suffers through a series of births the consequences of previous acts. Even the instance of Amitabha s paradise,

though it strains the doctrine of Karma to the utmost, does not repudiate it. For the believer performs an act to wit, the invocation of Amitabha to which has been attached the wonderful result that the performer is reborn in a blessed state. This is not essentially different from the idea found in the Pali Canon that attentions paid to a Buddha may be rewarded by a happy rebirth in heaven 1
.

metaphysics, like all other departments of this theology, are beset by the difficulty that the authorities who treat of them are not always in accord and do not pretend to be in accord. The idea that variety is permissible in belief and conduct is deeply rooted in later Buddhism: there are many

Mahay anist

vehicles,

some better than others no doubt and some very
are capable of conveying their passengers Nominally the Mahayana was divided into only
all
:

ramshackle, but
to salvation.

two schools

of philosophy practically every important treatise a system with features of its own. The two schools propounds are the Yogacaras and Madhyamikas 2 Both are idealists and deny the reality of the external world, but whereas the Yogacaras
.

and the

(also called Vijnanavadins) admit that Vijnana or consciousness series of states of which it consists are real, the Madhya

mikas refuse the title of reality to both the subjective and the objective world and hence gained a reputation of being complete

Probably the Madhyamikas are the older school. Both schools attach importance to the distinction between relative and absolute knowledge. Relative knowledge is true for human beings living in the world that is to say it is not more false than the world of appearance in which they live. The
nihilists.
:

Hinay anist doctrines are true
1

in this sense. Absolute

knowledge

E.g. in Mahaparinib. Sut. iv. 57, the Buddha says "There has been laid up by Cunda the smith (who had given him his last meal) a karma redounding to length
of
life,

to

good fortune, to good fame,

to the

inheritance of heaven,

and

of sovereign
of its

power." 2

Strictly speaking

Madhyamaka
e.g.

is

the

name

of the school

Madhyamika

adherents.

Both forms are used,

Madhyamakakarikas and Madhyamikasutra.

38
rises

THE MAHAY AN A
above the world
to
of

[CH.

appearance and

difficult

divisions,

tinguishes

express in words. The into two. It dis dividing the inferior knowledge first knowledge (parikalpita) such as mistaking
illusory

altogether true but Yogacara makes three
is

a piece of rope for a snake or belief in the existence of individual souls. Secondly knowledge which depends on the relations of not absolutely wrong is things (paratantra) and which though real existence of ropes the in belief as necessarily limited, such absolute and snakes. And thirdly knowledge (parimshpanna),

which understands
lying principle. into samvriti-satya
life

things as the manifestation of an under The Madhyamikas more simply divide knowledge
all

and paramdrtha-satya, that is the truth of truth. The world and ordinary and transcendental everyday and doctrines its with injunctions about good works are religion real and true as samvriti but in absolute truth (paramdrtham) we attain Nirvana and then the world with its human Buddhas and its gods exists no more. The word unyam or dunyatd, that is void, is often used as the equivalent of paramdrtham. Void must be understood as meaning not an abyss of nothingness but that which is found to be devoid of all the attributes which we try to ascribe to it. The world of ordinary experience is not void, for a great number of statements can be made about it, but absolute truth is void, because nothing whatever can be predicated of it. Yet even this colourless designation is not 1 perfectly accurate because neither being nor not-being can be
,

predicated of absolute truth. It is for this reason, namely that they admit neither being nor not-being but something between the two, that the followers of Nagarjuna are known as the Madhyamikas or school of the middle doctrine, though the European reader is tempted to say that their theories are

extreme to the point of being a reductio ad absurdum of the whole system. Yet though much of their logic seems late and useless sophistry, its affinity to early Buddhism cannot be denied. The fourfold proposition that the answer to certain questions cannot be any of the statements not," "both is and is not," "neither is nor is not," is part of the earliest known stratum of Buddhism. The Buddha himself is as
"is,"

"is

represented

Nagarjuna says Sunyam iti na vaktavyam aSunyam iti va bhavet Ubhayam nobhayam ceti prajnaptyartham tu kathyate, cannot be called void or not
"It

1

void or both or neither but in order to

somehow

indicate

it, it is

called

Siinvata."

xix]

MAHAYANIST METAPHYSICS

39

1 saying that most people hold either to a belief in being or to a belief in not being. But neither belief is possible for one who considers the question with full knowledge. "That things have

being is one extreme: that things have no being is the other extreme. These extremes have been avoided by the Tathagata and it is a middle doctrine that he teaches, namely, dependent origination as explained in the chain of twelve links. The Madhyamika theory that objects have no absolute and inde
"

is

pendent existence but appear to exist in virtue of their relations a restatement of this ancient dictum. The Mahayanist doctors find an ethical meaning in their
If things possessed svabhdva, real, absolute, self-

negations.

determined existence, then the four truths and especially the cessation of suffering and attainment of sanctity would be impossible. For if things were due not to causation but to their own self -determining nature (and the Hindus always seem to understand real existence in this sense) cessation of evil and attainment of the good would be alike impossible: the four Noble Truths imply a world which is in a state of constant becoming, that is a world which is not really existent.

But for all that the Madhyamika aphorisms

doctrine of

unyatd as stated in the

ascribed to Nagarjuna leaves an im pression of audacious and ingenious sophistry. After laying down that every object in the world exists only in relation to

every other object and has no self -existence, the treatise pro ceeds to prove that rest and motion are alike impossible. We speak about the path along which we are passing but there is really no such thing, for if we divide the path accurately, it always proves separable into the part which has been passed over and the part which will be passed over. There is no part which is being passed over. This of course amounts to a denial
future separated
of the existence of present time. by an indivisible

Time consists of past and and immeasurable instant.

The minimum of time which has any meaning for us implies a change, and two elements, a former and a subsequent. The
2 present minute or the present hour are fallacious expressions
1
.

Sam. Nik. xxn. 90. 16. 2 Gotama, the founder of the Nyaya philosophy, also admitted the force of the arguments against the existence of present time but regarded them as a reductio ad absurdum. Shadworth Hodgson in his Philosophy of Reflection, vol. I. p. 253 also
treats of the question.

40

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

Therefore no one ever is passing along a path. Again you cannot is passing, for the sentence is logically say that the passer redundant: the verb adds nothing to the noun and vice versa:

but on the other hand you clearly cannot say that the nonthat the passer and the passer is passing. Again if you say distinction between the the overlook are identical, you passing But you cannot unreal. become and both act the and agent maintain that the passer is different from the passing, for a passer as distinct from passing and passing as distinct from a passer have no meaning. "But how can two entities exist at all, if they exist neither as identical with one another nor as different from one another?"
of these sutras.

The above, though much abridged, gives an idea of the logic They proceed to show that all manner of things,
five

such as the
fire

and

fuel, origination,

real existence.

skandhas, the elements, contact, attachment, continuation and extinction have no Similar reasoning is then applied to religious

topics: the world of transmigration as well as liberation are declared non-existent. In reality

bondage and no soul is in

bondage and none

is

released 1

.

Similarly

Karma, the Buddha

himself, the four truths, Nirvana and the twelve links in the chain of causation are all unreal. This is not a declaration of

scepticism.

It

means that the Buddha

as a

human

or celestial

being and Nirvana as a state attainable in this world are con ceivable only in connection with this world and therefore, like the world, unreal. No religious idea can enter into the unreal (that is the practical) life of the world unless it is itself unreal.

This sounds a topsy turvy argument but
the Advaita doctrine.

The Vedanta

is

it is really the same as on the one hand a scheme

of salvation for liberating souls which transmigrate unceasingly in a world ruled by a personal God. But when true knowledge
is

Brahman and

attained, the soul sees that it is identical with the Highest that souls which are in bondage and God who

rules the world are illusions like the

world itself. But the Advaita has at least a verbal superiority over the Madhyamika philosophy,
for in its terminology

Brahman is the real and the existent con trasted with the world of illusion. The result of giving to what the Advaita calls the real and existent the name of or
simyata
1

The Sankhya philosophy makes a

similar statement,

though for different

xix]

MAHAYAN 1ST METAPHYSICS

41

void is disconcerting. To say that everything without distinction non-existent is much the same as saying that everything is existent. It only means that a wrong sense is habitually given to the word exist, as if it meant to be self-contained and without relation to other objects. Unless we can make a verbal contrast and assert that there is something which does exist, it seems futile to insist on the unreality of the world. Yet this mode of thought is not confined to text-books on logic. It invades the 1 scriptures, and appears (for instance) in the Diamond Cutter which is still one of the most venerated books of devotion in China and Japan. In this work the Buddha explains that a Bodhisattva must resolve to deliver all living beings and yet must understand that after he has thus delivered innumerable beings, no one has been delivered. And why? Because no one is to be called a Bodhisattva for whom there exists the idea of a being, or person. Similarly a saint does not think that he is a saint, for if he did so think, he would believe in a self, and a
is

person. There occur continually in this work phrases cast in what was preached as a store of merit, that the following form was preached as no store of merit 2 by the Tathagata and there
"

:

called a store of merit. If there existed a store of merit, the Tathagata would not have preached a store of merit." That
fore
it is is

understand this dark language rightly, accumulated merit part of the world of illusion which we live in and by speaking of it as he did the Buddha implied that it, like every
to say,
is
if

I

thing else in the world, is really non-existent. Did it belong to the sphere of absolute truth, he would not have spoken of it as if it were one of the things commonly but erroneously supposed to exist. Finally we are told of the highest knowledge "Even

the smallest thing is not known or perceived there therefore it is called the highest perfect knowledge." That is to say perfect knowledge transcends all distinctions it recognises the illusory
; ;

individuality and the truth of sameness, the neverchanging one behind the ever-changing many. In this sense it is said to perceive nothing and know nothing.

nature of

all

One might expect that a philosophy thus prone
1

to use the

Vajracchedika.

See S.B.E. vol. XLIX.
of the

It

was translated into Chinese by
beings, ideas,

Kumarajiva (384-417 A.D.). 2 Or in other repetitions
etc., etc.

same formula,

good things,

signs,

42

THE MAHAYAN A

[CH.

into a destructive, or language of extreme nihilism would slip at least negative system. But Mahay anism was pulled equally the popular and mytho strongly in the opposite direction by elements which it contained and was on the whole
logical

inclined to theism

and even polytheism quite as much as to 1 atheism and acosmism. A modern Japanese writer says that Dharma-kaya "may be considered to be equivalent to the Christian conception of the Godhead." This is excessive as a historical statement of the view current in India during the early

centuries of our era, but it does seem true that Dharma-kaya was made the equivalent of the Hindu conception of Param Brahma

and also that it is very nearly equivalent to the Chinese Tao 2 The work called Awakening of Faith 3 and ascribed to Asvaghosha is not extant in Sanskrit but was translated into
.

Chinese in 553 A.D.

Its

doctrine

is

practically that of the

Yogacara school and this makes the ascription doubtful, but it is a most important treatise. It is regarded as authoritative in China and Japan at the present day and it illustrates the triple tendency of the Mahayana towards metaphysics, mythology, and devotional piety. It declares that faith has four aspects. Three of these are the three Jewels, or Buddha, the Law and the Church, and cover between them the whole field of religion and morality as generally understood. The exposition is tinged with a fine unselfish emotion and tells the believer that though he should strive not for his own emancipation but for the salvation of others yet he himself receives unselfish and super natural assistance. He is remembered and guarded by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in all quarters of the Universe who are
eternally trying to liberate

(upaya).

By

expedient

is

mankind by various expedients meant a modified presentment of the
.

truth, which is easier of comprehension and, if not the goal, at least on the road to it, such as the Paradise of Amitabha 4
Soyen Shaku, Sermons of a Buddhist Abbot, p. 47. 2 See for a simple and persuasive statement of these abstruse doctrines a charming little book called Wu-Wei by H. Borel. 3 Translated from the Chinese by Teitaro Suzuki, 1900. The translation must
its frequent use of the word soul may lead to misunderstanding. Asanga s work Mahdydna-stitrdlankdra (edited and translated by S. Levi) which covers much of the same ground is extant in Sanskrit as well as in Chinese and Tibetan translations. It is a lucid and authoritative treatise but does not appear to have ever been popular, or to be read now in the Far East. For Yogacara see also Musdon, 1904, p. 370.
4
1

be used with care, as

xix]

MAHAYANIST METAPHYSICS

43

But the remaining aspect of faith, which is the one that the author puts first in his enumeration, and treats at great length, is believe in the fundamental truth, that is to think joyfully of suchness." By suchness (in Sanskrit bhuta-tathatd, in Chinese Chenju) is meant absolute truth as contrasted with the relative truth of ordinary experience 1 The word is not illuminating nor likely to excite religious emotion and the most that can be said for it is that it is less dreary than the void of Nagarjuna.
"to
.

Another and more positive synonym is dharma-dhdtu, the allembracing totality of things. It is only through our ignorance and subjectivity that things appear distinct and individuate. Could we transcend this subjectivity, isolated objects would cease to exist. Things in their fundamental nature cannot be
they are beyond the range of language and have no signs of distinction but possess absolute perception they sameness (samata). From this totality of things nothing can be excluded and to it nothing can be added. Yet it is also sunyata, negation or the void, because it cannot be said to possess any of the attributes of the world we live in neither existence nor non-existence, nor unity nor plurality can be predicted of it. According to the celebrated formula of Nagarjuna known as the eight Nos there is in it "neither production, (utpdda) nor destruction (uccheda) nor annihilation (nirodha) nor persistence (sasvatd) nor unity (ekdrtha) nor plurality (ndndrtha) nor coming
or explained
:
:
:

named

(nirgama)." But when we perceive that both subject and object are unreal we also see that suchness is the one reality and from that point of view it may be regarded as the Dharma-kaya of all Buddhas. It is also called Tathagatagarbha, the womb or store-house of the Buddha, from which all

in (dgamana) nor going out

individual existences are evolved under the law of causation, but this aspect of it is already affected by ignorance, for in Bhuta-tathata as known in the light of the highest truth there is neither causation nor production. The Yogacara employs the word Sunyatd (void), though not so much as its sister school, but it makes special use of the term dlaya-vijndna, the receptacle
or store of consciousness. This in so far as
is

it is

superindividual

an aspect of suchness, but when it affirms and particularises itself it becomes citta, that is the human mind, or to be more
1

The

discussion of tathatd in Kathavatthu, xix. 5 seems to record an early

phase of these speculations.
E. n.

4

44

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

accurate the substratum of the human mind from which is self -consciousness and developed manas, or the principle of will, Vedanta the self-affirmation. Similarly philosophy, though it to no has term corresponding dlaya-vijndna, is familiar with the
idea that

Brahman
:

is

in

one aspect immeasurable and
is

all-

embracing but in another

infinitesimal

and dwells
is

in the

human
into
it.

heart or that
is

Brahman

after creating the world entered

Again another aspect of suchness
"is

enlightenment

absolute knowledge free from the limitations of the universal Dharma-kaya of the and object. This subject account of this all Tathagatas are spoken on and Tathagatas"
(bodhi), that

of as abiding in enlightenment a priori. This enlightenment may be negative (as &unydta) in the sense that it transcends all transforms relations but it may also be affirmative and then and unfolds itself, whenever conditions are favourable, in the form of a Tathagata or some other form in order that all beings may be induced to bring their store of merit to maturity 1 It will be seen from the above that the absolute truth of the Mahayanists varies from a severely metaphysical conception,
"it
."

the indescribable thing in itself, to something very like an allpervading benevolent essence which from time to time takes shape in a Buddha. And here we see how easy is the transition from the old Buddhism to a form of pantheism. For if we admit that the Buddha is a superhuman intelligence appearing from time to time according to a certain law, we add little to this statement by saying that the essence or spirit of the cosmos manifests itself from time to time as a Buddha. Only, such words as essence or spirit are not really correct. The world of individuals is the same as the highest truth, the same as the Dharma-kaya, the same as Nirvana. It is only through ignorance that it appears to be different and particularized. Ignorance, the essence of which consists in believing in the distinction between subject and object, is also called defilement and the highest truth passes through various stages of defilement ending with that where under the influence of egoism and passion the external world of particulars is believed to be But

everything. the various stages may influence one another 2 so that under a higher influence the mind which is involved in subjectivity
1 3

Awakening of Faith, Teitaro Suzuki, pp. 62 and The process is generally called Vasana or

70.

perfuming.

xix]

MAHAYANIST METAPHYSICS

45

begins to long for Nirvana. Yet Nirvana is not something different from or beyond the world of experience; it does not
really involve annihilation of the skandhas.

Just as in the

Advaita he who has the true knowledge sees that he himself and everything else is Brahman, so for the Mahayanist all things are seen to be Nirvana, to be the Dharma-kaya. It is sometimes 1 said that there are four kinds of Nirvana (a) absolute Nirvana, which is a synonym of the Dharma-kaya and in that sense
universally present in all beings, (6) upadhisesha-nirvana, the state of enlightenment which can be attained during life, while
its limitations still remains, (c) anupadhiseshaa nirvana, higher degree of the same state attained after death when the hindrances of the body are removed, (d) Nirvana without abode or apratishthita-nirvana. Those who attain to

the

body with

this understand that there is no real antithesis between Samsara and Nirvana 2 they do not seek for rest or emancipation but devote themselves to beneficent activity and to leading their fellows to salvation. Although these statements that Nirvana and Samsara are the same are not at all in the manner of the older Buddhism, yet this ideal of disinterested activity combined with Nirvana is not inconsistent with the portrait of Gotama
:

preserved in the Pali Canon.

The Mahayanist Buddhism
of such phrases as the

of the

Far East makes

free use

Buddha

and the Buddha nature. These terms as Buddhatva and Bodhicitta which can receive either an ethical or a metaphysical emphasis. The former line of 3 thought is well shown in Santideva who treats Bodhicitta as the initial impulse and motive power of the religious life, com bining intellectual illumination and unselfish devotion to the good of others. Thus regarded it is a guiding and stimulating principle somewhat analogous to the Holy Spirit in Christianity. But the Bodhicitta is also the essential quality of a Buddha (and the Holy Spirit too is a member of the Trinity) and in so far as a man has the Bodhicitta he is one with all Buddhas.
1

in the heart, the Buddha mind seem to represent such Sanskrit

Mahdydna Buddhism,

Vijnanamatra Sastra. Chinese version quoted by Teitaro Suzuki, Outlines of p. 343. Apparently both upadhi and upadhi are used in Buddhist Sanskrit. Upadi is the Pali form. 2 So the Madhyamika Sastra (xxv. 19) states that there is no difference between Samsara and Nirvana. Cf. Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana, pp. 160-164.
8

E.g. Bodhicaryavatara, chap,

i,

called praise of the Bodhicitta.

46

THE MAHAYANA

[OH. xix

This conception is perhaps secondary in Buddhism but it is also as old as the Upanishads and only another form of the doctrine that the spirit in every man (antaryamin) is identical with the

Supreme Spirit. It is developed in many works still popular in the Far East 1 and was the fundamental thesis of Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen school. But the practical character of the Chinese and Japanese has led them to attach more import ance to the moral and intellectual side of this doctrine than to the metaphysical and pantheistic side.
1 E.g. the P u-t i-hsin-li-hsiang-lun (Nanjio, 1304), translated from Nagarjuna, and the Ta-Ch eng-fa-chieh-wu-ch a-pieh-lun, translated from Sthiramati (Nanjio,

1258).

CHAPTER XX
MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES
IN a previous chapter I have discussed the Pali Canon and I shall subsequently have something to say about the Chinese and Tibetan Canons, which are libraries of religious and edifying works rather than sacred books similar to the Vedas or the
Bible.

My

present object

is

to speak of the Sanskrit literature,

chiefly sutras, which appeared of Mahay anism in India.

contemporaneously with the

rise

scriptures are the largest body of sacred extant in the world, but it is not easy either to define writings the limits of the Canon or to say when it was put together. According to a common tradition Kanishka played for the Church of the Great Vehicle much the same part as Asoka for the Theravadins and summoned a Council which wrote com mentaries on the Tripitaka. This may be reasonably held to include a recension of the text commented on but we do not know what that text was, and the brief and perplexing accounts of the Council which we possess indicate not that it gave its imprimatur to Mahayanist sutras but that it was specially concerned with the Abhidharma works of the Sarvastivadin
school.

The Mahayanist

In any case no Canon formed in the time of Kanishka can have been equivalent to the collections of writings accepted to day in China and Tibet, for they contain works later than any date which can be assigned to his reign, as do also the nine sacred books revered in Nepal. It was agreed among Indian Buddhists that the scriptures were divided among the three Pitakas or baskets, but we may surmise that there was no unanimity as to the precise contents of each basket. In India the need for unanimity in such matters is not felt. The Brah-

mans always recognized that the most holy and most
Mahabharata shows how generations
critical

jealously

preserved scriptures could exist in various recensions and the
hearers

may

of respectful and un allow adventitious matter of all sorts to

48

THE MAHAY ANA

[CH.

be incorporated in a work. Something of the same kind happened with the Pitakas. We know that the Pali recension which we for fragments of a Sanskrit version possess was not the only one,

have been discovered. There was probably a large floating literature of sutras, often
of the same document worked up presenting several recensions in different ways. Just as additions were made to the list of to the middle ages, although the character of

Upanishads up the later works was different from that of the earlier, so new sutras, modern in date and in tone, were received in the capacious basket. And just as the Puranas were accepted as sacred books
without undermining the authority of the Vedas, so new Buddhist scriptures superseded without condemning the old ones. Various Mahayanist schools had their own versions of the Vinaya which apparently contain the same rules as the Pali
text but also much additional narrative, and Asanga quotes from works corresponding to the Pali Nikayas, though his doctrine belongs to another age 1 The Abhidharma section of the Pali Canon seems however to have been peculiar to the Theravada school. The Sarvastivadin Pitaka of the same name was entirely different and, judging from the Chinese Canon, the Mahayanists gave the title to philosophic works by such authors as Asanga and Vasubandhu, some of which were described as revelations from Maitreya.
.

Specially characteristic of
2

Mahayanist Buddhism are the

Vaipulya sutras, that is sutras of great extension or develop ment. These works, of which the Lotus is an example, follow the same scheme as the older sutras but are of wider scope and on a much larger scale, for they often consist of twenty or more chapters. They usually attempt to give a general exposition of the whole Dharma, or at least of some aspect of it which is
1 In the Mahayana-sutralankara he quotes frequently from the Samyukta and Ekottara Agamas, corresponding to the Samyutta and Anguttara Nikayas of the

Pali.
2 A reading Vaitulya has also been found in some manuscripts of the Lotus discovered at Kashgar and it is suggested that the word may refer to the sect of Vetullas or Vetulyakas mentioned in the Commentary on the Kathavatthu as holding that the Buddha really remained in the Tushita heaven and sent a

phantom was Ananda, not the Buddha, who preached the law. See Kern, Vers. en Med. der K. Ak. v. Wetenschappen, Letter k., R. 4 D. vin. pp. 312-9, Amsterdam, 1907, and De la Vallee Poussin s notice of this article in J.E.A.S. 1907, pp. 434-6. But this interpretation does not seem
to represent

him

in the

world and that

it

very probable.

xx]

MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES

49

extolled as sufficient for the right conduct of life. The chief speaker is usually the Buddha, who is introduced as teaching

on the Vulture Peak, or some other well-known locality, and surrounded by a great assemblage many of whom are super

human

beings.
his

The occasion

of the discourse

is

commonly

sending forth rays of light which illuminate the signalized by universe until the scene includes other worlds. As early as the
1 Anguttara Nikaya we find references to the danger of a taste for ornate and poetic sutras and these compositions seem to be the outcome of that taste. The literary ideas and methods which produced them are illustrated by the Sutralankara of A3vaghosha, a collection of edifying tales, many of which use the materials supplied by the Pali Nikayas and Vinaya but present them in a more effective and artistic form. It was thought a

pious task to amplify and embellish the simple narratives handed

down by
,

tradition.

The Mahayanist
Pali but it
is

scriptures are composed in Sanskrit not in only rarely for instance in the works of Asvaghosha

that Buddhist Sanskrit conforms to the rules of the classical
language.
in
it

Usually the words deviate from this standard both form and meaning and often suggest that the text as we have is a sanskritized version of an older work in some popular

dialect,

brought into partial conformity with literary usage. In the poetical portions, this process of sanskritization encountered

greater difficulties than in prose, because metre often refused to admit the changes required by
or

and prosody grammar, so

that this poetical dialect cannot be called either Sanskrit, Pali Magadhi but remains a mixture of learned and popular
speech.

But Sanskrit did not become a sacred language
like

for the

Mahayanists which has assumed

Latin for

Roman

Catholics.

It

is

rather Pali

this position

among

the Hinayanists, for

Burmese and Sinhalese translations of the Pitakas acquired no 2 authority. But in the north the principle that every man might read the Buddha s word in his own vernacular was usually respected: and the populations of Central Asia, the Chinese, the Tibetans, and the Mongols translated the scriptures into their
1 *

iv. 160. 5.

See Cullavagga, v. 33. The meaning evidently is that the Buddha s words are not to be enshrined in an artificial literary form which will prevent them from being popular.

50

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

own languages without

attaching any superstitious importance or spells. to the original words, unless they were Dharanis rather earlier, About the time of the Christian era or perhaps

be made of writing for religious purposes. greater use began to The old practice of reciting the scriptures was not discontinued but no objection was made to preserving and reading them in
written copies. According to tradition, the Pali scriptures were committed to writing in Ceylon during the reign of Vattagamani,

20 B.C., according to the most recent chronology about and Kanishka caused to be engraved on copper plates the com mentaries composed by the council which he summoned. In
that
is

Asvaghosha we find the story of a Brahman who casually taking up a book to pass the time lights on a copy of the Sutra of the Twelve Causes and is converted. But though the Buddhists remained on the whole true to the old view that the important thing was to understand and disseminate the substance of the Master s teaching and not merely to preserve the text as if it
1

were a sacred formula, still we see growing up in Mahayanist works ideas about the sanctity and efficacy of scripture which are foreign to the Pali Canon. Many sutras (for instance the

Diamond

Cutter) extol themselves as all-sufficient for salvation: the Prajna-paramita commences with a salutation addressed not as usual to the Buddha but to the work itself, as if it were

a deity, and Hodgson states that the Buddhists of Nepal worship their nine sacred books. Nor was the idea excluded that certain words, especially formulae or spells called Dharani, have in themselves a mysterious efficacy and potency 2 Some
.

and recommended in the Lotus 3 In so far as the repetition of sacred words or spells is regarded as an integral part of the religious life, the doctrine has no warrant in the earlier teaching. It obviously becomes more and more pro minent in later works. But the idea itself is old, for it is clearly the same that produced a belief in the Brahmanic mantras, particularly the mantras of the Atharva Veda, and early Buddhism did not reject mantras in their proper place. Thus 4 the deities present themselves to the Buddha and offer to teach him a formula which will protect his disciples from the attacks of evil spirits. Hsiian Chuang even states that the council which
of these are cited
.

1
2

Sutralankara, i. 2. See Waddell, "The Dharani

cult"

3

in Ostasiat. Ztsft. 1912, pp. 155

ff.

Chap, xxi, which

ia

however a

later addition.

Dig. Nik. 32.

xx]

MAHA YANIST SCRIPTURES
,

51

sat at Rajagriha after the Buddha s death compiled five Pitakas, one of which consisted of Dharanis 1 and it may be that the collection of such texts was begun as early as the collection of

and rules. But for many centuries there is no evidence were in any way confounded with the Dharma. that they The Mahayanist scriptures are so voluminous that not even the clergy were expected to master any considerable part of them 2 Indeed they make no claim to be a connected whole. The theory was rather that there were many vehicles plying on the road to salvation and many guide books. No traveller thought of taking the whole library but only a few volumes which suited him. Most of the Chinese and Japanese sects avowedly base themselves upon three sutras, selected according to the taste of each school from the hundreds quoted in cata
discourses
.

Thus the T ien-t ai sect has for its scriptures the Lotus, the Nirvana-sutra and the Prajna-paramita, while the Shin-shu sect admits only the three Amidist sutras.
logues.

The following

are

the names of some of the principal

Mahayanist scriptures. Comparatively few of them have been published in Europe and some exist only in Chinese or Japanese
translations.
3 is a Prajna-paramita or transcendental knowledge a whole name to literature of treatises consisting given generic on the doctrine of sunyata, which vary greatly in length. They
1.

are classed as sutras, being described as discourses delivered by the Buddha on the Vulture Peak. At least ten are known,

besides excerpts which are sometimes described as substantive works. The great collection translated into Chinese by Hsiian

Chuang

is

sixteen different sutras 4

said to consist of 200,000 verses and to comprise The earliest translation of one of these
.

treatises into Chinese (Nanjio, 5)
1

was made about 170

A.D.

and

Waiters, Yuan Chwang, u. p. 160. The Mahavyutpatti (65) gives a list of 105 sutras. 8 The word param-ita means as an adjective gone to the further shore or trans cendent. As a feminine substantive it means a transcendent virtue or perfection.
2 4 See Walleser, Prajndpdramitd in Quetten der Religionsgeschichte, pp. 15 ff. S.B.E. XLIX. Nanjio, Catalogue Nos. 1-20 and Rajendralala Mitra s Nepalese Buddhist Literature, pp. 177 ff. Versions are mentioned consisting of 125,000 verses,

100,000 verses, 25,000 verses, 10,000 verses and 8000 verses respectively. (Similarly at the beginning of the Mahabharata we are told that the Epic consists of 8800 verses, of 24,000 and of 100,000.) Of these the last or Ashtasahasrika has been
published in the Btbliotheca Indira and the second or Satasahasrika
is

in process

52

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

are everything indicates that portions of the Prajna-paramita and date from about the works among the earliest Mahayanist first century of our era. Prajna not only means knowledge of the absolute truth, that is to say of sunyata or the void, but is

regarded as an ontological principle synonymous with Bodhi and Dharma-kaya. Thus Buddhas not only possess this knowledge in the ordinary sense but they are the knowledge manifest in human form, and Prajna is often personified as a goddess.
All these works lay great stress on the doctrine of sunyata, and the non-existence of the world of experience. The longest re cension is said to contain a polemic against the Hinayana.

The Diamond Cutter is one of the best known of these trans cendental treatises and the two short works called Heart of the Prajnaparamita, which are widely read in Japan, appear to be
brief abstracts of the essence of this teaching. The Saddharma-pundarika, or Lotus of the 2.
is

Good Law 1

,

one of the best known Mahayanist sutras and is highly esteemed in China and Japan. It purports to be a discourse delivered by Sakyamuni on the Vulture Peak to an assemblage of Bodhisattvas. The Lotus clearly affirms the multiplicity of vehicles, or various ways of teaching the law, and also the eternity of the Buddha, but it does not emphasize, although it
mentions, the doctrine of sunyata. The work consists of two parts of which the second (chaps, xxi-xxvi) is a later addition. This second part contains spells and many mythological
narratives, including one of an ancient Bodhisattva who burnt himself alive in honour of a former Buddha. Portions of the

Lotus were translated into Chinese under the Western Tsin Dynasty 265-316 A.D. and it is quoted in the Maha-prajnaThe first part is paramita-sastra ascribed to Nagarjuna 2
.

of publication.

It

is

that the works are Gathas.

in prose, so that the expression "verses" appears not to mean Khotanese version of the Vajracchedika is edited in

A

Manuscript Remains by Sten Konow. The Sanskrit text was edited by Max Miiller in Anecdota Oxoniensia. 1 The Sanskrit text has been edited by Kern and Nanjio in Bibliotheca Buddhica; translated by Burnouf (Le Lotus de la bonne Loi), 1852 and by Kern (Saddharmapundarika) in S.B.E. vol. xxi. * There appears to have been an earlier Chinese version of 255 A.D. but it has been lost. See Nanjio, p. 390. One of the later Chinese versions alludes to the
s

Hoernle

existence of

ments

of a shorter

two recensions (Nanjio, No. 139). See B.E.F.E.O. 1911, p. 453. Frag and apparently earlier recension of the Lotus have been discovered
See J.R.A.S. 1916, pp. 269-277.

in E. Turkestan.

xx]

MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES

53

probably not later than the first century A.D. The Lotus is unfortunately accessible to English readers only in a most unpoetic translation by the late Professor Kern, but it is a great religious poem which starting from humanity regards religion as cosmic and universal, rather than something mainly con cerned with our earth. The discourses of Sakyamuni are accompanied in it by stupendous miracles culminating in a grand cosmic phantasmagoria in which is evoked the stupa containing the body of a departed Buddha, that is a shrine
containing the eternal truth.

The Lalita-vistara 1 is a life of Sakyamuni up to the com 3. mencement of his mission. Though the setting of the story is miraculous and Buddhas and Bodhisattvas innumerable are freely spoken of, yet the work does not enunciate the character
Mahayanist doctrines so definitely as the other treatises here enumerated. It is said to have originally belonged to the school of the Sarvastivadins and to have been subsequently accepted by the Mahayanists, and though it is not an epic but a collection of ballads and legends, yet it often reads as if it were a preliminary study for Asvaghosha s Buddhacarita. It contains Sanskrit versions of old legends, which are almost verbal renderings of the Pali text, but also new material and seems to be conscious of relating novelties which may arouse scepticism for it interrupts the narrative to anathematize those who do not believe in the miracles of the Nativity and to extol
istic

the merits of faith (raddhd not bhakti). It is probably coeval with the earlier Gandharan art but there are no facts to fix its

date 2
4.

.

The Lankavatara 3

gives an account of the revelation of

visiting Lanka. It is pre sumably subsequent to the period when Ceylon had become a

the good

Law by Sakyamuni when

1

Edited by Rajendralala Mitra in the Bibliotheca Indica and partially translated

in the
2

same series. A later critical edition by Lefmann, 1902-8. The early Chinese translations seem doubtful. One said to have been made
ff.

under the later Han has been lost. See Nanjio, No. 159. 8 See Burnouf, Introduction, pp. 458 ff. and J.E.A.8. 1905, pp. 831

Rajen

brief analysis is given in dralala Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist Literature, p. 113. J.A.S.B. June, 1905 according to which the sutra professes to be the work of a

A

human author, Jina of the clan of Katyayana born at Campa. An edition of the Sanskrit text published by the Buddhist Text Society is cited but I have not seen it. Chinese translations were made in 443 and 515 but the first is incomplete and
does not correspond with our Sanskrit text.

54

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

centre of Buddhism, but the story is pure fancy and unconnected with history or with older legends. It relates how the Buddha came to pay his alighted on Mt Malaya in Lanka. Ravana

and asked for definitions of virtue and vice which were Bodhisattva Mahamati (apparently Manjusri) pro The given. ceeded to propound a series of more abstruse questions which are answered at considerable length. The Lankavatara repre sents a mature phase of speculation and not only criticizes the Sankhya, Pasupata and other Hindu schools, but is conscious of the growing resemblance of Mahayanism to Brahmanic philosophy and tries to explain it. It contains a prophecy about Nagarjuna and another which mentions the Guptas, and it
respects

appears to allude to the domination of the Huns. This allusion would make its date as late as the sixth century but a translation
into Chinese which
is

said to correspond with the Sanskrit text

was made in 513. If so the barbarians referred to cannot be the Huns. An earlier translation made in 443 does not agree with our Sanskrit text and perhaps the work existed in several
recensions.

The Suvarna-prabhasa or Glitter of Gold 1 is a Vaipulya sutra in many ways resembling the Lotus. It insists on the supernatural character of the Buddha. He was never really born nor entered into Nirvana but is the Dharma-kaya. The scene is laid at Rajagriha and many Brahmanic deities are among the interlocutors. It was translated into Chinese about 420 A.D. and fragments of a translation into Uigur have been discovered in Turkestan 2 The contents comprise philosophy, legends and
5.
.

spells.

Ganda-vyuha or the Structure of the World, which is compared to a bubble. The name is not found in the catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka but the work is said to be the same as the Avatamsaka sutra which is popular in the Far East under the name of Hua-yen in China or Ke-gon in Japan. The identity of the two books could not have been guessed from the extracts and analyses which have been published but is guaranteed by
6.
1 1

3

Abstract by Rajendralala Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist Lit. p. 241. See Nanjio, No. 127 and F. W. K. Muller in Abhandl. der K. Preuss. Akad.

der Wissenschaften, 1908. The Uigur text is published in Bibliotheca Buddhica, 1914. Fragments of the Sanskrit text have also been found in Turkestan.
8

cites the

Abstract by Raj. Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist Lit. pp. 90 ff. The Sikshasamuccaya Ganda-vyuha several times and does not mention the Avatamsaka.

xx]

MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES
.

55

1 It is possible however that the Ganda-vyuha high authorities a of the larger work called Avatamsaka. So far portion only as can be judged from the extracts, this text preaches in a fully developed form, the doctrines of Sunyata, Dharma-kaya, the omnipresence of the Buddha and the redemption of the world by the exertions of Bodhisattvas. Yet it seems to be early, for

is

a portion of
(Nanjio, 102)

it

was translated into Chinese about 170A.D. and about 405 Kumarajiva translated a com

mentary on
7.

ascribed to Nagarjuna (Nanjio, 1180). Tathagata-guhyaka. This work is known by the analysis of Rajendralala Mitra from which it appears to be a Tantra of the worst class and probably late. Its proper title is said to be
it

Sriguhyasamaja. Watanabe states that the work catalogued by Nanjio under No. 1027 and translated into Chinese about 1000 A. D. is an expurgated version of it. The Sikshasamuccaya cites the Tathagata-guhya-sutra several times. The relations of these works to one another are not quite clear. 2 8. Samadhiraja is a Vyakarana or narrative describing different forms of meditation of which the Samadhiraja is the greatest and best. The scene is laid on the Vulture s Peak and
the principal interlocutors are

a rich

man

of Rajagriha.

It appears to be the

Candrapradipa-sutra and is which not only expounds the topic from which it takes its name but incidentally enumerates the chief principles of Mahayanism. Watanabe 3 states that it is the Yiieh-teng-san-mei-ching (Nanjio, 191) translated about 450 and again in 557 A.D. 9. Dasabhumisvara 4 An account of the ten stages in the career of a Bodhisattva before he can attain to Buddhahood. The scene is laid in the paradise of Indra where Sakyamuni was temporarily sojourning and the principal interlocutor is a Bodhi sattva named Vajragarbha. It is said to be the same as the Dasabhumika-sutra first translated into Chinese about 300 A.D.
.

Sakyamuni and Candraprabha, same as the a complete and copious treatise,

1 The statement was first made on the authority of Takakusu quoted by Winternitz in Oes. Ind. Lit. n. i. p. 242. Watanabe in J.R.A.S. 1911, 663 makes an equally definite statement as to the identity of the two works. The identity is confirmed by Pelliot in J.A. 1914, n. pp. 118-121. * Abstract by Raj. Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist Lit. pp. 81 ff. Quoted in Santideva s Bodhicaryavatara, vm. 106.

8
*

See J.R.A.S. 1911, 663. Abstract by Raj. Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist

Lit. pp. 81

ff.

56

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

but this work appears to be merely a (Nanjio, 105 and 110) or Avatamsaka mentioned above. portion of the Ganda-vyuha These nine works are all extant in Sanskrit and are known
the word Dharma being an Nepal as the nine Dharmas, abbreviation for Dharmaparydya, revolution or exposition of the works themselves to describe law, a term frequently used in the
in

a comprehensive discourse delivered by the Buddha. They are all quoted in the &kshasamuccaya, supposed to have been written about 650 A.D. No similar collection of nine seems to

Far East and the origin of the selection is obscure. As however the list does not include the Svayambhu Purana, the principal indigenous scripture of Nepal, it may go back to an Indian source and represent an old tradition. Besides the nine Dharmas, numerous other sutras exist in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and the languages of Central Asia. Few have been edited or translated and even when something is
be

known

in Tibet or the

known of their character detailed information as to their contents is usually wanting. Among the better known are the following. 10. One of the sutras most read in China and admired
because

works
is

is

style has a literary quality unusual in Buddhist commonly known as the Leng-yen-ching. The full title
its

Shou-leng-yen-san-mei-ching which is the Chinese trans1 This sutra is quoted by litteration of Surangama Samadhi
.

name

Sikshasamuccaya and fragments of the Sanskrit text have been found in Turkestan 2 The Surangama-Samadhi Sutra has been conjectured to be the same as the Samadhiraja, but the accounts of Rajendralala Mitra and Beal do not support
in the
.

Beal s translation leaves the impression that it resembles a Pali sutta. The scene is laid in the Jetavana with few miraculous accessories. The Buddha discusses with Ananda
this theory.

and after confuting his theories expounds the doctrine of the Dharma-kaya. The fragments found in Turkestan recommend a particular form of meditation. 1 1 Taranatha informs us that among the many Mahayanist
the location of the soul
.

works which appeared in the reign
1

of

Kanishka

s

son was the

Translated in part by Beal, Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, pp. 286-369. See also Teitaro Suzuki, Outlines of MaMydna, p. 157. For notices of the text see Nanjio, Nos. 399, 446, 1588. Fa-Hsien, chap. xxix. For the of Shouleng-yen and Surangama see Nanjio
s

equivalence note to No. 399 and Julien, Methode, 1007
i.

and
2

Vaailief, p. 175. See Sikshas, ed. Bendall, pp. 8,91

and Hoernle, Manuscript remains,

pp. 125

ff.

xx]

MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES
.

57

Ratna-kuta-dharma-paryaya in 1000 sections and the Ratnakuta 1 is cited not only by the Sikshasamuccaya but by Asanga The Tibetan and Chinese canons contain sections with this name comprising forty-eight or forty-nine items among which are the three important treatises about Amitabha s paradise and many
dialogues called Paripriccha, that personage, human or superhuman,
2

priate replies

.

questions put by some and furnished with appro The Chinese Ratnakuta is said to have been
is,
A.t>.)

but of course he is compiled by Bodhiruchi (693-713 for the selection the not for responsible only composition of the works included. Section 14 of this Ratnakuta is said to be identical with chapters 11 and 12 of the Mulasarvastivadin

Vinaya
12.

3
.

The Guna-karanda-vyuha and Karanda-vyuha are said to be two recensions of the same work, the first in verse the second in prose. Both are devoted to the praise of Avalokita

who

is represented as the presiding deity of the universe. He has refused to enter Buddhahood himself until all living

creatures attain to true knowledge and is specially occupied in procuring the release of those who suffer in hell. The Guna-

karanda-vyuha contains a remarkable account of the origin of the world which is said to be absent from the prose version. The primeval Buddha spirit, Adi-Buddha or Svayambhu, pro duces Avalokita by meditation, and Avalokita produces the material world and the gods of Hinduism from his body, Siva from his forehead, Narayana from his heart and so on. As such doctrines are not known to have appeared in Indian Buddhism before the tenth century it seems probable that the versified edition is late. But a work with the title Ratna-karandakavyuha-sutra was translated into Chinese in 270 and the Karandavyuha is said to have been the first work translated into
Tibetan 4
1
.

Mahayana-sutralankara, xix. 29.

E.g. the Rashtra-pala-paripriccha edited in Sanskrit by Finot, Biblioth. Buddhica, 1901. The Sanskrit text seems to agree with the Chinese version. The real number of sutras in the Ratnakuta seems to be 48, two being practically the same but represented as uttered on different occasions. 3 There is another somewhat similar collection of sutras in the Chinese Canon called Ta Tsi or Mahasannipata but unlike the Ratnakuta it seems to contain few

2

well-known or popular works. 4 I know of these works only by Raj. Mitra s abstracts, Nepal. Bud. Lit. pp. 95 and 101. The prose text is said to have been published in Sanskrit at Calcutta, 1873.

58
13.

THE MAHAY ANA

[CH.

The Karuna-pundarika 1 or Lotus of Compassion is of an imaginary continent mainly occupied with the description called Padmadhatu, its Buddha and its many splendours. It exists in Sanskrit and was translated into Chinese about 400 A.D.
(Nanjio, No. 142).

The Mahavairocanabhisambhodhi called in Chinese Tabe mentioned as it jih-ching or Great Sun sutra should perhaps is the principal scripture of the Chen-yen (Japanese Shingon) school. It is a late work of unknown origin. It was translated
14.

into Chinese in 724 A.D.

but the Sanskrit text has not been

found.

There are a great number of other sutras which are important although little attention is paid to them by Buddhists at the present day. Such are the Mahayanist version of the Mahaparinirvana recounting the death and burial of the Buddha and the Mahasannipata-sutra, which apparently
for the history of literature,

includes the Suryagarbha and Candragarbha sutras. works were translated into Chinese about 420 A.D.

All these

and must

therefore be of respectable antiquity. Besides the sutras, there are many compositions styled Avadanas or pious legends 2 These, though recognized by
.

Mahayanists, do not as a rule contain expositions of the Sunyata and Dharma-kaya and are not sharply distinguished from the more imaginative of the Hinayanist scriptures 3 But they introduce a multiplicity of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and represent Sakyamuni as a superhuman worker of miracles. They correspond in many respects to the Pali Vinaya but teach right conduct not so much by precept as by edifying stories and, like most Mahayanist works they lay less stress upon monastic discipline than on unselfish virtue exercised throughout successive existences. There are a dozen or more collections of Avadanas of which the most important are the Mahavastu and the Divyavadana. The former 4 is an encyclopaedic work which
.

contains inter alia a
1

life

of

Sakyamuni. It describes
ff.

itself

as

Raj. Mitra, Nepalese Buddhist Lit. pp. 285 for the Buddhist Text Society, Calcutta, 1898.
*

The Sanskrit text was published
:

3

Avadana is primarily a great and glorious act hence an account of such an act. The Avadana-sataka (Feer, Annales du Musee Guimet, xvm) seems to be
Edited by Senart, 3
Article
vote.

entirely Hinayanist.
*

1882-1897. Windisch, Die Komposilion des
in

Makd-

vastu, 1909.

"Mahavastu"

E.R.E.

xx]

MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES

59

belonging to the Lokottaravadins, a section of the Aryamahasanghikas. The Lokottaravadins were an ancient sect, pre cursors of the Mahayana rather than a branch of it, and much of the Mahavastu is parallel to the Pali Canon and may have

been composed a century or two before our era. But other parts seem to belong to the Gandharan period and the mention of Chinese and Hunnish writing points to a much later date 1 If it was originally a Vinaya treatise, it has been distended out of all recognition by the addition of legends and anecdotes but it still retains a certain amount of matter found also in the Pali and Tibetan Vinayas. There were probably several recensions in which successive additions were made to the original nucleus. One interpolation is the lengthy and important section called Dasabhumika, describing the career of a Bodhisattva. It is the only part of the Mahavastu which can be called definitely Mahayanist. The rest of the work marks a transitional stage in doctrine, just as its language is neither Prakrit or Sanskrit but some ancient vernacular brought into partial conformity with Sanskrit grammar. No Chinese translation is known. The Divyavadana 2 is a collection of legends, part of which is known as the Asokavadana and gives an edifying life of that pious monarch. This portion was translated into Chinese A.D. 317-420 and the work probably dates from the third century
.

of our era. It is loosely constructed: considerable portions of it

seem to be identical with the Vinaya of the Sarvastivadins and others with passages in the works of Asvaghosha. The Avadanas lie on the borderland between scripture and pious literature which uses human argument and refers to scripture for its authority. Of this literature the Mahayanist church has a goodly collection and the works ascribed to such doctors as Asvaghosha, Nagarjuna, Asanga and Vasubandhu hold a high place in general esteem. The Chinese Canon places

many

them in the Pitakas (especially in the Abhidharma not among the works of miscellaneous writers. and Pitaka) The Mahayanist scriptures are still a living force. In Nepal the nine Dharmas receive superstitious homage rather than
of
1 So too do the words Horapathaka (astrologer), Ujjhebhaka (? Uzbek), Peliyaksha (? Felix). The word Yogacara (i. 120) may refer simply to the practice of Yoga and not to the school which bore this name.
"

Edited by Cowell and Neil, 1886. See Nanjio, 1344.
5

E. n.

60
intelligent study,

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

but in Tibet and the Far East the Prajnaand the sutras about Amitabha are in daily Lotus the paramita, use for public worship and private reading. I have heard the first-named work as well as the Leng-yen-ching expounded, that with an extempore paraphrase, to lay congrega is, read aloud
tions in China,
is

the book which

and the section of it called the Diamond Cutter is most commonly in the hands of religious
is

Tibetans.
sect in

The Lotus

the special scripture of the Nichiren

Japan but is universally respected. The twenty-fourth chapter which contains the praises of Avalokita is often printed of the New separately. The Amitabha sutras take the place Testament for the Jodo and Shin sects and copies of them may also be found in almost every monastery throughout China and Annam. The Suvarnaprabhasa is said to be specially popular among the Mongols. I know Chinese Buddhists who read the

Hua-yen (Avatamsaka) every day. Modern Japanese writers quote frequently from the Lanka vatara and Kasyapa-parivarta but I have not met with any instance of these works being in
popular use. I have mentioned already the obscurity surrounding the history of the Mahayanist Canon in India and it may seem to

throw doubt on the authenticity of these scriptures. Unauthentic they certainly are in the sense that European criticism is not likely to accept as historical the discourses which they attribute to the Buddha and others, but there is no reason to doubt that they are treatises composed in India early in our era and repre senting the doctrines then prevalent. The religious public of India has never felt any difficulty in accepting works of merit and often only very moderate merit as revelations, whether
called Upanishads, Puranas, Sutras or what not. Only rarely have such works received any formal approbation, such as recognition by a council. Indeed it is rather in Ceylon, Burma, Tibet and China than in India itself that authoritative lists of scriptures have been compiled. The natural instinct of the Hindus was not to close the Canon but to leave it open for any additions which might be vouchsafed. Two sketches of an elastic Mahayanist Canon of this kind 1 are preserved, one in the gikshasamuccaya attributed to

Santideva,

who probably
1

flourished in the seventh century,

and

Edited by Bendall in Bibl, Buddhica.

xx]

MAHAYANIST SCRIPTURES

61

little work called the Duration of the Law, a discourse reporting by an otherwise unknown Nandimitra, said to have lived in Ceylon 800 years after the Buddha s death 1 The former is a compendium of doctrine illustrated by quotations from what the author regarded as scripture. He cites about a

the other in a

.

hundred Mahay anist sutras, refers to the Vinaya and Divyavadana but not apparently to the Abhidharma. He mentions no Tantras 2 and not many Dharanis. The second work was translated by Hsiian Chuang and was
therefore probably written before 600 A.D. Otherwise there is no external evidence for fixing its date. It represents Nandi mitra as explaining on his deathbed the steps taken by the Buddha to protect the True Law and in what works that Law is to be found. Like the Chinese Tripitaka it recognizes both Mahayanist and Hinayanist works, but evidently prefers the
3

former and styles them collectively Bodhisattva-Pitaka. It enumerates about fifty sutras by name, beginning with the Prajna-paramita, the Lotus and other well-known texts. Then comes a list of works with titles ending in Samadhi, followed by others called Paripriccha 4 or questions. A new category seems to be formed by the Buddhavatamsaka-sutra with which the sutras about Amitabha s Paradise are associated. Then comes the Mahasannipata-sutra associated with works which may 5 correspond to the Ratnakuta division of the Chinese Canon The writer adds that there are "hundreds of myriads of similar sutras classified in groups and categories." He mentions the Vinaya and Abhidharma without further particulars, whereas in describing the Hinayanist versions of these two Pitakas he
.

gives

many

details.

The importance
rather than in
its

of this list lies in the fact that it

is

Indian

date, for the earliest catalogue of the Chinese 6 Tripitaka compiled about 510 is perhaps older and certainly
1

in J.A. 1916, Nos.
2

Nanjio, No. 1466. For a learned discussion of this work see Levi and Chavannes I and n. It is not likely that the Tathagatha-guhya-sutra which it quotes is the same

as the Tantra with a similar
3

name analysed by Rajendralal
p.

Mitra.

Watters, J.R.A.S. 1898,

331 says there seems to have been an earlier

translation.
4 5

Many works with
But the Chinese
See Nanjio, pp.

this title will be

title

found in Nanjio. seems rather to represent Ratnarasi.

6

xiii-xvii.

62
ampler.

THE MAHAYAN A
But
if

[CH.

xx

say how

far the selection of

the catalogue stood alone, it might be hard to works in it w as due to Chinese taste.
r

But taking the Indian and Chinese evidence together, it is clear that in the sixth century Indian Mahayanists (a) tolerated Hinayanist scriptures while preferring their own, (6) made little
use of the Vinaya or Abhidharma for argument or edification, though the former was very important as a code, (c) recognized extremely numerous sutras, grouped in various classes such as

Mahasannipata and Buddhavatamsaka, (d) and did not use works called Tantras. Probably much the same is true of the fourth century and even earlier, for Asanga in one work 1 quotes both Maha- and Hinayanist scriptures and among the former cites by name seventeen sutras, including one called Paripriccha
or questions.
1

sutra

Mahayana-sutralankara. ia Brahma-paripriccha.

See

Le"vi

s

introduction, p. 14.

The

"Questions"

CHAPTER XXI
CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA
IN the previous chapters I have enumerated some features of Mahayanism, such as the worship of Bodhisattvas leading to mythology, the deification of Buddhas, entailing a theology as complicated as the Christian creeds, the combination of meta
physics with religion, and the rise of new scriptures consecrating I will now essay the more difficult task all these innovations. of arranging these phenomena in some sort of chronological
setting.

The voluminous Chinese

literature concerning

Buddhism

offers valuable assistance, for the Chinese, unlike the

Hindus, have a natural disposition to write simple narratives recording facts and dates. But they are diarists and chroniclers rather than historians. The Chinese pilgrims to India give a good account of their itinerary and experiences, but they have little
idea of investigating and arranging past events and merely recount traditions connected with the places which they visited. In spite of this their statements have considerable historical

value and on the whole harmonize with the literary and archaeological data furnished by India.
of Indian

The Tibetan Lama Taranatha who completed his History Buddhism 1 in 1608 is a less satisfactory authority. He merits attention but also scepticism and caution. His work

is a compilation but is not to be despised on that ground, for the Tibetan translations of Sanskrit works offer a rich mine of

information about the history of the Mahay ana. Unfortunately few of these works take the historical point of view and Taranatha s own method is as uncritical as his materials. Dire confusion prevails as to chronology and even as to names 2 so
,

Translated by Schiefner, 1869. Taranatha informs us (p. 281) that his chief authorities were the history of Kshemendrabhadra, the Buddhapurana of Indradatta and Bhataghati s history of the succession of the Acaryas. 2 The Tibetans generally translate instead of transliterating Indian names. It is as if an English history of Greece were to speak of Leader of the People instead
of Agesilaus.

1

64
that the work
it
is

THE MAPI AY ANA
contains

[CH.

almost useless as a connected account, though

interesting details. of special importance for the development are epochs of later Indian Buddhism, that of Kanishka and that of VasuThe reader may expect me to bandhu and his brother

many

Two

Asanga.

discuss at length the date of Kanishka s accession, but I do not be hoped that in the next few years propose to do so for it may

India or Central Asia will fix the archaeological research in and meanwhile it is waste of time Kushans of the chronology to argue about probabilities or at any rate it can be done articles. At present the majority of profitably only in special scholars place his accession at about 78 A.D., others put it back 1 to 58 B.C. and arrange the Kushan kings in a different order
,

others 2 think that he did not come to the throne until the second century was well advanced. The evidence of art, that Kanishka reigned particularly of numismatics, indicates towards the end of his dynasty rather than at the beginning,

while

still

but the use of Greek on his coins and his traditional connection with the beginnings of the Mahayana are arguments against a very late date. If the date 78 A. D. is accepted, the conversion of the Yiieh-chih to Buddhism and its diffusion in Central Asia cannot have been the work of Kanishka, for Buddhism began to reach China by land about the time of the Christian era 3 There is however no reason to assume that they were his work. Kanishka, like Constantino, probably favoured a winning cause, and Buddhism may have been gradually making its way among the Kushans and their neighbours for a couple of centuries before his time. In any case, however important his reign may
.

1 They place Kanishka, Vasishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva before Kadphises I and Kadphises II. 2 E.g. Stael Holstein who also thinks that Kanishka s tribe should be called Kusha not Kushan. Vincent Smith in his latest work (Oxford History of India, p. 130) gives 120 A.D as the most probable date. 8 My chief difficulty in accepting 78-123 A.D. as the reign of Kanishka is that the Chinese Annals record the doings of Pan Ch ao between 73 and 102 in Central Asia, with which region Kanishka is believed to have had relations, and yet do not mention his name. This silence makes it primd facie probable that he lived
;

either before or after

Pan Ch ao

s career.

Chinese Tripitaka state that An-Shih-Kao (148-170 A.D.) translated the Margabhumi-sutra of Sangharaksha, who was the chaplain of Kanishka. But this unfortunately proves nothing except that Kanishka cannot have been very late. The work is not a scripture for whose recognition some lapse of time must be postulated. An-Shih-kao, who came from the west, may very well have translated a recent and popular treatise.
of the

The catalogues

xxi]

CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA

65

have been for the Buddhist Church, I do not think that the history of the Mahayana should be made to depend on his date.
Chinese translations, supported by other evidence, indicate that the Mahayanist movement had begun about the time of our era. If it is proved that Kanishka lived considerably later, we should not argue that Mahayanism is later than was supposed

but rather that his relation towards it has been misunderstood 1 The date of Vasubandhu has also been much discussed and scholars have generally placed him in the fourth or fifth century but Peri 2 appears to have proved that he lived from about 280 to 360 A.D. and I shall adopt this view. This chronology makes a reasonable setting for the development of Buddhism. If Kanishka reigned from about 78 to 123 A.D. or even later, there
.

is

supposing that Asvaghosha flourished in his was followed and by Nagarjuna. The collapse of the reign Kushan Empire was probably accompanied by raids from Iranian tribes, for Persian influence appears to have been strong in India during the confused interval between the Kushans and Guptas (225-320). The latter inaugurated the revival of Hinduism but still showed favour to individual Buddhists, and we know from Fa-Hsien that Buddhism was fairly flourishing
difficulty in

no

during his visit to India (399-41
in supposing that

5).

There

is

nothing improbable
at
in

Court,

Vasubandhu, who is stated to have lived was patronized by the early Guptas. The blank

Buddhist history which follows his career can be explained first by the progress of Hinduism at the expense of Buddhism and secondly by the invasions of the Huns. The Chinese pilgrim Sung-Yiin has left us an account of India in this distressful period and for the seventh century the works of Hsiian Chuang and I-Ching give copious information. In investigating the beginnings of the Mahayana we may start from the epoch of Asoka, who is regarded by tradition as the patron and consolidator of the Hinayanist Church. And the tradition seems on the whole correct: the united evidence of
1

In this connection we

may remember Taranatha

s

statement that Kanishka

s

Council put an end to dissentions which had lasted about a century. But he also states that it was after the Council that Mahayanist texts began to appear. If

Kanishka nourished about 50 A.D. this would fit and what we know of the history of Buddhism.

in with

Taranatha

s

statements

2 B.E.F.E.O. 1911, 339-390. Satischandra Vidyabhushana arrived at the conclusion in J.A.S.B. 1905, p. 227.

same

66
texts

THE MAHAYANA
and inscriptions goes

[CH.

to show that the Buddhists of Asoka s doctrines subsequently professed by the time held the chief the other set of doctrines hold not did Sinhalese Church and

That these latter are posterior in time for they is practically admitted by the books that teach them, of a pro and crown the as completion are constantly described 1 of evolution the illustrates Lotus the Thus gressive revelation. the resembles which a doctrine by parable of curiously story

known

as Mahayanist.

the prodigal son except that the returned penitent does not to reveal gradually his name recognize his father, who proceeds full truth to the last. Similarly the back and position, keeping were five periods in Sakyathere that East Far the in it is held after which s muni teaching passing through the stage of the in the culminated Prajna-paramita and Amitabha Hinayana
sutras shortly before his death. Such statements admit the historical priority of the Hinayana: it is rudimentary (that is
early) truth
critics

which needs completion and expansion. Many to the assumption that primitive Buddhism was a system of ethics purged of superstition and mythology. And in a way they are right. Could we get hold of a primitive

demur

we should probably find that miracles, magic, and superhuman beings played a large part in his mind and that the Buddha did not appear to him as what we call a human teacher. In that sense the germs of the Mahayana existed in the lifetime of Gotama. But the difference between early and later Buddhism lies in this, that the deities who surround the Buddha in the Pali Pitakas are mere accessories: his teaching would not be affected if they were all removed. But the Bodhisattvas in the Lotus or the Sutra of the Happy Land have a
Buddhist,
doctrinal significance. Though in India old ideas persist with unusual vitality, still even there they can live only if they either develop or gather

round them new accretions. As one of the religions of India, Buddhism was sensitive to the general movement of Indian thought, or rather it was a part of that movement. We see as clearly in Buddhist as in non-Buddhist India that there was a tendency to construct philosophic systems and another tendency to create deities satisfying to the emotions as well as to the intellect and yet another tendency to compose new But apart
scriptures.
1

Chap.

iv.

xxi]

CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA
this

67

from

parallel

development,
is

it

becomes

clear after the

Christian era that

becoming surrounded by Hindu ism. The influence is not indeed one-sided: there is interdepen dence and interpenetration but the net result is that the general Indian features of each religious period overpower the specially Buddhist features and in the end we find that while Hinduism has only been profoundly modified Buddhism has vanished.

Buddhism

If we examine the Pali Pitakas, including the heresies mentioned in the Kathavatthu, we find that they contain the germs of many Mahayanist ideas. Thus side by side with the

human

one in a

portrait of the Buddha there is the doctrine that he is series of supernatural teachers, each with the same
is

nature, as

and this life is connected with the whole course of shown by the sympathetic earthquakes which mark His birth is supernatural and had he willed it he its crises. could have lived until the end of the present Kalpa 1 So, too, the nature of a Buddha when he is released from form, that is after death, is deep and unfathomable as the ocean 2 The Katha vatthu condemns the ideas (thus showing that they existed) that Buddhas are born in all quarters of the universe, that the Buddha was superhuman in the ordinary affairs of life, that he was not really born in the world of men and that he did not preach the Law himself. These last two heresies are attributed by the
life-history,
.

.

commentary

to the Vetulyakas

who

are said to have believed

that he remained in the Tushita heaven and sent a

phantom

to

preach on earth. Here we have the rudiments of the doctrine afterwards systematized under the name of the three bodies of Buddha. Similarly though Nirvana is regarded as primarily an
ethical state, the Pali

Canon contains the expression Nirvanadhatu and the idea 3 that Nirvana is a sphere or realm (dyatanam) which transcends the transitory world and in which such antitheses are coming and going, birth and death, cease to exist. This foreshadows the doctrine of Bhuta-tathata and we seem to
hear a prelude to the dialectic of Nagarjuna when the Katha vatthu discusses whether Sunnata or the void is predicable of the Skandhas and when it condemns the views that anything

now

existing existed in the past:
is
1

and that knowledge
is
2

of the
it

present

possible (whereas the
Mahaparinib. Sut. in.

moment anything

known

Majj. Nik. 72.

3

Udana, vin.

1-4.

C8
is

THE MAHAYAN A
The Kathavatthu
also

[CH.

really past).

condemns the proposition

that a Bodhisattva can be reborn in realms of woe or fall into the career of a Bodhisattva error, and this proposition hints that

was considered of general interest. The Mahayana grows out of the Hinayana and in many into it and is preserved unchanged. respects the Hinayana passes we wonder how this marvel the Lotus in that It is true reading
lous cosmic vision can represent itself as the teaching of Gotama, but the Buddhacarita of Asvaghosha, though embellished with
literary mythology, hardly advances in doctrine beyond the Pali sutrai describing the marvels of the Buddha s nativity 1 and the

greater part of Nagarjima s Friendly Epistle, which purports to contain an epitome of the faith, is in phraseology as well as thought perfectly in harmony with the Pali Canon. Whence

comes
school?

this difference of tone in

works accepted by the same

difficulty of the historian who essays to account for the later phases of Buddhism is to apportion duly the influence of Indian and foreign elements. On the one hand, the

One

Mahayana, whether we

call it

a development or perversion,
trinities, its

is

a product of Indian thought. its doctrine of self sacrifice

To explain its
it is

saviours,

not necessary to seek abroad.

New

retained as

schools, anxious to claim continuity and antiquity, gladly much of the old doctrine as they could. But on the
*

Buddhism came into contact with foreign O ideas and undoubtedly assimilated some of Iranian, especially them. From time to time I have drawn attention to such cases in this work, but as a rule the foreign ideas are so thoroughly
other hand, Indian

mastered and indianized that they cease to be obvious. They merely open up to Indian thought a new path wherein it can

move

in its own way. In the period following Asoka s death Buddhism suffered a temporary eclipse. Pushyamitra who in 184 B.C. overthrew the

Mauryas and established the Sunga dynasty was a patron of the Brahmans. Taranatha describes him 2 as a ferocious persecutor, and the Divyavadana supports the story. But the persecution, if it really occurred, was probably local and did not seriously check the spread of Buddhism, which before the time of Kanishka had extended northwards to Bactria and Kashmir. The latter territory became the special home of the Sarvastivadins. It was
1

Accariyabbhutasuttam.

Majj. Nik. 123.

2

Chap. xvi.

xxi]

CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA

69

in the reign of Pushyamitra that the Grseco-Bactrian king Menander or Milinda invaded India (155-3 B.C.) and there were many other invasions and settlements of tribes coming from the north-west and variously described as Sakas, Pahlavas, Parthians and Yavanas, culminating in the conquests of the Kushans. The whole period was disturbed and confused but some

general statements can be

made with
to

From about 300

B.C.

considerable confidence. 100 A. D. we find inscriptions,

buildings and statues testifying to the piety of Buddhist and Jain donors but hardly any indications of a similar liberality to Brahmans. In the second and third centuries A.D. grants of land to Brahmans and their temples begin to be recorded and in the fourth centun^ (that is with the rise of the Gupta Dynasty) such grants become frequent. These facts can hardly be inter preted otherwise than as meaning that from 300 B.C. to 100 A.D. the upper classes of India favoured Buddhism and Jainism and did not favour the Brahmans in the same way or to the same extent. But it must be remembered that the religion of the Brahmans continued throughout this period and produced a copious literature, and also that the absence of works of art may be due to the fact that their worship was performed in sacrificial enclosures and that they had not yet begun to use temples and statues. After the first century A.D. we have first a gradual and then a rapid rise in Brahmanic influence. Inscrip tions as well as books indicate that a linguistic change occurred
in the

same

period.

sufficiently dignified

At first popular dialects were regarded as and current to be the medium for both
Sanskrit remained a thing apart Brahman literati. Then the

scripture

and

official records.

the peculiar possession of the

popular language was sanskritized, the rules of Sanskrit grammar being accepted as the standard to which it ought to conform, though perfect conformity was impracticable. In much the same way the modern Greeks try to bring Romaic into line with classical Greek. Finally Sanskrit was recognized as the proper language for literature, government and religion. The earliest 1 inscriptions in correct Sanskrit seem to date from the second century A.D. Further, the invaders who entered India from the
1

That

of

Rudradaman

considered the oldest, but
ia

it is

at Girnar, dated 72 in the Saka Era, has hitherto been now said that one discovered at Isapur near Muttra
p. 114.

older.

See J.R.A.S 1912,

70

THE MAHAY ANA

[CH.

north-west favoured Buddhism on the whole. Coins indicate 1 that some of them worshipped Siva but the number and beauty of Buddhist monuments erected under their rule can hardly be

And their con interpreted except as a sign of their patronage. version was natural for they had no strong religious convictions of their own and the Brahmans with their pride of caste shrank
from
class
:

foreigners.
it

But Buddhism had no prejudice of race or was animated by a missionary spirit and it was probably

on

the stronger creed at this period. It not only met the invaders their entry into India but it sent missionaries to them in

Bactria and Afghanistan, so that to some extent they brought Buddhism with them. But it was a Buddhism combined with the most varied elements. Hellenic art and religion had made the figures of Apollo, Herakles and Helios familiar in Bactria, and both Bactria and northern India were in touch with Zoroastrians. The mixed cults of these borderlands readily

Buddha but, not understanding Indian ideas, simply made him into a deity and having done this were not likely to repudiate other Indian deities. Thus in its outward form the Buddhism of the invaders tended to be a compound of Indian, Greek and Persian ideas in which Sun worship played a large part, for not only Indian myths, but Apollo and Helios and the Persian Mithra all entered into it. Persian influence in art is discernible as early as the architecture of Asoka: in doctrine it has something to do with such figures as Vairocana and Amitabha. Grseco-Roman influence also was
professed allegiance to the

powerful in art and through art affected religion. In Asoka s time likenesses of the Buddha were unknown and the adoration of images, if not entirely due to the art of Gandhara, was at
least

encouraged by

it.

But though

coins

and sculpture bring

clearly before us a

medley of deities corresponding to a medley of human races, they do not help us much in tracing the growth of thought, phases of which are preserved in a literature sufficiently copious though the record sometimes fails at the points of transition where it would be of most interest. It is natural that sacred books should record accepted results rather than tentative innovations and even disguise the latter. But we can fix a few dates which enable us to judge what shape Buddhism was taking
E.g.

Kadphises

II

and Vasudeva.

xxi]

CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA

71

about the time of the Christian era. The Tibetan historian Taranatha is not of much help, for his chronology is most confused, but still he definitely connects the appearance of Mahayanist texts with the reign of Kanishka and the period 1 immediately following it and regards them as a new pheno menon. Greater assistance is furnished by the Chinese translators, whose dates are known with some exactitude. Thus the earliest Buddhist work rendered into Chinese is said to be the sutra of
forty-two sections, translated by Kasyapa It consists of extracts or resumes of the

Matanga

in 67 A.D.
s

Buddha

teaching

mostly prefaced by the words "The Buddha said," doubtless in imitation of the Confucian Analects where the introductory formula "The master said" plays a similar part. Its ideas and 2 the Arhat is held up as the ideal and precepts are Hinayanist in a remarkable passage 3 where the degrees of sanctity are
:

graded and compared no mention is made of Bodhisattvas. This first translation was followed by a long series of others, principally from the Sutra-Pitaka, for very little of the Vinaya

was translated before the fifth century. A great number of Hinayanist sutras were translated before 300 A.D. but very few after 450. On the other hand portions of the sutra about Amida s Paradise, of the Prajna-paramita, and of the Avatamsaka were translated about 150 A.D. and translations of the Lotus and Lalita-vistara appeared about 300. Great caution is necessary in using these data and the circumstances of China as well as of India must be taken into account. If translations of the Vinaya and complete collections
of sutras are late in appearing, it does not follow that the corresponding Indian texts are late, for the need of the Vinaya

was not

monasteries began to spring up. Most of the before the fifth century are extracts and of indifferent workmanship. Some are retained in the Chinese
felt until

translations

made

Tripitaka but are superseded by later versions. But however inaccurate and incomplete these older translations may be, if

any
1 2

of

them can be
xii,

identified with a part of

an extant Sanskrit

Chaps,

xin.

by Teitaro Suzuki in the Sermons of a con exception, for it contains such statements as sider the doctrine of sameness as the absolute ground of reality." But the transla

The

last section (42) as translated

Buddhist Abbot
tion seems to
Sec. 11.

may seem an
doubtful.

"I

me

72

THE MAHAY AN A

[CH.

work it follows that at least that part of the work and the doctrines contained in it were current in India or Central Asia some time before the translation was made. Applying this we may conclude that the Hinayana and Mahayana
principle

were flourishing side by side in India and Central Asia in the first century A.D. and that the Happy Land sutras and portions of the Prajfia-paramita already existed. From that time on wards Mahayanist literature as represented by Chinese transla tions steadily increases, and after 400 A.D. Hinayanist literature declines, with two exceptions, the Vinaya and the Abhidharrna

books of the Sarvastivadins. The Vinaya was evidently regarded as a rule of life independent of theology, but it is remarkable that Hsiian Chuang after his return from India in 645 should have thought it worth while to translate the philosophy of the
Sarvastivadins.

Other considerations render this chronology probable. Two conspicuous features of the Mahayana are the worship of Bodhisattvas and idealist philosophy. These are obviously parallel to the worship of Siva and Vishnu, and to the rise of the Vedanta. Now the worship of these deities was probably not prevalent before 300 B.C., for they are almost unknown to
the Pali Pitakas, and it was fully developed about the time of the Bhagavad-gita which perhaps assumed its present form a
little before the Christian era. Not only is the combination of devotion and metaphysics found in this work similar to the tone of many Mahayanist sutras but the manifestation of Krishna in his divine form is like the transformation scenes of the Lotus 1 The chief moral principle of the Bhagavad-gita is
.

substantially the same as that prescribed for Bodhisattvas. It teaches that action is superior to inaction, but that action should

be wholly disinterested and not directed to any selfish object. This is precisely the attitude of the Bodhisattva who avoids the inaction of those who are engrossed in self-culture as much as the pursuit of wealth or pleasure. Both the Gita and

Mahayanist

treatises lay stress on faith. He 2 dying goes to Krishna just as he
1

who who

thinks on Krishna thinks on

when Amitabha goes

Just as all pods and worlds are seen within Krishna s body, so we are told in Karanda-vyuha (which is however a later work) that in the porea of Avalokita s skin are woods and mountains where dwell saints and
the

gods.

2

Bhag. G. vnr.

5.

xxi]
to the

CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAY AN A
Happy Land and
.

73

texts, for it finds

not unknown to the Pali complete expression in the story of Matthathe idea
is

kundali 1 The idea of a benevolent deity to be worshipped with devo tion and faith and not with ceremonies is strange to old Buddhism and old Brahmanism alike. It was a popular idea which became so strong that neither priests nor Bhikshus could ignore it and in its ultimate result it is hard to say whether Buddhist or Brah manic elements are more prominent. Both Avalokita and Krishna are Devas. The former has the beauty of holiness and the strength which it gives, but also the weakness of a somewhat abstract figure: the latter is very personal and springs from the heart of India but to those who are not Hindus

seems wanting in purity and simplicity. The divine character both figures is due to Brahmanism rather than Buddhism, but the new form of worship which laid stress on a frame of mind rather than on ceremonial and the idea of Avataras or the
of

periodic appearance of superhuman saviours and teachers indi cate the influence of Buddhism on Brahmanism.

a similar parallel between the newer Buddhist and the Vedantist school represented by Sankara, philosophy and Indian critics detected it. Sankara was called a Pracchannabauddha or crypto-buddhist by his theological opponents 2 and the resemblance between the two systems in thought, if not in word, is striking. Both distinguish relative and absolute truth:

There

is

for

both the relative truth
is

is

practically

theism, for both

beyond description and whether it is called Brahman, Dharma-kaya or Sunyata is not equivalent to God
absolute truth
in the Christian or

Mohammedan sense.

Just as for the Vedantist

there exist in the light of the highest knowledge neither a personal God nor an individual soul, so the Maclhyamika Sutra

can declare that the

Buddha does not

really exist.

The Maha-

yanist philosophers do not use the word Maya but they state the same theory in a more subjective form by ascribing the

appearance of the phenomenal world to ignorance, a nomenedition, pp. 25 ff. especially p. 33. See Raruanuju, Sribhashya, n. 2, 27 and Padma-Purana uttarakanda 43 (quoted by Suht.inkar in Vienna Oriental Journ. vol. xxn. 1908). Mayavadam asaccliastram pracchannam bauddham ucyate. The Madhvas were specially bitter in their denunciation of Sankara.
2 1

Commentary on Dfiammapada, P.T.S.

74
clature which

THE MAHAYAN A

[CH.

is derived from the Buddha s phrase, "From ignorance come the Sankharas." Here, as elsewhere, Buddhist and Brahmanic ideas acted and reacted in such complex interrelations that it is hard to say which has borrowed from the other. As to dates, the older

Upanishads which contain the foundations but not the complete edifice of Vedantism, seem a little earlier than the Buddha. Now we know that within the Vedantist school there were divergences of opinion which later received classic expression in the hands of Sankara and Ramanuja. The latter rejected the doctrines of Maya and of the difference between relative and absolute truth. The germs of both schools are to be found in the Upanishads but it seems probable that the ideas of Sankara were originally worked out among Buddhists rather than among Brahmans and were rightly described by their opponents as disguised Buddhism. As early as 520 A.D. Bodhidharma preached in China a doctrine which is practically the

same as the Advaita. The earliest known work

in

which the theory of Maya and

the Advaita philosophy are clearly formulated is the metrical treatise known as the Karika of Gaudapada. This name was borne by the teacher of Sankara s teacher, who must have lived

about 700 A.D., but the high position accorded to the work, which is usually printed with the Mandukya Upanishad and is 1 a part of it, make an earlier date practically regarded as probable. Both in language and thought it bears a striking resemblance to Buddhist writings of the Madhyamika school and also contains many ideas and similes which reappear in the works of Sankara 2 On the other hand the Lankavatara Sutra which was translated into Chinese in 513 and therefore can hardly have been composed later than 450, is conscious that its
.

doctrines resemble
1

Brahmanic philosophy,

for

an interlocutor

as itself forming four separate Upanishads. For other arguments in favour of an early date see Walleser, Alterer Veddnta, pp. 14 ff. He states that the Karika is quoted in the Tibetan translations of Bhavaviveka s Bhavaviveka

Or

was certainly anterior to the travels of Hsiian Chuang and perhaps was much earlier. But if he died about 600 A.D. a work quoted by him can hardly have been later than 550 and may be much earlier. But see also Jacobi in J.A.O.S. April, 1913, p. 51. 3 For the resemblances to Nagarjuna see J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 136 ff. Especially remarkable are n. 32 na nirodho na cotpattir, etc., and iv. 59 and the whole argu ment causation is impossible. Noticeable too is the use of Buddhist terms like upaya, nirvana, buddha and adibuddha, though not always in the Buddhist sense.
th-".t

Tdrkajvala.

xxi]

CHRONOLOGY OF THE MAHAYANA

75

objects that the language used in it by the Buddha about the Tathagatha-garbha is very like the Brahmanic doctrine of the Atman. To which the Buddha replies that his language is a

concession to those who cannot stomach the doctrine of the negation of reality in all its austerity. Some of the best known verses of Gaudapada compare the world of appearance to the apparent circle of fire produced by whirling a lighted torch. This striking image occurs first in the Maitrayana Upanishad (vi. 24), which shows other indications of an acquaintance with

Buddhism, and
of

also in the

Lanka vatara

Sutra.

A real affinity unites the doctrine of Sankara to the teaching
Gotama
is

Pitakas
scribed

himself. That teaching as presented in the Pali marked by its negative and deliberately circum character. Its rule is silence when strict accuracy of

expression is impossible, whereas later philosophy does not shrink from phrases which are suggestive, if not exact. Gotama refuses to admit that the human soul is a fixed entity or Atman,

but he does not condemn (though he also does not discuss) the idea that the whole world of change and becoming, including human souls, is the expression or disguise of some one ineffable principle. He teaches too that the human mind can grow until it develops new faculties and powers and becomes the Buddha mind, which sees the whole chain of births, the order of the
world, and the reality of emancipation. As the object of the whole system is practical, Nirvana is always regarded as a terminus ad quern or an escape (nissaranam) from this transitory world, and this view is more accurate as well as more edifying than the view which treats Brahman or Sunyata as the origin
of the universe.

When
is

troubled world

the Vedanta teaches that this changing merely the disguise of that unchanging and

untroubled state into which saints can pass, it is, I believe, following Gotama s thought, but giving it an expression which he would have considered imperfect.

K. II.

CHAPTER XXIT
FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU
TRADITION, as mentioned above, connects the rise of the M ahayana with the reign of Kanishka. Materials for forming a picture of Indian life under his rule are not plentiful but it was clearly an age of fusion. His hereditary dominions were ample and he had no need to spend his reign in conquests, but he probably subdued Kashmir as well as Khotan, Yarkand and 1 Kashgar Hostages from one of these states were sent to reside in India and all accounts agree that they were treated with
.

generosity and that their sojourn improved the relations of Kanishka with the northern tribes. His capital was Purushapura
or Peshawar, and the locality, like many other features of his reign, indicates a tendency to amalgamate India with Persia

and Central Asia. It was embellished with masterpieces of Gandharan sculpture and its chief ornament was a great stupa
built

by the king -for the reception

of the relics of the

Buddha

which he collected. This building is described by several Chinese 2 pilgrims and its proportions, though variously stated, were sufficient to render it celebrated in all the Buddhist world. It is said to have been several times burnt, and rebuilt, but so solid a structure can hardly have been totally destroyed by fire and the greater part of the monument discovered in 1908 probably dates from the time of Kanishka. The base is a square measuring 285 feet on each side, with massive towers at the corners, and on each of the four faces projections bearing stair1

The uncertainty

as to the date of

Kanishka naturally makes

it

uncertain

whether he was the hero of these conquests. Kashmir was certainly included in the dominions of the Kushans and was a favourite residence of Kanishka. About 90 A.D. a Kushan king attacked Central Asia but was repulsed by the Chinese general Pan-Ch ao. Later, after the death of Pan-Ch ao (perhaps about 103 A.D.), lie renewed the attempt and conquered Kashgar, Yarkand and Khotan. See Vincent Smith, Early History of India, 3rd ed. pp. 253 ff. 2 See Fa-Hsien, ed. Legge, p. 33, B.E.F.E.O. 1903 (Sung Yiin), pp. 420 ff. Watters, Yuan Chwang, i. pp. 204 IT. J.R.A.8. 1909, p. 1056, 1912, p. 114. For the
general structure of these stupas see Foucher, pp. 45 ff.

L

art Greco- Bouddhique

du Gandhara,

CH.

xxn]

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

77

The sides were ornamented with stucco figures of the Buddha and according to the Chinese pilgrims the super structure was crowned with an iron pillar on which were set twenty-five gilded disks. Inside was found a metal casket, still containing the sacred bones, and bearing an inscription which presents two points of great interest. Firstly it mentions "Agisala the overseer of works at Kanishka s vihara," that is,
cases.

probably Agesilaus, a foreigner in the king
it

s service.

Secondly

states that the casket

was made
,"

"for

teachers of the Sarvastivadin sect 1
special patron of the in the light of this statement.

the acceptance of the and the idea that Kanishka

was the

Mahayana must be

reconsidered

Legends ascribe Kanishka s fervour for the Buddhist faith not to education but to conversion. His coinage, of which abundant specimens have been preserved, confirms this for it presents images of Greek, Persian, Indian and perhaps Baby

how varied was the mythology which with have Gandharan Buddhism. The coins may mingled the Buddha are not numerous and, as he of bearing figures left behind him the undoubtedly reputation of a pious Buddhist, it is probable that they were struck late in his reign and represent
lonian deities showing
his last religious phase 2 Hsiian Chuang 3 repeats some legends which relate that he was originally anti-Buddhist, and that
.

after his conversion he

summoned a

council

and

built a stupa.

The substance

barbarian but if he wished to keep abreast of the thought and civilisation of his subjects, for at that time it undoubtedly inspired the intellect and art of north-western India. Both as a statesman and as an enquirer after truth he would wish to promote harmony and stop sectarian squabbles. His action resembles that of Constantine who after his conversion to Christianity proceeded to summon the Council of Nicsea in order to stop the dissensions of the Church and settle what were the tenets of the religion which he had embraced, a point about which both he and
1

of these legends is probable. Kanishka as a docile conqueror was likely to adopt Buddhism

J.R.A.S. 1909,

p. 1058.

"Acaryanam

Sarvastivadinam

pratigrahe."

became a Buddhist late in life. 3 Watters, vol. i. p. 203. He places Kanishka s accession 400 years after the death of the Buddha, which is one of the arguments for supposing Kanishka to have
2

Similarly Harsha

reigned about 50 B.C., but in another passage (Watters, place it 500 years after the death.

i.

222, 224) he appears to

78

THE MAHAY ANA

[CH.

Kanishka seem to have felt some uncertainty. Our knowledge of Kanishka s Council depends chiefly on the traditions reported 1 difficulties. He tells us by Hsiian Chuang which present many
that the king,
acting
in

consultation with

Parsva, issued

summonses

to all the learned doctors of his realm. They came in such crowds that a severe test was imposed and only 499 Arhats were selected. There was some discussion as to the place
of
2

and the king built meeting but finally Kashmir was selected a monastery for the Brethren. When the Council met, there arose a question as to whether Vasumitra (who is not further he was not an Arhat described) should be admitted seeing that but aspired to the career of a Bodhisattva. But owing to the admitted but made interposition of spirits he was not only
president. The texts of the Tripitaka were collected and the Council of Upadesa Sastras explanatory of "composed 100,000 stanzas

the canonical sutras, 100,000 stanzas of Vinaya-vibhasha Sastras explanatory of the Vinaya and 100,000 of Abhidharma-vibhasha Sastras explanatory of the Abhidharma. For this exposition of the Tripitaka all learning from remote antiquity was thoroughly examined; the general sense and the terse language (of the Buddhist scriptures) was again and again made clear and dis
tinct,

and learning w as widely diffused for the safe-guiding of disciples. King Kanishka caused the treatises when finished to be written out on copper plates and enclosed these in stone boxes which he deposited in a tope made for the purpose. He then ordered spirits to keep and guard the texts and not to allow
r

any

to be taken out of the country

by

heretics

;

those

who wished
leaving to s gift of

to study them could do so in the country. return to his own country, Kanishka renewed
all
."

When

Asoka

Kashmir to the Buddhist Church 3 Paramartha (499-569 A.D.) in his Life of Vasubandku 4 gives an account of a council generally considered to be the same as
1 2

Watters, vol.

i.

270-1.
it

But Taranatha says some authorities held that Chinese works say it was held at Kandahar.
8
1

met

at Jalandhara.

Some

Watters, I.e. Translated by Takakusu in T oung Pao, 1904, pp. 269 ff. Paramartha was a native of Ujjain who arrived at Nanking in 548 and made many translations, but it is quite possible that this life of Vasubandhu is not a translation but original notes of his own.

xxn]

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

79

that described by Hsiian Chuang, though the differences in the two versions are considerable. He says that about five hundred 1 years after the Buddha s death (i.e. between 87 B.C. and 13 A.D. if the Buddha died 487 B.C.) an Indian Arhat called Katyayaniputra,

who was a monk of the Sarvastivadin school, went to or Kashmir. There with 500 other Arhats and 500 BodhiKipin sattvas he collected the Abhidharma of the Sarvastivadins and

arranged it in eight books called Ka-lan-ta (Sanskrit Grantha) or Kan-tu (Pali Gantho). This compilation was also called
Jnana-prasthana. He then made a proclamation inviting all who had heard the Buddha preach to communicate what they remembered. Many spirits responded and contributed their reminiscences which were examined by the Council and, when they did not contradict the sutras and the Vinaya, were accepted, but otherwise were rejected. The selected pieces were grouped
according to their subject-matter. Those about wisdom formed the Prajiia Grantha, and those about meditation the Dhyana

Grantha and so on. After

finishing the eight books they pro ceeded to the composition of a commentary or Vibhasha and invited the assistance of Asvaghosha. When he came to Kashmir, Katyayani-putra expounded the eight books to him and Asvaghosha put them into literary form. At the end of twelve years the composition of the commentary was finished. It consisted of 1,000,000 verses.... Katyayani-putra set up a stone inscribed with this proclamation. "Those who hereafter learn this law must not go out of Kashmir. No sentence of the eight books, or of the Vibhasha must pass out of the land, lest other schools or the Mahay ana should corrupt the true law." This proclamation was reported to the king who approved it. The sages of Kashmir had power over demons and set them to guard the entrance to the country, but we are told that anyone desirous of learning the law could come to Kashmir and was in

no way interrupted. There follows a story

telling how, despite this prohibition, a native of Ayodhya succeeded in learning the law in Kashmir
the five hundred years after the Buddha s death" Chinese expressions like probably mean the period 400-500 of the era commencing with the Buddha s death and not the period 500-600. The period 1-100 is the one hundred years," 101-200 and so on. See B.E.F.E.O. 1911, 356. But it must be "the two hundred years" remembered that the date of the Buddha s death is not yet certain. The latest
1
"in
"

theory (Vincent Smith, 1919) places

it

in 554 B.C.

80

THE MAHAY ANA
it

[CH.

and subsequently teaching

in his native land.

Paramartha

s

account seems exaggerated, whereas the prohibition described It was forbidden to take the by Hsiian Chuang is intelligible. of the law out of Kashmir, lest heretics should official
copies

tamper with them. Taranatha 1 gives a singularly confused account of the calls the third council, but makes meeting, which he expressly some important statements about it. He says that it put an end to the dissensions which had been distracting the Buddhist Church for nearly a century and that it recognized all the
the true doctrine: that it put the eighteen sects as holding as such parts of the Sutrapitaka and well as in writing Vinaya Abhidharma as were still unwritten and corrected those which
texts: that all kinds of Mahayanist already existed as written time but that the Sravakas raised no at this writings appeared

opposition.
It
is

these vague

hard to say how much history can be extracted from and discrepant stories. They seem to refer to one

assembly regarded (at least in Tibet) as the third council of the 2 Church and held under Kanishka four or five hundred years
after the

Buddha

s

death.

As

to

what happened at the council

tradition seems to justify the following deductions, though as the tradition is certainly jumbled it may also be incorrect in details.
is recognized only by the northern Church the Churches of Ceylon, Burma and Siam. It seems to have regarded Kashmir as sacred land outside which the true doctrine was exposed to danger. (6) But it was not

(a)

and

is

The council unknown to

a specially Mahayanist meeting but rather a conference of peace and compromise. Taranatha says this clearly in Hsiian Chuang s account an assembly of Arhats (which at this time must have meant Hinayanists) elect a president who was not an Arhat and according to Paramartha the assembly consisted of 500 Arhats and 500 Bodhisattvas who were convened by a leader of the Sarvastivadin school and ended by requesting Asvaghosha to revise their work, (c) The literary result of the council was the
:

Chap. xii. See Watters, i. pp. 222, 224 and 270. It is worth noting that Hsiian Chuang says Asoka lived one hundred years after the Buddha s death. See Watters, i. p. 267. See also the note of S. Levi in J.R.A.8. 1914, pp. 1016-1019, citing traditions to the effect that there were 300 years between Upagupta, the teacher of Asoka, and On the other hand Kanishka s Kanishka. who is thus made to reign about 31
2
A.r>.

1

chaplain Sangharaksha

is

said to

have lived 700 years after the Buddha.

xxii]

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

81

composition of commentaries on the three Pitakas. One of these, the Abhidharma-mahavibhasha-sastra, translated into Chinese in 437-9 and still extant, is said to be a work of encyclopaedic character, hardly a commentary in the strict sense. Paramartha perhaps made a confusion in saying that the Jiiana-prasthana

was composed at the council. The traditions indicate that some extent sifted and revised the Tripitaka and it accepted the seven Abhidharma books of the Sarvasti perhaps vadins But it is not stated or implied that it composed or sanctioned Mahayanist books. Taranatha merely says that such books appeared at this time and that the Hinayanists raised no active objection. But if the above is the gist of the traditions, the position described is not clear. The council is recognized by Mahayanists yet it appears to have resulted in the composition of a Sarvasti vadin treatise, and the tradition connecting the Sarvastivadins
itself

the council to
1

.

with the council is not likely to be wrong, for they are recognized in the inscription on Kanishka s casket, and Gandhara and Kashmir were their headquarters. The decisions of councils are
often politic rather than logical and it may be that the doctors summoned by Kanishka, while compiling Sarvastivadin treatises,

admitted the principle that there is more than one vehicle which can take mankind to salvation. Perhaps some compromise based on geography was arranged, such as that Kashmir should be left to the Sarvastivadin school which had long flourished there, but that no opposition should be offered to the Mahayanists elsewhere
.

The

relations

of

the Sarvastivadins to

Mahayanism

are

exceedingly difficult to define and there are hardly sufficient materials for a connected account of this once important sect,

but

I will

state

some

facts

about

it

which seem

certain.
.

2 ancient, for the Kathavatthu alludes to its doctrines It flourished in Gandhara, Kashmir and Central Asia, and

It

is

Kanishka
1

s

casket shows that he patronized

it

3
.

But

it

appears

Sec Takakusu in J.P.T.S. 1905, pp. 67 ff. For the Sarvastivadin Canon, see chapter on the Chinese Tripitaka. 2 See above, vol. I. p. 2G2. For an account of the doctrines see also Vasilief, 245 ff. Rockhill, Life of the Buddha, pp. 190 ff. 3 Its connection with Gandhara and Kashmir is plainly indicated in its own Le Nord-Ouest de 1 Inde dans le Vinaya deg scriptures. See Przyluski s article on Muiasarvastivadins," J.A. 1914, n. pp. 493 ff. This Vinaya must have received con siderable additions as time went on and in its present form is posterior to Kanishka.

my

"

82
to

THE MAHAYAN A
in

[CH.

have been hardly known the principal northern form
in the

Ceylon or Southern India. It was of Hinayanism, just as the Theravada
it

was the southern form. I-Ching however says that

prevailed

known, were Hinayanist but it was schools by holding that the external distinguished from cognate world can be said to exist and is not merely a continual process of becoming. It had its own version of the Abhidharma and of the Vinaya. In the time of Fa-Hsien the latter was still pre served orally and was not written. The adherents of this school were also called Vaibhashikas, and Vibhasha was a name given
Its doctrines, so far as

Malay Archipelago.

to their exegetical literature. But the association of the Sarvastivadins with
is

Mahayanists from the council of Kanishka onwards. Many eminent Buddhists began by being Sarvastivadins and became Mahayan
clear their earlier belief being regarded as preliminary rather

ists,

Hsiian Chuang translated the Sarvastivadin the Mulascriptures in his old age and I-Ching belonged to 1 write as if sarvastivadin school they were yet both authors

than erroneous.

;

devout Mahayanists. The Tibetan Church is generally regarded as an extreme form of Mahayanism but its Vinaya is that of the
Sarvastivadins. Though the Sarvastivadins can hardly have accepted idealist metaphysics, yet the evidence of art and their own version of

the Vinaya

probable that they tolerated a moderate amount of mythology, and the Mahayanists, who like all philosophers were obliged to admit the provisional validity of
it

make

the external world, may also have admitted their analysis of the same as provisionally valid. The strength of the Hinayanist
schools lay in the Vinaya. The Mahayanists showed a tendency to replace it by legends and vague if noble aspirations. But a code of discipline was necessary for large monasteries and the

code of the Sarvastivadins enjoyed general estee-m in Central Asia and China. Three stages in the history of Indian Buddhism are marked

by the names

of

Asvaghosha, Nagarjuna and the two brothers

1 The distinction between Sarvastivadin and Mulasarvastivadin is not clear to me. I can only suggest that when a section of the school accepted the Mahavibhasha and were known as Vaibhashikas others who approved of the school chiefly on account of its excellent Vinaya called themselves Primitive Sarvastivadins.

xxn]

FROM KANI8HKA TO VASUBANDHU

83

Asanga and Vasubandhu. It would be easier to give a precise description of its development if we were sure which of the works
ascribed to these worthies are authentic, but it seems that Asvaghosha represents an ornate and transitional phase of the
older schools leading to Mahayanism, whereas Nagarjuna is connected with the Prajna-paramita and the nihilistic philosophy

described in the preceding chapter. Asanga was the founder of the later and more scholastic system called Yogacara and is also
associated with a series of revelations said to have been

made

by Mai trey a. As mentioned above, tradition makes Asvaghosha 1 one of the most brilliant among Sanskrit writers, live at the court of Kanishka 2 and according to some accounts he was given to the Kushans as part of a war indemnity. The tradition 3 is confirmed by the style and contents of his poems and it has been noted by Toucher that his treatment of legends is in remarkable accord with their artistic presentment in the Gandharan sculptures. Also fragmentary manuscripts of his dramas discovered in Central Asia appear to date from the Kushan epoch. Asvaghosha s rank as a poet depends chiefly on his Buddhacarita,
,

life of the Buddha up to the time of his enlightenment. It the earliest example of a Kavya, usually translated as artificial epic, but here literary skill is subservient to the theme and does

or

is

not, as too often in later works, overwhelm it. The Buddha is its hero, as Rama of the Ramayana, and it sings the events of his earlier life in a fine flow of elaborate but impassioned
4 language. Another of his poems discovered only a few years treats of the conversion of Nanda, the Buddha s half-brother. ago,
,

1

See Sylvain L6vi, J.A. 1908, xn. 57
ff.

ff.,

and Winternitz,

Oes. Ind. Lit. n.

i.

pp. 201

2 The only reason for doubting it is that two stories (Nos. 14 and 31) in the Sutralankara (which appears to be a genuine work) refer to Kanishka as if he had reigned in the past. This may be a poetic artifice or it may be that the stories are

interpolations. See for the traditions Waiters on Yuan Chwang, n. 102-4 and Takakusu in J.R.A.S. 1905, p. 53 who quotes the Chinese Samyukta-ratna-pi^akasutra and the Record of Indian Patriarchs. The Chinese list of Patriarchs is com

patible with the view that Asvaghosha was alive about 125 A.D. for he was the twelfth Patriarch and Bodhidharma the twenty-eighth visited China in 520. This gives about 400 years for sixteen Patriarchs, which is possible, for these worthies

were long-lived. But the
3

list

The

traditions are

has little authority. conveniently collected in the introduction to Teitaro
Faith.

Suzuki
*

s translation of The Awakening of The Saundaranandakavya.

84

THE MAHAY AN A

[CH.

history

Various other works are ascribed to Asvaghosha and for the of Buddhism it is of great interest to decide whether he

really the author of exposition of a difficult

was

The Awakening of Faith. This theme is worthy of the writer

skilful

of the

Buddhacarita but other reasons make

his authorship doubtful,

for the theology of the work may be described as the full-blown flower of Mahayanism untainted by Tantrism. It includes the

doctrines of Bhuta-tathata, Alayavijnana, Tathagatagarbha and the three bodies of Buddha. It would be dangerous to say that these ideas did not exist in the time of Kanishka, but what is

known
full

development of doctrine leads us to expect their expression not then but a century or two later and other
of the

circumstances raise suspicions as to Asvaghosha s authorship. His undoubted works were translated into Chinese about 400 A.D. but The Awakening of Faith a century and a half later Yet if this concise and authoritative compendium had existed in 400, it is strange that the earlier translators neglected it. It is also stated that an old Chinese catalogue of the Tripitaka does not name Asvaghosha as the author 2
1 .
.

The undoubted works of Asvaghosha treat the Buddha with ornate but grave rhetoric as the hero of an epic. His progress is attended by miracles such as Indian taste demands, but they hardly exceed the marvels recounted in the Pali scriptures and there is no sign that the hero is identified, as in the Ramayana of Tulsi Das or the Gospel according to St John, with the divine
spirit.

The poet clearly feels personal devotion to a Saviour. dwells on the duty of teaching others and not selfishly seeking one s own salvation, but he does not formulate dogmas. The name most definitely connected with the early pro

He

mulgation of Mahayanism

is

Nagarjuna

3
.

A

preponderance of

1 See Nanjio, Nos. 1182, 1351, 1250, 1299. It is noticeable that the translator Pararaartha shows a special interest in the life and works of Asanga and Vasubandhu.

See Winternitz, Ges. Ind. Lit. ir. i. p. 211. It is also noticeable that The of Faith appears to quote the Lankavatara sutra which is not generally regarded as an early Mahayanist work. 3 Nagarjuna cannot have been the founder of the Mahayana for in his Maha-

2

Awakening

prajna-paramita-astra (Nanjio, 1109, translation by Kumarajiva) he cites inter alia the Lotus, the Vimalakirti-sutra, and a work called Mahayana-sastra. SeeB.E.F.E.O.
1911, p. 453. For Nagarjuna see especially Griinwedel, Mythologie, pp. 29 ff. and the bibliography given in the notes. Jour. Budd. Text. Soc. v. part iv. pp. 7 ff. Watters, Yuan Chwang, pp. 200 ff. Taranatha, chap, xv and Winternitz, Gcs. Ind.
Lit. n.
i.

pp. 250

if.

xxn]

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

85

ghosha

Chinese tradition makes him the second patriarch after Asva1 and this agrees with the Kashmir chronicle which 2 He probably implies that he lived soon after Kanishka
.

flourished in the latter half of the second century. But his biographies extant in Chinese and Tibetan are almost wholly

mythical, even crediting him with a life of several centuries, and the most that can be hoped is to extract a few grains of history

from them. He is said to have been by birth a Brahman of Vidarbha (Berar) and to have had as teacher a Sudra named Sarah a or Rahulabhadra. When the legend states that he visited the Nagas in the depths of the sea and obtained books from them, it seems to admit that he preached new doctrines.
It is noticeable that he is represented not only as a philosopher but as a great magician, builder, physician, and maker of images. Many works are attributed to him but they have not the

same authenticity as the poems of Asvaghosha. Some schools make him the author of the Prajfia-paramita but it is more usually regarded as a revelation. The commentary on it known

makes him the author of the 3 of which some account has been given Madhyamika aphorisms above. It is the principal authority of its school and is provided with a commentary attributed to the author himself and with a later one by Candrakirti 4 There is also ascribed to him a work called the Suhrillekha or friendly letter, a compendium of Buddhist doctrines, addressed to an Indian king 5 This work
.
.

as Maha-prajna-paramita-sastra work. consensus of tradition

is

generally accepted as his

A

omitted from the list of Buddhabhadra, giving the succession according to the Sarvastivadins, to which school he did not belong. I-Ching classes him with Asvaghosha and Aryadeva as belonging to the early period.
is
3

1

He

Rajatarangini,

i.

173, 177.

Edited in the Bibliotheca Buddhica by De la Vallee Poussin and (in part) in the Journal of the Buddhist Text Soc. See too Walleser, Die Mittlere Lehre des Ndgdrjuna nach der Tibetischen Version ubcrtragen, 1911 nach der Chinesischen
3
:

Version ubertragen, 1912. 4 The ascription of these works to Nagarjuna is probably correct for they were translated by Kuraarajiva who was sufficiently near him in date to be in touch

with good tradition.

The name of this king, variously given as Udayana, Jetaka and Satavahana, has not been identi6ed with certainty from the various transcriptions and transla tions in the Chinese and Tibetan versions. See J. Pali Text fioc. for 1886 and I-Ching Records of the Buddhist Religion (trans. Takakusu), pp. 158 ff. The Andhra kings who reigned from about 240 B.C. to 225 A.D. all claimed to belong to the Satavahana dynasty. The stupa of Amaravati in the Andhra territory is surrounded by a stone
8

railing ascribed to the period

160-200 A.D. and Nagarjuna

may have

addressed a

pious king living about that time.

86
is

THE MAHAY AN A
old for
it

[CH.
in

was translated into Chinese
laymen.
It
it

homily

for

says

philosophy and most of

is a nothing of the Madhyamika deals with the need of good conduct

434 A.n. and

and the

punishment, quite in the manner of the Hinayana. But it also commends the use of images and incense in worship, it mentions Avalokita and Amitabha and it
terrors of future

holds up the ideal of attaining Buddhahood. Nagarjuna s author well represent ship is not beyond dispute but these ideas may a type of popular Buddhism slightly posterior to Asvaghosha 1
.

patriarchs Nagarjuna is followed by Deva, also called Aryadeva, Kanadeva or Nilanetra. I-Ching mentions

In most

lists of

him among the older teachers and a commentary on his principal 2 Little is is attributed to Vasubandhu known of his special teaching but he is regarded as an important doctor and his pupil Dharmatrata is also important if not as an author at least as a compiler, for Sanskrit collections
work, the Satasastra,
.

of verses corresponding to the Pali Dhammapada are ascribed to him. Aryadeva was a native of southern India 3
.

The next epoch in the history of Buddhism is marked by the names of Asanga and Vasubandhu. The interval between them and Deva produced no teacher of importance, but Kumaralabdha, the founder of the Sautrantika school and perhaps identical with Kumarata the eighteenth Patriarch of the Chinese Hsiian Chuang says 4 that he was lists, may be mentioned. carried off in captivity by a king who reigned somewhere in the east of the Pamirs and that he, Asvaghosha, Nagarjuna and

Deva were

styled the four shining suns.
of a

Asanga and Vasubandhu were brothers, sons

Brahman

who

lived at Peshawar.

Sarvastivadin school to

They were both converted from the Mahayanism, but the third brother

1 For other works attributed to Nagarjuna see Nanjio, Nos. 1169, 1179, 1180, 1186 and Walleser s introduction to Mittlere Lehre nach der Chinesischen Version The Dharmasangraha, a Sanskrit theological glossary, is also attributed to Nagar

juna as well as the tantric work Pancakrama. But it is not likely that the latter dates from his epoch. a Nanjio, No. 1188. The very confused legends about him suggest a comparison with the Dravidian legend of a devotee who tore out one of his eyes and offered it to Siva. See Griinwedel, Mylhologie, p. 34 and notes. Polemics against various Hinayanist sects are ascribed to him. See Nanjio, Nos. 1259, 1260. 4 Walters, Yuan Chwang, u. p. 286. lUuan Chuung does not say that the four were contemporary but that in the time of Kumaralabdha they were called the four Suns.

xxn]

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

87

Virincivatsa never changed his convictions. Tradition connects their career with Ayodhya as well as with Peshawar and
of the reigning monarch, This identification depends on the hypothesis that Vasubandhu lived from about 280 to 360 A.D. which, as already mentioned, seems to me to have been proved by M. Peri 1 The earlier Gupta kings though not Buddhists were tolerant, as is shown by the fact that the king of Ceylon 2 was allowed to erect a magnificent monastery at Nalanda in the reign of Samudragupta (c. 330-375 A.D.). Asanga founded the school known as Yogacara and many authorities ascribe to him the introduction of magical practices and Tantrism. But though he is a considerable figure in the history of Buddhism, I doubt if his importance or culpability is so great as this. For if tradition can be trusted, earlier teachers

Vasubandhu enjoyed the confidence
I.

who was probably Candragupta

.

especially Nagarjuna dealt in spells and invocations and the works of Asanga 3 known to us are characterized by a somewhat

and are chiefly occupied in defining and des various the cribing stages in the spiritual development of a Bodhisattva. It is true that he admits the use of magical
scholastic piety

formulae 4 as an aid in this evolution but they form only a slight part of his system and it does not appear that the Chen-yen or
its

Shingon sect of the Far East (the Sanskrit Mantrayana) traced lineage back to him.

Our estimate

of his position in the history of

Buddhism must

depend on our opinion as to the authorship of The Awakening of Faith. If this treatise was composed by Asvaghosha then
doctrines respecting the three bodies of Buddha, the Tathagatagarbha and the Alaya-vijnana were not only known but
scientifically

formulated considerably before Asanga. The con

clusion cannot be rejected as absurd for Asvaghosha might speak differently in poems and in philosophical treatises but
1 For Asanga and Vasubandhu see Peri in B.E.F.E.O. 1911, pp. 339-390. Vincent Smith in Early History of India, third edition, pp. 328-334. Winternitz, Ges. Jnd. Lit. n. i. p. 256. Watters, Yuan Chwang, i. pp. 210, 355-359. Taranatha,

chap. xxii.
*

Griinwedel, Mythologie, p. 35.
:

Meghavarman. See V. Smith, I.e. 287. 8 Two have been preserved in Sanskrit the Mahayana-sutralankara (Ed. v. Transl., S. Levi, 1907-1911) and the Bodhisattva-bhumi (English summary in Museon, 1905-6). A brief analysis of the literature of the Yogacara school according to Tibetan authorities is given by Stcherbatskoi in Museon, 1905, pp. 144-155. 4 Mahayana-sutral. xvni. 71-73. The ominous word maithuna also occurs in
this

work, xvni. 46.

88
it is

THE MAHAYAN A
surprising,

[CH.

and it is probable that the treatise is not his. If so, Asanga may have been the first to elaborate systematically is the one and (though not to originate) the idea that thought
the older theory. only reality. Nagarjuna s nihilism was probably still it follows but elaborate and It sounds late easily if the is of Gotama dialectic applied uncompromisingly not only to

our mental processes but to the external world. Yet even in India the result was felt to be fantastic and sophistical and it is not surprising if after the lapse of a few generations a new system of idealism became fashionable which, although none too intelligible, was abstruse rather than paradoxical. Asanga was alleged to have received revelations from Maitreya and five of his works are attributed to this Bodhisattva who enjoyed considerable honour at this period. It may be that the veneration for the Buddha of the future, the Messiah who would reign over his saints in a pure land, owed something to
Persian influence which was strong in India during the decadence Both Mithraism and Manichseism classified of the Kushans 1
.

their adepts in various ranks, and the Yogacara doctors who delight in grading the progress of the Bodhisattva may have

borrowed something from them 2 Asanga s doctrine of defile ment (klesa) and purification may also owe something to Mani,
.

as suggested

by

S. Levi.

In spite of his literary merits Asanga remains a doctor rather than a saint or poet 3 His speculations have little to do with
.

either

in living touch His brother Vasubandhu had perhaps a greater position. He is reckoned as the twentieth Patriarch and Tibetan tradition connects him with the worship

Gotama

or

Amitabha and he was thus not

with either the old or new schools.

of

s life of Vasubandhu represents him as having the court of frequented Vikramaditya (to be identified with who at first favoured the Sankhya philosophy Candragupta I),
1 2

Amitabha 4 Paramartha
.

Vincent Smith,

I.e.

p. 275.

abundant Indian precedents, Brahmanical as well as Buddhist, for describing various degrees of sanctity or knowledge. 3 The wooden statues of Asanga and Vasubandhu preserved in the Kofukaji at Nara are masterpieces of art but can hardly claim to be other than works of imagina tion. They date from about 800 A.D. See for an excellent reproduction Tajima s
Select Relics, n. x.
* See Eitel and Griinwedcl, but I do not found. It is remarkable that Paramartha s

But

there are of course

know
life

in

what

texts this tradition

is

(T oung Pao, 1904, pp. 269-296) does not say either that he was twentieth patriarch or that he worshipped Amida.

xxn]

FROM KANISHKA TO VASUBANDHU

89

but accorded some patronage to Buddhism. During this period Vasubandhu was a Sarvastivadin but of liberal views 1 and while in this phase wrote the Abhidharma-kosa, a general exposition of the Abhidharma, mainly according to the views of the Vaibhashikas but not without criticism. This celebrated work 2 is not well known in Europe but is still a text-book amongst It gained the esteem of all Buddhist students. Japanese schools and we are given to understand that it presupposed the philosophy of the Vibhasha and of the Jnana-prasthana. According to Paramartha the original work consisted of 600 aphorisms in verse which were sent by the author to the monks of Kashmir. They approved of the composition but, as the aphorisms were concise, asked for fuller explanations. Vasubandhu then expanded his verses into a prose commentary, but meanwhile his views had undergone a change and when he disapproved of any Vaibhashika doctrine, he criticized it. This enlarged edition by no means pleased the brethren of Kashmir and called forth polemics. He also wrote a controversial

work against the Sankhya philosophy. Late in life Vasubandhu, moved by the entreaties of brother Asanga, became a devout Mahayanist and wrote in old age Mahayanist treatises and commentaries 3
.

his
his

1 On receiving a large donation he built three monasteries, one for Hinayanists, one for Mahayanists and one for nuns. * The work consists of 600 verses (Karika) with a lengthy prose commentary (Bhashya) by the author. The Sanskrit original is lost but translations have been preserved in Chinese (Nanjio, Nos. 1267, 1269, 1270) and Tibetan (see Cordier, Cat. du Fonds tibeiain de la Bib. Nat. 1914, pp. 394, 499). But the commentary on the Bhashya called Abhidharma-kosa-vyakhya, or Sphutartha, by Yasomitra has been preserved in Sanskrit in Nepal and frequently cites the verses as well as the Bhashya in the original Sanskrit. A number of European savants are at present occupied with this literature and Sir Denison Ross (to whom I am indebted for much information) contemplates the publication of an Uighur text of Book I found in Central Asia. At present (1920), so far as T know, the only portion of the Abhidharma-kosa in print is De la Vallee Poussin s edition and translation of Book m, containing the Tibetan and Sanskrit texts but not the Chinese (De la Vallee Poussin Vasubandhu et Yasomitra, London, 1914-18). This chapter deals with such topics as the structure of the universe, the manner and place of rebirth, the chain of causation, the geography of the world, the duration and characteristics

and the appearance of Buddhas and Cakravartins. See Nanjio, pp. 371-2, for a list of his works translated into Chinese. Hsiian Chuang s account differs from the above (which is taken from Paramartha) in details. He also tells a curious story that Vasubandhu promised to appear to his friends after death and ultimately did so, though he forgot his promise until people began to say he had gone to hell.
of Kalpas,
3

CHAPTER XXIII
INDIAN BUDDHISM AS SEEN BY THE CHINESE PILGRIMS
ABOUT
the time of Vasubandhu there existed four schools of Indian Buddhism called Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Madhyamika and Yoga or Yogacara 1 They were specially concerned with into philosophy and apparently cut across the older division
.

differed mainly eighteen sects, which at this period seem to have on points of discipline. Though not of great practical import ance, they long continued to play a certain part in controversial

works both Buddhist and Brahmanic. The first two which were the older seem to have belonged to the Hinayana and the other two even more definitely to the Mahayana. I-Ching 2 is quite clear as to this. "There are but two kinds of the so-called Mahayana" he says, "first the Madhyamika, second the Yoga.... These two systems are perfectly in accordance with the noble doctrine. Can we say which of the two is right? Both equally conform to truth and lead us to Nirvana and so on. But he does not say that the other two systems are also aspects of the truth. This is the more remarkable because he himself followed the Mula-sarvastivadins. Apparently Sarvastivadin and Vai bhashika were different names for the same school, the latter being applied to them because they identified themselves with the commentary (Vibhasha) already mentioned whereas the former and older designation came to be used chiefly with reference to their disciplinary rules. Also there were two groups of Sarvastivadins, those of Gandhara and those of Kashmir. The name of Vaibhashika was applied chiefly to the latter who, if we may find a kernel of truth in legends which are certainly exaggerated, endeavoured to make Kashmir a holy land with
a monopoly of the pure doctrine. Vasubandhu and Asanga appear to have broken up this isolation for they first preached
1

Rel. des
2

See Vasilief, Le Bouddhisme, Troisiome supplement, pp. 2G2 Cf. Koppen, Buddha, i. 151. Takakusu in J. Pali Text Svcicty, 1905, pp. 67-140.
Records, translated by Takakusu, p. 15.

CH. xxiii]

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

91

the Vaibhashika doctrines in a liberal and eclectic form outside Kashmir and then by a natural transition and development went over to the Mahayana. But the Vaibhashikas did not 1 disappear and were in existence even in the fourteenth century Their chief tenet was the real existence of external objects. In matters of doctrine they regarded their own Abhidharma as the 2 They also held that Gotama had an ordinary highest authority human body and passed first into a preliminary form of Nirvana when he attained Buddhahood and secondly into complete Nirvana at his death. He was superhuman only in the sense that he had intuitive knowledge and no need to learn. Their
.
.

contempt
of

for sutras

may have been due

to the fact that

many

them discountenance the Vaibhashika views and

also to a

knowledge that new ones were continually being composed. I-Ching, who ends his work by asserting that all his state ments are according to the Arya-mula-sarvastivada-nikaya and no other, gives an interesting summary of doctrine. most important are only one or two out "Again I say: the of eighty thousand doctrines of the Buddha one should conform to the worldly path but inwardly strive to secure true wisdom.
:

Now what

is

the worldly path?

It
is

is

and avoiding any crime. What
excellent truth
to

obeying prohibitive laws the true wisdom? It is to

obliterate the distinction between subject

and

to free oneself

and object, to follow the from worldly attachments:
:

do away with the trammels of the chain of causality further by accumulating good works and finally to realize the excellent meaning of perfect reality" Such a statement enables us to understand the remark which he makes elsewhere that the same school may belong to the Hinayana and Mahayana in different places, for, whatever may be meant by wisdom which aims at obliterating the difference between subject and object, it is clearly not out of sympathy with Yogacara doctrines. In another place where he
to obtain merit

learn the Yogacarya-sastra first

by monks he says that they and then eight compositions of Asanga and Vasubandhu. Among the works prescribed for logic is the Nyayadvara-sastra attributed to Nagarjuna. The monk
describes the curriculum followed
1

2

They are mentioned in the Sarva-darana-sangraha. Kern (Indian Buddhism, p. 126) says they rejected the authority

of the Sutras

altogether but gives no reference.
B.
II.

7

92

THE MAYAHAN A

[CH.

should learn not only the Abhidharma of the Sarvastivadins but also the Agarnas, equivalent to the Sutra-pitaka. So the

Vasubandhu study of the sutras and the works of Asanga is approved by a Sarvastivadin. The Sautrantikas 1 though accounted Hinayanists, mark a founder of the school step in the direction of the Mahay ana. The their estimation of In above. was Kumaralabdha, mentioned of the the views Vaibhashikas, for they scripture they reversed
and
,

rejected the Abhidharma and accepted only the sutras, arguing that the Abhidharma was practically an extract from them. As literary criticism this is correct, if it means that the more

ancient sutras are older than the oldest Abhidharma books. But the indiscriminate acceptance of sutras led to a creed in

which the supernatural played a larger part. The Sautrantikas not only ascribed superhuman powers to the Buddha, but believed in the doctrine of three bodies. In philosophy, though they were realists, they held that external objects are not per ceived directly but that their existence is inferred 2 Something has already been said of the two other schools, both of which denied the reality of the external world. The differences between them were concerned with metaphysics rather than theology and led to no popular controversies. Up to this point the history of Indian Buddhism has proved singularly nebulous. The most important dates are a matter of
.

argument, the chief personages half mythical. But when the records of the Chinese pilgrims commence w e are in touch with something more solid. They record dates and facts, though we
r

must

no attempt to

regret that they only repeat what they heard and criticize Indian traditions or even to weave

make
them

into a connected chronicle.

Fa-Hsien, the first of these interesting men, left China in 399 and resided in India from 405 to 411, spending three years
at Pataliputra

and two at Tamralipti. He visited the Panjab, Hindustan and Bengal and his narrative leaves the impression that all these were in the main Buddhist countries of the Deccan which he did not visit he heard that its inhabitants were barbarous and not Buddhists, though it contained some
:

1 See Vasilief, pp. 301 fl. and various notices in Hsiian Chuang and Walters. Also de la Vallee Poussin s article in E.R.E. 2 Hsiian Chuang informs us that when he was in Srughna he studied the Vibhasha of the Sautrantikas, but the precise significance of this term is not plain.

xxm]

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

93

Buddhist shrines. Of the Middle Kingdom (which according to his reckoning begins with Muttra) he says that the people are free and happy and neither kill any living creature nor drink 1 He does not hint at persecution though intoxicating liquor mentions once or twice that the Brahmans were jealous of he
.

Neither does he indicate that any strong animosity prevailed between Maha- and Hinayanists. But the two parties were distinct and he notes which prevailed in each locality. He left China by land and found the Hinayana pre valent at Shen-shen and Wu-i (apparently localities not far from Lob-Nor) but the Mahayana at Khotan. Nearer India, in
the

Buddhists.

countries apparently corresponding to parts of Kashmir and Gilgit, the monks were numerous and all Hinayanist. The same
still

was the case in Udyana, and in Gandhara the Hinayanists were in the majority. In the Panjab both schools were prevalent but the Hinayana evidently strong. In the district of Muttra the Law was still more flourishing, monasteries and topes were numerous and ample alms were given to the monks. He states that the professors of the Abhidharma and Vinaya made offerings to those works, and the Mahayanists to the book Prajna-paramita, as well as to Manjusri and Kwan-shih-yin. He found the country in which are the sacred sites of ravasti, Kapilavastu and Kusinara sparsely inhabited and desolate, but this seems to have been due to general causes, not specially to the decay of religion. He mentions that ninety-six 2 varieties of erroneous views are found among the Buddhists, which points to the existence of numerous but not acutely hostile sects and
says that there
still

existed, apparently in Kosala, followers of

Devadatta who recognized three previous Buddhas but not akyamuni. He visited the birth-places of these three Buddhas which contained topes erected in their honour. He found Magadha prosperous and pious. Of its capital, Patna, he says "by the side of the topes of Asoka has been made a Mahayana monastery very grand and beautiful, there is also a Hinayana one, the two together containing 600 or 700 monks." It is probable that this was typical of the religious condition of Magadha and Bengal. Both schools existed but the
Fa-Hsien s Travels, chap. xvi. This figure is probably deduced from some artificial calculation of possible heresies like the 62 wrong views enumerated in the Brahma-Jala sutra.
2
1

94

THE MAHAY AN A

[CH.

the more flourishing. Many of the old sites, such and Gaya, were deserted but there were new towns near them and Bodh Gaya was a place of pilgrimage with three monasteries. In the district of Tamralipti (Tamluk) on the

Mahay ana was
as Rajagriha

coast of Bengal were 22 monasteries. As his principal object was to obtain copies of the Vinaya, he stayed three years in Patna seeking and copying manuscripts. In this he found some of the Vinaya, which he says difficulty, for the various schools were divided by trivial differences only, handed down their
respective versions orally. He found in the Mahayanist monastery one manuscript of the Mahasanghika rules and considered it the

most complete, but

also took

down

the Sarvastivadin rules.

of even moderate magnitude stand out in the history of Indian Buddhism. The changes which occurred were great but gradual and due not to the initiative of innovators but to the assimilative power of Hinduism and to the attractions of magical and emotional rites. But this tendency, though it doubtless existed, did not become conspicuous until about 700 A.D. The accounts of the Chinese pilgrims and the literature which has been preserved suggest that in the intervening centuries the monks were chiefly occupied with scholastic and exegetical work. The most distinguished successors of Asanga were logicians, among whom Dirinaga was 1 pre-eminent. Sthiramati andGunamati appear to have belonged to the same school and perhaps Bhavaviveka 2 too. The state ments as to his date are inconsistent but the interesting fact is

After the death of

Vasubandhu few names

recorded that he utilized the terminology of the Sankhya for the purposes of the Mahayana.

Throughout the middle ages the study of logic was pursued but Buddhists and Jains rather than by Brahmans 3 Vasu bandhu composed some treatises dealing exclusively with logic but it was his disciple Dinnaga who separated it definitely from
.

philosophy and theology. As in idealist philosophy, so in pure logic there was a parallel movement in the Buddhist and Brahmanic schools, but if we may trust the statements of
1 He must have lived in the fourth century as one of was translated between 397 and 439. 2

his

works (Nanjio, 1243)
of

Watters,

Yuan Chwang,

n. 221-224.

Nanjio, 1237.

The works

Gunamati

also are said to
3

show a deep knowledge

of the

For the history of logic in India, see School of Indian Logic, 1909. But I cannot accept

Sankhya philosophy. Vidyabhusana s interesting work Mediaeval
all his

dates.

xxm]

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

95

Vacaspatimisra (about 1100A.D.) Dinnaga interpreted the aphorisms of the Nyaya philosophy in a heterodox or Buddhist sense. This traces the beginnings of Indian logic to a Brahmanic source but subsequently it flourished greatly in the hands of Buddhists, especially Dinnaga and Dharmakirti. The former appears to have been a native of Conjevaram and a contemporary of Kalidasa. Both the logician and the poet were probably alive
in the reign of Kumaragupta (413-455). Dinnaga spent time in Nalanda, and though the Sanskrit originals of his are lost the Tibetan translations 1 o.re preserved.

much
works

The Buddhist schools of logic continued for many centuries. One flourished in Kashmir and another, founded by Candragomin, in Bengal. Both lasted almost until the Mohammedan conquest of the two countries.

From about 470

to 530 A.D. northern India groaned under

the tyranny of the Huns. Their King Mihiragula is represented as a determined enemy of Buddhism and a systematic destroyer
of monasteries. He is said to have been a worshipper of Siva but his fury was probably inspired less by religious animosity than by love of pillage and slaughter. About 530 A.D. he was defeated by a coalition of Indian princes and died ten years later amid storms and portents which were believed to signify the descent of his wicked soul into hell. It must have been about this time that Bodhidharma left India for he arrived in Canton about 520. According to the Chinese he was the son of a king of a country called Hsiang-Chih in southern India 2 and the twenty -eighth patriarch and he became an important figure in the religion and art of the Far East. But no allusion to him or to any of the Patriarchs after Vasubandhu has been found in Indian literature nor in the works of Hsiian Chuang and I-Ching. The inference is that he was of no importance in India and that his reputation in China was not

great before the eighth century: also that the Chinese lists of patriarchs do not represent the traditions of northern India.
1 Dihnaga s principal works are the Pramana-samuccaya and the Nyaya-pravee a. Hsiian Chuang calls him Ch en-na. See Walters, n. 209. See Stcherbatskoi in Museon, 1904, pp. 129-171 for Diimaga s influence on the development of the Naiyayika

and Vaiseshika
*

schools.

His personal name is said to have been P u-ti-to-lo and his surname Ch a-ti-li. The latter is probably a corruption of Kshatriya. Hsiang-Chih possibly represents a name beginning with Gandha, but I can neither find nor suggest any identification.

96

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

often ran high in southern India. Buddhists, Religious teeling Jains and Hindus engaged in violent disputes, and persecution was more frequent than in the north. It is easy to suppose that

Bodhidharma being the head of some heretical sect had to fly and followed the example of many monks in going to China. But if so, no record of his school is forthcoming from his native was more than an individual land, though the possibility that he unknown to us cannot movement some thinker and represented that since Nagarjuna and too be denied. We might suppose
Aryadeva were southerners, their peculiar doctrines were coloured by Dravidian ideas. But our available documents indicate that the Buddhism of southern India was almost entirely Hinayanist, analogous to that of Ceylon and not very sympathetic to the
Tamils.

The pilgrims Sung-Yiin and Hui-Sheng 1 visited Udyana and Gandhara during the time of the Hun domination (518-521).

They found
latter

the king of the former a pious Buddhist but the

was governed

by an Ephthalite

chieftain,

perhaps

Mihiragula himself, who was a worshipper of demons. Of the Yetha or Ephthalites they make the general observation that
their rules of politeness are very that the population of Gandhara
"

defective."

But they also say had a great respect for Bud
"all

standard dhism and as they took back to China 1 70 volumes, works belonging to the Great Vehicle," the Ephthalite persecu tion cannot have destroyed the faith in north-western India. But the evil days of decay were beginning. Henceforward we have no more pictures of untroubled piety and prosperity. At
receives royal patronage in company with other sectarian conflicts increase and sometimes we hear of religions; About 600 A.D. a king of Central Bengal named persecution.

best

Buddhism

Sasanka who worshipped Siva attempted to extirpate Buddhism
in his dominions and destroyed the Bo tree at

Bodh Gaya 2 On the we hear of the pious Purnavarman, king of Magadha, who made amends for these sacrileges, and of $iladitya, king of the country called Mo-lo-po by the Chinese, who was so careful
.

other hand

of

animal

life,

that he even strained the water drunk

by

his

horses and elephants, lest they should
1

consume minute

insects.

2

See B.E.F.E.O. 1903, pp. 379 ff. His evil deeds are several times mentioned by Hsiian Chuang.

It

required

a miracle to restore the

Bo

tree.

xxm]

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

97

We know more of Indian Buddhism in the seventh century than in the periods which precede or follow it. The epoch was
marked by the reign of the great king, or rather emperor, Harsha-Vardhana (606-648 A.D.), and the works written by Bana, Bhartrihari and others who frequented his court have come dow n to us. Also we are fortunate in possessing the copious
r

narrative of Hsiian Chuang, the greatest of the Chinese pilgrims, who spent sixteen years (629-645) in India as well as the work known as the "Record of the Buddhist religion as practised
in India

and the Malay

Archipelago,"

travelled in those countries

composed by I-Ching who from 671 to 695. I-Ching also wrote

the lives of sixty Chinese pilgrims who visited India during the seventh century and probably there were many others of whom

we have no record. The reign of Harsha

is

thus illustrated by a
,

number

of

contemporary dateable works unusual in India. The king himself wrote some Buddhist hymns 1 and three dramas are ascribed to him but were probably composed by some of the

men whom he patronized. For all that, the religious ideas which they contain must have had his approval. The Ratnavali and Priyadarsika are secular pieces and so far as they
literary

have any religious atmosphere it is Brahmanic, but the Nagananda is a Buddhist religious drama which opens with an invocation of the Buddha and has a Jataka story for its plot 2 Bana was himself a devout Brahman but his historical romance Harshacarita and his novel called Kadambari both describe a mixture of religions founded on observation of contemporary 3 he recounts the king s visit to life. In an interesting passage a Buddhist ascetic. The influence of the holy man causes the more intelligent animals in his neighbourhood, such as parrots, to devote themselves to Buddhist lore, but he is surrounded by devotees of the most diverse sects, Jains, Bhagavatas, Pancaratras, Lokayatikas with followers of Kapila, Kanada and many
.

See Ettinghausen, Harshavardhana, Appendix in. The appearance of Gauri as a dea ex machina at the end hardly shows that Harsha s Buddhism had a Saktist tinge but it does show that Buddhists of that period turned naturally to Sivaite mythology. 3 Harshacarita, chap. vm. The parrots were expounding Vasubandhu s Abhidharmakosa. Bana frequently describes troops of holy men apparently living in harmony but including followers of most diverse sects. See Kadambari, 193 and
2

1

394

:

Harshacar. 67.

98

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

of Harsha s, other teachers. Mayura, another literary protege a little who flourished and Subandhu, a was like Bana Brahman,

before them, ignores Buddhism in his romance called vadatta. But Bhartrihari, the still popular gnomic poet, was a Buddhist. It is true that he oscillated between the court and the cloister no less than seven times, but this vacillation seems
to have been due to the weakness of the flesh, not to any change of convictions. For our purpose the gist of this literature is that
in many forms, some of them very unorthodox, was normal religion of India but that there were still the becoming Buddhists and that Buddhism had sufficient eminent many to attract Harsha and sufficient life to respond to his

Vasa-

Hinduism

prestige

patronage.

was exhausted by her struggle with there remained only a multitude of small states and obscure dynasties, but there was evidently a readiness to accept any form of unifying and tranquillizing rule and for

About 600

A.D. India
it

the Huns.

After

nearly half a century this was provided by Harsha. He con quered northern India from the Panjab to Bengal but failed to subdue the Deccan. Though a great part of his reign was

spent in war, learning and education flourished. Hsiian Chuang, who was his honoured guest, gives a good account of his adminis
tration but also

makes it plain that brigandage prevailed and that travelling was dangerous. After 643 Harsha, who was growing elderly, devoted much
attention to religion and may be said to have become a Buddhist, while allowing himself a certain eclectic freedom. Several creeds

were represented among

his

immediate
:

relatives.

Devotion to

Siva was traditional in the family his father had been a zealous worshipper of the Sun and his brother and sister were Buddhists of the Sammitiya sect. Harsha by no means disowned Brahmanic
worship, but in his latter years his proclivity to Buddhism became more marked and he endeavoured to emulate the piety
of Asoka.

He founded rest houses and hospitals, as well as monasteries and thousands of stupas. He prohibited the taking of life and the use of animal food, and of the three periods into
which
his

day was divided two were devoted to

to business.

He

religion and one also exercised a surveillance over the whole

Buddhist order and advanced meritorious members. Hsiian Chuang has left an interesting account of the religious

xxin]
fetes

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

99

and spectacles organized by Harsha. At Kanauj he attended a great assembly during which a solemn procession took place every day. A golden image of Buddha was borne on an elephant and Harsha, dressed as Indra, held a canopy over it, while his 1 dressed as Brahma, waved a fly-whisk. It ally Raja Kumara
,

was subsequently washed by the king
evening his Majesty,

s

own hands and

in the

who

like

Akbar had a

taste for religious

discussion, listened to the arguments of his Chinese guest. But the royal instructions that no one was to speak against the

Master of the Law were so peremptory that even his biographer admits there was no real discussion. These edifying pageants were interrupted by disagreeable incidents which show that Harsha s tolerance had not produced complete harmony. A temporary monastery erected for the fetes caught fire and a fanatic attempted to stab the king. He confessed under examination that he had been instigated to the crime by Brahmans who were jealous of the favours which the Buddhists received. It was also established that the incendiaries were Brahmans and, after the ringleaders had been punished, five hundred were exiled. Harsha then proceeded to Allahabad to superintend a quinquennial distribution of alms. It was his custom to let treasure accumulate for five years and then to
the poor. The proceedings lasted the concourse which collected to gaze and and seventy-five days receive must have resembled the fair still held on the same spot. Buddhists, Brahmans and Jains all partook of the royal bounty and the images of Buddha, Surya and Siva were worshipped on successive days, though greater honour was shown to the Buddha. The king gave away everything that he had, even his robes and jewels, and finally, arrayed in clothes borrowed from his I have has entered into incorruptible sister, rejoiced saying and imperishable treasuries." After this, adds Hsiian Chuang, the king s vassals offered him jewels and robes so that the treasury was replenished. This was the sixth quinquennial distribution which Harsha had held and the last, for he died
divide
it
"all

among holy men and

in 648.

He at first favoured the Hinayana but subsequently went over to the Mahayana, being moved in part by the exhortations of Hsiian Chuang.
1

It is curious that

Bana

(Harshacarita, vn.) says of this prince that from child

hood he resolved never

to worship

anyone but Siva.

100

THE MAHAY AN A

[CH.

Yet the substance of Hsiian Chuang s account is that though Buddhism was prospering in the Far East it was decaying in
described, the
India. Against this can be set instances of royal piety like those fame enjoyed by the shrines and schools of
of the king of Tibet in 638 A. D. This event was due to Chinese as well as Indian influence, but would hardly have occurred unless in north-eastern India Buddhism had been esteemed the religion of civilization. Still 1 Hsiian Chuang s long catalogue of deserted monasteries has an

Magadha and the conversion

unmistakable significance. The decay was most pronounced in the north-west and south. In Gandhara there were only a few Buddhists: more than a thousand monasteries stood untenanted and the Buddha s sacred bowl had vanished. In Takshasila the monasteries were numerous but desolate in Kashmir the people followed a mixed faith. Only in Udyana was Buddhism held in high esteem. In Sind the monks were numerous but indolent.
:

No doubt this

desolation was largely due to the depredations

of Mihiragula. In the Deccan and the extreme south there was also a special cause, namely the prevalence of Jainism, which

somewhat

later became the state religion in several kingdoms. In Kalinga, Andhra and the kingdom of the Colas the pilgrim reports that Jains were very numerous but counts Buddhist monasteries only by tens and twenties. In Dravida there were also 10,000 monks of the Sthavira school but in Malakuta among many ruined monasteries only a few were still inhabited and here again Jains were numerous. For all Central India and Bengal the pilgrim s statistics tell the same tale, namely that though Buddhism was represented both by monasteries and monks, the Deva-temples and un believers were also numerous. The most favourable accounts

are those given of Kanauj, Ayodhya and Magadha where the sacred sites naturally caused the devout to congregate. The statistics which he gives as to sects are interesting 2
.

The

total

number

of

monks amounted

to

about 183,000.

Of

these only 32,000 belonged definitely to the
1

Mahayana: more

The Rashtrapalaparipriccha (Ed. Finot, pp. ix-xi, 28-33) inveighs against the moral degeneration of the Buddhist clergy. This work was translated into Chinese between 589 and 618, so that demoralisation must have begun in the sixth
century. 2 See

Rhys Davids

in J.R.A.S. 1891, pp.

418

ff.

xxm]

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

101

than 96,000 to the Hinayana, and 54,500 studied both systems or at any rate resided in monasteries which tolerated either course of study. Some writers speak as if after our era Mahayan-

ism was predominant in India and the Hinayana banished to its extreme confines such as Ceylon and Kashmir. Yet about A.D. 640 this zealous Mahayanist 1 states that half the monks of India were definitely Hinayanist while less than a fifth had equally

Mahayanist convictions. The Mahayana laid less stress on monasticism than the Hinayana and therefore its strength may have lain among the laity, but even so the admitted strength of the Hinayana is remarkable. Three Hinayanist schools are frequently mentioned, the Sthaviras, Sarvastivadins and Sammitiyas. The first are the well-known Sinhalese sect and were found chiefly in the south (Conjeevaram) and in East Bengal, besides the monks of the Sinhalese monastery at Gaya. The Sarvastivadins were found, as their history would lead us to expect, chiefly in the north and beyond the frontiers of India proper. But both were outnumbered by the Sammitiyas, who amounted to nearly 44,000 monks. The chief doctrine 2 of this sect is said to have been that individuals (puggalo) exist as such in the truest sense. This doctrine was supported by reference to the sutra known as the Burden and the Burden bearer 3 It does not assert that there is a permanent and unchangeable soul (atta) but it emphasizes the reality and importance of that personality which all accept as true for practical purposes. It is probable that in practice this belief differed little from the ordinary Brahmanic doctrine of metempsychosis and this may
definite
.

be one reason for the prevalence of the sect. I-Ching, though he does not furnish statistics, gives a clear conspectus of Buddhist sects as they existed in his time. He starts from the ancient eighteen sects but divides them into
four groups or Nikayas. (a) The Arya-Mahasanghika-nikaya. This comprised seven subdivisions but was apparently the least influential school as it was not predominant anywhere, though
Hsiian Chuang was not disposed to underrate the numbers of the Mahayana he says that the monks of Ceylon were Mahayanists. 2 See the beginning of the Kathavatthu. The doctrine is formulated in the words Puggalo upalabbhati saccikatthaparamatthenati, and there follows a dis cussion between a member of the orthodox school and a Puggalavadin, that is one who believes in the existence of a person, soul or entity which transmigrates from
1

for

this

world to another.

3

Sam. Nik. xxn.

221.

102
it

THE MAHAY AN A
most

[CH.

belonged the laws of nature. (6) Arya-Sthavira-nikaya. This is the school to which our Pali Canon belongs. It was predominant in southern India and Ceylon and was also found in eastern Bengal. with four subdivisions. (c) The Arya-Mula-sarvastivada-nikaya in northern India and it was school Almost all belonged to this
flourishing in

parts. The Lokottaraas vadins mentioned by Hsiian Chuang existing at Bamiyan was not subject to Buddha the that to it. They held

coexisted with other schools in

four subdivisions flourished in

The Arya-Sammitiya-nikaya with Lata and Sindhu. Thus the last three schools were preponderant in southern, northern and western India respectively. All were followed in Magadha, no doubt because the holy places and the University of Nalanda attracted all shades of opinion, and Bengal seems to have been similarly catholic. This is substantially the same as Hsiian Chuang s statement except that I-Ching takes a more favourable view of the position of the Sarvastivada, either because it was his own school or because its position had really improved.
Magadha.
(d)

It would seem that in the estimation of both pilgrims the Maha- and Hinayana are not schools but modes in which any school can be tudied. The Nikaya * or school appears to have

been

though not exclusively, concerned with the rule which naturally had more importance for Buddhist monks than it has for European scholars. The observances of each Nikaya were laid down in its own recension of the scriptures which was sometimes bral and sometimes in writing. Probably all the eighteen schools had separate Vinayas, and to some extent they had different editions of the other Pitakas, for the Sarvastivadins had an Abhidharma of their own. But there was no objection to combining the study of Sarvastivadin
chiefly,

of discipline

literature with the reading of treatises
1

by Asanga and Vasu-

This use of Nikaya must not be confused with its other use to denote a division means a group or collection and hence can be used to denote either a body of men or a collection of treatises. These Nikayas are also not the
of the Sutra-Pitaka. It

same

aa

the four schools (Vaibhashikas,

etc.),

mentioned above, which were

speculative. Similarly in Europe a Presbyterian may be a Calvinist, but Presbyterianism has reference to Church government and Calvinism to doctrine.

There were in India at this time (1) two vehicles, Maha- and Hinayana, (2) four speculative schools, Vaibhashikas, etc., (3) four disciplinary schools, Mula-sarvastivadins, etc. These three classes are obviously not mutually exclusive. Thus I-Ching approved of (a) the Mahayana, (fc) the Madhyamika and Yogac/ira, which he did not consider inconsistent and (c) the Mula-sarvastiviida.

xxm]
bandhu or

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS

103

1 sutras such as the Lotus, which I-Ching s master read once a day for sixty years. I-Ching himself seems to regard the two Vehicles as alternative forms of religion, both

excellent in their way, much as a Catholic theologian might impartially explain the respective advantages of the active and

contemplative lives. "With resolutions rightly formed" he says "we should look forward to meeting the coming Buddha Maitreya. If we wish to gain the lesser fruition (of the Hinayana) we may pursue it through the eight grades of sanctification. But if we learn to follow the course of the greater fruition (of the Mahayana) we must try to accomplish our work through
long ages
2
."

I-Ching observes that both Vehicles agree in prescribing the same discipline, in prohibiting the same offences and enjoining the practice of the noble truths. His views, which are sub 3 must be those current in stantially those of Hsiian Chuang the seventh century when the Hinayana was allowing the Mahayana to overgrow it without resistance, but the relations of the two creeds are sometimes stated differently. For instance the Angulimaliya sutra 4 known only in a Tibetan translation, states that whereas for the Hinayana such formulse as the four truths and the eightfold path are of cardinal importance, the
, ,

recognize them, and it is undoubtedly true that the Vaipulya sutras frequently ignore the familiar doctrines of early Buddhism and hint that they belong to a rudimentary

Mahayana does not

stage of instruction.

I-Ching makes no mention of persecution but he deplores the decay of the faith. "The teaching of the Buddha is becoming less prevalent in the world from day to day" he says. "When
I

compare what

I

have witnessed

in

my younger days
is is

and what

I see to-day in

we
1

my old age, the state are bearing witness to this and it
I-Ching, tranal. Takakusu, p. 186.

altogether different and hoped we shall be more

Three Asankhya Kalpas. I-Ching, Takakusu s transl. pp. 196-7. He seems to regard the Mahayana as the better way. He quotes Nagarjuna s allusions to Avalokita and Amitayus with apparent approval he tells us how one of his teachers worshipped Amitayus and strove to prepare himself for Sukhavati and how the
a
;

Lotus was the favourite scripture of another. He further tells us that the Madhyamika and the Yoga systems are both perfectly correct. 3 Hsiian Chuang speaks of Mahayanists belonging to the Sthavira school. 4 Quoted by Rockhill, Life of the Buddha, pp. 196 if.

104
attentive in

THE MAHAY ANA
future."

[CH.

Though he speaks regretfully of lax or does not complain of the corruption of he incorrect discipline, and the faith by Tantrism magical practices. He does however an exceedingly curious passage the prevalence of deprecate in
1 religious suicide for progressive Except
.

decay, the condition of Indian the two pilgrims is much the same. by Meals were supplied to monks in the monasteries and it was no longer usual to beg for food in the streets, since the practice is

Buddhism

as described

mentioned by I-Ching as exceptional. On Upavasatha days it was the custom for the pious laity to entertain the monks and the meal was sometimes preceded by a religious service per formed before an image and accompanied by music. I-Ching describes the musical services with devout enthusiasm. "The
perform the ordinary service late in the afternoon or in the evening twilight. They come out of the monastery and walk three times round a stupa, offering incense and flowers. Then they all kneel down and one of them who sings well begins to
priests

chant hymns describing the virtues of the great Teacher and / continues to sing ten or twenty slokas. They then return to the place in the monastery where they usually assemble and,

when
is

all have sat down, a reciter mounting the lion-seat (which near the head priest) reads a short sutra. Among the scriptures for such an occasion the Service in three parts is often used. This is a selection of Asvaghosha. The first part contains ten

is a selection from some words. Then there is an additional hymn as the third part of the service, of more than ten slokas, being prayers that express the wish to bring one s merits to maturity. After the singing the assembled Bhikshus exclaim Subhashita or Sadhu, that is well-said or bravo. The reader descends and the Bhikshus in order salute the lion-seat, the seats of Bodhisattvas and Arhats, and the superior of the

slokas of a

hymn. The second part

scripture consisting of the

Buddha

s

monastery
1

2
."

xxxvui and xxxix. He seems to say that it is right for the laity to offering of their bodies by burning but not for Bhikshus. The practice is recognized and commended in the Lotus, chap, xxn, which however is a later addition to the original work.
Chaps,

make an

I-Ching, transl. Takakusu, pp. 153-4 somewhat abridged. I-Ching (pp. 156-7) speaks of Matricheta as the principal hymn writer and does not identify him with Asvaghosha.

2

xxm]
I-Ching also

THE CHINESE PILGRIMS
tells

105

us of the ceremonial bathing of images and prefaces his description by the remark that "the meaning of the Truths is so profound that it is a matter beyond the com prehension of vulgar minds while the ablution of the holy

images

is

practicable for

all.

Though

the Great Teacher has

entered Nirvana yet his image exists and we should worship it with zeal as though in his presence. Those who constantly offer incense and flowers to it are enabled to purify their thoughts and those who perpetually bathe his image are enabled to over

He appears to contemplate chiefly the veneration of images of Sakyamuni but figures of Bodhisattvas were also conspicuous features in temples, as we know not only from archaeology but from the biography of Hsiian Chuang, where it is said that worshippers used to throw flowers and silk scarves at the image of Avalokita and
come the
sins that involve

them

in darkness 1

."

draw auguries from the way they
.

fell.

Monasteries were liberally decorated with statues, carvings and pictures 2 They often comprised several courts and temples. Hsiian Chuang says that a monastery in Magadha which he
calls Ti-lo-shi-ka

had

"four

courts with three storeyed halls,

lofty terraces and a succession of open passages.... At the head of the road through the middle gate were three temples with

disks

on the roof and hung with small

bells; the bases

were

surrounded by balustrades, and doors, windows, beams, walls, and stairs were ornamented with gilt work in relief." In the three temples were large images representing the Buddha, Tara

and Avalokita. The great centres of Buddhist learning and monastic life, mentioned by both pilgrims, were Valabhi or Balabhi in Gujarat and Nalanda. The former was a district rather than a single locality and contained 100 monasteries with 6000 monks of the Sainmitiya school. Nalanda was in Magadha not far from Gaya. The date of its foundation is unknown but a great temple 3 (though apparently not the first) was built about 485 A. D.
1 I believe the golden image in the Arakan Pagoda at Mandalay is still washed with a ceremonial resembling that described by I-Ching. 2 I-Ching says that monasteries commonly had a statue of Mahakala as a

guardian deity.

Nalanda

Gupta king, Narasinha Gupta Baladitya. Much information about be found in Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana s Mediaeval School of Indian Logic, pp. 145-147. Hsiian Chuang (Life, transl. Beal, p. Ill) says that it was
3

By

the

will

106

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

xxni

Fa-Hsien mentions a village called Nala but without indicating that it was a seat of learning. Hence it is probable that the University was not then in existence or at least not celebrated. Hsiian Chuang describes it as containing six monasteries built by various kings and surrounded by an enclosing wall in which there w as only one gate. I-Ching writing later says that the establishment owned 200 villages and contained eight halls with more than 3000 monks. In the neighbourhood of the monastery were a hundred sacred spots, several marked by temples and topes. It was a resort for Buddhists from all countries arid an
r

educational as well as a religious centre. I-Ching says that students spent two or three years there in learning and disputing
after which they went to the king s court in search of a govern ment appointment. Successful merit was rewarded not only by rank but by grants of land. Both pilgrims mention the names of several celebrities connected with Nalanda. But the worthies of the seventh century did not attain to more than scholastic eminence. The most important literary figure of the age is Santideva of whose life nothing is known. His writings however prove that the Buddhism of this period was not a corrupt superstition, but could inspire and nourish some of the most

beautiful thoughts which the creed has produced.
built 700 years before his time, that is, in the first century B.C. beauty of the buildings, ponds and flowers.

He

dwells on the

CHAPTER XXIV
DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA
THE theme
of this chapter is sad for it is the decadence, degra dation and ultimate disappearance of Buddhism in India. The other great religions offer no precise parallel to this phenomenon

but they also do not offer a parallel to the circumstances of Buddhism at the time when it flourished in its native land. Mohammedanism has been able to maintain itself in comparative isolation: up to the present day Moslims and Christians share the same cities rather than the same thoughts, especially when
(as often) they belong to different races. European Christianity after a few centuries of existence had to contend with no rival

of approximately equal strength, for the struggle with

Moham

medanism was
of the faiths.

and hardly concerned the merits But Buddhism never had a similarly paramount
chiefly military

and unchallenged
rivals.
it

position. It never attempted to extirpate its It coexisted with a mass of popular superstition which

only gently reprobated and with a powerful hereditary priest hood, both intellectual and pliant, tenacious of their own ideas and yet ready to countenance almost any other ideas as the price of ruling. Neither Islam nor Christianity had such an adversary, and both of them and even Judaism resemble Buddhism in having won greater success outside their native
lands than in them. Jerusalem is not an altogether satisfactory 1 spectacle to either Christians or Jews Still all this does not completely explain the disappearance
.

of

Buddhism from
shall

we

India. Before attempting to assign reasons, do well to review some facts and dates relating to the

period of decadence. If period
of
is

we take

all

long, but in many, indeed in most,

India into consideration the districts the process

decay was rapid. In the preceding chapter I have mentioned the accounts of Indian Buddhism which we owe to the Chinese travellers, Hsiian

Chuang and I-Ching. The
1

latter frankly deplores the

decay of

Written before the war.

E. n.

108

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

own life (i.e. about of relatively small were 650-700 A.D.) but his travels in India than extent and he gives less local information previous pilgrims. Hsiian Chuang describing India in 629-645 A.D. is unwilling to admit the decay but his truthful narrative lets it be seen. It is only of Bengal and the present United Provinces that he can
the faith which he had witnessed in his

be said to give a favourable account, and the prosperity of Buddhism there was largely due to the personal influence of Harsha 1 In central and southern India, he tells us of little but deserted monasteries. It is clear that Buddhism was dying out but it is not so clear that it had ever been the real religion of this region. In many parts it did not conquer the population
.

but so to speak built fortresses and left garrisons. It is probable that the Buddhism of Andhra, Kalinga and the south was represented by little more than such outposts. They included Amaravati, where portions of the ruins seem assignable to about 150 A. D., and Ajanta, where some of the cave paintings are thought to be as late as the sixth century. But of neither site can we give any continuous history. In southern India the introduction of Buddhism took place under the auspices of Asoka himself, though his inscriptions have as yet been found only in northern Mysore and not in the Tamil country. The Tamil poems Manimegalei and Silappadigaram, especially the
former, represent it as prevalent and still preserving much of its ancient simplicity. Even in later times when it had almost

completely disappeared from southern India, occasional Buddhist temples were founded. Rajaraja endowed one at Negapatam about 1000 A.D. In 1055 a monastery was erected at Belgami in Mysore and a Buddhist town named Kalavati is mentioned as existing in that state in 1533 2 But in spite of such survivals, even in the sixth century Buddhism could not compete in southern India with either Jainism or Hinduism and there are
.

no traces of its existence in the Deccan after 1150. For the Konkan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, Hsiian Chuang
are fairly satisfactory. Sammitiya sect which apparently
statistics

s

But
was

in all this region the nearer to Hinduism than

the others was the most important.
Even at Kanauj, the scene of Harsha monasteries but 200 Deva temples.
1

In Ujjain Buddhism was
1

s

pious festivities, there were

00 Buddhist

2

Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, p. 203.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA
many

109

almost extinct but in

of the western states it lingered on, perhaps only in isolated monasteries, until the twelfth century.

Inscriptions found at Kanheri (843
A.D.)

and 851 A.D.), Dambal (1095 in Miraj (1110 A. D.) testify that grants were made to monasteries at these late dates 1 But further north the faith
and
.

had

by

to endure the violence of strangers. Sind was conquered the Arabs in 712 Gujarat and the surrounding country were
;

invaded by northern tribes and such invasions were always
inimical to the prosperity of monasteries. This is even more true of the Panjab, the frontier provinces and Kashmir. The older invaders such as the Yueh-chih had

been favourably disposed to Buddhism, but those who came later, such as the Huns, were predaceous barbarians with little religion of any sort. In Hsiian Chuang s time it was only in Udyana that Buddhism could be said to be the religion of the people and the torrent of Mohammedan invasion which swept continuously through these countries during the middle ages overwhelmed all earlier religions, and even Hinduism had to yield. In Kashmir Buddhism soon became corrupt and according
to the Rajatarangini 2 the monks began to marry as early as the sixth century. King Lalitaditya (733-769) is credited with

having built monasteries as well as temples to the Sun, but his successors were Sivaites. Bengal, especially western Bengal and Bihar, was the strong hold of decadent Buddhism, though even here hostile influences were not absent. But about 730 A.D. a pious Buddhist named Gopala founded the Pala dynasty and extended his power over Magadha. The Palas ruled for about 450 years and supplied a long and devout line of defenders of the faith. But to the east of their dominions lay the principality of Kanauj, a state of varying size and fortunes and from the eighth century onwards
a stronghold of Brahmanic learning. The revolution in Hinduism which definitely defeated, though it did not annihilate, Buddhism is generally connected with the names of Kumarila Bhatta (c. 750) and Sankara the doctrines of these teachers, for many of (c. 800). We know
their

works have come down to

us,

but when we enquire what

was

their political importance, or the scope
1
a

and extent
p. 108.

of the

See the note by Biihler in Journ. Pali Text Soc. 1896,
Rajatarangini, in. 12.

HO
of the extraordinary

THE MAHAY AN A

[CH.

movement which they championed we
the subject might Kumarila is said to have been a

are conscious (as so often) records even when of Indian vagueness minds 1 and to philosophic religious appeal
.

Bihar who abjured Buddhism for Hinduism and raged with the ardour of a proselyte

Brahman

of

Tradition 2 represents him as instigating against his ancien t faith Buddhists. But nothing is King Sudhanvan to exterminate the known of this king and he cannot have had the extensive empire
.

with which he

is credited. Sr,nkara was a Brahman of the south who in a short life found time to write numerous works, to wander over India, to found a monastic order and build four monasteries. In doctrine

and

discipline

he was more pliant than Kumarila and he

many strong points of Buddhism. Both these teachers are depicted as the successful heroes of public disputa tions in which the interest at stake was considerable. The
assimilated

vanquished had to become a disciple of the vanquisher or to forfeit his life and, if he was the head of an institution, to surrender its property. These accounts, though exaggerated, are probably a florid version of what occurred and we may
surmise that the popular faith of the day was generally victorious. What violence the rising tide of Hinduism may have wrought, it is hard to say. There is no evidence of any general persecution

Buddhism in the sense in which one Christian sect persecuted another in Europe. But at a rather later date we hear that Jains were persecuted and tortured by Saiva princes both in southern India and Gujarat, and if there were any detailed account, epigraphic or literary, of such persecutions in the eighth and ninth centuries, there would be no reason for
of
it. But no details are forthcoming. Without resorting to massacre, an anti-Buddhist king had in his power many effective methods of hostility. He might confiscate or transfer

doubting

monastic property, or forbid his subjects to support monks. Con sidering the state of Buddhism as represented by Hsiian Chuang and I-Ching it is probable that such measures would suffice to ensure the triumph of the Brahmans in most parts of India.
1 See for the supposed persecution of Buddhism in India, J.P.T.S. 1896, pp. 87-92 and 107-111 and J.R.A.S. 1898, pp. 208-9. * As contained in the Sankara-dig -vijaya ascribed toMadhava and the Sahkara-

vijaya ascribed to Anandagiri.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

111

After the epoch of Sankara, the history of Indian Buddhism confined to the Pala kingdom. Elsewhere we hear only of isolated grants to monasteries and similar acts of piety, often
is

striking but hardly worthy of mention in comparison with the enormous number of Brahmanic inscriptions. But in the Pala
1 kingdom Buddhism, though corrupt, was flourishing so far as the number of its adherents and royal favour were concerned.

Gopala founded the monastery of Odontapuri or Udandapura, which according to some authorities was in the town of Bihar. Dharmapala the second king of the dynasty (c. 800 A. D.) built on the north bank of the Ganges the even more celebrated 2 where many commentaries were University of Vikramasila It was a centre not only of tantric learning but of composed.
,

and grammar, and is interesting as showing the connection between Bengal and Tibet. Tibetans studied there and Sanskrit books were translated into Tibetan within its cloisters. Dharma pala is said to have reigned sixty-four years and to have held his court at Patna, which had fallen into decay but now began to revive. According to Taranatha his successor Devapala built
logic

Somapuri, conquered Orissa and waged war with the unbelievers who had become numerous, no doubt as a result of the preaching of Sankara. But as a rule the Palas, though they favoured Buddhism, did not actively discourage Hinduism. They even gave grants to Hindu temples and their prime ministers were 3 generally Brahmans who used to erect non-Buddhist images in Buddhist shrines. The dynasty continued through the eleventh century and in this period some information as to the condition of Indian Buddhism is afforded by the relations between Bengal and Tibet. After the persecution of the tenth century Tibetan Buddhism was revived by the preaching of monks from Bengal. Mahipala then occupied the throne (c. 9781030)
1

and during

his reign various learned

men accepted invita-

Taranatha in his twenty-eighth and following chapters gives an account, unfortunately very confused, of the condition of Buddhism under the Pala dynasty. See also B. K. Sarkar, Folklore Element in Hindu Culture, chap, xn, in which there
interesting statements but not sufficient references. See Vidyabhusana s Medieval School of Indian Logic, p. 150, for an account of this monastery which was perhaps at the modern Parthaghata. I have found no account of what happened to Nalanda in this period but it seems to have dis appeared as a seat of learning. 3 See Taranatha, chap, xxvin.

are

many

2

112
tions to Tibet.

THE MAHAY AN A
More celebrated
is

[CH.

the mission of Atisa, a

monk

of the Vikramasila monastery, which took place about 1038. That these two missions should have been invited and despatched shows that in the eleventh century Bengal was a centre of Buddhist learning. Probably the numerous Sanskrit works then existed in its monasteries. preserved in Tibetan translations But about the same time the power of the Pala dynasty, and with it the influence of Buddhism, were curtailed by the estab lishment of the rival Sena dynasty in the eastern provinces. who reigned about 1100, the great Still, under Ramapala, teacher Abhayakara was an ornament of the Mahayana. Taranatha 1 says that he corrected the text of the scriptures and that in his time there were many Pandits and resident Bhikshus in the monasteries of Vikramasila, Bodh-Gaya and Odontapuri.

thus every reason to suppose that in the tw elfth century Buddhism still flourished in Bihar, that its clergy numbered several thousands and its learning was held in

There

r

is

esteem.

The blow which destroyed
,

its

power was struck by

a

Mohammedan
of only

invasion in 1193. In that year Ikhtiyar-ud-Din

Muhammad 2
band

a general of Kutb-ud-Din, invaded Bihar with a two hundred men and with amazing audacity seized the capital, which, consisting chiefly of palaces and The monks were monasteries, collapsed without a blow. massacred to a man, and when the victors, who appear not to have understood what manner of place they had captured, asked the meaning of the libraries which they saw, no one was found capable of reading the books 3 It was in 1193 also that Benares was conquered by the Mohammedans. I have found no record of the sack of the monastery at Sarnath but the ruins
.

show traces of fire and other indications that it was overwhelmed by some sudden disaster. The Mohammedans had no special animus against Buddhism. They were iconoclasts who saw merit in the destruction of images and the slaughter of idolaters. But whereas Hinduism was spread over the country, Buddhism was concentrated in
are said to
1

Chap, xxxvi. It

is

interesting to notice that even at this late period he speaks

of Hinayanists in Bengal. 8 Often called
his father s
3

Muhammad Bakhtyar

but Bakhtyar seems to have been really

name.
"It

fortress

was discovered that the whole of that Raverty, Tabat-i-Nasiri, p. 552. and city was a college and iu the Hindi tongue they call a college Bihar."

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

113

the great monasteries and when these were destroyed there remained nothing outside them capable of withstanding either the violence of the Moslims or the assimilative influence of the Brahnians. Hence Buddhism suffered far more from these invasions than Hinduism but still vestiges of it lingered long 1 and exist even now in Orissa. Taranatha says that the immediate result of the Moslim conquest was the dispersal of the surviving
teachers and this

may

explain the sporadic occurrence of late

Buddhist inscriptions in other parts of India. He also tells us that a king named Cangalaraja restored the ruined Buddhist 2 temples of Bengal about 1450. Elsewhere he gives a not
discouraging picture of Buddhism in the Deccan, Gujarat and Rajputana after the Moslim conquest of Magadha but adds
the

that the study of magic became more and more prevalent. In life of Caitanya it is stated that when travelling in southern
.

India (about 1510 A.D.) he argued with Buddhists and confuted 3 them, apparently somewhere in Arcot Manuscripts preserved in Nepal indicate that as late as the fifteenth or sixteenth century Bengali copyists wrote out Buddhist works, and there is evidence that Bodh-Gaya continued to be a place of pilgrimage.

In 1585 it was visited by a Nepalese named Abhaya Raja who on his return erected in Patan a monastery imitated from what he had seen in Bengal, and in 1777 the Tashi Lama sent an embassy. But such instances prove little as to the religion of
the surrounding Hindu population, for at the present day numerous Buddhist pilgrims, especially Burmese, frequent the shrine. The control of the temple passed into the hands of the Brahmans and for the ordinary Bengali Buddha became a member of India s numerous pantheon. Pandit Haraprasad
Sastri mentions a singular poem called Buddhacaritra, completed in 1711 and celebrating an incarnation of Buddha which appar

ently commenced in 1699 and was to end in the reappearance of the golden age. But the being called Buddha is a form of

Vishnu and the work
1

is

as strange a jumble of religion as

it is

Many

of

Soc. Bengal, 1895, pp. 55 Calcutta, 1897.
2

them have been collected by Pandit Haraprasad Sastri in Jour. As. ff. and in his Discovery of living Buddhism in Bengal,

Chap. XL ad fin. Is the Ramacandra whom he mentions the last Yadava King (about 1314)? Taranatha speaks of his son. 3 Caitanya-carit-amrita, chap, vn, transl. by Jadunath Sarkar, p. 85. This biography was written in 1582 by Krishnadas. Caitanya died in 1533.

114

THE MAHAYAN A
"a

[CH.

of languages, being written in

curious medley of bad Sanskrit,

bad Hindi and bad

Bihari."

It is chiefly in Orissa that traces of Buddhism can still be found within the limits of India proper. The Saraks of Baramba, of Cuttack describe themselves Tigaria and the adjoining parts as Buddhists 1 Their name is the modern equivalent of Sravaka and they apparently represent an ancient Buddhist community which has become a sectarian caste. They have little knowledge of their religion but meet once a year in the cave temples of
.

Khandagiri, to worship a deity called Buddhadeva or Caturbhuja. All their ceremonies commence with the formula Ahimsd parama

dharma and they respect the temple of Puri, which is suspected of having a Buddhist origin. Nagendranath Vasu has published some interesting details 2 He traces the as to the survival of Buddhist ideas in Orissa origin of this hardy though degraded form of Mahayanism to Ramai Pandit 3 a tantric Acarya of Magadha who wrote a work called Sunya Purana which became popular. Orissa was one of the regions which offered the longest resistance to Islam, for it did not succumb until 1568. A period of Sivaism in the tenth and eleventh centuries is indicated by the temples of Bhubanesvar and other monuments. But in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the reigning dynasty were worshippers of Vishnu and built the great temples at Puri and Konarak, dedicated to Jagannatha and Surya-narayana respectively. We do not however hear that they persecuted Buddhism and there are reasons for thinking that Jagannatha is a form of the Buddha 4 and that the temple at Puri was originally a Buddhist site. It
.

,

1

Census of India, 1901

:

vol. vi.

Bengal, pp. 427-430.

The Archaeological Survey of Mayurdbhanj (no date ? 191 1 ), vol. I. pp. cv-cclxiii. The part containing an account of Buddhism in Orissa is also printed separately with the title Modern Buddhism, 1911. 8 For Ramai Pandit see Dinesh Chandra Sen, Hist. Bengali Language and Lit. pp. 30-37, and also B. K. Sarkar, Folklore Element in Hindu Culture, p. 192, and elsewhere. He appears to have been born at the end of the tenth century and though the Sunya Purana has been re-edited and interpolated parts of it are said
to be in very old Bengali.

z

Nagendranath Vasu quotes a couplet from the Mahabharata of the poet pay my humble respects to the incarnation of Buddha who in the form of Buddha dwells in the i.e. Puri." The Gazetteer of
Saralaclasa:
"I

India

(s.v.

Puri

Town)

Nilacala, Imperial states that in modern representations of Vishnu s ten
is

avataras, the ninth, or Buddhavatara,

sometimes represented by Jagannatha.

xxiv]
is

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA
it

115

contains a gigantic statue of the Buddha before which a wall has been built and also that the image of Jagannatha,
said that

which

is little

more than a
relic.

log of

wood,

is

really a case enclos
(f 1529)

ing a Buddhist

King Prataparudra

persecuted

Buddhism, which implies that at this late date its adherents were sufficiently numerous to attract attention. Either at the
beginning of his reign or before it there flourished a group of six poets of whom the principal were Acyutananda Dasa and 1 Their works are nominally devoted to the Caitanya Dasa celebration of Krishna s praises and form the chief vernacular scripture of the Vaishnavas in Orissa but in them Krishna, or the highest form of the deity by whatever name he is called, is constantly identified with Sunya or the Void, that favourite
.

of Mahayanist philosophy. Passages from them are also quoted stating that in the Kali age the followers of the Buddha must disguise themselves that there are 3000 crypto-buddhists hidden in various parts of Orissa, that Hari has been incarnate

term

;

earth.

that the Buddha will appear again on The phrase take refuge in the Buddha, in Mata Adisakti (= Dharma) and in the Sangha" is also quoted from these works and Caitanya Dasa describes five Vishnus, who are 2 apparently identical with the five Dhyani Buddhas
in

many Buddhas and

"I

.

Taranatha states that the last king of Orissa, Mukunda Deva, who was overthrown by the Mohammedans in 1568, was a Buddhist and founded some temples and monasteries. In the seventeenth century, there flourished a Buddhist poet named

Mahadevadasa 3 and the Tibetan pilgrim Buddhagupta visited among other sites the old capital of Mayurabhanja and saw a
,

stupa there. It is claimed that the tribe known as Bathuris or Bauris have always been crypto-buddhists and have preserved their ancient customs. They are however no credit to their 4 religion, for one of their principal ceremonies is hook-swinging The doctrine of the Bathuris is called Mahima Dharma and 5 A blind man named experienced an interesting revival in 1875 Bhima Bhoi had a vision of the Buddha who restored his sight
. .

1

I

give the dates or the authority of
.

may
1

be somewhat too earl}
i.e.

Narandra Nath while thinking that they The two authors named wrote the Sunya Samhita

and Nirguna Mahatmya
clxxvi
ff.,

8
4

Author
I.e.

respectively. ccxix- ccxxiii, ccxxxi. of. a poem called Dharmagita.
ff.

cxvi

and

ccxxxii.

6

I.e.

ccxxxiv

ff.

116

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

and bade him preach the law. He attracted some thousands of adherents and led a band to Puri proclaiming that his mission was to bring to light the statue of Buddha concealed in the and the followers of temple. The Raja resisted the attempt Bhima Bhoi were worsted in a sanguinary encounter. Since that time they have retired to the more remote districts of Orissa and are said to hold that the Buddha will appear again in a new incarnation. They are also called Kumbhipatias and
according to the last census of India (1911) are hostile to Brahmans and probably number about 25,000. Tra2es of Buddhism also survive in the worship of a deity
called

Dharma-Raja

or

Dharma-Thakur which
.

still

prevails in

Priests of this worship are western and southern Bengal 1 and Haraprasad thinks of low but Brahmans not caste, usually

who follow it may number "several millions." has come to be associated with the goddess Dharma Though
that the laity
of small-pox of

and

is

believed even

by

his adorers to

be a form

Vishnu or

of Siva, yet

of his worship and some traces of his origin. Thus he is said to be highly in Ceylon and receives the epithet Sunyamurti.

Dhyana, or meditation, forms a part the prayers and literature of the sect retain
honoured
.

Buddhism still exists in Nepal 2 This country when first heard of was in the hands of the Nevars who have preserved some traditions of a migration from the north and are akin to the Tibetans in race and language, though
corrupt form of
like

A

have endeavoured to invent pedigree. Buddhism was introduced under Asoka. As Indian influence was strong and communica tion with Tirhut and Bengal easy, it is probable that Buddhism in Nepal reflected the phases which it underwent in Bengal. A Nepalese inscription of the seventh century gives a list of shrines of which seven are Sivaite, six Buddhist and four Vishnuite 3 After that date it was more successful in main-

many non-Aryan

tribes they

for themselves a

Hindu

.

See Haraprasad Sastri. I.e. He gives a curious account of one of his temples in Calcutta. See also B. K. Sarkar, Folklore Element in Hindu Culture for the decadence of Buddhism in Bengal and its survival in degenerate forms. See B. H. Hodgson, Essays on the languages, literature and

1

religion of Nepal Nepal see also Wright, History of Nepal, 1877: C. Bendall, Journal of Literary and Archaeological Research in Nepal, 1886; Rajendralal Mitra, Sanskrit Bwldhist literature of Nepal; and especially S. Levi, Le Nepal,

and

Tibet, 1874.

For the

religion of

3 vols. 1905-8.
3

S.

Levi in J.A. n. 1904,

p. 225.

He

gives the date as 627.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

117

taming itself, for it did not suffer from Mohammedan attacks and was less exposed to the assimilative influence of Brahmanism. That influence however, though operating in a foreign country and on people not bred among Brahmanic traditions, was nevertheless strong. In 1324 the king of Tirhut, being
expelled thence by Mohammedans, seized the throne of Nepal and brought with him many learned Brahmans. His dynasty was not permanent but later in the fourteenth century a subsequent ruler, Jayasthiti, organized society and religion in consultation with the Brahman immigrants. The followers of the two religions were arranged in parallel divisions, a group
of Buddhists classified according to occupation corresponding to each Hindu caste, and appropriate rules and ceremonies were

prescribed for the different sections. The code then established in force in essentials and Nepal, being intellectually the of India, has continued to receive such new ideas as pupil appeared in the plains of Bengal. When these ascended to the
is still

mountain valleys they were adopted, with free modification of old and new material alike, by both Buddhists and Hindus, but as both sects were geographically isolated, each tended to resemble the other more than either resembled normal Buddhism or Hinduism. Naturally the new ideas were mainly Brahmanic and Buddhism had no chance of being fortified by an importa
tion of even moderately orthodox doctrine. In the fourteenth century arose the community of wandering ascetics called

Nathas who were reverenced by Hindus and Buddhists alike. They rejected the observances of both creeds but often com bined their doctrines and, though disavowed by the Brahmans,
exercised a considerable influence

among

the lower castes.

Some

of the peculiar deities of Nepal, such as Matsyendranath, have attributes traceable to these wanderers. In 1769 Nepal was

conquered by the Gurkhas. This tribe seems related to the Tibetan stock, as are the Nevars, but it had long been hinduized and claimed a Rajput ancestry. Thus Gurkha rule has favoured

and accelerated the hinduizing of Nepalese Buddhism. Since the time of Hodgson the worship of the Adi-Buddha, or an original divine Buddha practically equivalent to God, has been often described as characteristic of Nepalese religion and such a worship undoubtedly exists. But recent accounts indicate that it is not prominent and also that it can hardly be con-

118

THE MAHAY ANA

[CH.

sidered a distinct type of monotheistic Buddhism. The idea that the five Dhyani-Buddhas are emanations or manifestations of a Buddha-spirit is a natural development of
single primordial

Mahayanist ideas, but no definite statement of it earlier than the Kalacakra literature is forthcoming, though many earlier works point towards it 1 In modern Nepal the chief temple of the Adi-Buddha is on the hill of Svayambhu (the self-existent)
.

According to a legend preserved in the Svayambhu Purana, a special divine manifestation occurred in ancient times on an adjoining lake; a miraculous lotus arose on its surface, bearing an image, over which a Caitya was subse quently erected. The shrine is greatly venerated but this Adi-Buddha, or Svayambhu, does not differ essentially from other miraculous images in India which are said not to consist
near Katmandu.
of ordinary matter but to embody in some special way the nature of a deity. The religion of Nepal is less remarkable for new developments of Buddhism than for the singular fusion of

Buddhism with Hinduism which it presents and which helps us to understand what must have been the last phase in Bengal. The Nepalese Brahmans tolerate Buddhism. The Nepalamahatmya says that to worship Buddha is to worship Siva, and the Svayambhu Purana returns the compliment by recom 2 The official itinerary of the mending the worship of Pasupati Hindu pilgrim includes Svayambhu, where he adores Buddha under that name. More often the two religions adore the same image under different names: what is Avalokita to the one is Mahakala to the other. Durga is explained as being the incarna tion of the Prajfia-paramita and she is even identified with the Adi-Buddha. The Nepalese pantheon like the Tibetan contains three elements, often united in modern legends firstly aboriginal deities, such as Nagas and other nature spirits: secondly
. :

definitely Buddhist deities or Bodhisattvas of Manjusri receives the most honour thirdly Hindu deities such as Ganesa
:

whom

and Krishna. The popular deity Matsyendranath appears to combine all three elements in his own person. Modern accounts of Nepal leave the impression that even
1 The doctrine of the Adi-Buddha is fully stated in the metrical version of the Karanda-vyuha which appears to be a later paraphrase of the prose edition. See

Winternitz, Gesch. Ind. Lit. n. i. 238. 1 Compare the fusion of Sivaism and

Buddhism

in Java.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

119

corrupt Buddhism is in a bad way, yet the number of religious establishments is considerable. Celibacy is not observed by

who are called banras (bandyas). On entering the order the novice takes the ancient vows but after four days
their inmates,

he returns to his tutor, confesses that they are too hard for him is absolved from his obligations. The classes known as Bhikshus and Gubharjus officiate as priests, the latter being

and

the higher order.

The

principal

ceremony

is

the offering of

melted butter. The more learned Gubharjus receive the title of 1 Vajracarya and have the sole right of officiating at marriages

and

funerals.
is little

There

learning.
.

so-called nine

Dharmas 2

oldest scriptures in use are the Hodgson describes these works as

The

much venerated and
Sylvain Levi heard
is

little of

Rajendralal Mitra has analysed them, but them in 1898, though he mentions

the recitation of the Prajna-paramita. The Svayambhu Purana an account of the manifestation of the Adi-Buddha written

in the style of those portions of the Brahmanic Purana s which treat of the glories of some sacred place. In its present form it can hardly be earlier than the sixteenth century A.D. The

Nepala-mahatmya is a similar work which, though of Brahmanic origin, puts Buddha, Vishnu and Siva on the same footing and identifies the first with Krishna. The Vagvati-mahatmya 3 on the other hand is strictly Sivaite and ignores Buddha s claims to worship. The Vamsavali, or Chronicle of Nepal, written in the Gurkha language (Parbatiya) is also largely occupied with an account of sacred sites and buildings and exists in two
versions, one Buddhist, the other Brahmanical. But let us return to the decadence of Buddhism in India.

plain that persecution was not its main cause nor even very important among the accessory causes. The available records contain clearer statements about the persecution of Jainism than of Buddhism but no doubt the latter came in for
It
is

some rough handling, though not enough to annihilate a vigorous sect. Great numbers of monasteries in the north were demolished by the Huns and a similar catastrophe brought
1 Or Vajracarya-arhat-bhikahu-buddha, which in itself shows what a medley Nepalese Buddhism has become. 2 See above chap. xx. for some account of these works. 3 Dedicated to the sacred river Vagvati or Bagmati.

120

THE MAHAYANA

[CH.

about the collapse of the Church in Bihar. But this last incident cannot be called religious persecution, for Muhammad did not even know what he was destroying. Buddhism did not arouse more animosity than other Indian religions: the significant feature is that when its temples and monasteries were demolished
it

did not live on in the hearts of the people, as did
all its faults.

Hinduism

with

between the laity and the Church in Buddhism and is curious and has had serious consequences for both good and law his evil. The layman "takes refuge" in the Buddha, follow to his church but does not swear exclusive allegiance:

The

relation

supplementary observances is not treasonable, provided they are not in themselves objectionable. The Buddha prescribed no ceremonies for births, deaths and marriages and apparently such rites expected the laity to continue in the observance of as were in use. To-day in China and Japan the good layman is little more than one who pays more attention to Buddhism than to other faiths. This charitable pliancy had much to do with the victories of Buddhism in the Far East, where it had to struggle against strong prejudices and could hardly have made its way if it had been intolerant of local deities. But in India we see the disadvantages of the omission to make the laity members of a special corporation and the survival of the Jains, who do form such a corporation, is a clear object lesson. Social life in India tends to combine men in castes or in com munities which if not castes in the technical sense have much the same character. Such communities have great vitality so long as they maintain their peculiar usages, but when they cease to do so they soon disintegrate and are reabsorbed. Buddhism from the first never took the form of a corporation. The special community which it instituted was the sarigha or body of monks. Otherwise, it aimed not at founding a sect but at including all the world as lay believers on easy terms. This principle worked well so long as the faith was in the ascendent but its effect was disastrous when decline began. The line dividing Buddhist laymen from ordinary Hindus became less and less marked: distinctive teaching was found only in the monasteries: these became poorly recruited and as they were
gradually deserted or destroyed by Mohammedans the religion of the Buddha disappeared from his native land.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

121

in the monasteries the doctrine taught bore a closer resemblance to Hinduism than to the preaching of Gotama and

Even

absence of the protestant spirit, this pliant adaptability which caused Indian Buddhism to lose its individuality and separate existence. In some localities its disappearance and absorption were preceded by a monstrous phase, known as Tantrism or Saktism, in which the worst elements of Hinduism, those which would have been most repulsive to Gotama, made an unnatural alliance with his church. I treat of Tantrism and Saktism in another chapter. The
it is this

to the ideas of each age,

is

meaning of Tantra as applied to literary compositions a simplified manual 1 Thus we hear of Vishnuite Tantras and in this sense there is a real similarity between Buddhist and
original
.

Brahmanic tradition as and both needlessly complicated profess to preach a simple and road to But in Hinduism and Buddhism salvation. practical alike such words as Tantra and tantric acquire a special sense and imply the worship of the divine energy in a female form called by many names such as Kali in the former, Tara in the
tantric

teaching, for both set aside

latter.

Saktism

This worship which in my opinion should be called rather than Tantrism combines many elements:

ancient, savage superstitions as well as ingenious but fanciful speculation, but its essence is always magic. It attempts to

by magical or sacramental formulae and acts not only prosperity and power but salvation, nirvana and union with
attain

the supreme
rites.

spirit.

Some

of its sects practise secret

immoral

sad to confess that degenerate Buddhism did not remain uncorrupted by such abuses. It is always a difficult and speculative task to trace the early stages of new movements in Indian religion, but it is clear that by the eighth century and perhaps earlier the Buddhism of Bihar and Bengal had fallen a prey to this influence. Apparently the public ritual in the Viharas remained unchanged and the usual language about nirvana and unyatd was not discarded, but it
It is
Hardly any Buddhist Tantras have been edited in Europe. See Bendall, Subhdshita-sangraka for a collection of extracts (also published in Muxfon, 1905), and De la Vallee Poussin, Bouddhisme, fit-tides et Materiaux. Id. Pancakrama,
1896.
called
1

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

122

THE MAHAYAN A

[CH.

was taught that those who followed a certain curriculum could obtain salvation by magical methods. To enter this curriculum it was necessary to have a qualified teacher and to receive from him initiation or baptism (abhisheka). Of the subsequent rites the most important is to evoke one of the many Buddhas or Bodhisattvas recognized by the Mahayana and identify oneself with him 1 He who wishes to do this is often called a sadhaka
.

or magician but his achievements, like many Indian miracles, are due to self-hypnotization. He is directed to repair to a

worship there with flowers and prayers. prolonged exercises in meditation which do not depart much from the ancient canon since they include the four Brahma-viharas. Their object is to suppress thought and leave the mind empty. Then the sadhaka fills this void with the image of some Bodhisattva, for instance Avalokita. This he does by uttering mystic syllables called bija or seed, because
lonely place

and

offer

To

this office succeed

they are supposed to germinate and grow into the figures which he wishes to produce. In this way he imagines that he sees the emblems of the Bodhisattva spring up round him one by one and finally he himself assumes the shape of Avalokita and becomes one with him. Something similar still exists in Tibet where every Lama chooses a tutelary deity or Yi-dam whom he summons in visible form after meditation and fasting 2 Though this procedure when set forth methodically in a mediaeval manual seems an absurd travesty of Buddhism, yet it has links with the early faith. It is admitted in the Pitakas that certain forms of meditation 3 lead to union with Brahma and it is no great change to make them lead to union with other supernatural beings. Still we are not here breathing the atmosphere of the Pitakas. The object is not to share Brahma s heaven but to become temporarily identified with a deity, and this is not a byway of religion but the high road. But there is a further stage of degradation. I have already
.

mentioned that various Bodhisattvas are represented as accom panied by a female deity, particularly Avalokita by Tara. The
See Foucher, Iconographie bouddhique, pp. 8 ff. De la Vallce Poussin, Bondet Matdriaux, pp. 213 ff. For Japanese tantric ceremonies see the Si-Do -In-Dzon in the Annales du Musee Guimct, vol. vin. 2 In ancient Egypt also the Kher heb or magician-priest claimed the power of becoming various gods. See Budge, Osiris, n. 170 and Wiedemann, im alien
dhisme, fitude*
1

Magic

Aegypten, 13 ff. 3 The Brahma-viharas. E.g. Dig. Nik.

xm.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

123

mythological and metaphysical ideas which have grown up round Siva and Durga also attached themselves to these couples. The Buddha or Bodhisattva is represented as enjoying nirvana because he is united to his spouse, and to the three bodies 1 already enumerated is added a fourth, the body of perfect bliss
.

Sometimes

merely leads to further developments of the practices described above. Thus the devotee may imagine that he enters into Tara as an embryo and is born of her as a
this idea

Buddha 2 More often the argument is that since the bliss of the Buddha consists in union with Tara, nirvana can be obtained by sexual union here, and we find many of the tantric wizards
.

represented as accompanied by female companions. The adept should avoid all action but he is beyond good and evil and the dangerous doctrine that he can do evil with impunity, which
the more respectable sects repudiate, is expressly taught. The sage is not defiled by passion but conquers passion by passion: he should commit every infamy: he should rob, lie and kill Buddhas 3 These crazy precepts are probably little more than
.

a speculative application to the moral sphere of the doctrine that all things are non-existent and hence equivalent. But though tantrists did not go about robbing and murdering so freely as their principles allowed, there is some evidence that in the period of decadence the morality of the Bhikshus had fallen into great discredit. Thus in the allegorical Vishnuite drama called Prabodhacandrodaya and written at Kalanjar near the end of the eleventh century Buddhists and Jains are repre sented as succumbing to the temptations of inebriety and
voluptuousness. It is necessary to mention this phase of decadence but no good purpose would be served by dwelling further on the absurd and often disgusting prescriptions of such works as the Tathagata-guhyaka. If the European reader is inclined to

condemn unreservedly a

religion which even in decrepitude could find place for such monstrosities, he should remember that the aberrations of Indian religion are due not to its
1

Mahasukhakaya

or vajrakaya.

Bouddhisme, Etudes et Matfriaux, p. 153. See Subhdshita-sangraha edited by Bendall. Part ir. pp. 29 ff. especially p. 41. Parasvaharanam karyam paradaranishevanam Vaktavyara canfitam nityam sarvabnddhaipSca ghatayet. See also Tathagata-guhyaka in Rajendralal Mitra s
la Vallee Poussin,
3

2

De

Sanskrit Literature in Nepal, pp. 261-204.

liM

THE MAHAYAXA

[CH.

inherent depravity,

In Europe those but, to its universality. follow disreputable occupations rarely suppose that they In India, robbers, have, anything to do with the Church.

who

murderers, gamblers, prostitutes, and maniacs all have their appropriate gods, arid had the Marquis de Sade been a Hindu

probably have founded a new tantric sect. But though the details of Saktism are an unprofitable study, it is of some importance to ascertain when it first invaded Buddhism and to what extent it superseded older ideas. Some critics seem to imply for their statements are not very explicit that Saktism formed part if not of the teaching
ho would
1

Buddha, at least of the medley of beliefs held by his But I see no proof that Saktist beliefs that is to Hay erotic mysticism founded on the worship of goddesses
of the
<li.

I

lplcs.

wen; prevalent

in

Magadha

or Kosala before the Christian era.
is

Although

Siri,

the goddess of luck,

mentioned

in the Pitakas,

the popular deities

whom
.

they bring on the scene are almost

2 And though in the older Brahmanic exclusively masculine books there are passages which might easily become tantric,

yet the transition is not made and the important truths of religion are kept distinct from unclean rites and thoughts. The

Brihad-aranyaka contains a chapter which hardly admits of translation but the object of the practices inculcated is simply to ensure the birth of a son. The same work (not without
analogies in the ecstatic utterances of Christian saints) boldly compares union with the Atman to the bliss of one who is

embraced by a beloved wife, but this is a mere illustration and there is no hint of the doctrine that the goal of the religious life is obtainable by maithuna. Still such passages, though
innocent in themselves,

make

it

easy to see

how degrading

superstitions found an easy entrance into the noblest edifices of Indian thought and possibly some heresies condemned in the

Kathavatthu 3 indicate that even at this early date the Buddhist Church was contaminated by erotic fancies. But, if so, there is no evidence that such malpractices were widespread. The
la Vallee Poussin in his Bouddhisme, jStudts et Materiaux, In his later work, Bouddhisme, Opinions gur rhistoire de la doymaliquc, he modifies his earlier views. See Dig. Nik. xx. and xxxil.
1

For instance Do

1896.

3

Kathav.

xxm.

1

and

2.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

125

1 appendices to the Lotus show that the worship of a manynamed goddess, invoked as a defender of the faith, was beginning to be a recognized feature of Buddhism. But they contain no indications of left-handed Tantrism and the best proof that it did not become prevalent until much later is afforded by the narratives of the three Chinese pilgrims who all describe the condition of religion in India and notice anything which they

thought singular or reprehensible. Fa-Hsien does not mention the worship of any female deity 2 nor does the Life of Vasubandhu, but Asanga appears to allude to Saktism in one passage 3
,
.

Hsiian Chuang mentions images of Tara but without hinting at tantric ritual, nor does I-Ching allude to it, nor does the evidence of art and inscriptions attest its existence. It may

have been known as a form of popular superstition and even have been practised by individual Bhikshus, but the silence of I-Ching makes it improbable that it was then countenanced in the schools of Magadha. He complains 4 of those who neglect the Vinaya and "devote their whole attention to the doctrine of nothingness," but he says not a word about tantric abuses 6 The change probably occurred in the next half century 6 for Padma-Sambhava, the founder of Lamaism who is said to have resided in Gaya and Nalanda and to have arrived in Tibet in 747 A.D., is represented by tradition as a tantric wizard, and about the same time translations of Tantras begin to appear in Chinese. The translations of the sixth and seventh centuries, including those of I-Ching, comprise a considerable though not
.

preponderant number of Dharanis. After the seventh century
1 These appendices are later additions to the original text but they were trans lated into Chinese in the third century. Among the oldest Sanskrit MSS. from Japan is the Ushnisha-vijaya-dharam and there is a goddess with a similar name.

is not Saktist. See text in Anec. Oxon. Aryan series. speaks of Kwan-shih-yin but this is probably the male Avalokita. 3 Mahayana-sutralankara, ix. 46. Of course there may be many other allusions in yet unedited works of Asanga but it is noticeable that this allusion to maitkuna is only made in passing and is not connected with the essence of his teaching.
2

But the Dharani

He

Transl. Takakusu, p. 51. Taranatha, chap, xxn 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. 8 It is about this time too that we hear of Tantrism in Hinduism. In the drama Malati and Madhava (c. 730 A. D.) the heroine is kidnapped and is about to be
6

4

sacrificed to the goddess

Canda when she

is

rescued.

126
these

THE MAHAY AN A
.

[CH.

became very numerous and several Tantras were also translated 1 The inference seems to be that early in the eighth
Tantrism. century Indian Buddhists officially recognized of Mahayanist mixture the to due was Tantric Buddhism absorbed through the teaching with aboriginal superstitions

Hinduism, though in some cases there may have been direct contact and mutual influence between Mahayanism

medium

of

and aboriginal
dhism had not

beliefs.

aboriginal deities

But as a rule what happened was that were identified with Hindu deities and Bud

independence to keep its own pantheon distinct, so that Vairocana and Tara received most of the attributes, brahmanic or barbarous, given to Siva or Kali. The worship of the goddesses, described in their hinduized form as Durga, Kali, etc., though found in most parts of India was specially prevalent in the sub-himalayan districts both east and west. Now Padma-Sambhava was a native of Udyana or Swat and Taranatha represents the chief Tantrists 2 as coming from there or visiting it. Hsiian Chuang 3 tells us that the inhabitants were devout Mahayanists but specially expert in magic and exorcism. He also describes no less than four sacred places in it where the Buddha in previous births gave his flesh, blood or bones for the good of others. Have we here in a Buddhist form
sufficient

some ancient legend of dismemberment like that told of Sati in Assam? Of Kashmir he says that its religion was a mixture of Buddhism with other beliefs 4 These are precisely the con ditions most favourable to the growth of Tantrism and though
.

See the latter part of Appendix n in Nanjio s Catalogue. E.g. Lalitavajra, Lilavajra, Buddhasanti, Ratnavajra. Taranatha also (tr. Schiefner, p. 264) speaks of Tantras "Welche aus Udyana gebracht und nie in Indien gewesen sind." It is also noticeable, as Griinwedel has pointed out, that many of the siddhas or sorcerers bear names which have no meaning in Aryan
1 8

languages

:

Bir-va-pa, Na-ro-pa, Lui-pa, etc.

A

curious late tradition represents

Saktism as coming from China. See a quotation from the Mahacinatantra in the Archceological 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 Yuan dynasty) the Chinese seem to have rejected Saktist works or even to have expurgated them, e.g. the Tathagata-

guhyaka. 8 His account of Udyana and Kashmir

will

and
4

be found in Watters, chapters

vn

viir.

Traces of Buddhism
of recitations

still

exist, for

orders the image of

Buddha

to be worshipped on
ascetics.

ment

according to Biihler the Nilamata Purana Vaisakha 15 to the accompani

by Buddhist

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA
now Mohammedans,

127

the bulk of the population are

witchcraft

and sorcery are still rampant. Among the Hindu Kashmiris 1 the most prevalent religion has always been the worship of Siva, especially in the form representing him as half male, half female. This cult is not far from Saktism and many allusions 2 in the Rajatarangini indicate that left-hand worship was known,
though the author satirizes it as a corruption. He also several times mentions 3 Matri-cakras, that is circles sacred to the Mothers or tantric goddesses. In Nepal and Tibet tantric Buddhism is fully developed but these countries have received so much from India that they exhibit not a parallel growth, but late Indian Tantrism as imported ready-made from Bengal.
It
is

here that

we come

nearest to the origins of Tantrism, for

though the same beliefs may have flourished in Udyana and Kashmir they did not spread much in the Panjab or Hindustan, where their progress was hindered at first by a healthy and
vigorous Hinduism and subsequently by Mohammedan in vasions. But from 700 to 1197 A.D. Bengal was remote alike

from the main currents of Indian
raids:
little

Aryan

religion and from foreign or thought learning leavened the local

superstitions which were infecting and stifling decadent Bud dhism. Hsiian Chuang informs us that Bhaskaravarma king of
4 Kamarupa attended

the fetes celebrated by Harsha in 644 A.D. and inscriptions found at Tezpur indicate that kings with Hindu names reigned in Assam about 800 A.D. This is agreeable to the supposition that an amalgamation of Sivaism and aboriginal religion may have been in formation about 700 A.D. and have influenced Buddhism. In Bihar from the eighth century onwards the influence of Tantrism was powerful and disastrous. The best information about this epoch is still to be found in Taranatha, in spite of
his defects.

He makes

Gopala who was a Buddhist, although

the interesting statement that in the reign of his ministers were not

(730-740 A.D.), the Buddhists wished their religious buildings to
1

and
2 8 4

Biihler,
vi.
I.

For notices of Kashmirian religion see Stem s translation of the Rajatarangini Tour in Search of Sanskrit manuscripts. J. Bomb. A.S. 1877.
11-13, vn. 278-280, 295, 523.
:

122, 335, 348

in. 99, V. 55.

Also called Kumara.

128

THE MAHAY AN A

[CH.

protests,

be kept separate from Hindu temples but that, in spite of life-sized images of Hindu deities were erected in
.

them 1

The

ritual too

burnt offerings 2 and

was affected, for we hear several times of how Bodhibhadra, one of the later pro

was learned in the mystic lore of both Buddhists and Brahmans. Nalanda and the other viharas continued to be seats of learning and not merely monasteries, and for some time there was a regular succession of teachers. Taranatha gives us to understand that there were many students
fessors of Vikramasila,

and authors but that sorcery occupied an increasingly important teachers we are told that they saw some position. Of most or Tara. The deity was summoned by Avalokita as such deity, 3 the rites already described and the object of the performer was to obtain magical powers or siddhi. The successful sorcerer was known as siddha, and we hear of 84 mahasiddhas, still celebrated in Tibet, who extend from Rahulabhadra Nagarjuna to the thirteenth century. Many of them bear names which appear
not to be Indian.
topics treated of in the Tantras are divided into Kriya (ritual), Carya (apparently corresponding to Vinaya), Yoga, and Anuttara-yoga. Sometimes the first three are contrasted with

The

the fourth and sometimes the the third and fourth as higher.

first

two are described as lower,
.

considered the that the Tantras began to appear simultaneously with the Mahayana sutras but adds that the Anuttara-yoga tantras
6
.

But the Anuttara-yoga is always 4 Taranatha says 5 highest and most mysterious

He also observes that the Acarya Anandaappeared gradually 7 much to did spread them in Magadha. It is not until garbha
Mahadevi are found in Jain temples now, i.e. in Gujarat. This very unbuddhist practice seems to have penetrated even to Japan. Burnt offerings form part of the ritual in the temple of Narita. 3 See for instance the account of how Kamalarakshita summoned Yamari.
1
2

Similarly statues of

*

So too the Samhitas

of the

Vaishnavas and the Agamas of the Saivas are

said to consist of four quarters teaching Jiiana, Yoga, Kriya and Carya respectively. See Schrader, Introd. to Pancaratra, p. 22. Sometimes five classes of Tantras are

enumerated which are perhaps all subdivisions of the Anuttara-yoga, namely Guhyasamaja, Mayajala, Buddhasammayoga, Candraguhyatilaka, Manjusrikrodha. See Taranatha (Schiefner), p. 221. 5 Chap. XLin. But this seems hardly consistent with his other statements. 6 The Lamas in Tibet have a similar theory of progressive tantric revelation. See Waddell, Buddhism of Tibet, pp. 50, 57. In the reign of Mahipala, 978-1030 A.D.

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

129

a late period of the Pala dynasty that he mentions the Kalacakra which is the most extravagant form of Buddhist Tantrism. This accords with other statements to the effect that the Kalacakra tantra was introduced in 965 A.D. from Sambhala, a mysterious country in Central Asia. This system is said to be Vishnuite rather than Sivaite. It specially patronizes the cult of the mystic Buddhas such as Kalacakra and Heruka, all of whom appear to be regarded as forms of Adi-Buddha or the primordial Buddha essence. The Siddha named Pito is also described as the author of this doctrine 1 which had less import ance in India than in Tibet.
,

On the other hand Taranatha gives us the names of several doctors of the Vinaya who flourished under the Pala dynasty. Even as late as the reign of Ramapala (? 1080-1120) we hear
that the Hinayanists were numerous. In the reign of Dharmapala (c. 800 A.D.) some of them broke up the great silver image

Heruka at Bodh-Gaya and burnt the books of Mantras 2 These instances show that the older Buddhism was not entirely overwhelmed by Tantrism 3 though perhaps it was kept alive more by pilgrims than by local sentiment. Thus the Chinese
of
.

inscriptions of Bodh-Gaya though they speak at length of the three bodies of Buddha show no signs of Tantrism. It would

appear that the worship celebrated in the holy places of Magadha preserved a respectable side until the end. In the same way although Tantrism is strong in the literature of the Lamas, none of the many descriptions of Tibet indicate that there is
anything scandalous in the externals of
Tibet, Nepal and mediaeval Magadha
religion.

Probably in

alike the existence of

disgraceful tantric literature does not indicate such widespread depravity as might be supposed. But of its putrefying influence
in corrupting the

minds

of those

who ought

to have preserved

1 Taranatha, p. 275. For the whole subject see Griinwedel, Mythologie des Bitddhismus, pp. 41-2 and my chapters on Tibet below. 2 Schiefner (transl. Taranatha, p. 221) describes these Sravakas or Hinayanists

as

"

Saindhavas welche Cravakas aus Simhala u.s.w.

waren."

They

are apparently

the same as the Saindhava^ravakas often mentioned by Taranatha. Are they Hinayanists from Sindh where the Sammitiya school was prevalent ? See also Pag

Sam Jon Zang, pp.
3

cxix, 114 as a brahmanical sect.

and 134 where Sarat Chandra Das explains Sendha-pa

The curious story (Taranatha,

religious

p. 206) in which a Buddhist at first refuses on grounds to take part in the evocation of a demon seems also to hint at

a disapproval of magic.

130

THE MAHAYAN A

[CH.

the pure faith there can be no doubt. More than any other form of mixed belief it obliterated essential differences, for Buddhist

Tantrism and Sivaite Tantrism are merely two varieties of
Tantrism.

What is happening at Bodh-Gaya at present illustrates how Buddhism disappeared from India. The abbot of a neighbouring Sivaite monastery who claims the temple and grounds does not
1

wish, as a
to efface

Mohammedan

Buddhist emblems.

might, to destroy the building or even He wishes to supervise the whole

establishment and the visits of pilgrims, as well as to place on the images of Buddha Hindu sectarian marks and other orna ments. Hindu pilgrims are still taken by their guides to venerate the Bodhi tree and, but for the presence of foreign pilgrims, no casual observer would suppose the spot to be anything but a

The same process went had not the same celebrity many and effaced all traces and memory of Buddhism. At the present day the Buddha is recognized by the Brahmans as an incarnation of Vishnu 2 though the recognition is often qualified by the statement that Vishnu assumed this form in order to mislead the wicked who threatened to become too powerful if they knew the true method of attaining superhuman powers. But he is rarely worshipped in proprid persona*. As a rule Buddhist images and emblems are ascribed to Vishnu or
of unusual construction.

Hindu temple

a step further in

shrines which

,

Siva, according to sectarian preferences, but in spite of fusion some lingering sense of original animosity prevents Gotama

from receiving even such respect as is accorded to incarnations like Parasurama. At Bodh-Gaya I have been told that Hindu pilgrims are taken by their guides to venerate the Bodhi-tree but not the images of Buddha. Yet in reviewing the disappearance of Buddhism from India

we must remember that
result of the
1

mixture

is

was absorbed not expelled. The justly called Hinduism, yet both in
it

This passage was written about 1910. In the curious temple at Gaya called 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.

Bishnupad the

2

of the
1

There are no very early references to this Avatara. Tt is mentioned Puranas (e.g. Bhagavata and Agni) and by Kshemendra. But see the instances quoted above from Kashmir and Nepal.

in

some

xxiv]

DECADENCE OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA

131

it has taken over much that is Buddhist and without Buddhism it would never have assumed its present shape. To Buddhist influence are due for instance the rejection by most sects of animal sacrifices: the doctrine of the sanctity of animal life: monastic institutions and the ecclesiastical discipline found in the Dravidian regions. We may trace the same influence with more or less certainty in the philosophy of

usages and beliefs

Sahkara and outside the purely religious sphere in the develop ment of Indian logic. These and similar points are dealt with in more detail in other parts of this work and I need not dwell on them here.

BOOK V
HINDUISM

BOOK V
present book deals with Hinduism and includes the period treated in Book iv. In many epochs the same mythological just and metaphysical ideas appear in a double form, Brahmanic and

THE

hard to say which form is the earlier. like the present adopts a geographical and historical treatment is bound to make Buddhism seem more important than Hinduism and rightly, for the conversion and
it is

Buddhist, and

Any work which

transformation of China, Japan and many other countries are a series of exploits of great moment for the history not merely of religion but of civilization. Yet when I think of the antiquity, variety and vitality of Hinduism in India no small sphere the nine chapters which follow seem very inadequate. I can only urge that though it would be easy to fill an encyclopaedia with accounts of Indian beliefs and practices, yet there is often great similarity under superficial differences the main lines of thought are less numerous than they seem to be at first sight and they
:

tend to converge.

CHAPTER XXV
SIVA

AND VISHNU

between the earlier and later phases of Indian religious belief, between the Vedic hymns, Brahmanas, Upanishads and their accessory treatises on the one hand, and the epics, Puranas, Tantras and later literature on the other, is due chiefly to the predominance in the latter of the great gods iva and Vishnu, with the attendant features of sectarian wor ship and personal devotion to a particular deity. The difference is not wholly chronological, for late writers sometimes take the Vedic standpoint and ignore the worship of these deities, but

THE

striking difference

prominence in literature, and probably in popular mythology, is posterior to the Vedic period. The change created by their appearance is not merely the addition of two imposing figures to an already ample pantheon; it is a revolution which
still

their

that

might be described as the introduction of a new religion, except it does not come as the enemy or destroyer of the old. The worship of the new deities grows up peacefully in the midst of
the ancient rites
;

they receive the homage of the same popula and the ministrations of the same priests. The transition is obscured but also was facilitated by the strength of Buddhism
tion

during the period when it occurred. The Brahmans, confronted by this formidable adversary, were disposed to favour any

popular religious
interests.

movement which they could adapt

to their

When the Hindu revival sets in under the Guptas, and Buddhism begins to decline, we find that a change has taken place which must have begun several centuries before, though our imperfect chronology does not permit us to date it. Whereas the Vedic sacrificers propitiated all the gods impartially and
regarded ritual as a sacred science giving power over nature, the worshipper of the later deities is generally sectarian and often emotional. He selects one for his adoration, and this
selected deity

becomes not merely a great god among others

CH. xxv]

&IVA

AND VISHNU
whom

137

but a gigantic cosmical figure in

centre the philosophy,

poetry and passion of his devotees. He is almost God in the European sense, but still Indian deities, though they may have a monopoly of adoration in their own sects, are never entirely similar to Jehovah or Allah. They are at once more mythical, more human and more philosophical, since they are conceived of not as creators and rulers external to the world, but as forces

exuberant mythology wives and offspring they make occasional appearances in this world as men and animals; they act under the influence of passions which if titanic, are but human feelings magnified. The philoso pher accommodates them to his system by saying that Vishnu or Siva is the form which the Supreme Spirit assumes as Lord of the visible universe, a form which is real only in the same sense that the visible world itself is real. Vishnu and Rudra are known even to the Rig Veda but as deities of no special eminence. It is only after the Vedic age that they became, each for his own worshippers, undisputed Lords of the Universe. A limiting date to the antiquity of Sivaism and Vishnuism, as their cults may be called, is furnished by Buddhist literature, at any rate for north-eastern India. The Pali Pitakas frequently 1 introduce popular deities, but give no prominence to Vishnu and Siva. They are apparently mentioned under the names of Venhu and Isana, but are not differentiated from a host of spirits now forgotten. The Pitakas have no pre judices in the matter of deities and their object is to represent
manifesting themselves in nature. bestows on them monstrous forms,
:

An

celestial residences,

the most powerful of them as admitting their inferiority to the Buddha. If Siva and Vishnu are not put forward in the same way as Brahma and Indra, the inference seems clear: it had

not occurred to anyone that they were particularly important. The suttas of the Digha Nikaya in which these lists of deities occur were perhaps composed before 300 B.C. 2 About that date

Megasthenes, the Greek envoy at Pataliputra, describes two Indian deities under the names of Dionysus and Herakles. They are generally identified with Krishna and Siva. It might be difficult to deduce this identity from an analysis of each
1 2

See especially Dig. Nik. xx. and xxxn. But the lists may be pieces of folk-lore older than the suttas in which they

are incorporated.

138

HINDUISM

[CH.

have identified both Siva description and different authorities and Krishna with Dionysus, but the fact remains that a somewhat
superficial foreign observer

was impressed with the idea that

the Hindus worshipped two great gods. He would hardly have derived this idea from the Vedic pantheon, and it is not clear to what gods he can refer if not to Siva and Vishnu. It thus seems probable that these two cults took shape about the fourth

century B.C. Their apparently sudden appearance is due to their popular character and to the absence of any record in art. The statuary and carving of the Asokan period and immediately succeeding centuries is exclusively Buddhist. No temples or images remain to illustrate the first growth of Hinduism (as the later form of Indian religion is commonly styled) out of the
earlier

Brahmanism. Literature (on which we are dependent

our information) takes little account of the early career of popular gods before they win the recognition of the priesthood and aristocracy, but when that recognition is once obtained they appear in all their majesty and without any hint that their honours are recent. As already mentioned, we have evidence that in the fifth or sixth century before Christ the Vedic or Brahmanic religion was not the only form of worship and philosophy in India. There were popular deities and rites to which the Brahmans were not opposed and which they countenanced when it suited them. What takes place in India to-day took place then. When some aboriginal deity becomes important owing to the prosperity of the tribe or locality with which he is connected, he is recognized by the Brahmans and admitted to their pantheon, perhaps as the son or incarnation of some personage more generally accepted as divine. The prestige of the Brahmans is sufficient to make such recognition an honour, but it is also their interest and millennial habit to secure control of every important religious movement and to incorporate rather than suppress. And this incorporation is more than mere recognition the parvenu god borrows something from the manners and attributes of the olympian society to which he is introduced. The greater he grows, the more considerable is the process of fusion and borrowing. Hindu philosophy ever seeks for the one amongst the many and popular thought, in a more confused
for
:

way, pursues the same goal.

It

combines and

identifies its

xxv]
deities, feeling

&IVA

AND VISHNU

139

dimly that taken singly they are too partial to be truly divine, or it piles attributes upon them striving to make each an adequate divine whole. Among the processes which have contributed to form Vishnu and iva we must reckon the invasions which entered India from the north-west 1 In Bactria and Sogdiana there met and were combined the art and religious ideas of Greece and Persia, and whatever elements were imported by the Yiieh-chih and other tribes who came from the Chinese frontier. The person alities of Vishnu and Siva need not be ascribed to foreign influence. The ruder invaders took kindly to the worship of iva, but there is no proof that they introduced it. But Persian and Graeco-Bactrian influence favoured the creation of more
.

more personal and more pictorial. The gods of the Vedic hymns are vague and indistinct the Supreme Being of the Upanishads altogether impersonal, but Mithra and Apollo, though divine in their majesty, are human in their persons and
definite deities,
:

make to humanity. The influence of these and especially of their representation in art foreign conceptions Indian in Buddhism. Hinduism has not so ancient is best seen and the therefore an artistic record Grseco-Bactrian influence on it is less obvious, for the sculpture of the Gupta period does not seem due to this inspiration. Neither in outward form nor in character do Vishnu and Siva show much more resemblance to Apollo and Mithra than to the Vedic gods. Their exuberant, fantastic shapes, their many heads and arms, are a symbol of their complex and multiple attributes. They are not restricted
in the appeal they
limits of personality but are great polymorphic forces, not to be indicated by the limits of one human shape 2

by the
1

.

of Megasthenes is a deity who comes from the west with an that suffers from the heat of the plains. If we could be certain that he meant Siva by Dionysus this would be valuable evidence. But he clearly misunderstood

The Dionysus

army

things in Indian religion. Greek legends connected Dionysus with India and the East.

many
2

Macdonell seems to me correct in saying (J.R.A.S. 1915, p. 125) that one 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 dhyana, 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.
reason
E. n.

10

140

HINDUISM

[CH.

grandeur and multiplicity, Vishnu and giva are not otherwise similar. In their completely developed forms they represent two ways of looking at the world. The main ideas of the Vaishnavas are human and emotional. The asks for a worship of love. He appears deity saves and loves he

Though

alike in their

:

in

by these main the But in givaism incarnations than in his original form. than rather current of thought is scientific and philosophic 1 of thinks if one emotional This statement may seem strange his iva and with the wild rites and legends connected spouse.

human

incarnations and

is

known

as well or better

.

Nevertheless the fundamental conception of

ivaism, the cosmic both force which changes and in changing destroys and repro duces, is strictly scientific and contrasts with the human, And scandalous as pathetic, loving sentiments of Vishnuism.
the worship of the generative principle may become, the potency of this impulse in the world scheme cannot be denied. Agreeably

an emotion Siva does not hero and saviour like Rama or become incarnate as a popular Krishna, but he assumes various supernatural forms for special purposes. Both worships, despite their differences, show charac
to his character of a force rather than
2

teristics

to most phases of Indian religion. from Both seek for deliverance transmigration and are penetrated inherent in human and animal life with a sense of the sorrow both develop or adopt philosophical doctrines which rise high above the level usually attained by popular beliefs, and both

which are

common

:

1

But some forms

of

Sivaism in southern India come even nearer to emotional

Christianity than does Vishnuiam. 2 I cannot discover that any alleged avatara of Siva has now or has had formerly any importance, but the Vayu,Lihga and Kurma Purana give lists of such incarnations,
sects

as does also the Catechism of the Shaivu religion translated by Foulkes. But Indian have a strong tendency to ascribe all possible achievements and attributes to

their gods. The mere fact that Vishnu to say that his god can do the same.

becomes incarnate

incites the ardent Sivaite

curious instance of this rivalry is found in the story that Siva manifested himself as Sarabha-murti in order to curb the ferocity of Vishnu when incarnate in the Man Lion (see Gopinatha Rao, Hindu Icon. p. 45). Siva often appears in a special form, not necessarily human, for a special purpose
(e.g.

A

tions.

Virabhadra) and some tantric Buddhas seem to be imitations of these appari There is a strong element of Sivaism borrowed from Bengal in the mythology of Tibet and Mongolia, where such personages as Hevajra, Samvara, and Mahakala

have a considerable importance under the strange

title of

Buddhas.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU

141

have erotic aspects in which they fall below the standard of morality usually professed by important sects whether in Asia or Europe.

The name Siva is euphemistic.

It

means propitious and,

like

Eumenides, is used as a deprecating and complimentary title for the god of terrors. It is not his earliest designation and does not occur as a proper name in the Rig Veda where he is known as Rudra, a word of disputed derivation, but probably meaning the roarer. Comparatively few hymns are addressed to Rudra, but he is clearly distinguished from the other Vedic gods. Whereas they are cheerful and benevolent figures, he is maleficent and terrible they are gods of the heaven but he is a god of the earth. He is the "man-slayer" and the sender of disease, but if he restrains these activities he can give safety and health. us for thou art and so the Destroyer comes not, "Slay gracious," to be the Gracious One 1 It has been suggested that the name Siva is connected with the Tamil word qivappu red and also that Rudra means not the roarer but the red or shining one. These etymologies seem to me possible but not proved. But Rudra is different in character from the other gods of the Rig Veda. It would be rash to say that the Aryan invaders of India brought with them no god of this sort but it is probable that this element in their pantheon increased as they gradually united in blood and ideas with the Dravidian population. But we know nothing of the beliefs of the Dravidians at this remote
: .

period.

only know that in later ages emotional religion, finding expression as so-called devil-dancing in its lower and as mystical poetry in its higher phases, was prevalent among them. The White Yajur Veda 2 contains a celebrated prayer known as the Satarudriya addressed to Rudra or the Rudras, for the power invoked seems to be now many and now one. This deity, who is described by a long string of epithets, receives the name of Sankara (afterwards a well-known epithet of !iva) and is blue-necked. He is begged to be &iva or propitious, but the word is an epithet, not a proper name. He haunts mountains and deserted, uncanny places: he is the patron of violent and lawless men, of soldiers and robbers (the two are evidently
1 2

We

The passage from one Book xvi.

epithet to the other

is

very plain

in R. V.

i.

114.

142

HINDUISM
,

[CH.

1 considered much the same), of thieves, cheats and pilferers but also of craftsmen and huntsmen and is himself "an observant "ill-formed and merchant": he is the lord of hosts of spirits,

But he is also a great cosmic force who "dwells and in billows and in tranquil waters and in streams in flowing and at the roots of trees..." who "exists islands... on rivers and in in incantations, punishments, in prosperity, in the soil, in
of all
forms."
:

the threshing-floor... in the woods and in the bushes, in sound and in echo... in young grass and in foam... in gravel and in streams... in green things and in dry things... Reverence to the leaf and to him who is in the fall of the leaf, the threatener, the slayer, the vexer and the afflicter." Here we see how an evil and disreputable god, the patron of low castes and violent
of occupations, becomes associated with the uncanny forces 2 nature and is on the way to become an All-God Rudra is frequently mentioned in the Atharva Veda. He is
.

conceived

much as in the Satarudriya, and is the lord of spirits and of animals. "For thee the beasts of the wood, the deer, swans and various winged birds are placed in the forest: thy
:

waters living creatures exist in the waters for thee the celestial flow. Thou shootest at the monsters of the ocean, and there is
3 to thee nothing far or near
."

These passages show that the main conceptions out of which the character of the later Siva is built existed in Vedic times. The Rudra of the Yajur and Atharva Vedas is not Brahmanic he is not the god of priests and orderly ritual, but of wild people and places. But he is not a petty provincial demon who afflicts rustics and their cattle. Though there is some hesitation between one Rudra and many Rudras, the destructive forces are unified in thought and the destroyer is not opposed to creation as a devil or as the principle of evil, but with profounder insight is
:

recognized as the Lord and Law of But though the outline of Siva
later centuries

all
is

living things.

found in Vedic writings,

added new features to his cult. Chief among the worship of a column known as the Linga, the emblem under which he is now most commonly adored. It is a phallic
these
is
1 In the play Mricchakatika or The Cla 3 Cart (probably of the sixth century A.D.) a burglar invokes Kartikeya, the son of Siva, who is said to have taught different styles of house-breaking.

2

A

similarly strange collocation of attributes

is

found
3

in

Daksha

s

hymn

to

Siva.

Mahabharata, xn. Sec. 285.

Atharva,

v. xi. 2. 24.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU

143

symbol though usually decent in appearance. The Vedas do not countenance this worship and it is not clear that it was even known to them 1 It is first enjoined in the Mahabharata and there only in two passages 2 which appear to be late additions. The inference seems to be that it was accepted as part of Hinduism just about the time that our edition of the Maha bharata was compiled 3 The old theory that it was borrowed from aboriginal and especially from Dravidian tribes 4 is now discredited. In the first place the instances cited of phallic worship among aboriginal tribes are not particularly numerous
.

.

or striking. Secondly, linga worship, though prevalent in the south, is not confined to it, but flourishes in all parts of India,

even in Assam and Nepal. Thirdly, it is not connected with low castes, with orgies, with obscene or bloodthirsty rites or with anything which can be called un-Aryan. It forms part of the
private devotions of the strictest Brahmans, and despite the significance of the emblem, the worship offered to it is perfectly

decorous 5 The evidence thus suggests that this cultus grew up among Brahmanical Hindus in the early centuries of our era.
.

The idea that there was something divine in virility and genera the stone pillar tion already existed. The choice of the symbol may have been influenced by two circumstances. Firstly, the
Buddhist veneration of stupas, especially miniature stupas, must have made familiar the idea that a cone or column is a 6 and secondly the linga may be compared to religious emblem
,

the Sisnadevah whom Tndra is asked to destroy in Rig. V. vn. 21. 5 and x. 99. 3 are priapic demons or worshippers of the phallus. 2 vn. sees. 202, 203, and xin. sec. 14. a 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
1

It is

not certain

if

the Christian era.
*

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

India, p. 261.

a rule. But there are exceptions to this. Some a phallic emblem. It is hardly possible to maintain this thesis in view of such passages as Mahabh. xm. 14 and the innumerable figures in which there are both a linga and a Yoni. But it is true that in its later forms
5

As

is

also its appearance, as
is

Hindus deny that the Linga

the worship

is purged of all grossness and that in its earlier fornis the symbol adored was often a stupa-like column or a pillar with figures on it. * Such scenes as the relief from Amaravati figured in Griinwedel, Buddhist art in India, p. 29, fig. 8, might easily be supposed to represent the worship of the linga, and some of A6oka s pillars have been worshipped as lingas in later times.

144

HINDUISM

[CH.

Vishnu.

the carved pillars or stone standards erected in honour of Some lingas are carved and bear one or four faces, thus

entirely losing
this cult,

any phallic appearance. The wide extension of though its origin seems late, is remarkable. Something similar may be seen in the worship of Ganesa the first records
:

even later, but it is now universal in India. It may seem strange that a religion whose outward cere monies though unassuming and modest consist chiefly of the from worship of the linga, should draw its adherents largely the educated classes and be under no moral or social stigma. Yet as an idea, as a philosophy, Sivaism possesses truth and force. It gives the best picture which humanity has drawn of the Lord of this world, not indeed of the ideal to which the saint aspires, nor of the fancies with which hope and emotion people the spheres behind the veil, but of the force which rules the Universe as it is, which reproduces and destroys, and in performing one of these acts necessarily performs the other, seeing that both are but aspects of change. For all animal and human existence 1 is the product of sexual desire: it is but the temporary and transitory form of a force having neither beginning nor end but continually manifesting itself in indi viduals who must have a beginning and an end. This force, to which European taste bids us refer with such reticence, is the
of it are

Not only is it unceasingly performing the central miracle of producing new lives but it accompanies it by unnumbered accessory miracles, which provide the new born child with nourishment and make lowly organisms care for their young as if they were gifted with human intelligence.
true creator of the world.

But the Creator is also the Destroyer, not in anger but by the very nature of his activity. When the series of changes culmin ates in a crisis and an individual breaks up, we see death and destruction, but in reality they occur throughout the process of growth. The egg is destroyed when the chicken is hatched: the
embryo ceases to exist when the child is born; when the man comes into being, the child is no more. And for change, im provement and progress death is as necessary as birth. A world of immortals would be a static world.

When
1

once the figure of Siva has taken definite shape,
to the general Indian idea, exists

But not of course the soul which, according before and continues after the life of the body.

xxv]
attributes

&IVA

AND VISHNU

145

it in profusion. He is for asceticism in India means the great ascetic, power, and iva is the personification of the powers of nature. He may alternate

and epithets are lavished on

strangely between austerities and wild debauch, but the senti mentality of some Krishnaite sects is alien to him. He is a

magician, the lord of troops of spirits, and thus draws into his worship. But he is also identified with Time (Mahakala) and Death (Mrityu) and as presiding over
circle all the old animistic

procreation he is Ardhanaresvara, half man, half woman. Stories are invented or adapted to account for his various
attributes, and he is provided with a divine family. He dwells on Mount Kailasa: he has three eyes: above the central one is the crescent of the moon and the stream of the Ganges descends from his braided hair: his throat is blue and encircled by a serpent and a necklace of skulls. In his hands he carries a threepronged trident and a drum. But the effigy or description varies, for iva is adored under many forms. He is Mahadeva, the Great God, Hara the Seizer, Bhairava the terrible one, Pasupati, the Lord of cattle, that is of human souls who are compared to beasts. Local gods and heroes are identified with him. Thus Gor Baba 1 said to be a deified ghost of the aboriginal races, reappears as Goresvara and is counted a form of Siva, as is also Khandoba or Khande Rao, a deity connected with dogs. Ganesa, "the Lord of Hosts," the God who removes obstacles and is represented with an elephant s head and accompanied by a rat, is recognized as Siva s son. Another son is Skanda or Kartikeya, the God of War, a great deity in Ceylon and southern India. But more important both for the absorption of aboriginal cults and for its influence on speculation and morality is the part
,

played by Siva s wife or female counterpart. The worship of goddesses, though found in many sects, is specially connected with $ivaism. A figure analogous to the Madonna, the kind and compassionate goddess who helps and pities all, appears in later Buddhism but for some reason this train of thought has not been usual in India. Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Sita are benevolent, but they hold no great position in 2 popular esteem and the being who attracts millions of wor,

Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, I. 84; n. 219. 2 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. Vishnu
is

1

often said to have three consorts, Sri,

Bhu and

Lila.

14 6

HINDUISM

[OH.

shippers under such she has many forms
as a terrible

names as Kali, Durga, or Mahadevi, though and aspects, is most commonly represented of blood. The goddess who demands offerings
for it is

worship of this goddess or goddesses, is one or many, is treated of in a separate chapter. iva his female counterpart shrines dedicated to also receives recognition, yet she is revered as
(Sakti) of her lord to
is

hard to say

if

she
in

Though

or energy

the spouse

whom honour primarily due. But in Saktist the form in worship adoration is offered to the akti as being essential God even as the or which his power is made manifest
head.

Let us now pass on to Vishnu. Though not one of the great gods of the Veda, he is mentioned fairly often and with respect. Indian commentators and comparative mythologists agree that he is a solar deity. His chief exploit is that he took (or perhaps in the earlier version habitually takes) three strides. This was s progress across the firma originally a description of the sun which relates that when the earth ment but grew into a myth became Vishnu incarnate as a dwarf was conquered by demons,

and induced the demon king to promise him as much space as he could measure in three steps. Then, appearing in his true form, he strode across earth and heaven and recovered the world for mankind. His special character as the Preserver is
already outlined in the Veda.

He

is
:

always benevolent he took
:

his three steps for the good of men he established and preserves the heavens and earth. But he is not the principal solar deity of the Rig Veda: Surya, Savitri and Pushan receive more

invocations.

Though one hymn says that no one knows the

limits of his greatness, other passages show that he has no pre eminence, and even in the Mahabharata and the Vishnu-Purana
itself

he

is

the Brahmanas, he
,

numbered among the Adityas or sons of Aditi. In is somewhat more important than in the

1 Rig Veda though he has not yet attained to any position like that which he afterwards occupies. Just as for iva, so for Vishnu we have no clear record of the steps by which he advanced from a modest rank to the
1 E.g. Sat. Brah. i. 2. o. See also the strange legend ib. xi. 1. 1 where Vishnu described as the best of the gods but is eaten by Indra. He is frequently (e.g. in the Sata Brah) stated to be identical with the one sacrifice, and this was

is

probably

of the reasons lor his

becoming prominent.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU

147

lines

position of having but one rival in the popular esteem. But the on which the change took place are clear. Even in his own

Church, Vishnu himself claims comparatively little attention. He is not a force like iva that makes and mars, but a benevolent and retiring personality who keeps things as they are. His worship, as distinguished from that of his incarnations, is not conspicuous in modern India, especially in the north. In the south he is less overshadowed by Krishna, and many great temples have been erected in his honour. In Travancore, which is formally dedicated to him as his special domain, he is adored under the name of Padmanabha. But his real claim to reverence, his appeal to the Indian heart, is due to the fact that certain
deified

human heroes, particularly identified with him.
Deification
is

Rama and
.

Krishna, are

common

in India 1

It exists to the present

day and even defunct Europeans do not escape its operation. In modern times, when the idea of reincarnation had become familiar, eminent men like Caitanya or Vallabhacarya were declared after their death to be embodiments of Krishna without more ado, but in earlier ages the process was probably double. First of all the departed hero became a powerful ghost or deity in his own right, and then this deity was identified with a Brahmanic god.

Many examples
but are not

prove that a remarkable

man

receives worship

after death quite apart from any idea of incarnation. The incarnations of Vishnu are most commonly given as ten 2
all of

Fish, Tortoise, due to his identification with supernatural creatures playing a benevolent role in legends with which he had originally no con

The first five, namely, the Man-Lion and Boar, Dwarf, are mythical, and
the same character.

nection.

sixth, however, Parasu-rama or Rama with the historical elements. He is represented as a contain axe, may militant Brahman who in the second age of the world extermin-

The

1 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

(a bandit), Sailesh, Karikh, Larik, Amar Singh, and of tigers). Compare too the worship of Gopi Nath and Zinda as described in Census of India, 1901, vol. xvn. pp. 118-9.

Goveiya

Gobind Raut

(a slayer

Kaliana in the Panjab

*

621

if.)

The Bhagavata Purana (i. give longer lists of 22 and
v.

iii.)

26,

and the Bhaktamala (see J.R.A.8. 1909, pp. and the Pancaratra gives 39. See Ahirbudhnya

Samhita,

50-55.

148

HINDUISM

[CH.

ated the Kshatriyas, and after reclaiming Malabar from the sea, it with Brahmans. This legend clearly refers to a struggle for supremacy between the two upper castes, though we may doubt if the triumphs attributed to the priestly champion have 1 foundation in fact. The Ramayana contains a singular
settled

any

Rama and the greater hero same name in which Parasu-rama admits the other s an epic edited under priestly super superiority. That is to say
account of a contest between this
of the

vision relates

how

hero-god of the priests,

the hero-god of the warriors vanquishes the and this hero-god of the warriors is then

worshipped by common consent as the greater divinity, but under priestly patronage. The tenacity and vitality of the Brahmans enabled them ultimately to lead the conqueror captive,

and Rama-candra became a champion
as Parasu-rama.

of

Brahmanism

as

much

Very interesting too

is

the ninth avatara (to leave for a

moment
character

the strict numerical order) or

Buddha 2 The reason
.

assigned in

Brahmanic

literature for

Vishnu

s

appearance in this

that he wished to mislead the enemies of the gods false teaching, or that out of compassion for animals he by preached the abolition of Vedic sacrifices. Neither explanation is very plausible and it is pretty clear that in the period when
is

degenerate Buddhism offered no objection to deification and mythology, the Brahmans sanctioned the worship of the Buddha under their auspices. But they did so only in a half-hearted

way. The Buddha was so important a personage that he had to be explained by the intervention, kindly or hostile, of a deity 3 In his tenth incarnation or Kalki 4 which has yet to take
.

,

1

Book

I,

cantos 74-76.

2

A

parallel

phenomenon

is

the belief found in Bali, that

Buddha

is

Siva

s

brother.

For Brahmanic ideas about Buddha see Vishnu Purana, in. 18. The Bhagavata i. 3. 24 seems to make the Buddha incarnation future. It also counts Kapila and Rishabha, apparently identical with the founder of the Sankhya and the first Jain saint, as incarnations. The Padma Purana seems to ascribe not only Buddhism but the Maya doctrine of Sankara to delusions deliberately inspired by gods. I have not been able to find the passage in the printed edition of the Purana but it is quoted in Sanskrit by Aufrecht, Cat. Cod. Sib. Bodl. p. 14, and Muir,
3

Purana,

Original Sanskrit Texts, p. 198. 4 See Norman in Trans. Third Int. Congress of Religions, n. p. 85. In the Ind. A nt. 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

xxv]
place,

&IVA
Vishnu
will

AND VISHNU

149

appear as a Messiah, a conception possibly Here, where we are in the realm of pure imagination, we see clearly what the signs of his avataras are supposed to be. His mission is to sweep away the wicked and to ensure the triumph of the pious, but he comes as a warrior and a horseman, not as a teacher, and if he protects the good he does so by destroying evil. He has thus all the attributes of a Kshatriya hero, and that is as a matter of fact the real character of the two most important avataras to which we now turn, Rama and Krishna.
influenced

by Persian ideas.

Rama, often distinguished as Rama-candra, is usually treated as the seventh incarnation and anterior to Krishna, for
he was born in the second age of this rapidly deteriorating world, whereas Krishna did not appear until the third. But his deification is later than that of Krishna and probably an imitation of it. He was the son of Dasaratha, King of Ayodhya or Oudh, but was driven into banishment by a palace intrigue. He married Sita, daughter of the King of Mithila. She was

by Ravana, the demon tyrant of Ceylon, and Rama re-captured her with the aid of Hanuman, King of the Monkeys, and his hosts 1 Is there any kernel of history in this story? An examination of Hindu legends suggests that they usually pre serve names and genealogies correctly but distort facts, and fantastically combine independent narratives. Rama was a
carried off
.

semi-divine hero in the tales of ancient Oudh, based on a real personality, and Ceylon was colonized by Indians of Aryan
2 But can we assume that a king of Oudh really led an speech expedition to the far south, with the aid of ape-like aborigines ?
.

his being a future saviour is late. This theory offers difficulties, for firstly there is no proof that the passages of the Mahahharata which mention Kalki (ui. 190, 13101; in. 191, 13111
if

xir. 340, 12968) are additions later than Yasodharman and secondly 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 assumed 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. in. p. 320) intimates that Yasodharman performed considerable exploits but was inordinately boastful. 1 Another version of the story which omits the expedition to Lanka and makes Sita the sister of Rama is found in the Dasaratha Jataka (641). * But this colonization is attributed by tradition to Vijaya, not Rama.
:

150
It is

HINDUISM

[CH.

doubtful, and the narrative of the Ramayana reads like And yet, what poetic invention rather than distorted history. of some occurrence the can have prompted the legend except

such expedition? In Rama s wife Sita, seem to be combined an agricultural goddess and a heroine of ancient romance, embodying the Hindu ideal of the true wife.

have no record of the steps by which Rama and Krishna were deified, although in different parts of the epic they are presented in very different aspects, sometimes as little more than human, sometimes as nothing less than the Supreme Deity. But it can hardly be doubted that this deification owes some thing to the example of Buddhism. It may be said that the development of both Buddhism and Hinduism in the centuries immediately preceding and following our era gives parallel manifestations of the same popular tendency to deify great men. This is true, but the non-Buddhist forms of Indian religion while not objecting to deification did not particularly encourage it. But in this period, Buddhism and Jainism were powerful: both of them sanctioned the veneration of great teachers and, as they did not recognize sacrifice or adoration of gods, this veneration became the basis of their ceremonies and easily passed into worship. The Buddhists are not responsible for the introduction of deification, but the fact that it was to some extent the basis of their public ceremonies must have gone far to make the worship of Rama and Krishna seem

We

natural.
It is

commonly

said that whereas the whole divine nature

of

incarnation.

in Krishna, Rama was only a partial Half the god s essence took human form in him, the other half being distributed among his brothers. Krishna is a greater figure in popular esteem and receives the exclusive devotion of more worshippers. The name of Rama commands the reverence of most Hindus, and has a place in their prayers, but his figure has not been invested with the attributes (often of dubious moral value) which most attract sectarian devotion. His worship combines easily with the adoration of other deities.

Vishnu was embodied

The great temple

of Ramesvaram on Adam s Bridge is dedicated not to Rama himself but to the linga which he erected there, and Tul si Das, the author of the Hindi while in

voking

Rama

as the

Ramayana, Supreme Lord and redeemer of the world,

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU
is

151

1 emphatically states that his worship

not antagonistic to that

of

iva.

No inscriptions nor ancient references testify to the worship Rama before our era and in the subsequent centuries two phases can be distinguished. First, Rama is a great hero, an
of

incarnation of Vishnu for a particular purpose and analogous to the Vamana or any other avatara: deserving as such of all

not the object of any special cult. This is the in the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the and those parts of the Ramayana which go Raghuvamsa, additions 2 But secondly Rama late it are beyond probably becomes for his worshippers the supreme deity. Ramanuja (on the Vedanta sutras, n. 42) mentions him and Krishna as two great incarnations in which the supreme being became manifest,
respect but
still

view taken of

Rama

.

and since Krishna was certainly worshipped at this period as identical with the All-God, it would appear that Rama held the same position. Yet it was not until the fourteenth or fifteenth
century that he became for

many

sects the central

and ultimate

divine figure. In the more liberal sects the worship of Rama passes easily into theism and it is the direct parent of the Kabirpanth and

Rama

Sikhism, but unlike Krishnaism it does not lead to erotic excess. personifies the ideal of chivalry, Sita of chastity. Less

edifying forms of worship may attract more attention, but it must not be supposed that Rama is relegated to the penumbra of philosophic thought. If anything so multiplex as Hinduism

The

can be said to have a watchword, it is the cry, Ram, Ram. story of his adventures has travelled even further than the hero himself, and is known not only from Kashmir to Cape Comorin but from Bombay to Java and Indo-China where it is a common subject of art. In India the Ramayana is a favourite recitation among all classes, and dramatized versions
of various episodes are performed as religious plays. two late Upanishads, the Ramapurvatapaniya and

Though

Rama-

uttaratapaniya extol Rama as the Supreme Being, there is no Ramapurana. The fact is significant, as showing that his worship
did not possess precisely those features of priestly sectarianism which mark the Puranas and perhaps that it is later than the
1 8

See especially book vi. p. 67, in Growse s Translation. See Muir s Sanskrit Texts, vol. iv. especially pp. 441-491

152

HINDUISM

[CH.

Puranas. But it has inspired a large literature, more truly the Puranas contain. Thus we have popular than anything that the Sanskrit Ramayana itself, the Hindi Ramayana, the Tamil Ramayana of Kamban, and works like the Adhyatm a- Rama 1 Of all these, the Rama and

yana yana
it

of Tulsi

later

Yoga-Vasistha-Ramayana Das is specially remarkable and at some length. 4
.

I shall

speak of

Krishna, the other great incarnation of Vishnu, is one of the most conspicuous figures in the Indian pantheon, but his historical origin remains obscure. The word which means black or dark blue occurs in the Rig Veda as the name of an otherwise

In the Chandogya Upanishad 2 Krishna, the son of Devaki, is mentioned as having been instructed by the sage Ghora of the Angirasa clan, and it is probably implied that Krishna too belonged to that clan 3 Later sectarian writers never quote this verse, but their silence may be due to the fact that the Upanishad does not refer to Krishna as if he were a

unknown

person.

,

.

deity, and merely says that he received from Ghora instruction after which he never thirsted again. The purport of it was that

the sacrifice

may

be performed without

rites,

the various parts

being typified by ordinary

human

actions, such as hunger,

eating, laughter, liberality, righteousness, etc. This doctrine has some resemblance to Buddhist language 4 and if this Krishna is

the later deity was evolved, really the ancient hero out of there may be an allusion to some simple form of worship which rejected ceremonial and was practised by the tribes to

whom

whom

Krishna belonged.

I shall

recur to the question of these tribes

1 Ekanatha, who lived in the sixteenth century, calls the Adhyatma K. a modern work. SeoBhandarkar, yaishn.andSaivi8m, pa,ge4t8. The Yoga-VasishthaR. purports to be instruction given by Vasishtha 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-Vasishtha 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."

2

Chand. Up.

in. 17. 6.

The Kaush. Brahm. says that Krishna was an Angirasa xxx. g. The Anukramani says that the Krishna of Rig Veda, vnr. 74 was an Angirasa. For Ghora Angirasa the dread descendent of the Angirases" see Macdonell and Keith, Vedic
Index,
4

3

s.v.

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

xxv]

&IVA

AND VISHNU

153

and the Bhagavata sect below, but in this section I am con cerned with the personality of Krishna. Vasudeva is a well-known name of Krishna and a sutra of Panini 1 especially if taken in conjunction with the comment of Patarijali, appears to assert that it is not a clan name but the name of a god. If so Vasudeva must have been recognized as a god in the fourth century B.C. He is mentioned in inscriptions which appear to date from about the second century B.C. 2 and in the last book of the Taittiriya Aranyaka 3 which however is a later addition of uncertain date. The name Krishna occurs in Buddhist writings in the form Kanha, phonetically equivalent to Krishna. In the Digha 4 Nikaya we hear of the clan of the Kanhayanas (= Karshnayanas) and of one Kanha who became a great sage. This person may be the Krishna of the Rig Veda, but there is no proof that he is the same as our Krishna. The Ghata-Jataka (No. 454) gives an account of Krishna s childhood and subsequent exploits which in many points corre sponds with the Brahmanic legends of his life and contains several familar incidents and names, such as Vasudeva, Baladeva,
,

,

it presents many peculiarities and is either an version or a misrepresentation of a popular story independent that had wandered far from its home. Jain tradition also shows

Kamsa. Yet

that these tales were popular and were worked up into different forms, for the Jains have an elaborate system of ancient patriarchs which includes Vasudevas and Baladevas. Krishna 5 is the ninth of the Black Vasudevas and is connected with

Dvaravati or Dvaraka. He will become the twelfth tirthankara of the next world-period and a similar position will be attained by Devaki, Rohini, Baladeva and Javakumara, all members of his family. This is a striking proof of the popularity of the Krishna legend outside the Brahmanic religion.
Pan. iv. 3. 98, Vasudevdrjuwdbhydm vun. See Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Saivism, p. 3 and J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 168. Sutra 95, just above, appears to point to bhakli, faith or devotion, felt for this Vasudeva. 2 Especially the Besnagar column. See Rapson, Ancient India, p. 156 and
1

various articles in J.R.A.S. 1909-10.
8

x.

i. i.

vi.

23, Ularo so Kanho isi ahosi. in R. V. viii. 74 who has not necessarily

But this may refer to the Rishi mentioned anything to do with the god Krishna. 8 See Hemacandra Abhidhanacintamani, Ed. Boehtlingk and Rien, p. 128, and Barnett s translation of the Antagada Dasao, pp. 13-15 and 67-82.

*

m.

15 4

HINDUISM
No

[CH.

references to Krishna except the above have been found in the earlier Upanishads and Sutras. He is not mentioned in Maim but in one aspect or another he is the principal figure in

the Mahabharata, yet not exactly the hero. The Ramayana would have no plot without Rama, but the story of the Maha bharata would not lose its unity if Krishna were omitted. He

takes the side of the Pandavas, and is sometimes a chief some times a god but he is not essential to the action of the epic. The legend represents him as the son of Vasudeva, who be
1 Yadava tribe, and of his longed to the Sattvata sept of the to wife Dovaki. It had been predicted Kamsa, king of Mathura kill him. He therefore slew would sons (Muttra), that one of her the her first six children: seventh, Balarama, w ho is often of counted as an incarnation Vishnu, was transferred by divine of Rohini. Krishna, the eighth, womb intervention to the
r

escaped by more natural methods. His father was able to give him into the charge of Nanda, a herdsman, and his wife Yasoda who brought him up at Gokula and Vrindavana. Here his youth was passed in sporting with the Gopis or milkmaids, of whom he is said to have married a thousand. He had time, however, to perform acts of heroism, and after killing Kamsa, he trans ported the inhabitants of Mathura to the city of Dvaraka which he had built on the coast of Gujarat. He became king of the Yadavas and continued his mission of clearing the earth of tyrants and monsters. In the struggle between the Pandavas and the sons of Dhritarashtra he championed the cause of the former, and after the conclusion of the war retired to Dvaraka. Internecine conflict broke out among the Yadavas and annihi lated the race. Krishna himself withdrew to the forest and was killed by a hunter called Jaras (old age) who shot him supposing him to be a deer. In the Mahabharata and several Puranas this bare outline is distended with a plethora of miraculous incident remarkable even in Indian literature, and almost all possible forms of divine

and human activity are attributed to

this

many-sided

figure.

We may indeed

suspect that his personality is dual even in the form of the legend for the scene changes from Mathura simplest to Dvaraka, and his character is not quite the same in the two regions. It is probable that an ancient military hero of the west
1

Apparently the same as the Vrishnis.

xxv]

IVA

AND VISHNU

155

has been combined with a deity or perhaps more than one deity. The pile of story, sentiment and theology which ages have

heaped up round Krishna

s

name, represents him in three

principal aspects. Firstly, he is a warrior who destroys the powers of evil. Secondly, he is associated with love in all its

forms, ranging from amorous sport to the love of

God

in the

most spiritual and mystical sense. Thirdly, he is not only a deity, but he actually becomes God in the European and also in the pantheistic acceptation of the word, and is the centre of a
philosophic theology. The first of these aspects
if

is

clearly the oldest

and

it is

here,

anywhere, that we may hope to find some fragments of history. But the embellishments of poets and story-tellers have
to features which may In the legend, Krishna assists the Pandavas against the Kauravas. Now many think that the Pandavas represent a second and later immigration of Aryans

been so

many

that

we can only point

indicate a substratum of fact.

composed of tribes who had halted in the Himalayas and perhaps acquired some of the customs of the inhabitants, including polyandry, for the five Pandavas had one wife in common between them. Also, the meaning of the name Krishna, black, suggests that he was a chief of some non- Aryan tribe. It is, therefore, possible that one source of the Krishna myth is
into India,

that a body of invading Aryans, described in the legend as the Pandavas, who had not exactly the same laws and beliefs as those already established in Hindustan, were aided by a powerful aboriginal chief, just as the Sisodias in Rajputana were aided

by the Bhils. It is possible too that Krishna s tribe may have come from Kabul or other mountainous districts of the north west, although one of the most definite points in the legend is his connection with the coast town of Dvaraka. The fortifica tions of this town and the fruitless efforts of the demon king, 1 Salva, to conquer it by seige are described in the Mahabharata but the narrative is surrounded by an atmosphere of magic and
,

miracle rather than of history 2
1

.

III.

XV.

would seem that the temple of Dvaraka was built between the composition of the narrative in the Mahabharata and of the Vishnu Purana, 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, Vishnu Purana,
It
v. p. 155.

2

E.II.

11

156

HINDUISM
Though
it

[CH.

fantastic parts of the
history, yet

would not be reasonable to pick out the less Krishna legend and interpret them as
to the fact that fairly attach significance him as in conflict with Brahmanic

we may

many

episodes represent
.

institutions

incarnate 1

and hardly maintaining the position of Vishnu Thus he plunders Indra s garden and defeats the He fights with $iva and Skanda. gods who attempt to resist him. He burns Benares and all its inhabitants. Yet he is called
in Upendra, which, whatever other explanations sectarian the Lesser but mean can invent, anything hardly genuity may Indra, and he fills the humble post of Arjuna s charioteer. His kinsmen seem to have been of little repute, for part of his mission was to destroy his own clan and after presiding over its annihilation in internecine strife, he was slain himself. In
all this we see dimly the figure of some aboriginal hero who, though ultimately canonized, represented a force not in complete harmony with Brahmanic civilization. The figure has also many solar attributes but these need not mean that its origin is to be sought in a sun myth, but rather that, as many early deities were forms of the sun, solar attributes came to be a natural part of divinity and were ascribed to the deified Krishna just as they were to the deified Buddha 2 Some authors hold that the historical Krishna was a teacher, similar to Zarathustra, and that though of the military class he was chiefly occupied in founding or supporting what was after wards known as the religion of the Bhagavatas, a theistic system inculcating the worship of one God, called Bhagavat, and perhaps identical with the Sun. It is probable that Krishna A most curious chapter of the Vishnu Purana (iv. 13) contains a vindication
.

1

of

s character and a picture of old tribal life. Neither can I agree with some scholars that Krishna 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. Krishna
2

Krishna

undoubtedly associated with life, growth and generation, but so is Siva the destroyer, or rather the transmuter. The account in the Mahabhashya (on Pan. m. I. 26) of the masque representing the slaughter of Karnsa by Krishna is surely a slight foundation for the theory that Krishna 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 illus
is

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 gods, just as now professors invent different

theories about gods.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU
.

157

the hero was connected with the worship of a special deity, but I see no evidence that he was primarily a teacher 1 In the
earlier legends he is a man of arms: in the later he is not one who devotes his life to teaching but a forceful personage who explains the nature of God and the universe at the most un

expected moments.

Now

the founders of religions such as

Mahavira and Buddha preserve their character as teachers even in legend and do not accumulate miscellaneous heroic exploits. Similarly modern founders of sects, like Caitanya, though
revered as incarnations, still retain their historical attributes. But on the other hand many men of action have been deified not because they taught anything but because they seemed to

be more than human forces. Rama is a classical example of such deification and many local deities can be shown to be warriors, bandits and hunters whose powers inspired respect.
It is said that there is a disposition in the

Bombay

Presidency

to deify the

Maratha leader
cattle.

2

Sivaji
It
is

.

In his second aspect, Krishna

is

a pastoral deity, sporting

among nymphs and

possible that this Krishna is in his origin distinct from the violent and tragic hero of Dvaraka. The two characters have little in common, except their lawless

and the date and locality of the two cycles of legend are But the death of Kamsa which is one of the oldest incidents in the story (for it is mentioned in the Mahabhashya 3 belongs to both and Kamsa is consistently connected with Muttra. The Mahabharata is mainly concerned with Krishna
ness,
different.
)

the warrior the few allusions in
:

it

to the freaks of the pastoral

Krishna occur in passages suspected of being late interpolations and, even if they are genuine, show that little attention was paid
to his youth. But in later works, the relative importance is reversed and the figure of the amorous herdsman almost banishes the warrior. We can trace the growth of this figure in

the sculptures of the sixth century, in the Vishnu and Bhagavata Puranas and the Gita-govinda (written about 1170). Even later is the worship of Radha, Krishna s mistress, as a portion of the
The Krishna of the Chandogya Upanishad receives instruction but it is not was himself a teacher. 2 Hopkins, India Old and New, p. 105. s Bhandarkar. Allusions to Krishna in Mahabhashya, Ind. Ant. 1874, p. 14. For the pastoral Krishna see Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Saivism, chap. ix.
1

said that he

158
deity,

HINDUISM
who
.

[CH.

is supposed to have divided himself into male and 1 The birth and adventures of the pastoral Krishna halves female land of Braj, the district round Muttra and in the located are the tribe of the Abhiras, but the warlike Krishna is

among

connected with the west, although his exploits extend to the 2 Ganges valley The Abhiras, now called Ahirs, were nomadic herdsmen who came from the west and their movements between Kathiawar and Muttra may have something to do with the
.

double location of the Krishna legend.

Both archaeology and historical notices tell us something of the history of Muttra. It was a great Buddhist and Jain centre, as the statues and viharas found there attest. Ptolemy calls it
the city of the gods. Fa-Hsien (400 A.D.) describes it as Buddhist, but that faith was declining at the time of Hsiian Chuang s visit (c. 630 A. D.). The sculptural remains also indicate the
feel surprise

presence of Grseco-Bactrian influence. We need not therefore if we find in the religious thought of Muttra elements traceable to Greece, Persia or Central Asia. Some claim that
Christianity should be reckoned among these elements and I shall discuss the question elsewhere. Here I will only say that

such ideas as were common to Christianity and to the religions of Greece and western Asia probably did penetrate to India by the northern route, but of specifically Christian ideas I see no proof. It is true that the pastoral Krishna is unlike all earlier Indian deities, but then no close parallel to him can be adduced from elsewhere, and, take him as a whole, he is a decidedly unChristian figure. The resemblance to Christianity consists in the worship of a divine child, together with his mother. But this feature is absent in the New Testament and seems to have been

borrowed from paganism by Christianity. The legends of Muttra show even clearer traces than those already quoted of hostility between Krishna and Brahmanism. He forbids the worship of Indra 3 and when Indra in anger sends down a deluge of rain, he protects the country by holding
,

The divinity of Radha is taught specially in the Brahmavaivarta Purana and the Narada pancaratra, also called Jnanamritasara. She is also described in the
1

Gopala-tapaniya Upanishad of unknown date. 2 ButKamsa appears in both series of legends, i.e., in the Ghata-Jataka which con tains no hint of the pastoral legends but is a variant of the story of the warlike Krishna. 3 Vishnu Purana, 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.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU

159

up over it the hill of Goburdhan, which is still one of the great centres of pilgrimage 1 The language which the Vishnu Purana attributes to him is extremely remarkable. He interrupts a
.

which his fosterfather is offering to Indra and says, have neither fields nor houses: we wander about happily wherever we list, travelling in our waggons. What have we to do with Indra? Cattle and mountains are (our) gods. Brahmans
sacrifice
"We

offer

worship with prayer: cultivators of the earth adore their

landmarks but we who tend our herds in the forests and mountains should worship them and our kine." This passage suggests that Krishna represents a tribe of highland nomads who worshipped mountains and cattle and came to terms with the Brahmanic ritual only after a struggle. The worship of mountain spirits is common in Central Asia, but I do not know of any evidence for cattle-worship in those 2 regions. Clemens of Alexandria writing at the end of the
,

second century A.D., tells us that the Indians worshipped Herakles and Pan. The pastoral Krishna has considerable resemblance to Pan or a Faun, but no representations of such beings are recorded from Graeco -Indian sculptures. Several Bacchic groups have however been discovered in Gandhara and

Muttra 3 and Megasthenes recognized Dionysus in some Indian deity. Though the Bacchic revels and mysteries do not explain the pastoral element in the Krishna legend, they offer a parallel to some of its other features, such as the dancing and the crowd of women, and I am inclined to think that such Greek ideas may have germinated and proved fruitful in Muttra. The Greek king Menander is said to have occupied the city (c. 155 B.C.), and the sculptures found there indicate that Greek artistic forms were used to express Indian ideas. There may have been
also at

a similar fusion in religion. In any case, Buddhism was predominant in Muttra for several centuries. It no doubt forbade the animal sacrifices of
1

The Muttra
in

cycle of legends cannot be very late for the inscription of Glai

Lomor

Champa

Cambojan

(811 A.D.) speaks of Narayana holding up Goburdhan and a inscription of Prea Eynkosey (970 A.D.) speaks of the banks of the

Yamuna where Krishna

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,
3

p. 135.

Strorn. in. 194.

See M Crindle, Ancient India, p. 183. Vincent Smith, Fine Art in India, pp. 134-138.

160 the

HINDUISM

[CH.

Brahmans and favoured milder rites. It may even offer some explanation for the frivolous character of much in the Krishna legend 1 Most Brahmanic deities, extraordinary as their conduct often is, are serious and imposing. But Buddhism claimed for itself the serious side of religion and while it tolerated local godhngs treated them as fairies or elves. It was perhaps while Krishna was a humble rustic deity of this sort, with no
.

claim to represent the Almighty, that there first gathered round him the cycle of light love-stories which has clung to him ever since. In the hands of the Brahmans his worship has undergone the strangest variations which touch the highest and lowest
still retains its special planes of Hinduism, but the Muttra legend note of pastoral romance, and exhibits Krishna in two principal characters, as the divine child and as the divine lover. The to mysteries of birth and of sexual union are congenial topics Hindu theology, but in the cult of Muttra we are not concerned

with reproduction as a world force, but simply with childhood and love as emotional manifestations of the deity. The same ideas occur in Christianity, and even in the Gospels Christ is compared to a bridegroom, but the Krishna legend is far more
gross

and naive. infant Krishna is commonly adored in the form known as Makhan Chor or the Butter Thief 2 This represents him as a crawling child holding out one hand full of curds or butter which he has stolen. We speak of idolizing a child, and when

The

.

Hindu women worship

this

image they are unconsciously

generalizing the process and worshipping childhood, its way ward pranks as well as its loveable simplicity, and though it is

hard for a

man

to think of the freaks of the butter thief as a

manifestation of divinity, yet clearly there is an analogy between these childish escapades and the caprices of mature deities,

which are respectfully described as mysteries. If one admits the worship of the Bambino, it is not unreasonable to include in it admiration of his rogueries, and the tender playfulness which is permitted to enter into this cult appeals profoundly to
of
1 In the Sutta-nipata Mara, the Evil One is called Kanha, the phonetic equivalent Krishna in Prakrit. Can it be that Mara and his daughters have anything to do with Krishna and the Gopis? 2 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.

xxv]

&IVA

AND VISHNU

161

Indian women. Images of the Makhan Chor are sold by thou sands in the streets of Muttra. Even more popular is the image known as Kanhaya, which represents the god as a young man playing the flute as he stands in a careless attitude, which has something of Hellenic grace. Krishna in this form is the beloved of the Gopis, or milk-maids, of the land of Braj, and the spouse of Radha, though she had no monopoly of him. The stories of his frolics with these damsels

and the

rites instituted in

memory thereof have brought his wor

ship into merited discredit. Krishnaism offers the most extensive manifestation to be found in the world of what W. James calls

the theopathic condition as illustrated by nuns like Marguerite Marie Alacoque, Saint Gertrude and the more distinguished Saint Theresa. "To be loved by God and loved by him to distraction (jusqu a la folie), Margaret melted away with love at the thought of such a thing.... She said to God, Hold back, my God, these torrents which overwhelm me or else enlarge my capacity for their reception 1 These are not the words of the Gita-govinda or the Prem Sagar, as might be supposed, but of a Catholic Bishop describing the transports of Sister Mar guerite Marie, and they illustrate the temper of Krishna s worshippers. But the verses of the Marathi poet, Tukaram, who lived about 1600 A.D. and sang the praises of Krishna, rise above this sentimentality though he uses the language of love. In a letter to Sivaji, who desired to see him, he wrote, "As a chaste wife longs only to see her lord, such am I to Vitthala 2 All the world is to me Vitthala and nothing else: thee also I behold in him." He also wrote elsewhere, "he that taketh the unprotected to his heart and doeth to a servant the same kind
."

.

own children, is assuredly the image of God." More recently Ramakrishna, whose sayings breathe a wide
ness as to his

wide charity, has given this religion of love an expression which, if somewhat too sexual to be perfectly in accordance with western taste, is nearly related to emotional Christianity. "A true lover sees his god as his nearest and
intelligence as well as a

dearest
1

relative"

he writes,
la

"just

as the shepherd

women

of

Mgr. Bongard, Hisloire de

Bienheureuse Marguerite Marie.

Quoted by

W. James,
2

Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 343. Vitthal or Vittoba is a local deity of Pandharpur in the

Deccan (perhaps a

deified

Brahmaa

of the place)

now

identified with Krishna.

162

HINDUISM
in

[CH.

Vrindavana saw

their own beloved.... The a man, while the love of

Krishna not the Lord of the Universe but knowledge of God may be likened to God is like a woman. Knowledge has outer rooms of God, and no one can enter entry only up to the

and into the inner mysteries of God save a lover.... Knowledge is no There same. the and one are God of love ultimately
difference

between pure knowledge and pure love These extracts show how Krishna as the object of the soul s desire assumes the place of the Supreme Being or God. But 2 this surprising transformation is not specially connected with the pastoral and erotic Krishna: the best known and most exposition of his divinity is found in the
."

1

thorough-going him as being in his human Bhagavad-gita, which represents charioteer of Arjuna. Probably some the and warrior a aspect, under seventy-five millions to-day worship Krishna, especially the name of Hari, as God in the pantheistic sense and naturally the more his identity with the supreme spirit is emphasized, the dimmer grow the legendary features which mark the hero of

Muttra and Dvaraka, and the human element in him is reduced to this very important point that the tie uniting him to his worshippers is one of sentiment and affection. In the following chapters I shall treat of this worship when describing the various sects which practise it. A question of some importance for the history of Krishna s deification is the meaning of the name Vasudeva. One explanation makes it
a patronymic, son of Vasudeva, and supposes that when this prince Vasudeva was deified his name, like Rama, was trans ferred to the deity. The other regards Vasudeva as a name for the deity used by the Sattvata clan and supposes that when

Krishna was deified this already well-known divine name was bestowed on him. There is much to be said for this latter theory. As we have seen the Jains give the title Vasudeva to a series of supermen, and a remarkable legend states 3 that a king called
Life and Sayings of Rdmakriahna. Trans. F. Max Miiller, pp. 137-8. The English poet Craahaw makes free use of religious metaphors drawn from love and even Francis Thompson represents God as the lover of the Soul, e.y. in his poem Anij tiaitit.
1

Though
was
3

identified

surprising, it can be paralleled in by his later followers with the

modern times
spirit,

for

Kabir

(c.

1400)

supreme

Mahabhar. Sabhap. xiv. Vishnu Pur. v. xxxiv. The name also occurs in the Taittmya Aranyaka (i. 31) a work of moderate if not great antiquity Nazayanaya

vidmahe Vasudevaya dhimahi.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU

163

Paundraka who pretended to be a deity used the title Vasudeva and ordered Krishna to cease using it, for which impertinence he was slain. This clearly implies that the title was something which could be detached from Krishna and not a mere patrony
mic. Indian writings countenance both etymologies of the word. of the deity they derive it from vas to dwell, he 1 all in whom things abide and who abides in all

As the name

.

Siva and Vishnu are not in their nature different from other Indian ideas, high or low. They are the offspring of philosophic and poetic minds playing with a luxuriant popular mythology. But even in the epics they have already become fixed points in a flux of changing fancies and serve as receptacles in which
the most diverse notions are collected and stored. Nearly all philosophy and superstition finds its place in Hinduism by being connected with one or both of them. The two worships are not
characteristic of different periods they coexist when they first become known to us as they do at the present day and in essential
:

doctrines they are much alike. have no name for this curious double theism in which each party describes its own

We

god

deity as the supreme god or All-god, yet without denying the of the other. Something similar might be produced in

Christianity if different Churches were avowedly to worship different persons of the Trinity.
their worshippers quarrel 2
1

iva and Vishnu are sometimes contrasted and occasionally But the general inclination is rather
.

See Vishnu Pur. vi. v. See also Wilson, Vishnu Purana, i. pp. 2 and 17. 8 Thus the Saura Purana inveighs against the Madhva sect (XXXVIII.-XL.) and calls Vishnu the servant of Siva: a Puranic legal work called the Vriddha-HaritaSamhita is said to contain a polemic against Siva. Occasionally we hear of collisions between the followers of Vishnu and Siva or the desecration of temples by hostile fanatics. But such conflicts take place most often not between widely different

between subdivisions of the same sect, e.g., Ten-galais and Vada-galais. 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 Vishnu or Siva, 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)
sects but
It

that aristocratic

Brahmans usually keep in their private chapels both a salagram representing Vishnu arid emblems representing Siva 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 Kurma Purana, Part I. chap. xxn. contains some curious rules as to what deities should be worshipped by the various

classes of

men and

spirits.

164
to

HINDUISM

[CH.

the two figures approximate by bestowing the same attributes on both. A deity must be able to satisfy emotional devotion: hence the Tamil Sivaite says of Siva the destroyer, "one should worship in supreme love him who does kindness to

make

But then the feature in the world which most im presses the Hindu is the constant change and destruction, and this must find a place in the All-god. Hence the sportive kindly
the
soul."

Krishna comes to be declared the destroyer of the worlds 1 It is as if in some vast Dravidian temple one wandered through two corridors differently ornamented and assigned to the priests of different rites but both leading to the same image. Hence it if indeed is not surprising to find that there is actually a deity the term is suitable, but European vocabularies hardly provide one which meets the case called Harihara (or ankara-Narayana), that is Siva and Vishnu combined. The Harivamsa contains a hymn addressed to him: fairly ancient sculptures
.

attest the prevalence of his worship in the at Badami, he was once the chief deity of
still

Deccan, especially

Camboja and he

is

popular in south India. Here besides being worshipped under his own name he has undergone a singular transformation

and has probably been amalgamated with some aboriginal deity. Under the designation of Ayenar (said to be a corruption of Harihara) he is extensively worshipped as a village god and reputed to be the son of Siva and Vishnu, the latter having kindly assumed the form of a woman to effect his birth. Another form of this inclination to combine and unite the
various manifestations of the Divine is the tendency to worship of a as old as the Vedas. Thus many groups gods, practice are dedicated to a of temples five, namely, Siva, Vishnu, group

Durga, Ganesa and the Sun and it is stated that every Hindu worships these five deities in his daily prayers 2 The Trimurti, or figure of Brahma, Siva and Vishnu, illustrates the worship of groups. Its importance has sometimes been over-estimated by Europeans from an idea that it corresponded to the Christian Trinity, but in reality this triad is late and has little significance. No stress is laid on the idea of three in one and the number of persons can be increased. The Brahma-vaivarta Purana for instance adds Krishna to Brahma, Siva and Vishnu. The union
.

1 2

Bhag.-gita, xi. 23-34. See Srisa Chandra Vasu, Daily practice of the Hindus,

p. 118.

xxv]

SIVA

AND VISHNU

165

of three personalities is merely a way of summing up the chief attributes of the All-God. Thus the Vishnu Purana 1 extols

Vishnu as being ankara (i.e. Hiranyagarbha, Hari and Brahma, Vishnu and Siva), the creator, preserver and destroyer," but in another passage as him who is "Brahma, Isvara and
"

(Pums), who with the three Gunas (qualities of matter) is the cause of creation, preservation and destruction...." The origin of the triad, so far as it has any doctrinal or philosophical
spirit

meaning,
three
1

is

probably to be sought in the personification of the
.

Gunas 2
1

II.

and

i.

1.

See Maitrayana Up. V. 2. Elephanta is not a Trimurti at Hindu Iconog. n. 382.

a

It
all

is highly probable that the celebrated image at but a MaheSamurti of Siva. See Gopinatha Rao,

FEATURES OF HINDUISM: RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

IN the last chapter I traced the growth of the great gods Siva and Vishnu. The prominence of these figures is one of the marks which distinguish the later phase of Indian religion from the

But it is also distinguished by various practices, insti tutions and beliefs, which are more or less connected with the new deities. Such are a new ritual, the elaboration of the caste
earlier.

system, the growth of sects, and the tendency to make devotion to a particular deity the essence of religion. In the present chapter I shall say something of these phenomena.

Hinduism has often and

justly been

compared

to a jungle.

As

in the jungle every particle of soil spirit in vegetable life and plants grow

seems to put forth its on plants, creepers and

parasites

on their more stalwart brethren, so in India art, commerce, warfare and crime, every human interest and

and since men and women of all classes and occupations, all stages of education and civilization, have contributed to Hinduism, much of it seems low, foolish and even immoral. The jungle is not a park or garden. Whatever can grow in it, does grow. The Brahmans
aspiration seek for a manifestation in religion,
are not gardeners but forest officers. To attempt a history or description of Indian creeds seems an enterprise as vast, hope less and pathless as a general account of European politics. As
life of Europe has expressed itself in even longer ages the life of India, which has more inhabitants than western Europe 1 has found expression in religion, speculation and philosophy, and has left of all this thought a voluminous record, mighty in bulk if wanting in dates and events. And why should it chronicle them? The truly religious mind does not care for the history of religion,

for

many

centuries the

politics, so for

,

1 The population of India (about 315 millions) without Russia.

is

larger than that of

Europe

CH. xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

167

just as among us the scientific of science.

mind does not dwell on the history

Yet in spite of their exuberance Hinduism and the jungle have considerable uniformity. Here and there in a tropical
some well-grown tree or brilliant flower attracts attention, but the general impression left on the traveller by the vegetation as he passes through it mile after mile is infinite repetition as well as infinite luxuriance. And so in Hinduism. A monograph on one god or one teacher is an interesting study. But if we continue the experiment, different gods and different teachers are found to be much the same. We can write about Vishnuism and ^ivaism as if they were different religions and this, though incomplete, is not incorrect. But in their higher phases both show much the same excellences and when degraded both lead to much the same abuses, except that the worship of Vishnu does not allow animal sacrifices. This is true even of externals. In the temples of Madura, Poona and Benares, the deities, the
forest

the doctrines, the race of the worshippers and the archi tecture are all different, yet the impression of uniformity is
rites,

strong. In spite of divergences the religion is the same in all three places: is smacks of the soil and nothing like it can be

found outside India. Hinduism is an unusual combination of animism and pan theism, which are commonly regarded as the extremes of savage and of philosophic belief In India both may be found separately but frequently they are combined in startling juxtaposition. The same person who worships Vishnu as identical with the universe also worships him in the form of a pebble or plant 1 The average Hindu, who cannot live permanently in the altitudes
.

.

of pantheistic thought, regards his gods as great natural forces, akin to the mighty rivers which he also worships, irresistible

and often beneficent but also capricious and destructive. Whereas Judaism, Christianity and Islam all identify the moral law with the will and conduct of the deity, in Hinduism this is not com pletely admitted in practice, though a library might be filled
1

But compare the English poet
"Flower

I pluck

in the crannied wall, you out of the crannies,
if

but
I should

I

could understand

What you

are, root

and

all,

and

all in all
is."

know what God and man

168

HINDUISM

[CH.

with the beautiful things that have been said about man and God. The outward forms of Indian religion are pagan after the fashion of the ancient world, a fashion which has in most lands A.D. European passed away. But whereas in the fourth century

paganism, despite the efforts of anti-christian eclectics, proved
inelastic

and incapable of satisfying new religious cravings, this did not happen in India. The bottles of Hinduism have always proved capable of holding all the wine poured into them. When a new sentiment takes possession of men s souls, such as love,
sin, some deity of many shapes and himself to the needs of his adapts sympathies straightway in so the deity, though he enlarges And doing yet worshippers. himself, does not change, and the result is that we often meet with strange anachronisms, as if Jephthah should listen appre ciatively to the Sermon on the Mount and then sacrifice his daughter to Christ. Many Hindu temples are served by dancing 1 an institution which takes girls who are admittedly prostitutes us back to the cultus of Corinth and Babylon and is without parallel in any nation on approximately the same level of civili zation. Only British law prevents widows from being burned with their dead husbands, though even in the Vedic age the custom had been discontinued as barbarous 2 But for the same legislation, human sacrifice would probably be common. What the gods do and what their worshippers do in their service cannot according to Hindu opinion be judged by ordinary laws of right and wrong. The god is supra-moral: the worshipper when he

repentance, or the sense of

,

.

enters the temple leave s conventionality outside. Yet it is unfair to represent Hinduism as characterized
licence

by

Such tendencies are counterbalanced by the strength and prevalence of ideas based on renunciation and self-effacement. All desire, all attachment to the world is an
cruelty.
evil;
all
:

and

self-assertion is

wrong.

Hinduism

is

constantly in

extremes

sometimes

it
:

exults in the dances of Krishna or the

destructive fury of Kali more often it struggles for release from the transitory and for union with the and real

permanent

by

being made by Hindus to suppress this institution. 2 In the Vedic funeral ceremonies the wife lies down by her dead husband and is called back to the world of the living which points to an earlier form of the rite where she died with him. But even at this period, those who did not follow the Vedic customs may have killed widows with their husbands too Ath.
Efforts are

1

now

Veda, (see and later, the invaders from Central Asia probably reinforced the usage. The much-abused Tantras forbid it.
xii. 3),

xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

169

self-denial or rather self-negation, which aims at the total suppression of both pleasure and pain. This is on the whole its

dominant note.
In the records accessible to us the transition from Brahmanthat is, the religion of the Vedas and Brahmanas to Hinduism does not appear as direct but as masked by Buddhism. We see Buddhism grow at the expense of Brahmanism. We are then conscious that it becomes profoundly modified under the influence of new ideas. We see it decay and the religion of the Brahmans emerge victorious. But that religion is not what it was when Buddhism first aiose, and is henceforth generally known as Hinduism. The materials for studying the period in which the change occurred say 400 B.C. to 400 A.D. are not

ism

scanty, but they do not facilitate chronological investigation. Art and architecture are mainly Buddhist until the Gupta period
(c. 320 A.D.) and literature, though plentiful, is undated. The Mahabharata and Ramayana must have been edited in the

course of these 800 years, but they consist of different strata

and it is not easy to separate and arrange them without assuming what we want to prove. From 400 B.C. (if not from an earlier date) onwards there grew up a great volume of epic poetry, founded on popular ballads, telling the stories of Rama and the Pandavas 1 It was distinct from the canonical literatures of both Brahmans and Buddhists, but though it was not in its essential
.

character religious, yet so general in India is the interest religion that whole theological treatises were incorporated these stories without loss, in Indian opinion, to the interest the narrative. If at the present day a congregation is seen
1

in in

of
in

For the history of the Ramayana and Mahabharata and the dates assignable to the different periods of growth, see Winternitz, Gesch. Ind. Lit. vol. I. p. 403 and p. 439. Also Hopkins Great Epic of India, p. 397. The two poems had assumed
something like their present form in the second and fourth centuries A.D. respectively. These are probably the latest dates for any substantial additions or alterations and there is considerable evidence that poems called Bharata and Ramayana were well known early in the Christian era. Thus in AsVaghosha s Sutralankara (story xxiv) they are mentioned as warlike poems inculcating unbuddhist views. The Ramayana is mentioned in the Mahavibhasha and was known to Vasubandhu (J.R.A.S. 1907, p. 99). A Cambojan inscription dating from the first years of the seventh century records arrangements made for the recitation of the Ramayana, Purana and com plete (as"esha) Bharata, which implies that they were known in India considerably
earlier.
itself

See Barth, Inscrip. Sanscrites de Cambodge, pp. 29-31. The Mahabharata admits that it is the result of gradual growth for in the opening section it says that the Bharata consists of 8800 verses, 24,000 verses and 100,000 verses.

170

HINDUISM

[CH.

a Hindu temple listening to a recitation, the text which is being chanted will often prove to be part of the Mahabharata. Such a ceremony is not due to forgetfulness of the Veda but is a before our era whenrhapsodists repetition of what happened long

Such strung together popular narratives and popular theology. and Brahmanisrn from be cannot separated rigidly theology their Buddhism. It grew up under their influence and accepted did simpler ideas. But it brought with it popular beliefs which not strictly speaking belong to either system. By attacking the

main Brahmanic doctrines the Buddhists gave the popular
religion its opportunity. For instance, they condemned sacrifices and derided the idea that trained priests and compli

animal

cated rites are necessary. This did not destroy the influence of the Brahmans but it disposed them to admit that the Vedic sacrifices are not the only means of salvation and to authorize other rites and beliefs. It was about this time, too, that a series

began to pour into India from the north-w est. It may be hard to distinguish between the foreign beliefs which they introduced and the Indian beliefs which they accepted and modified. But it is clear that their general effect was to upset traditional ideas associated with a ritual and learning which
of invasions
r

required lifelong study.

2
been well said 1 that Buddhism did not waste away in India until rival sects had appropriated from it everything they could make use of. Perhaps Hinduism had an even stronger doctrinal influence on Buddhism. The deification of the Buddha, the invention of Bodhisattvas who are equivalent to gods and the extraordinary alliance between late Buddhism and $ivaism, are all instances of the general Indian view overcoming the special Buddhist view. But Buddhism is closely connected with the theory of incarnations and the development of the Advaita philosophy, and in the externals of religion, in rites, ceremonies and institutions, its influence was great and lasting. We may
It has

take first the doctrine of Ahimsa, non-injury, or in other words the sanctity of animal life. This beautiful doctrine, the glory of India, if not invented by the Buddha at least arose in schools which were not Brahmanic and were related to the Jain and
1

Hardy, Indische

Rtligionsijettchichie, p. 101.

xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

171

Buddhist movements. It formed no part of the Vedic religion which sacrifice often meant butchery. But in Hinduism, it meets with extensive though not universal acceptance. With the Vaishnavas it is an article of faith nor do the worshippers of iva usually propitiate him with animal sacrifices, though these are offered by the ^aktas and also by the small class of Brahmans who still preserve the Vedic ritual 1 Hardly any Hindus habitually eat meat and most abhor it, especially beef. Yet beef-eating seems to have been permitted in Vedic times and even when parts of the Mahabharata were composed. Apart from animal sacrifices Buddhism was the main agent in effecting a mighty revolution in worship and ritual. One is tempted to regard the change as total and complete, but such wide assertions are rarely true in India customs and institutions are not swept away by reformers but are cut down like the grass and like the grass grow up again. They sometimes die out but they are rarely destroyed. The Vedic sacrifices are still occasion 2 but for many centuries have been almost entirely ally offered superseded by another form of worship associated with temples and the veneration of images. This must have become the dominant form of Hindu cultus in the first few centuries of our era and probably earlier. It is one of the ironies of fate that the Buddha and his followers should be responsible for the growth of image worship, but it seems to be true. He laughed at sacrifices and left to his disciples only two forms of religious exercise, sermons and meditation. For Indian monks, this was perhaps sufficient, but the laity craved for some outward form of worship. This was soon found in the respect shown to the
in
. :

,

of the Buddha and the relics of his body, although Hinduism never took kindly to relic worship. We hear too of Cetiyas. In the Pitakas this word means a popular shrine uncon nected with either Buddhist orBrahmanic ceremonial, sometimes

memory

1

But some

of these latter sacrifice

images made of dough instead of living

animals.

Agnishtoma was performed in Benares in 1898, and in the two Vedic sacrifices have been offered annually in various parts of southern India. I have myself seen the sites where such sacrifices were offered in 1908-9 in Mysore city and in Chidambaram, and in 1912 at Wei near Poona. The most usual form of sacrifice now-a-days is said to be the Vajapeya. Much Vedic ritual is still preserved in the domestic life of the Nambathiri and other Brahmans of southern India. See Cochin, Tribes and Castes, and Thurston, Castes and Tribes of southern India.
It is said that the
I

2

last

few years

am

told that one or

E. n.

12

172

HINDUISM

[CH.

honoured by such perhaps merely a sacred tree or stone, probably A little later, flowers. simple rites as decorating it with paint or a in Buddhist times, the Cetiya became cenotaph or reliquary, and surrounded by a passage generally located near a monastery
for reverential circumambulation.

Allusions in the Pitakas also indicate that then as

now

there

were fairs. The early Buddhists thought that though such gatherings were not edifying they might be made so. They erected sacred buildings near a monastery, and held festivals so
that people might collect together, visit a holy place, and hear sermons. In the earliest known sanctuaries, the funeral monu ment (for we can scarcely doubt that this is the origin of the

has already assumed the conventional form known as Dagoba, consisting of a dome and chest of relics, with a spire at the top, the whole surrounded by railings or a colonnade, but though the carving is lavish, no figure of the Buddha himself is to be seen. He is represented by a symbol such as a footprint, wheel, or tree. But in the later school of sculpture known as Gandhara or Grseco-Buddhist he is frequently shown in a full length portrait. This difference is remarkable. It is easy to say that in the older school the Buddha was not depicted out of reverence, but less easy to see why such delineation should have shocked an Indian. But at any rate there is no difficulty in
stupa)
1

understanding that Greeks or artists influenced by Greeks would think it obvious and proper to make an effigy of their

we have if not the origin of the Hindu at rate a temple, any parallel development more nearly allied 2 to it than anything in the Vedic For the Buddhist religion shrine was a monument built over a receptacle containing relics and the essential feature of Hindu temples is a cell containing
.

principal hero. In these shrines

an image or emblem and generally surmounted by a tower. The surrounding courts and corridors may assume gigantic propor tions, but the central shrine is never large. Images had no place
1 The outline of a stupa may be due to imitation of houses constructed with curved bamboos as Vincent Smith contends (History of Fine Art, p. 17). But this is compatible with the view that stone buildings with this curved outline had come to be used specially as funeral monuments before Buddhism popularized in India and all Eastern Asia the architectural form called 2

The temple

of Aihole

near

Badami seems

Buddhist stupa with a pradaksluna path and a Hindu shrine.

stupa. to be a connecting link

between a

xxvr]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

173

in the Vedic sacrifices and those now worshipped in temples are generally small and rude, and sometimes (as at Bhuvaneshwar and Srirangam) the deity is represented by a block or carved stone which cannot be moved, and may have been honoured

known

as a sacred rock long before the name of Vishnu or iva was in those regions 1 The conspicuous statues often found
.

outside the shrine are not generally worshipped and are merely ornaments. Buddhism did not create the type of ritual now

used in Hindu temples, yet it contributed towards it, for it attacked the old Brahmanic sacrifices, it countenanced the idea that particular places and objects are holy, and it encouraged the use of images. It is strange that these wide-spread ideas should find no place in the Vedic religion, but even now-a-days whenever the old Vedic sacrifices are celebrated they are uncontaminated by the temple ceremonial. More than this, the priests or Pujaris who officiate in temples are not always Brahmans and they rarely enjoy much consideration 2 This curious and marked feature may be connected with the inveterate Indian
.

though it is well to multiply rites and rules for no neophytes, great respect is due to men occupied with mere ceremonial. But it also testifies to a dim consciousness that modern temples and their ceremonies have little to do with the thoughts and mode of life which made the Brahmans a force
feeling that,

In many ways the Brahmans dissociate themselves from popular religion. Those of good family will not perform religious rites for Sudras and treat the Brahmans who do so as
in India.
inferiors 3
.

The simplest ceremonial in use at the present day is that employed in some Sivaite temples. It consists in placing leaves
on the linga and pouring holy water over it. These rites, which may be descended from prehistoric stone worship, are generally
In most temples (at least in southern India) there are two images: the nv&lais of stone and fixed in the sanctuary, and the utsava-vigraha which is smaller, made of metal and carried in processions. 2 Thus Bhattacharya (Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 127) enumerates eleven classes of Brahmans, who "have a very low status on account of their being connected
1

vigraha which

with the great public shrines," and adds that mere residence in a place of pilgrimage few generations tends to lower the status of a Brahmanic family. 3 Thus in Bengal there is a special class, the Barna Brahmans, who perform six classes according to the religious rites for the lower castes, and are divided into castes to whom they minister. Other Brahmans will not eat or intermarry with them or even take water from them.
for a

17 4

HINDUISM

[CH.

of a Purana. But the commonest accompanied by the reading in treating the image or symbol consists ritual of form temple 1 It is awakened, bathed, dressed human honoured an being as and put to bed at the close of day. Meals are served to it at the usual hours. The food thus offered is called prasdd (or favour) and is eaten by the devout. Once or twice a day the god holds a levee and on festivals he is carried in procession. These cere monies are specially characteristic of the worship of Krishna whose images receive all the endearments lavished on a pet child. But they are also used in the temples of Siva and Parvati,
.

and no
of the

less

than twenty-two of them are performed in the course

day at the temple of Bhuvaneshwar in Orissa. It is clear that the spirit of these rites is very different from that which in other civilized countries at the present inspires public worship or didactic, though if any of not are congregational day. They
the faithful are in the temple at the time of the god s levee it Neither do they is proper for them to enter and salute him.
recall

the magical ceremonies of the Vedic sacrifices 2 The waving of lights (arati) before the god and the burning of incense
.

are almost the only acts suggestive of ecclesiastical ritual. The rest consists in treating a symbol or image as if it were a living

thing capable of enjoying simple physical pleasures. Here there are two strata. We have really ancient rites, such as the anointing
or ornamenting of stones and offerings of food in sacred places. In this class too we may reckon the sacrifice of goats (and
3 But on the other hand the formerly of human beings) to Kali growing idea of Bhakti, that is faith or devotion, imported a sentimental element and the worshipper endeavoured to pet,
.

caress
It
1

and amuse the
is

deity.
artistic in this

hard to see anything either healthy or
is

This

some account
in J. of
2

extraordinarily like the temple ritual of the ancient Egyptians. For of the construction and ritual of south Indian temples see Richards

Mythic Soc. 1919, pp. 158-167. are used in these ceremonies. The libations of water or othor liquids are said to be accompanied by the mantras recited at the Soma

But Vcdic mantras

sacrifice.
3 At these sacrifices there is no elaborate ritual or suggestion of symbolism. The animal is beheaded and the inference is that Kali likes it. Similarly simple is the offering of coco-nuts to Kali. The worshipper gives a nut to the pujari who splits it in two with an axe, spills the milk and hands back half the nut to the

worshipper. This
fetish.

is

the sort of primitive offering that might be

made

to an African

xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

175

emotional ritual. The low and foolish character of many temple ceremonies disgusts even appreciative foreigners, but these services are not the whole of Hindu worship. All Hindus per form in the course of the day numerous acts of private devotion varying according to sect,, and a pious man is not depen dent on the temple like a catholic on his church. Indian
largely occupied with these private, intimate, individual observances, hardly noticeable as ceremonies and concerned with such things as dressing, ablution and the preparation of
life is

food.

The monastic institutions of India seem due to Buddhism. There were wandering monks before the Buddha s time, but the practice of founding establishments where they could reside permanently, originated in his order. There appears to be no
(as opposed to Buddhist) monasteries before ankara in the ninth century, though there must have been places where the learned congregated or where wandering ascetics could lodge. ankara perceived the advantage of the cenobitic life for organizing religion and founded a number of

record of

Hindu

the time of

maths or colleges. Subsequent religious leaders imitated him. At the present day these institutions are common, yet it is clear that the wandering spirit is strong in Hindus and that they do not take to monastic discipline and fixed residence as readily as Tibetans and Burmese. A math is not so much a convent as the abode of a teacher. His pupils frequent it and may become semi-resident: aged pilgrims may make it their last home, but the inmates are not a permanent body following a fixed rule like the monks of a Vihara. The Sattras of Assam, however, are true monasteries (though even there vows and monastic costume are unknown) and so are the establishments of the Swaminarayana sect at Ahmedabad and Wartal.

The vast and complicated organization of caste is mainly a post-Vedic growth and in the Buddha s time was only in the 1 His order was open to all classes alike, but this does making not imply that he was adverse to caste, so far as it then pre.

1

See especially the Ambattha Sutta (Dig. Nik. 3) and Rhys Davids

s

introduc

tion.

176

HINDUISM

[CH.

into categories deter vailed, or denied that men are divided But on the whole the mined by their deeds in other births.
influence of

Buddhism was unfavourable to caste, especially to the pretensions of the Brahmans, and an extant polemic against 1 On the caste is ascribed (though doubtfully) to Asvaghosha
.

other hand, though caste is in its origin the expression of a social rather than of a religious tendency, the whole institution and mechanism have long been supported and exploited by the

Brahmans. Few
a

of them would dispute the proposition that cannot be a Hindu unless he belongs to a caste. The reason of this support is undisguised, namely, that they are the first and chief caste. They make their own position a matter of

man

and claim the power of purifying and rehabilitating lost caste but they do not usually interfere with the rules of other castes or excommunicate those who break them 2 That is the business of the Pancayat or caste
religion

those

who have
.

council.

Sometimes religion and caste are in opposition, for many modern religious leaders have begun by declaring that among believers there are no social distinctions. This is true not only of teachers whose orthodoxy is dubious, such as Nanak, the founder of the Sikhs, and Basava, the founder of the Lingayats 3 but also of Vallabhacarya and Caitanya. But in nearly all cases caste reasserts itself. The religious teachers of the sect receive extravagant respect and form a body apart. This phenomenon, which recurs in nearly all communities, shows how the Brahmans established their position. At the same time social distinctions make themselves felt among the laity, and those who claim to be of good position dissociate themselves from those of lower birth. The sect ends by observing caste on ordinary occasions, and it is only in some temples (such as that of Jagannath at 4 Puri) that the worshippers mix and eat a sacred meal together. Sometimes, however, the sect which renounces caste becomes
,

See Weber, Die Vajrasuchi and Nanjio, Catal. No. 1303. In Ceylon at the members of the higher castes can become Bhikkhus. 3 But it is said that in Southern India serious questions of caste are reported to the abbot of the Sringeri monastery for his decision.
present day only
3

1

The modern Lingayats demur
So too in the cakras
ceremony.

to the statement that their founder rejected

caste.
4

of the Saktists all castes are

equal during the performance

of the

xxvi]
itself

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

177

a caste. Thus, the Sikhs have become almost a nation and other modern castes arising out of sects are the Atiths, who
are
ivaites, the Saraks,

who appear

to

have been originally

Buddhists, and the Baislmabs (Vaishnavas), a name commonly given in Bengal to those followers of Caitanya who persist in the original rule of disregarding caste regulations within the sect, and hence now form a separate community. But as a rule
sect

and caste are not co-extensive and the caste is not a religious

corporation. Thus the different subdivisions of the Baniyas belong to different sects and even in the same subdivision there
is

no

religious uniformity Caste in its later developments is so
.

1

complex and

irregular,

that it is impossible to summarize it in a formula or explain it as the development of one principle. In the earliest form known

have first racial principles are already in operation. distinction. The three upper castes represent the invading

two

We

Aryans, the fourth the races whom they found in India. In the modern system of caste, race is not a strong factor. Many who claim to be Brahmans and Kshatriyas have no Aryan blood, but still the Aryan element is strongest in the highest castes and decreases as we descend the social scale and also decreases in the higher castes in proportion as we move from the north west to the east and south. But secondly in the three upper castes the dividing principle, as reported in the earliest accounts, is not race but occupation. We find in most Aryan countries a division into nobles and people, but in India these two classes become three, the priests having been able to assume a pro minence unknown elsewhere and to stamp on literature their claim to the highest rank. This claim was probably never admitted in practice so completely as the priests desired. It was certainly disputed in Buddhist times and I have myself heard a young Rajput say that the Brahmans falsified the Epics so as to give themselves the first place. It is not necessary for our purpose to describe the details of the modern caste system. Its effect on Indian religion has been considerable, for it created the social atmosphere in which the
Srimalis and Palliwals) include both Jains and the Agarwals are mostly Vaishnavas but some of them are Jains and some worship Siva and Kali. Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects,
1

Some (Khandelwals, Dasa
:

Vaishnavas
pp. 205
ff.

178

HINDUISM

[CH.

various beliefs grew up and it has furnished the Brahmans with the means of establishing their authority. But many religious reformers preached that in religion caste does not exist that there is neither Jew nor Gentile in the language of another creed
of this theory is never complete, of religious opposition but of result not the the imperfection is life Hindu social permeated by the instinct that

and though the application
is

pressure. some common society must be divided into communities having with eat other com or to interest and refusing intermarry bears even a castes of modern list munities. The long hardly 1 of Vedic times Numerous classes four to the relation theoretical
.

subdivisions with exclusive rules as to intermarriage and eating have arisen among the Brahmans and the strength of this fissiparous instinct is seen among the Mohammedans who nominally have no caste but yet are divided into groups with

much

the

same

restrictions.

This remarkable tendency to form exclusive corporations is perhaps correlated with the absence of political life in India. Such ideas as nationality, citizenship, allegiance to a certain prince, patriotic feelings for a certain territory are rarer and vaguer than elsewhere, and yet the Hindu is dependent on his fellows and does not like to stand alone. So finding little satis faction in the city or state he clings the more tenaciously to
smaller corporations. These have no one character: they are not founded on any one logical principle but merely on the need
felt

by people who have something in common to associate together. Many are based on tribal divisions; some, such as the Marathas and Newars, may be said to be nationalities. In many the bond of union is occupation, in a few it is sectarian religion. We can still observe how members of a caste who migrate from their original residence tend to form an entirely new caste, and how intertribal marriages among the aborigines create new tribes.
1

the hundreds of

The names used are not the same. The four Vedic modern castes are called Jdli.

castes are called Varna:

xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH

179

Sect 1
of

must not be confounded with
kinds; some,
if

caste.

Hindu

sects are

not militant, are at least exceedingly self-confident. Others are so gentle in stating their views that they might be called schools rather than sects, were the word not too intellectual. The notion that any creed or code can be quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus, is less prevalent than in Europe and even the Veda, though it is the eternal word, is admitted to exist in several recensions. Hinduism is possible as a creed only to those who select. In its literal sense

many

means simply all the beliefs and rites recognized in India, too multifarious and inconsistent for the most hospitable and addled brain to hold. But the Hindus, who are as loth to
it
life,

abolish queer beliefs and practices as they are to take animal are also the most determined seekers after a satisfying form

of religion.

Brahmanic
is

ritual
life.

and Buddhist monasticism de

mand
of

the dedication of a

but the sect
stand and

open to

all.

It

afford that, to sort out the chaos of attempts

Not every one can

mythology and superstition something which all can under all may find useful. It selects some aspect of Hinduism and makes the best of it. Sects usually start by preaching theism and equality in the sight of God, but in a few generations mythology and social distinctions creep in. Hence though the prevalence of sect is undoubtedly a feature of modern Hinduism it is also intelligible that some observers should assert that most Hindus belong to the same general religion and that only the
minority are definitely sectarian. The sectarian tendency is stronger in Vishnuism than in Sivaism. The latter has produced some definite sects, as, for instance, Lingayats, but is not like Vishnuism split up into a number of Churches each founded by a human teacher and provided by him with a special creed. Most Indian sects are in their origin theistic, that is to say, they take a particular deity and identify him with the Supreme Being. But the pantheistic tendency does not disappear. Popular religion naturally desires a personal deity. But it is significant that the personal deity frequently assumes pan theistic attributes and is declared to be both the world and the
1 Sampradaya seems to be the ordinary Sanskrit word means traditional teaching transmitted from one teacher

for sectarian doctrine

It

to another.

180

HINDUISM

[CH.

human soul. The
of

best known sects arose after Islam had entered India and some of them, such as the Sikhs, show a blending

Hindu and Moslem

ideas.

But

if

Mohammedan

influence

favoured the formation of corporations pledged to worship one less by introducing something new particular deity, it acted than by quickening a line of thought already existing. The
sectarian pan Bhagavad-gita is as complete an exposition of theism as any utterances posterior to Mohammedanism.

Hinduism is bhakti, word fraddhd, which is found in the Vedas, is less emotional for it means simply belief in the existence of a deity, whereas bhakti can often be rendered by

The

characteristic doctrine of sectarian

faith or devotion.

The

older

It is passionate, self-oblivious devotion to a deity who in return (though many would say there is no bartering) bestows his grace (prasdda or anugraha). St Augustine in defining faith says: "Quid est credere in Deum? credendo amare, credendo love.
diligere,

et ejus membris incorporari 1 This is an excellent paraphrase of bhakti and the words have an oriental ring which is not quite that of the New Testament.

credendo in

eum

ire,

."

Though the doctrine of bhakti marks the beginning of a new epoch in Hinduism it is not necessary to regard it as an importa tion or due to Christianity. About the time of the Christian era there was felt in many countries a craving for a gentler and more emotional worship and though the history of
is obscure, Indian literature shows plainly how it may be a development of native ideas. Its first great textbook is the Bhagavad-gita, but it is also mentioned in the last verse of the Svetasvatara Upanishad and Panini appears to allude to bhakti felt for 2 Vasudeva. The Katha Upanishad 3 contains the

Bhaktism

following passage
"That

:

Atman cannot be gained by the Veda, nor by under standing nor by much learning. He whom the Atman chooses, by him the Atman can be gained. The Atman chooses him as his own." Here we have not the idea of faith or love, but we have the negative statement that the Atman is not won by knowledge and the positive statement that this Atman chooses
1 I am discussing elsewhere may owe to one another. 2

the possible debt which Christianity and Hinduism

Panini, iv.

3.
i.

95-98.
1.

3

Katha Up.

2, 23.

xxvi]
his

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH
"I

181

own. In the Rig Veda 1 there is a poem put into the mouth Vac or speech, containing such sentiments as give wealth to him who gives sacrifice....! am that through which one eats, breathes, sees, and hears.... Him that I love I make strong, to
of

be a priest, a

seer,

a

sage."

This reads like an ancient preliminary

study for the Bhagavad-gita. Like Krishna the deity claims to be in all and, like him, to reward her votaries. It is true that
is not distinctly expressed, but it is surely 2 Again, in the Kaushitaki Upanishad struggling for expression (in. 1 and 2) Indra says to Pratardana, who had asked him for

the

"Come

unto

me

"

.

"Know me only: that is, what I deem most beneficial man, that he should know me.... He who meditates on me as life and immortality gains his full life in this world and in heaven immortality." Here the relation of the devotee to the

a boon,

to

deity

is

purely intellectual not emotional, but the idea that

intellectual devotion directed to a particular deity will be rewarded is clearly present. In the Rig Veda this same Indra
is

called a deliverer

and advocate; a

friend, a brother

and a

father; even a father and mother in one. Here the worshipper does not talk of bhakti because he does not analyze his feelings,

but clearly these phrases are inspired by affectionate devotion. Nor is the spirit of bhakii absent from Buddhism. The severe

Buddha is simply a teacher and that every man must save himself. But since the teacher is the source of the knowledge which saves, it is natural to feel for him grateful and affectionate devotion. This sentiment permeates the two books of poems called Thera and Therigatha and sometimes finds clear expression 3 In the commentary on the Dhammapada 4 the doctrine of salvation by devotion is affirmed in its extreme form, namely that a dying man who has faith in the Buddha will be reborn in heaven. But this commentary is not of early date and the doctrine quoted is probably an instance of the Hinayana borrowing the attractive features of the Mahayana. The sutras about Amitabha s paradise, which were composed about the time of the Christian era and owe something to Persian though not to Christian
doctrine of the older schools declares that the
.

1

R.v.

x. 125.

*

Compare too the hymns

of Bhakti
3

of the R.V. to Varuna as a rudimentary expression from the worshipper s point of view. I. 2. E.g. Theragatha, 818-841 and 1231-1245.

182

HINDUISM

[CH.

influence, preach faith in Amitabha as the whole of religion. They who believe in him and call on his name will go to heaven.

When bhakti was once accepted as a part of Indian religion, was erected into a principle, analogous or superior to know 1 ledge and was defined in Sutras similar to those of the Sarikhya and Vedanta. But its importance in philosophy is small, whereas its power as an impulse in popular religion has been enormous. To estimate its moral and intellectual value is difficult, for like so much in Hinduism it offers the sharpest contrasts. Its obvious manifestations may seem to be acts of devotion which cannot be commended ethically and belief in puerile stories yet we find
it
:

that this offensive trash continually turns into gems of religious thought unsurpassed in the annals of Buddhism and Christianity.

The doctrine

of bhakti is

common

to both Vishnuites

and

$ivaites. It is perhaps in general estimation associated with the former more than with the latter, but this is because the

Bhagavad-gita and various forms of devotion to Krishna are well known, whereas the Tamil literature of Dravidian ivaism is ignored by many European scholars. One might be inclined to suppose that the emotional faith sprang up first in the worship of Vishnu, for the milder god seems a natural object for love, whereas Siva has to undergo a certain transformation before he can evoke such feelings. But there is no evidence that this is the historical development of the bhakti sentiment, and
if

the Bhagavad-gita is emphatic in enjoining the worship of Krishna only, the !vetasvatara and Maitrayaniya Upanishads favour Siva, and he is abundantly extolled in many parts of the Mahabharata. Here, as so often, exact chronology fails us in the early history of these sects, but it is clear that the practice of worshipping Siva and Vishnu, as being each by himself allsufficient, cannot have begun much later than the Christian era and may have begun considerably earlier, even though people did not call themselves Saivas or Vaishnavas.
1 They are called the andilya Sutras and appear to be not older than about the twelfth century A.D., but the tradition which connects them with the School of Sandilya may be just, for the teaching of this sage (Chandog. Up. in. 14) lays stress on will and belief. Ramanuja (Sribhashya, n. 2. 43) refers to Sandilya as the alleged author of the Paficaratra. There are other Bhakti sutras called Naradiya and ascribed to Narada, published and translated in The Sacred Books of the Hindus, No. 23. They consist of 84 short aphorisms. Raj. Mitra in his notices of Sanskrit MSS. describes a great number of modern works dealing with Bhakti.

xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH
is

183

Bhakti

ness of God. This idea
roots partly in the
deities.

often associated with the doctrine of the playful so strange to Europe 1 may have its

odd non-moral attributes of some early Thus the Rudra of the Satarudriya hymn is a queer character and a trickster. But it soon takes a philosophical tinge and is used to explain the creation and working of the universe which is regarded not as an example of capricious,
ironical, inscrutable action,

but rather as manifesting easy,

joyous movement and the exuberant rhythm of a dance executed for its own sake. The European can hardly imagine a sensible
person doing anything without an object: he thinks it almost profane to ascribe motiveless action to the Creator: he racks his brain to discover any purpose in creation which is morally worthy and moderately in accord with the facts of experience. But he can find none. The Hindu, on the contrary, argues that God being complete and perfect cannot be actuated by aims or motives, for all such impulses imply a desire to obtain some thing, whereas a perfect and complete being is one which by its very definition needs neither change nor addition. Therefore, whatever activity is ascribed to the creator must not be thought

but as spontaneous, exultant movement, needing and admitting no explanation, and analogous to sport and play rather than to the proceedings of prudent people. This view of the divine activity is expounded by so serious a writer as ^ankara in his commentary on the
of as calculating, purposeful endeavour,

Vedanta Sutras, and it also finds mythological expression in numerous popular legends. The Tamil Puranas describe the sixty-four miracles of Siva as his amusements his laughter and joyous movements brighten all things, and the street minstrels
:

sing

2 He is sports in the world, He sports in the soul in Hall of the at to dance the Golden Chidam temple supposed baram and something of the old legends of the Satarudriya
"He
."

1

Yet

it is

found in Francis Thompson So best

s

poem

called

Any

Saint

God
With

loves to jest

children small, a freak Of heavenly hide and seek
Fit
wit.
p. 23.

For thy wayward
2

Pope, The History of Manikka-Vafagar, Siddhanta Dipika, vol. ix.

For the 64 sports

of Siva see

184

HINDUISM
titles as

[CH.

hangs about such popular
(Kalvar] and the
stories

the Deceiver and the Maniac

of his going about disguised and in the form of a mendicant. The idea his worshippers visiting and playfulness is also prominent in Vishnuism. It is of

sport

a striking feature in the cultus of both the infant and the it recorded in the youthful Krishna, but I have not found
severer worship of Rama. Another feature of Hindu sects
is the extravagant respect The or teachers. to Gurus sanctity of the Guru is an old paid conviction in India. By common consent he is entitled to absolute obedience and offences against him are heinous crimes.

But

that the

in sectarian literature there appears a new claim, namely, Guru in some way is or represents the god whose

worship he teaches.
saviour, the

Guru

is

If the deity is thought of primarily as a said to deliver from suffering and hell: if

he requires surrender and sacrifice, then person and possessions must be dedicated to the Guru. Membership of a sect can be attained only by initiation at the hands of a Guru who can teach a special mantra or formula of which each sect has its own. In some of the more modern sects the Guru need not be a Brahman, but if he cannot be venerated for his caste, the deficiency is compensated by the respect which he receives as a repository of oral teaching. The scriptural basis of many sects is dubious and even when it exists, many of the devout (especially women) have not the inclination or ability to read and therefore take their religion from the lips of the Guru, who thus becomes an oracle and source of truth. In Bengal, the family Guru is a regular institution in respectable castes. In many sects the founder or other prominent saint is described as an incarnation and receives veneration after death 1 This veneration or deification of the Guru is found in most
.

sects and assumes as extreme a form among the Saivas as among the Vaishnavas. The aiva Siddhanta teaches that divine instruction can be received only from one who is both god and man, and that the true Guru is an incarnation of Siva. Thus the works of Manikka-Vayagar and Umapati speak of Siva coming

to his devotees in the form of the Guru.

In the sects that

worship

Krishna the
1

Gurus are frequently called Gosain

E.g.

Ramdnuja, Nammarvar, Basava.

xxvi]

RITUAL, CASTE, SECT, FAITH
1
.

185

(Goswami)
family, as

Sometimes they are members of a particular
the Vallabhacaryas.

among

In other sects there

is

no hereditary principle and even a Sudra is eligible as Guru. One other feature of Sectarian Hinduism must be mentioned. It may be described as Tantrism or, in one of its aspects, as the later Yoga and is a combination of practices and theories which have their roots in the old literature and began to form
a connected doctrine at least as early as the eighth century A.D.

Some

of its principal ideas are as follows (i) Letters and syllables (and also their written forms and diagrams) have a potent influence both for the human organism and for the universe.
:

This idea

veloped organism

in the early in the later Sectarian
is is

found

Upanishads Upanishads.

2

and
(ii)
.

is

fully

de

The human

a miniature copy of the universe 3 It contains many lines or channels (nadi) along which the nerve force moves and also nervous centres distributed from the hips to the head, (iii) In the lowest centre resides a force identical with the force which creates the universe 4 When by processes which are partly physical it is roused and made to ascend to the highest centre, emancipation and bliss are obtained, (iv) There is a
.

mysterious connection between the process of cosmic evolution and sound, especially the sacred sound Om. These ideas are developed most thoroughly in Saktist works, but are by no means peculiar to them. They are found in the Pancaratra and the later Puranas and have influenced almost all modern sects, although those which are based on emotional devotion are naturally less inclined to favour physical and

magical means of obtaining salvation.
1

Apparently meaning
is

"possessor

Krishna. Tt
senses.

also interpreted as

of cows," and originally a title of the youthful meaning Lord of the Vedas or Lord of his own

2 E.g. the beginning of the Chand. Up, about the syllable section of the Aitareya Aran. The Yoga Upanishads analyse

Om. See too the last and explain Om and

of letters

some Vishnuite Upanishads (Nrisimha- and Ramata-paniya) enlarge on the subject and diagrams. 3 The same idea pervades the old literature in a slightly different form. The parts
of the sacrifice are constantly identified with parts of the universe or of the

human
in

body.
4

The cakras

are mentioned in

Act v

of Malati

and Madhava written early
Upanishads

the eighth century.

The doctrine

of the nadis occurs in the older

(e.g.

Chand. and Maitrayaria) in a rudimentary form.

CHAPTER XXVII
THE EVOLUTION OF HINDUISM. BHAGAVATAS AND PASUPATAS
1
is a literary country and naturally so great a change as the transformation of the old religion into theistic sects preaching

INDIA

by devotion to a particular deity found expression in a long and copious literature. This literature supplements and supersedes the Vedic treatises but without impairing their theoretical authority, and, since it cannot compare with them in antiquity and has not the same historic interest, it has received little attention from Indianists until the present century. But in spite of its defects it is of the highest importance for an understanding of medieval and contemporary Hinduism. Much of it is avowedly based on the principle that in this 1 and that degenerate age the Veda is difficult to understand therefore God in His mercy has revealed other texts containing a clear compendium of doctrine. Thus the great Vishnuite doctor
salvation
,

Ramanuja
then
is

states authoritatively

"The

incontrovertible fact

The Lord who texts... recognising that the Vedas
as follows:

is

known from

are difficult to

the Vedanta fathom by all

beings other than himself... with a view to enable his devotees to grasp the true meaning of the Vedas, himself composed the Pancaratra-Sastra 2 This later sectarian literature falls into several divisions.
.

A. Certain episodes of the Mahabharata. The most celebrated
of these is the Bhagavad-gita, which is probably anterior to the Christian era. Though it is incorporated in the Epic it is fre

quently spoken of as an independent work.

Later and

less

celebrated but greatly esteemed by Vishnuites is the latter part 1 An attempt was made to adapt the Veda to modern ideas by composing new
Upanishads. The inspiration of such works

same
iii

is not denied but they have not the mentioned below. 2 Sri Bhashya, n. 2. 43. So too the Vishnu Parana, T. 1 describes itself as equal sanctity to the Vedas. Sankara on Brah. Sutras, I. 3. 33 says that the Puranas

influence as the literature

are authoritative.

CH. xxvii]
of

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS
.

187

1 Both these xii, commonly known as Narayaniya 2 and are others to metrical episodes closely analogous Upanishads. The Mahabharata even styles itself (i. 261) the Veda of Krishna

book

(Karshna).
religious episodes com to those the mentioned but parable story has more than once been re- written in a religious and philosophic form. Of such

The Ramayana does not contain

versions the

3 Adhyatmaramayana and Yoga-vasishtha-rama-

yana
B.

are very popular.
4 Though the Puranas

are not at

all alike,

most

of

them

show

clear affinity both as literature and as religious thought to the various strata of the Mahabharata, and to the Law Books,

especially the metrical code of Manu. These all represent a form of orthodoxy which while admitting much that is not found
in the

Veda
(e.g.

is

still

Brahmanic and

traditionalist.

The

older

Matsya, Vayu, Markandeya, Vishnu), or at least the older parts of them, are the literary expression of that Hindu reaction which gained political power with the accession of the Gupta dynasty. They are less definitely sectarian than later works such as the Narada and Liriga Puranas, yet all are more
or less sectarian.

Puranas

The most

influential

Parana

is

the Bhagavata, one of the

great scriptures for all sects which worship Krishna. It is said to have been translated into every language of India and forty
versions in Bengali alone are mentioned 5
1
.

It

was probably com-

See Grierson in Ind. Ant. 1908,

p.

251 and

p. 373.

E.g. the Sanatsujatiya and Anugita (both in S.B.E. vin.). philosophische Texte des Mahdbhdratam.
3

2

See Deussen, Vier

of the Brahmanda Purana. See for a summary of them Winternitz, Gesch. Ind. Lit. I. pp. 450-483. For the dates see Pargiter Dynasties of the Kali age. He holds that the historical portions of the older Puranas were compiled in Prakrit about 250 A.D. and re-edited in Sanskrit about 350. See also Vincent Smith, Early History, p. 21 and, against Pargiter, Keith in J.R.A.8. 1914, p. 1021. Alberuni (who wrote in 1030) mentions eighteen Puranas and gives two lists of them. Bana (c. 620 A.D.) mentions the

Forming part

4

Vayu Purana. The commentary on the SVetasVatara Upan. ascribed to Sankara quotes the Brahma P., Linga P. and Vishnu P. as authorities as well as Puranic texts described as Vishnudharma and Sivadharmottara. But
recitation of the

the authorship of this commentary is doubtful. The Puranic literature as we know it probably began with the Gupta dynasty or a century before it, but the word Parana in the sense of an ancient legend which ought to be learnt occurs as early
as the Satapatha
6

Brahmana (XT. 5. 6. 8) and even in A.V. xi. 7. 24. See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Hist. Bengali Language and Lit. pp. 220-225.
,

EH.

3

188

HINDUISM
.

[CH.

tenth book into Hindi, called the Prem Sagar or Ocean of Love, 2 Other sectarian Puranas is greatly revered in northern India are frequently read at temple services. Besides the eighteen and in south India at any great Puranas there are many others, rate they were sometimes composed in the vernacular, as for instance the Periya Purana (c. 1100A.D.). These vernacular Puranas seem to be collections of strangely fantastic fairy tales. C. The word Tantra originally meant a manual giving the
.

ninth century 1 posed in the eighth or

A

free translation of the

essentials of a subject

but later usage tends to restrict it to or Hindu whether Buddhist, inculcating the worship of works,

Diva s spouse. But there are exceptions to this restriction: the Panca-tantra is a collection of stories and the Lakshmi-tantra is a Vishnuite work 3 The fact is that a whole class of Sanskrit religious literature 4 which is described by the titles Tantra, Agama and Samhita taken in a wide sense are practically synonymous, though usage is inclined to apply the first specially to Saktist works, the
.

,

second to Sivaite and the third to Vishnuite. The common character of all these productions is that they do not attempt to combine Vedic rites and ideas with sectarian worsnip, but boldly state that, since the prescriptions of the Veda are too hard for this age, some generous deity has revealed an easier teaching. This teaching naturally varies in detail, but it usually comprises devotion to some special form of the godhead and also a special ceremonial, which commences with initiation and
includes the use of mystic formula, letters
1

and diagrams.

for

it

Pargiter, I.e. pp. xvii, xxviii. It does not belong to the latest class of Puranas seems to contemplate the performance of Smarta rites not temple ceremonial,

but it is not quoted by Ramanuja (twelfth century) though he cites the Vishnu Purana. Probably he disapproved of it. 2 It was made as late as 1803 by Lallu Ji Lai, but is a rendering into Hindi of a version in the Braj dialect, probably made in the sixteenth centurj 3 Another Vishnuite work is cited indifferently as Padma-tantra or Padma-samhita, and the Bhagavata Purana (i. 3. 8) speaks of the Sattvatam Tantram, which
.

apparently the Sattvata-sarnhita. The work edited by Schrader is described as the the Pdncardtra Agama. 4 See for some notices of these works A. Avalon s various publications about Tantra. Srinivasa lyengar, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, 118-191. Govmdacarya Svami on the Vaishnava Samhitas, J.R.A.S. 1911, pp. 935 S. Schomerus, QaivaSiddhdnta, pp. 7 ff. and Schrader s Introduction to the Pdncardtra. Whereas these works claim to be independent of the Veda, the Sectarian (see vol. I.
is

Ahirbudhnya Samhita of

p. 76) are

Upanishads an attempt to connect post-Vedic sects with the Veda.

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS

189

Tantras, Agamas and Samhitas all treat of their subject-matter in four divisions 1 the first of which relates to the great problems of philosophy, the second to the discipline necessary for uniting the self and God; the third and fourth to ceremonial. These works have another feature in common, namely that
to those Hindus who use them for and are religious purposes probably not very anxious to see them published. Though they are numerous, few of them have been printed and those few have not been much studied by European scholars. I shall say something more about them below

they are

little

known except

in treating of the various sects. Some are of respectable antiquity but it is also clear that modern texts pass under ancient names.

The Pane ara tram and Pasupatam which

are Vishnuite

$ivaite Samhitas are mentioned in the Mahabharata,

and and some

extant Vishnuite Samhitas were perhaps composed in the fourth 2 Ramanuja as quoted above states that the century A.D. Pancaratra-sastra (apparently the same as the Pancaratra-tantra which he also mentions) was composed by Vasudeva himself and also cites as scripture the Sattvata, Paushkara and Parama Samhitas. In the same context he speaks of the Mahabharata as Bharata-Samhita and the whole passage is interesting as being a statement by a high authority of the reasons for accepting a non-Vedic work like the Pancaratra as revealed scripture.

As already indicated European usage makes the words Tantra, Tantrism and tantric refer to the worship of goddesses. It would be better to describe this literature and worship as Saktism and to use Tantrism for a tendency in doctrine and ceremonial which otherwise has no special name. I have been informed by Tamil Pandits that at the present day the ritual in some temples is smarta or according to Smriti, but in the majority according to the Agamas or tantric. The former which is followed by many well-known shrines (for instance in Benares and in the great temples of south India) conforms to the pre1 Jnana, Yoga, Carya, Kriya. The same names are used of Buddhist Tantras, except that Anuttara replaces Jnana. 2 See Schrader, Introd. to the Pdncardlra, p. 98. In the Raghuvamsa, x. 27. Agamas are not only mentioned but said to be extremely numerous. But in such passages it is hard to say whether Agama means the books now so-called or merely tradition. Alberuni seems not to have known of this literature and a Tantra for him is merely a minor treatise on astronomy. He evidently regards the Vedas,

Puranas, philosophical Darsanas and Epics as constituting the religious literature
of India.

19 o

HINDUISM
The

[CH.
officiants

on festival days. cepts of the Puranas, especially

initiation and burnt offerings are presented. require no special can be performed only by priests who ritual But the Agamic

burnt offerings rarely form part of the 1 hymns are freely used Such hymns however as well as processions and other forms of worship which appeal directly to the religious emotions are is a species of religious magic, certainly not tantric. Tantrism sacrifices in method rather than Vedic the from differing 2 For all that, it sets aside the old rites and announces principle

have received

initiation,

ceremony and vernacular

.

.

new dispensation for this age. Among its principal features are the following. The Tantras are a scripture for all, and lay little stress on caste: the texts and the ritual which
itself as the

they teach can be understood only after initiation and with the aid of a teacher the ritual consists largely in the correct use of and letters, diagrams spells, magical or sacramental syllables and gestures: its object is less to beseech than to compel the god to come to the worshipper: another object is to unite the worshipper to the god and in fact transform him into the god man is a microcosm corresponding to the macrocosm or universe the spheres and currents of the universe are copied in miniature in the human body and the same powers rule the same parts in the greater and the lesser scheme. Such ideas are widely disseminated in almost all modern sects 3 though without
: :

:

,

1

Rajagopala Chariar

(

Vaishnavite Reformers, p. 4) says that in Vishnu temples

two

Pancaratra and Vaikhanasa. The latter is apparently Smarta usage whereas the Pancaratra is not. From Gopinatha Rao s Elements of Hindu Iconography, pp. 56, 77, 78 it appears that there is a Vaikhanasagama parallel to the Pancaratragama. It is frequently quoted by this author, though as yet unpublished. It seems to be the ritual of those Bhagavatas who worship both Siva and Vishnu. It is said to exist in two recensions, prose and metrical, of which the former is perhaps the oldest of the Vaishnava Agamas. The Vaikhanasa ritual was once followed at Srirangam but Ramanuja substituted the
rituals are used called

consistent with

Pancaratra for
2

it.

Avalon, Principles of Tantra, p. xxvii describes it as "that development of the Vaidika Karmakanda which under the name of the Tantra Shastra is the scripture of the Kali age." This seems to me a correct statement of the tantric
heory.

Thus the Gautaraiya Tantra which is held in high estimation by Vislmuite householders in Bengal, though not by ascetics, is a complete application of Sakta worship to the cult of Krishna. The Varahi Tantra is also Vishnuite. See Raj. Mitra, Sanskrit MSS. of Bikaner, p. 583 and Notices of Sk. MSS. ill. (1876), 99,
p.

3

and

I.

cclxxxvii.

See too the usages of the Nambuthiri Brahrnans as described in

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS

191

forming their essential doctrine,, but I must repeat that to say all sects are tantric does not mean that they are all iSaktist.

But $aktist
their

sects are fundamentally

and thoroughly

tantric in

theory and

practice.

D. Besides the Sanskrit books mentioned above numerous
vernacular works, especially collections of hymns, are accepted as authoritative by various sects, and almost every language has scriptures of its own. In the south two Tamil hymnals, the

Devaram

of

the

ivaites

and Nalayira Prabandham

of

the

Vishnuites, are recited in temples and are boldly stated to be revelations equivalent to the Veda. In northern India may be mentioned the Hindi Ramayana of Tulsi Das, which is almost
1 the universally venerated, the Bhakta-mala of Nabha Das Sur-sagar of Surdas and the Prem Sagar. In Assam the Nam
,

of Madhab Deb is honoured with the same homage as a sacred image. The awkwardness of admitting direct inspiration in late times is avoided by the theory of spiritual descent, that is to say of doctrinal transmission from teacher to teacher, the divine revelation having been made to the original teacher at a discreetly remote epoch.

Gosha

In considering the evolution of modern Hinduism out of the old Vedic religion, three of the many factors responsible for this
is

huge and complicated result deserve special attention. The first the unusual intensity and prevalence of the religious tempera ment. This has a double effect, both conservative and alterative ancient customs receive an unreasonable respect: they are not abolished for their immorality or absurdity; but since real interest implies some measure of constructive power, there is a constant growth of new ideas and reinterpretations resulting in inconsistent combinations. The second is the absence of hierarchy and discipline. The guiding principle of the Brahmans has always been not so much that they have a particular creed to enforce, as that whatever is the creed of India they must be
:

its ministers.

Naturally every priest
zeal

is

the champion of his

god or

rite,

and such

may

lead to occasional conflicts.

own But

Cochin Tribes and Castes, n. pp. 229-233. In many ways the Nainbuthiris preserve the ancient Vedic practices. 1 See Grierson s articles Gleanings from the Bhaktamala in J.R.A.S. 1909-1910.

192

HINDUISM

[CH.

the ritualism of the older though the antithesis between Brahmanism and the faith or philosophy of givaism and Vishnuism may remind us of the differences between the Catholic Church and Protestant reformers, yet historically there is no resemblance in the development of the antithesis. To some extent Hinduism showed a united front against Buddhism, but the older Brahmanism had no organization which enabled it to stand as a separate Church in opposition to movements which it disliked. The third factor is the deeply rooted idea, which the Upanishads reappears at frequent intervals from the time of until to-day, that rules and rites and even creeds are somehow which the soul part of the lower and temporal order of things should transcend and leave behind. This idea tinges the whole of Indian philosophy and continually crops up in practice. The founder of a strange sect who declares that nothing is necessary but faith in a particular deity and that all ceremonies and caste observances are superfluous is not in the popular esteem a subverter of Hinduism. The history of both Sivaism and Vishnuism illustrates these features. $iva begins as a wild deity of non-moral attributes. As the religious sense develops he is not rejected like the less reputable deities of the Jews and Arabs but remains and collects round himself other strange wild ideas which in time are made philosophical but not ethical. The rites of the new religion are, if not antagonistic, at least alternative to the ancient sacrifices, yet far from being forbidden they are performed by Brahmans and modern Indian writers describe $iva as peculiarly the Brahman s god. Finally the Sivaite schools of the Tamil country reject in successive stages the grosser and more formal elements until there remains nothing but an ecstatic and mystical mono theism. Similarly among the Vishnuites Krishna is the centre of legends which have even less of conventional morality. Yet out of them arises a doctrine that the love of God is the one thing needful so similar to Christian teaching that many have supposed it must be borrowed. The first clear accounts of the worship of Siva and Vishnu are contained in the epics and indicate the existence of sectarian religion, that is to say of exclusive devotion to one or other
deity.

But there is also a tendency to find a place for both, a tendency which culminates in the composite deity $arikara-

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS

193

Narayana already mentioned. Many of the Puranas J reflect this view and praise the two deities impartially. The Mahabharata not unfrequently does the same but the general impression left

by this poem is that the various parts of which it consists have been composed or revised in a sectarian spirit. The body of the work is a narrative of exploits in which the hero Krishna plays a great part but revised so as to make him appear often as a deity and sometimes as the Supreme Spirit. But much of the didactic matter which has been added, particularly books xn and xin, breathes an equally distinct Sivaite spirit and in the parts where Krishna is treated as a mere hero, the principal god appears to be not Vishnu but Siva. The Mahabharata and Puranas contain legends which,
though obscure,
with those

who

refer to conflicts of the worshippers of iva offered Vedic sacrifices as well as with the

votaries of Vishnu, and to a subsequent reconciliation and blending of the various cults. Among these is the well-known

story of

Daksha s sacrifice to which Siva was not invited. Enraged at the omission he violently breaks up the sacrifice

cither in person or through a being whom he creates for the purpose, assaults the officiants and the gods who are present,
pacified by receiving a share. once seized a victim at a sacrifice
is

and

Similarly

we hear 2

that he
in fear

and that the gods

him the choicest portion of the offerings. These stories indicate that at one time Brahmans did not countenance his worship and he is even represented as saying to his wife that 3 according to rule (dharmatah) he has no share in the sacrifice
allotted to
.

Possibly
related
1

human

were in Kali s how Krishna expostulated with Jarasandha
E.g.
2

victims were immolated in his honour, as they until recently, for in the Mahabharata 4 it is

who

pro-

Markandeya, Vamana and Varaha. Also the Skanda Upanishad. Mahabh. Vanaparvan, 11001 if. The Bhagavata Parana, Book iv. sec. 2-7 emphasizes more clearly the objections of the Rishis to Siva as an enemy of Vedic sacrifices and a patron of unhallowed rites. 8 Mahabh. xn. sec. 283. In the same way the worship of Dionysus was once a novelty in Greece and not countenanced by the more conservative and respectable party. See Eur. Bacchae, 45. The Varaha-Purana relates that the Sivaite scriptures were revealed for the benefit of certain Brahmans whose sins had rendered them incapable of performing Vedic rites. There is probably some truth in this legend in so far as it means that Brahmans who were excommunicated for some fault were disposed to become the ministers of non-Vedic cults. 4 Mahabh. n. sees. 16, 22 ff.

194

HINDUISM

[CH.

of captive kings. In the Vishnu posed to offer to Siva a sacrifice and burns Benares. But by with Siva Purana, Krishna fights was Mahabharata the time that the put together these quarrels 1 In several were not in an acute stage. passages Krishna is in others 2 vice and the as made to worship $iva Supreme Spirit versa Siva celebrates the glory of Krishna. Vishnuites do not iva but they regard him as a god of this world, disbelieve in whereas their own deity is cosmic and universal. Many Vishnuite works 3 are said to be revealed by iva who acts as

an intermediary between us and higher spheres.

In the following sections I shall endeavour to relate the
beginnings of sectarianism.

important century or
of

are

relatively

The sects which modern and arose
spirit

are
in

now most
the twelfth

later,

but the sectarian

can be traced back

several centuries before our era.

By

sectarians I

mean wor

^iva or Vishnu who were neither in complete shippers with the ancient Brahmanism nor yet excommuni sympathy cated by it and who had new texts and rites to replace or at least supplement the Vedas and the Vedic sacrifices. It is probable that the different types of early Indian religion had
originally different geographical spheres. in what we call the United Provinces:

regions to the east of this district Sivaism are first heard of in the west.

Brahmanism flourished Buddhism arose in the and both Vishnuism and

The earliest sect of which we have any record is that of the Bhagavatas, who were or became Vishnuite. At a date which it is impossible to fix but considerably before the epoch of Panini, a tribe named the Yadavas occupied the country between Muttra and the shores of Gujarat. Septs of this tribe were called Vrishni and Sattvata. The latter name has passed
into theology. Krishna belonged to this sept

and

it is

probable

that this name Vasudeva was not originally a patronymic but the name of a deity worshipped by it. The hero Krishna was identified with this god and subsequently when the Brahmans

wished to bring this powerful sect within the pale of orthodoxy
1

Drona-p., 2862
E.g. the

if.

8

E.g. Anusasana-p.,

Anusasana-p., 590 6806 ff.

ff.

3

Ahirbudhnya Samhita and Adhyatrna Rainayana.

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PASVPATAS

195

both were identified with Vishnu. In the Mahabharata 1 the rule
or ritual (vidhi) of the Sattvatas is treated as equivalent to that of the Bhagavatas and a work called the Sattvata Samhita is still extant. Bhagavata appears to be the most general name
of the sect or sects

that

is

worshippers of the one
.

and means simply of the Lord (Bhagavat), Lord 2 Their religion is also called
.

Ekantika dharma, or the monotheism 3

religion with

one object, that

is

considerable literature grew up in this school and the principal treatise is often spoken of as Pancaratra because it

A

was revealed by Narayana during

five nights 4

.

The name how

ever appears to be strictly speaking applicable to a system or body of doctrine and the usual term for the books in which this system is expounded is Samhita. All previous discussions and speculations about these works, of which little was known until recently, are superseded by Schrader s publication of the

Ahirbudhnya Samhita, which appears to be representative of 5 The names of over two hundred are cited and of these its class more than thirty are known to be extant in MS. 6 The majority
.

were composed in north-western India but the Pancaratra
doctrine spread to the Dravidian countries and new Samhitas were produced there, the chief of which, the Isvara Samhita,

can hardly be later than 800 A.D. 7 Of the older works Schrader
1

Vasudeva
2

Santipar. cccxxxvii, 12711 ff. of the Vrishnis, xi. 37.
Cf.

In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that he

is

the

title
is

in the Chandogya Up. (vn. 1, 2 and afterwards) as a branch of religious or literary knowledge and in connection with Narada. But it is not represented as the highest or satisfying knowledge.

*

Ekayana

Bhagavata Purana. mentioned several times

4

Even in the Satapatha Br. Narayana is mentioned in connection with a sacrifice

lasting five days,
6

xm.

6. 1.

The Samhitas hitherto best known to orientalists appear to be late and spurious. The Brihadbrahma Samhita published by the Anandasrama Press mentions Ramanu ja. The work printed in the Bibliotheca Indica as Narada pancaratra (although
its

proper title apparently is Juanamritasara) has been analyzed by Roussel in Melanges Harlez and is apparently a late liturgical compilation of little originality. Schrader sworkwas published by the Adyar Library in Madras,1916. Apparently the two forms Pancaratra and Pancaratra are both found, but that with the long vowel is the more usual. Govindacarya s article in J.R.A.S. 1911, p. 951 may also be consulted.

The oldest are apparently the Paushkara, Varaha, Brahma, Sattvata, Ja} a and Ahirbudhnya Samhitas, all quoted as authoritative by either Ramanu ja or Vedanta
Desika.
It
is

6

quoted as equal to the Yedas by Yamunacarya, so

it

must then have been

in existence

some

centuries.

196

HINDUISM

[CH.

1 thinks that the Ahirbudhnya was written in Kashmir between 300 and 800 A.D. and perhaps as early as the fourth century. It mentions the Sattvata and Jayakhya, which must therefore

be older.

The most remarkable feature of this literature is its elaborate and emanation from the Deity, the world in the usual Hindu fashion as an alter conceived process being nation of production and destruction. A distinction is drawn between pure and gross creation. What we commonly call the Universe is bounded by the shell of the cosmic egg and there are innumerable such eggs, each with its own heavens and its own tutelary deities such as Brahma and Siva who are sharply distinguished from Vishnu. But beyond this multitude of worlds are more mysterious and spiritual spheres, the highest
doctrine of evolution

heaven or Vaikuntha wherein dwells God in his highest form 2 certain archangels and liberated souls. (Para) with his Saktis Evolution commences when at the end of the cosmic night the Sakti of Vishnu 3 is differentiated from her Lord and assumes the two forms of Force and Matter 4 He as differentiated from her is Vasudeva a personal deity with six attributes 5 and is the
, .

first emanation, or Vyuha, of the ineffable godhead. From him proceeds Sankarshana, from Sankarshana Pradyumna, and from Pradyumna Aniruddha. These three Vyuhas take part in

creation but also correspond to or preside over certain aspects of human personality, namely Sankarshana to the soul that

animates all beings, Pradyumna to intelligence and Aniruddha to individuality. Strange to say these seem to be the names of 6 Mere distinguished personages in the Sattvata or Vrishni clan
.

countries but the transformation of heroes into metaphysical or ps} chological terms could hardly have happened outside India. Next to the Vyuhas come twelve
deification occurs in

many

T

1

The story
There
is

states definitely that
2

Svetadvipa or White Island in the Santiparvan of the Mahabharata Narada received the Pancaratra there. much diversity of statement as to whether there are one or many
of

Saktis.
3 Vishnu is the name of God in all his aspects, but especially God as the absolute. Vasudeva is used both of God as the absolute and also as the first emanation (Vyuha). 4 Kriyajakti and Bhutisakti. 5 Jiiana, aisvarya, sakti. bala, virya, tejas. These are called gunas but are not to be confounded with the three ordinary gunas. 6 The words seem to have been originally proper names. See the articles in the

Petersburg Lexicon.

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS
among whom
is

197

sub-Vyuhas,

Narayana

1
,

and thirty-nine

Avataras. All these beings are outside the cosmic eggs and our gross creation. As a prelude to this last there takes place the evolution of the aggregates or sources from which individual souls and matter are drawn, of space and of time, and finally of the elements, the process as described seeming to follow an older form of the Sankhya philosophy than that known to us. The task of human souls is to attain liberation, but though the language of the Samhitas is not entirely consistent, the older view is that 2 the}- become like to God, not that they are absorbed in him Thus it is not incorrect to say that the Bhagavata religion is monotheistic and recognizes a creator of souls. Indeed
.

Sankara 3 condemns

it

on the very ground that

it

makes

indi

vidual souls originate from Vasudeva, in which case since they have an origin they must also have an end. But Ramanuja in
replying to this criticism seems to depart from the older view, for he says that the Supreme Being voluntarily abides in four

forms which include the soul, mind and the principle of indi viduality. This, if not Pantheism, is very different from
4 European monotheism The history of these Bhagavatas, Pancaratras or worshippers of Vishnu must have begun several centuries before our era, for there are allusions to them in Panini and the Niddesa 5 The names of Vasudeva and Sankarshana occur in old inscriptions 6 and the Greek Heliodoros calls himself a Bhagavata on the column found at Besnagar and supposed to date from the first
.
.

part of the second century B.C.

The Pancaratra was not Brahmanic
Narayana Sometimes it denotes the Absolute. 2 The above brief sketch is based on Schrader reader can find full details. 3 Comment on Vedanta sutras, n. 2. 42.
4
1

in origin 7

and the form

like

Vishnu

is

used to designate more than one aspect of God.
s Int. to the

Pancaratra where the

And, as Schrader observes, the evolutionary system of the Pancaratra practically concerned with only one force, the Sakti, which under the name Bhuti manifested as the Universe and as Kriya vitalizes and governs it (p. 31).
;

is is

6 On Sutta-nipata, 790, 792. The doctrine of the Vyiihas is expounded in the Mahabharata Santip. CCCXL. 36 ff., 70 ff. CCCXLI. 26 ff. 6 Liider s List of Brahmi inscriptions, No. 6, supposed not to be later than 200 B.C. and No. 1112 supposed to be of the first century B.C. Sankarshana is also mentioned in the Kautiliya Arthasastra, xm. 3. 7 Some Samhitas emphasize the distinction between the followers of the Veda and the enlightened ones who worship the Lord. See Schrader, Pancaratra, p. 97.

198
of the

HINDUISM

[CH.

Sankhya philosophy from which it borrowed was also un-Brahmanic. It seems to have grown up in north-western India in the centuries when Iranian influence was strong and may owe to Zoroastrianism the doctrine of the Vyuhas which finds a parallel in the relation of Ahura Mazda to Spenta Mainyu, his Holy Spirit, and in the Fravashis. It is also remarkable that
is credited with six attributes comparable with the six Amesha Spentas. In other ways the Pancaratra seems to have some connection with late Buddhism. Though it lays little stress on the worship of goddesses, yet all the Vyuhas and Avataras are provided with Saktis, like the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of

God

Buddhism, and in the period of quiescence which follows on the dissolution of the Universe Vishnu is described under the
tantric

name

$unya or the void. It attaches great importance to the wheel or discus which denotes Vishnu s will to be 1 the Cakra, to evolve and maintain the universe, and it may have contri buted some ideas to the very late form of Buddhism called
of
,

Kalacakra. This very word is used in the Ahirbudhnya Samhita as the name of one of the many wheels engaged in the work of
evolution.

Though the Pancaratra
origin,
it

name

as

is connected with Krishna in its no prominence to devotion to him under that gives do modern sects and it knows nothing of the pastoral
.

Krishna 2
late

It

recommends the worship

of the four

Vyuhas

3

presiding over the four quarters in much the same Buddhism adores the four Jinas depicted in
similar forms.
faces,

way

that

somewhat

Similarly the ^ivaites say that

iva has five

namely Isana or Sadasiva (the highest, undifferentiated form of the deity) at the top and below Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Sadyojata, presiding respectively over the north, south, east and west. It is thus clear that in the early centuries of our era (or perhaps even before it) there was a tendency in Vishnuism, kSivaism and Mahay anist Buddhism
alike to represent the ineffable

godhead as manifested

in four

aspects
1

somewhat more

ducing in their turn

intelligible to human minds and pro many inferior manifestations. Possibly the

Syara iti Sankalpa, Ahirbudh. Sam. n. 7. In some late Upanishads (e.g. Naradaparivrajaka and Brihatsannyasa) Cakri is used as a synonym for a Pancaratra. 2 The same is true of Ramanuja, who never quotes the Bhagavata Purana. 3 See the quotations from the Sattvata Samhita in Schrader, pp. 150-154. As in the Pancaratra there is the Para above the four Vyuhas, so some late forms of Buddhism regard Vairocana as the source of four Jinas.

xxvn]
in India it

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS
among
,

199

theory originated
theories are of

was adopted by

the Vishnuites 1 but as often happened their opponents. None of these

much importance as living beliefs at the present but their influence can be seen in iconography. day As a sect the Pancaratras seem to have been a subdivision of the Bhagavatas and probably at the present day many Vishnuites would accept the second name but not the first. The Pancaratra is studied at only a few places in southern India but its doctrines permeate the popular work called Bhaktamala and in view of the express approbation of Ramanuja and other authorities it can hardly be repudiated by the ^ri-Vaishnavas. Bhagavata is sometimes used in the south as a name for Smartas who practise Vedic rites and worship both &va and Vishnu 2
.

now

In these early times there were strenuous theological struggles forgotten, though they have left their traces in the legends which tell how the title of Krishna and others to divine honours was challenged. Amalgamation was the usual method of con

Several gods grew sufficiently important to become in the eyes of their worshippers the supreme spirit and at least four were united in the deity of the Bhagavatas, namely,
ciliation.

Vasudeva, Krishna, Vishnu and Narayana. Of the first three I have spoken already. Narayana never became like Vishnu and Krishna a great mythological figure, but in the late Vedic period he is a personification of the primaeval waters from which all things sprang or of the spirit which moved in them 3 From this he easily became the supreme spirit who animates all
.

name was probably acceptable to those and simpler worship because it was con nected with comparative^ few legends. But there is some confusion in its use, for it is applied not only to the supreme being but to a double incarnation of him called Nara-Narayana, and images of the pair may still be seen in Vishnuite temples.
the universe and the

who

desired a purer

1

The Manicheans
I.

also

had groups

of five deities (see

Chavannes and

Pelliot in

J.A. 1913,

dhism * Manu, i. 10-11, identifies him with Brahma and says. "The waters are called Narah because they are produced from Nara, and he is called Narayana because they were his place of movement (ayana)." The sa.mc statement occurs in the
Narayaniya.

pp. 333-338) but they arc just as likely to have borrowed from Bud * as vice vervd. See Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 565.

200

HINDUISM

[CH.

They

are said to have revealed the true doctrine to Narada and 1 are invoked at the beginning of each book of the Mahabharata 2 One of the main theses of the Narayaniya is the identity of
.

a Brahmanic, the Narayana and Vasudeva, the former being for the name latter a non-Brahmanic Deity. 3 The celebrated Bhagavad-gita which is still held in such Testament or Koran, it is used in respect that, like the New of oaths, is an early scripture administration law courts for the of Krishna s divinity, doctrines it the In sect. of the Bhagavata of the and the power of faith grace are fully established. efficacy and blood to find by for flesh hard too be to It is declared
meditation their

way to

the eternal imperceptible spirit, whereas

Krishna comes straightway to those who make him their sole desire. "Set thy heart on me, become my devotee, sacrifice to me and worship thou me. Then shalt thou come to me. Truly I declare to thee thou art dear to me. Leave all (other) religious duties and come to me as thy sole refuge. I will deliver thee from thy sins. Sorrow not." But the evolution of Sankarshana, etc., is not mentioned. The poem has perhaps been re-edited
1 They are said to have been the sons of Dharma (religion or righteousness) and Ahimsa (not-injuring). This is obvious allegory indicating that the Bhagavata religion rejected animal sacrifices. At the beginning of the Narayaniya (Santip. cccxxxv.) it is said that Narayana the soul of the universe took birth in a quadruple form as the offspring of Dharma, viz. Nara, Narayana, Hari and Krishna. Nara and Narayana are often identified with Arjuna and Vasudeva. E.g. Udyogap. xxlx. 19.

Mahabhar. xn. It is an episode in Mahabhar. vi. and in its present form was doubtless elaborated apart from the rest. But we may surmise that the incident of Krishna s
s

2

removing Arjuna s scruples by a discourse appeared in the early versions of the story and also that the discourse was longer and profounder than would seem appropriate to the European reader of a tale of battles. But as the Vedanta philosophy and the doctrine of Krishna s godhead developed, the discourse may have been amplified and made to include later theological views. Garbe in his

German
some

of the inconsistencies as

translation attempts to distinguish the different strata and his explanation due to successive redactions and additions may contain

truth.

But these

inconsistencies in theology are

common

to all sectarian

writings and I think the main cause for them must be sought not so much in the alteration and combination of documents, as in a mixed and eclectic mode of

thought.

Even in European books of the first rank inconsistencies are not unknown and they need not cause surprise in works which were not written down but com mitted to memory. A poet composing a long religious poem in this way and feeling, as many Hindus feel, both that God is everything and also that he is a very present
personal help, may very well express himself differently in different parts. On the other hand the editors of such poems are undoubtedly tempted to insert in them

later popular doctrines.

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS
if

201

and interpolated several times but the strata can hardly be
distinguished, for the whole work,
is is

not exactly paradoxical,

eclectic

and continually argues that what is apparently highest not best for a particular person. The Hindus generally regard
:

life as the highest, but the Bhagavad-gita is insistent in enjoining unselfish action it admits that the supreme reality cannot be grasped by the mind or expressed in speech,

the contemplative

but

it

recommends the worship

of a personal deity.

Even

the

older parts of the

Buddhism. But Puranic and it knows nothing

poem appear to be considerably later than its mythology, if not Vedic, is also hardly

of the legends about the pastoral Krishna. It presupposes the Sarikhya and Yoga, though in what

stage of development it is hard to say, and in many respects its style resembles the later Upanishads. I should suppose that it

assumed its present form about the time of the Christian era, rather before than after, and I do not think it owes anything
to direct Christian influence. In its original form it may have been considerably older. The Bhagavad-gita identifies Krishna with Vasudeva and with Vishnu but does not mention Narayana and from its general style I should imagine the Narayaniya to be a later poem. If so, the evolution of Bhagavata theology will be that Krishna, a

great hero in a tribe lying outside the sphere of Brahmanism, is first identified with Vasudeva, the god of that tribe, and then

both

of

them with Vishnu. At

this stage the

Bhagavad-gita was

later current of speculation added Narayana to composed. the already complex figure, and a still later one, not accepted by all sects, brought the pastoral and amorous legends of

A

Krishna. Thus the history of the Bhagavatas illustrates the Indian disposition to combine gods and to see in each of them only an aspect of the one. But until a later period the types of divinity known as Vishnu and Siva resisted combination. The

worshippers of iva have in all periods shown less inclination than the Vishnuites to form distinct and separate bodies and the earliest ^ivaite sect of which we know anything, the 1 Pasupatas arose slightly later than the Bhagavatas.
,

The name appears not to be in common use now, but the Pasupata school reviewed in the Sarva-darsana-sarigraha (c. 1330).
1

is

202

HINDUISM

[CH.

Patanjali the
1

grammarian

(c.

giva and also images of reason to doubt that worshippers of 3iva were recognized as a sect from at least 200 B.C. onwards. Further it seems probable that the founder or an early teacher of the sect was an ascetic
called Lakulin or Lakulisa, the club-bearer.

3iva and Skanda. There

150 B.C.) mentions devotees of is thus no

makes iva say that he will become incarnate in this form at Kayarohana, which has been identified with Karvan in Baroda. Now the Vayu is believed to be the oldest of the Puranas, and it is probable that this
Lakulin

The Vayu Purana 2 enter an unowned corpse and

whom

it

mentions lived before rather than after our

era and was especially connected with the Pasupata sect. This word is derived from Pasupati, the Lord of cattle, an old title of Rudra afterwards explained to mean the Lord of human In the ^antiparvan 3 five systems of knowledge are souls. mentioned. Sarikhya, Yoga, the Vedas, Pasupatam and Pancaratram, promulgated respectively by Kapila, Hiranyagarbha, Apantaratamas, Siva the Lord of spirits and son of Brahma, and "The Lord (Bhagavan) himself." The author of these
verses,

who evidently supported the Pancaratra, considered that

these five

varieties of religious thought.

names represented the chief existing or permissible The omission of the Vedanta is remarkable but perhaps it is included under Veda. Hence we may conclude that when this passage was written (that is probably before 400 A.D. and perhaps about the beginning of our era) there were two popular religions ranking in public
1 Sivabhagavata, see his comment on Panini, v. 3. 99 and v. 2. 76. The name is remarkable and suggests that the Sivaites may have imitated the Bhagavatas. 2 r. xxiii. 209. The Bibliotheca Ind. edition reads Xakuli. Aufrecht (Rodl. MSS.) has Lakuli. The same story is found in Linga P. chap. xxrv. Lakuli is said to have had four pupils who founded four branches. Lakulin does not play an important part in modern Sivaism but is mentioned in inscriptions from the tenth till the

The Sarva-darsana-safigraha describes the Naku lisa -Pasupata system and quotes Nakulisa who is clearly the same as Lakulin. The figures on Kushan coins representing Siva as holding a club may be meant for Lakulin but also may be intluenced by Greek figures of Herakles. See for Lakulin Fleet in J.R.A.S. 1907, pp. 419 ff. and Bhandarkar Vaishnavism and Saivism, pp. 115 ff. The coins of Wema Kadphises bear the title Mahisvara, apparently meaning worshipper of the Great Lord. Temples in south India seem to have been named after Kayarohana in the seventh century A.D. See Gopinatha Rao, Hindu Icono 3 Mahabhar. xu. graphy, ii. p. 19.
thirteenth centuries.

xxvii]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA&UPATAS

203

esteem with the philosophic and ritual doctrines of the Brahmans. The Mahabharata contains a hymn 1 which praises Siva under 1008 names and is not without resemblance to the Bhagavadgita. It contains a larger number of strange epithets, but Siva is also extolled as the All-God, who asks for devotion and grants grace. At the close of the hymn Siva says that he has introduced the Pasupata religion which partly contradicts and partly agrees with the institutions of caste and the Asramas, but is blamed

by

fools 2

.

last words hint that the Pasupatas laid themselves open to criticism by their extravagant practices, such as strange sounds and gestures 3 But in such matters they were outdone by other sects called Kapalikas or Kalamukhas. These carried skulls and ate the flesh of corpses, and were the fore-runners of the filthy Aghoris, who were frequent in northern India especially near Mount Abu and Girnar a century ago and perhaps are not 4 yet quite extinct. The biographers of ^ankara represent him as contending with these demoniac fanatics not merely with the weapons of controversy but as urging the princes who favoured him to exterminate them. Hindu authorities treat the Pasupatas as distinct from the $aivas, or Sivaites, and the distinction was kept up in Camboja in the fourteenth century. The Saivas appear to be simply

These

.

worshippers of iva, who practice a sane ritual. In different parts of India they have peculiarities of their own but whereas the Vaishnavas have split up into many sects each revering its

own founder and

his teaching, the $aivas, if not a united body, present few well-marked divisions. Such as exist I shall notice below in their geographical or historical connection 5 Most of
.

them accept a system
1

of theology or philosophy 6
It
is

which starts

Mahabhar. xn. 13702

ff.

recited by

Daksha when he recognizes the might

of Siva after the unfortunate incident of his sacrifice.
a

*

Santi-parvan, section eelxxxv especially line 10, 470 ff. See Sarva-darsana-sarigraha, chap. vi. and the comments of
2. 36.

Ramanuja and

Sankara on Vcdanta Sutras, n.

* E.g. Sankara-dig-vijaya. The first notice of these sects appears to be an inscrip tion at Igatpuri in the Nasik district of about 620 A.D. recording a grant for the worship of Kapalesvara and the maintenance of Mahavratins ( Kapalikas) in his

temple.
6

But doubtless the sects are much older. The principal are, the Pasupatas, the Saivasiddhantam

of

southern India and
of
it.

the Sivaism of Kashmir.

The Sarva-diiriana-saiigruha, chap. vn. gives a summary
E. II.

14

204

HINDUISM

[en.

with three principles, all without beginning or end. These are Pati or the Lord, that is 3iva: Pasu, or the individual soul: 1 Pasa or the fetter, that is matter or Karma The task of^ the the state of Siva. to attain and fetters soul is to get free of its as the identity same the is not But this final deliverance quite a Siva, soul becomes the the Vedanta: with Brahman taught by
.

equal to the deity in power and knowledge but still dependent 2 on him rather than identical with him of the five kanis the doctrine Peculiar to Saiva theology
.

cukas 3 or envelopes which limit the soul. Spirit in itself is free it is timeless and knows no restrictions of space, enjoyment, knowledge and power. But when spirit is contracted to indi vidual experience, it can apprehend the universe only as a series
:

of changes in time power are cramped

The terminology
to be

of

and place: its enjoyment, knowledge and and curtailed by the limits of personality. the Saivas is original but the theory appears
is

an elaboration of the Pancaratra thesis that the soul surrounded by the sheath of Maya.

The early literature of the worshippers of Siva (corresponding to the Samhitas of the Pancaratras) appears to have consisted
works composed in Sanskrit and called Agamas 4 good evidence for their antiquity. Tirumular, one of the earliest Tamil poets who is believed to have lived in the first centuries of our era, speaks of them with enthusiasm and the Buddhist Sanskrit works called Agamas (corresponding to
of twenty-eight
,

There

is fairly

The Pa.4upatas seem to attach less importance to this triad, though as they speak of Pati, Pasu and the impurities of the soul there is not much difference. In their views of causation and free will they differed slightly from the Saivas, since they held that Siva is the universal and absolute cause, the actions of indi
1

viduals being effective only in so far as they are in conformity with the will of Siva.

The Saiva siddhanta however holds that Siva 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. 2 There is some difference of language and perhaps of doctrine on this point in various Sivaite works. Both Sivaites and Pancaratrins sometimes employ the language of the Advaita. But see Schrader, Int. to Pancaratra, pp. 91 ff. 3 The five Kancukas (or six including Maya) are strictly speaking tattvas of which the Saivas enumerate 36 and are kala, niyati, raga, vidya and kala contrasted
with nityatva,
qualities of spirit.

vyapakatva, purnatva, sarvajnatva, sarvakartritva which are See Chatterji, Kashmir Saivism, 75 ff., 160, where he points out

that the Kancukas are essentially equivalent to Kant s "forms of perception and conception." See too Schrader, Int. to Pancaratra, 64, 90, 115. 4 See for names and other details Schomerus, Der &aiva-Siddhdnta, pp. 7, 23: also many articles in the Siddhdnta-Dipika.

xxvn]

BHAGAVATAS AND PA$UPATAS

205

the Pali Nikayas) cannot be later than that period. It is highly probable that the same word was in use among both Hindus and Buddhists at the same time. And since the Mahabharata mentions the Pasupatam, there is no difficulty in supposing that expositions of ivaite doctrine were current in the first century A.D. or even B.C. But unless more texts of the Agamas come to light the question of their age has little practical importance, for it is said by native scholars that of the twenty-eight primary books there survive only fragments of twenty, which treat of ritual, besides the verses which form the text expounded at 1 length in the Sivafianabotham There are also said to be 120 Upagamas of which only two or three have been preserved entire. Of these two have been printed in part, the Mrigendra and Paushkara 2 The former is cited in the Sarva-darsanasarigraha (about 1330) but does not show any signs of great antiquity. It is thus clear that the Agamas are not much studied by modern Sivaites but it is unhesitatingly stated that they are a revelation direct from Siva and equal to the Veda 3 and this affirmation is important, even though the texts so praised are little known, for it testifies to the general feeling that there are other revelations than the Veda. But the Vedas, and the Vedanta Sutras are not ignored. The latter are read in the light of Nilakantha s 4 commentary which is considered by south Indian Pandits to be prior to Sankara.
. .

1 They are taken from the Agama called Raurava. The Sivaites of Kashmir appear to have regarded the extant Siva-sutras as an Agama. 2 The Sanskrit text and translation of the Mrigendra are published in the Siddhdnta-Dipika, vol. iv. 1901 ff. It is sometimes described as an Upagama and sometimes as the Jnanapada of the Kamika Agama. 8 So Tirumular. Nilakantha in his commentary on the Vedanta Sutras says: see no difference between the Veda and the Saivagama."
"I

* Or Srikantha. The commentary is translated in Siddhdnta-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 Ramanuja.

CHAPTER XXVIII
SANKARA. SIVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA. KASHMIR. LINGAYATS
1

ABOUT

the sixth century A.D. the decadence of Buddhism and the invigoration of Brahmanism were both well advanced. The Mahabharata existed as a great collection of epic and religious Even poetry and the older Puranas were already composed. at the present day authorities differ as to whether Siva or Vishnu

commands the
ments

allegiance of the majority and naturally it to describe the distribution of sects in earlier times. The

is

hard

monu

of the Guptas (for instance the ruins at Eran) suggest that they were Vishnuites but a little later the cult of Siva becomes more prominent. The Emperor Harsha (612-648) and his family were eclectic, honouring Siva, the Sun and the

not recorded that they worshipped Vishnu. ivaism was the predominant form of worship, but also mentions Buddhists and Bhagavatas. Hsiian Chuang on the other hand holds him up as a devout Buddhist. Great Sivaite shrines in different parts of India such as the temple of Bhuvaneshwar in Orissa and the Kailas at Ellora were probably constructed in the seventh century and it is likely that in the defeat of Buddhism the worshippers of Siva played an active part. This conflict is connected with the names of Kumarija Bhatta (c. 725 A.D.) and Sankara Acarya (c. 800 A.D.). It clearly represents forces which cannot be restricted to the character of individuals or the span of human lives. The elements which compose Hinduism had been vigorous long before the eighth century and Buddhism, though decadent, continued to exist in India later. But probably the careers of these two men are the best record of the decisive turn of the tide. It is often said that they revived Hinduism, but however much they insisted on the

Buddha, but

it is

Bana who

lived at his court indicates 1 that

1

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

CH.

xxvm] SlVAISM IN

SOUTHERN INDIA

207

authority of ancient tradition, the real result of their labours was not to re-establish the order of things which prevailed before the rise of Buddhism, but to give authority and solidity to the

mixture of Brahmanism, Buddhism and popular beliefs which had grown up. Kumarila is said to have been a Brahman of Bihar who was a Buddhist monk but became a worshipper of iva and so zealous a persecutor of his former faith that he persuaded a king of his time named Sudhanvan to exterminate it from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin. This is a monstrous exaggeration but he was doubtless a determined enemy of the 1 He Buddhists, as can be seen from his philosophical works or the nature of God, but he taught little about metaphysics insisted on the necessity and efficacy of Vedic rites. More important both as a thinker and an organizer was $ankara. There is some discrepancy in the traditions of his 2 birth, but he was probably born about 788 A.D. in a family of 3 Nambutiri Brahmans at Kaladi in the Cochin state. Kaladi occupies a healthy position at some height above the sea level and the neighbourhood is now used as a sanatorium. The cocoanut trees and towered temples which mark many south Indian landscapes are absent, and paddy fields alternate with a jungle of flowering plants studded with clumps of bamboos. A broad river broken by sandbanks winds through the district and near the villages there are often beautiful avenues of great trees. Not far distant is Trichur which possesses a Vedic college and a large temple, forbidden to Europeans but like most edifices in Malabar modest in architecture. This is not the land of giant gopurams and multitudinous sculpture, but of lives dedicated
.

1

The best known

of these

is

the Tantravarttika, a

commentary on the Purva-

inimamsa. 2 This

is the generally accepted date and does not appear to conflict with anything else that is at present known of Sankara. An alternative suggestion is some date between 590 and 650 (see Telang, I. A. xin. 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 Purnavarman s name by Sankara in an illustration (Comm. on Vedanta Sut. 11. i. 17) necessarily implies they were contemporaries, but it does prove that he cannot have

lived before
*

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

208

HINDUISM

[CH.

to the acquisition of traditional learning and the daily perform ance of complicated but inconspicuous rites. The accounts of Sankara s life are little but a collection of

the following facts stand out. He legends, in which, however, was himself the pupil of Gaudawho was the pupil of Govinda,

would be important could we be certain that this Gaudapada was the author of the metrical treatise on philosophy bearing his name. He wrote popular hymns as well as commentaries on the Upanishads, Vedanta Sutras and Bhagavad-gita, thus recognizing both Vedic and time on the Narbudda post-Vedic literature he resided for some of the and at Benares, and in the course journeys in which like he founded four maths or Paul he gave vent to his activity, in the and Badrinath monasteries, at Sringeri, Puri, Dwaraka he w an before as old man. Himalaya. Near the latter he died asked for On his deathbed he is said to have forgiveness going on pilgrimages and frequenting temples, because by so doing he had seemed to forget that God is every where. It is clear that his work both as an author and organizer was considerable and permanent, and that much of his career was spent outside Dravidian lands. His greatest achievement was his exposition of the Vedanta, of w^hich I treat elsewhere. He based his arguments unreservedly on the Vedic texts and aimed at being merely conservative, but those texts and even the ancient commentaries are obscure and inconsistent, and it was reserved for his genius to produce from them a system which in consistency, thoroughness and profundity holds the first place in Indian philosophy. His work did not consist, as he himself pada and
this connection
:

r

supposed, in harmonizing the Upanishads.

of interpretation he is as uncritical as other

In this department orthodox com

literature

mentators, but he took the most profound thoughts of the old and boldly constructed with them a great edifice of speculation. Since his time the Vedanta has been regarded as the principal philosophy of India a position which it does not

seem to have held before and his interpretation of it, though often contested and not suited to popular religion, still commands the respect and to some extent the adherence of most educated
Hindus. In practical religion he clearly
still

felt,

as every Indian reformer

must

feel,

the

want

of discipline

and a common standard,

xxvm]

&IVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA

209

Though the Buddhism of his day had ceased to satisfy the needs of India, he saw that its strength lay in its morality, its relative freedom from superstition and its ecclesiastical organization. 1 Accordingly he denounced extravagant sects and forbade such
practices as branding.

He

also instituted

an order

of ascetics

2
.

In doing this he was not only trying to obtain for Hinduism the disciplinary advantages of the Buddhist church but also to break through the rule prescribing that a Brahman must first be a householder and only late in life devote himself entirely to religion. This rule did the Brahmans good service in insuring the continuity and respectability of their class but it tended to drive enthusiasts to other creeds. It does not seem that any sect can plausibly claim Sankara as founder or adherent. His real religion was Vedantism and this, though not incompatible with sectarian worship, is pre disposed to be impartial. The legend says that when summoned to his mother s deathbed, he spoke to her first of the Vedanta philosophy. But she bade him give her some consolation which she could understand. So he recited a hymn to Siva, but when the attendants of that god appeared she was frightened. Sankara then recited a hymn to Vishnu and when his gentler messengers came to her bedside, she gave her son her blessing and allowed them to take her willing soul. This story implies that he was ready to sanction any form of reputable worship with a slight bias towards Vishnuism 3 At the present day the Smartas, who consider themselves his followers, have a preference for the worship of Siva. But the basis of their faith is not &vaism but the recognition of the
.

1

His conflicts with them are described in works called Sankara -vijaya of which

at least four are extant.
2

They

are called

Das"anamis

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 Siva. * I have been told by south Indian Pandits that they think Sankara was bom in a Bhagavata family and that there is some evidence his kinsmen were trustees of a temple of Krishna. The Saktas also claim him, but the tradition that he opposed the Saktas is strong and probable. Many hymns addressed to Vishnu, Siva and various forms of Durga 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 Sankara and it is eminently probable that he did not neglect this important branch of composition.

210

HINDUISM

[CH.

traditions known as Smriti. And that, great body of Indian the essence of Sankara s teaching he was to next Vedantism, wished to regard tradition as a coherent whole, based on the eternal Veda but including authoritative Smriti to be inter and thus he hoped to correct preted in the light of the Veda, to lead to those heights and views and partial extravagant whence it is seen that all is one, "without difference." The results of Sankara s labours may still be seen in the
:

which is more complete than organization of southern Hinduism in the north. It is even said that the head of the Sringeri
monastery in Mysore exercises an authority over Smarta Brahmans similar to that of the Pope 1 This is probably an caste exaggeration but his decision is accepted as settling 2 math is one of the most the even and to-day Sringeri disputes,
.

important religious institutions in India. The abbot, who is known as Jagadguru, is head of the Smarta Brahmans. The present occupant is said to be thirty-third in succession from Sarikara and numbers among his predecessors Sayanacarya, the celebrated Vedic commentator who lived in the fourteenth century. The continued prosperity of this establishment and of other religious corporations in the Dravidian country, whereas the Mohammedans destroyed all monasteries whether Hindu or Buddhist in the north, is one of the reasons for certain differences in northern and southern Hinduism. For instance in northern India any Brahman, whatever his avocation may be, is allowed to perform religious ceremonies, whereas in the Deccan and south India Brahmans are divided into Laukikas or secular and Bhikshus or religious. The latter are householders, the name having lost its monastic sense, but they have the exclusive right of officiating and acting as Gurus and thus form a married
clergy.
See Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 16. This math 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
2 1

account of Sringeri in J. Mythic Society (Bangalore), vol. vm. pp. 18-33. Schrader in his catalogue of the Sanskrit MSS. in the Adyar Library, 1908, notices an Upanishad called Mahamayopanishad, ascribed to Sarikara himself, which deals with the special qualities of the four maths. Each is described as possessing one Veda, one Mahavakyam, etc. The second part deals with the three
ideal maths,

Sumeru, Paramatman and Sastrathajnana.

xxvm]

&IVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA

211

It is possible that the influence of Sahkara may have had a puritanical side which partly accounts for the degeneration of later Indian art. His higher teaching inculcated a spiritual creed which needed no shrines, while for those who required rites he recommended the old Brahmanic ritual rather than the modern temple cultus. The result of this may have been that piety and learning were diverted from art, so that architecture and sculpture ceased to be in touch with the best religious
intelligence.

of Sahkara to Buddhism is an interesting question. indited polemics against it and contributed materially to its downfall, but yet if the success of creeds is to be measured by the permanence of ideas, there is some reason for thinking that the vanquished led the conqueror captive. Sahkara s approval

The debt

He

both in theory and in practice of the monastic life is Buddhistic rather than Brahmanical 1 The doctrines of Maya and the
.

between higher and lower truth, which are of cardinal importance in his philosophy, receive only dubious support from the Upanishads and from Badarayana, but are practically
distinction
identical with the teachings of the Madhyamika School of Buddhism and it was towards this line of thought rather than

towards the theism of the Pasupatas or Bhagavatas that he was drawn. The affinity was recognized in India, for Sahkara and his school were stigmatized by their opponents as Buddhists in
2

disguise

.

2

of

The reader will perhaps have noticed that up to the career Sahkara we have been concerned exclusively with northern India, and even Sahkara, though a native of the south, lived much in the north and it was the traditional sacred lore of the north which he desired to establish as orthodoxy. Not only the older literature, Brahmanic as well as Buddhist, but most of the Puranas ignore the great stretch of Dravidian country which forms the southern portion of the peninsula and if the Ramayana sings of Rama s bridge and the conquest of Lanka this is clearly an excursion into the realms of fancy. Yet the Dravidian dis1

There

the

site of

is some reason to suppose that the Math of Sringeri was founded on a Buddhist monastery. See Journal of Mythic Society, Bangalore, 1916,

p. 151.
2

Pracchanna-bauddha. See for further details Book

iv.

chap. xxi. ad

fin.

212
tricts are

HINDUISM
ample
in extent, their

[CH.

monuments

are remarkable,

their languages are cultivated, and Tamil literature possesses considerable interest, antiquity and originality. Unfortunately in dealing with these countries we experience in an unusually acute form the difficulties which beset every attempt to trace

the history of ideas in India, namely, the absence of chronology. Before 1000 A.D. materials for a connected history are hardly
accessible.

There

are,

however,

many

inscriptions

and a mass

of literature
allusions,

(itself

and from

of disputable date) containing historical these may be put together not so much a
life

skeleton or framework as pictures of ancient which may be arranged in a plausible order.
It

and thought

be said that where everything is so vague, it would be better to dismiss the whole subject of southern India and its of more certain information, religion, pending the acquisition have done. But such wide writers and this is what many such important phases of literature regions, so many centuries, is better to run the risk of it that and thought are involved, to ignore them. Briefly than false in sequence presenting them in the that certain as it may be regarded early centuries of our all nourished in Brahmanism and era Buddhism, Jainism

may

first two gradually decayed and made way remained powerful until the tenth Jainism for the last, although date there were influential Sivaite a fairly early century. At a devotional literature in the with each and Vishnuite sects, vernacular. Somewhat later this literature takes a more philo sophic and ecclesiastical tinge and both sects produce a succession of teachers. Tamil Sivaism, though important for the south, has not spread much beyond its own province, but the Vishnuism associated with such eminent names as Ramanu j a and Ramanand has influenced all India, and the latter teacher is the spiritual ancestor of the Kabirpanthis, Sikhs and various unorthodox sects. Political circumstances too tended to increase the im portance of the south in religion, for when nearly all the north was in Moslim hands the kingdom of Vijayanagar was for more than two centuries (c. 1330-1565) the bulwark of Hinduism. But in filling up this outline the possibilities of error must be remembered. The poems of Manikka-Va9agar have such in dividuality of thought and style that one would suppose them

Dravidian lands. The

to

mark a conspicuous religious movement. Yet some authorities

xxvra]
refer

&IVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA

213

them to the third century and others to the eleventh, nor has any standard been formulated for distinguishing earlier and later varieties of Tamil. I have already mentioned the view that the worship of $iva and the Linga is Dravidian in origin and borrowed by the Aryans. There is no proof that this worship had its first home in the south and spread northwards, for the Vedic and epic literature provides a sufficient pedigree for $iva. But this deity always collected round himself attributes and epithets which are not those of the Vedic gods but correspond with what we know of non- Aryan Indian mythology. It is possible that these un-Aryan cults attained in Dravidian lands fuller and more independent development than in the countries colonized by the Aryans, so that the portrait of $iva, especially as drawn by Tamil writers, does retain the features of some old Dravidian deity, a deity who dances, who sports among men and bewilders them by his puzzling disguises and transformations 1 But it is not proved that $iva was the chief god of the early Tamils. An ancient poem, the Purra-Porul Venba-Malai 2 which contains hardly any allusions to him mentions as the principal objects of worship the goddess Kottavai (Victorious) and her son Muruvan. Popular legends 3 clearly indicate a former struggle between the old religion and Hinduism ending as usual in the recognition by the Brahmans of the ancient gods in a slightly modified form. We have no records whatever of the introduction of Brahmanism into southern India but it may reasonably be supposed to have made its appearance there several centuries before our era, though in what form or with what strength we cannot say. Tradition credits Agastya and Parasu-Rama with having estab lished colonies of Brahmans in the south at undated but remote epochs. But whatever colonization occurred was not on a large scale. An inscription found in Mysore* states that Mukkanna Kadamba (who probably lived in the third century A.D.) imported a number of Brahman families from the north,
.

,

1

The

old folklore of Bengal gives a picture of Siva, the peasant

is

neither Vedic nor Dravidian.
8

s god, which See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Bengali Lang, and Lit.

pp. 68
3
4

ff. and 239 ff. J.R.A.S. 1899, p. 242. See some curious examples in Whitehead

s Village

Gods of South India.

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

and

204.

214

HINDUISM

[CH.

because he could find none in the south. Though this language may he exaggerated, it is evidence that Brahmans cannot have been numerous at that time and it is probable that Buddhism and Jainism were better represented. Three of Asoka s inscrip
tions

have been found

in

Mysore and

his missionary efforts

he includes

"the

in his last edict describing kings of the Pandyas

and Colas in the south" among the conquests of Buddhism. Mahinda founded a monastery in the Tanjore district and of the Tamil probably established Buddhism at various points 1 is therefore no reason to There to his on Ceylon way country be doubtful of Buddhist activity, literary or other, if evidence for
.

it is

of

Hsiian Chuang in 640 A. D. deplores the decay of the ruins of many old monasteries. which some think is supported to Jain tradition, According 2 Bhadrabahu accompanied at Sravana-Belgola by inscriptions the with Candra (identified Maurya king of that name) Gupta by led a migration of Jains from the north to Mysore about 300 B.C.
forthcoming.

Buddhism and speaks

,

The authenticity
it

of this tradition has been much criticized but can hardly be disputed that Jainism came to southern India about the same time as Buddhism and had there an equally

vigorous and even longer existence. Most Tamil scholars are agreed in referring the oldest Tamil literature to the first three centuries of our era and I see nothing

improbable in this. We know that Asoka introduced Buddhism into south India. About the time of the Christian era there are 3 many indications that it was a civilized country which main tained commercial relations with Rome and it is reasonable to
suppose that it had a literature. According to native tradition there were three successive Sanghams, or Academies, at Madura. The two earlier appear to be mythical, but the third has some
historical basis,

although

it is

probable that poems belonging

have been associated with it. Among those which have been plausibly referred to the second century A.D. are the two narrative poems Silappadhikaram and Manito several centuries

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. * See Rice, Mysore and Coorg, pp. 3-5 and Fleet s criticisms, I.A. XXI. 1892,
1

p. 287.
3

The various

notices in

European

classical

authors as well as in the Sinhalese

chronicles prove this.

xxvni]

&IVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA

215

mekhalai as well as the celebrated collection of didactic verses known as the Kural. The first two poems, especially the Manimekhalai, are Buddhist in tone. The Rural is ethical rather than 1 shows no interest in religious, it hardly mentions the deity Brahmanic philosophy or ritual and extols a householder s life above an ascetic s. The Naladiyar is an anthology of somewhat similar Jain poems which as a collection is said to date from the eighth century, though verses in it may be older. This Jain and Buddhist literature does not appear to have attained any religious importance or to have been regarded as even quasicanonical, but the Dravidian Hindus produced two large collec tions of sacred works, one Sivaite the other Vishnuite, which in popular esteem rival the sanctity of the Vedas. Both consist of
,

hymns, attributed to a succession of saints and still sung in the temple worship, and in both sects the saints are followed by a series of teachers and philosophers. We will take the Sivaites
first.

hymns is known as Tirumurai, and was Nambi-Andar-Nambi said to have lived under compiled by 1000 A. The first (c. D.). portion of it, known as King Rajaraja Devaram, contains the hymns of Sambandha, Appar and
Their collection of
saints 2 of the southern Sivaites

Sundara. These persons are the most eminent of the sixty-three and are credited with many miracles. Tamil scholars 3 consider that Sambandha cannot have lived later than the beginning of the seventh century. He was an adversary of the Jains and Appar is said to have been persecuted by the Buddhists. Of the other works comprised in the Tirumurai the most important is the Tiruva^agam of 4 Manikka-Vaxpagar one of the finest devotional poems which India can show. It is not, like the Bhagavad-gita, an exposition by the deity, but an outpouring of the soul to the deity. It only
,

incidentally explains the poet s views: its
tell of his

main purpose is to emotions, experiences and aspirations. This character-

1

2

Except in the first chapter. A complete list of them is given

in

Foulkes, Catechism of the Shaiiti religion,

1863, p. 21.
3
*

Tamilian Antiquary, 3, 1909, pp. 1-65. Edited and translated by Pope, 1900.

216
istic

HINDUISM

[CH.

seems not to be personal but to mark the whole school of Tamil Saiva writers. 1 This school, which is often called the Siddhanta though restricted to later philosophical perhaps that term is better in thought, writers, is clearly akin to the Pasupata but alike fact It is in one of the refined. more far ritual and sentiment which Hinduism has forms and most powerful interesting
,

assumed and

it

has even attracted the sympathetic interest of

Christians. The fervour of its utterances, the appeals to God as a loving father, seem due to the temperament of the Tamils,

since such sentiments do not find so clear

an expression

in other

parts of India. But still the whole system, though heated in the furnace of Dravidian emotion, has not been recast in a new

mould. Its dogmas are those common to Sivaism in other parts and it accepts as its ultimate authority the twenty-eight Saiva This however does not detract from the beautv of the Agamas. O note and tone which sound in its Tamil hymns and prayers. special
-

Whatever the teaching of the little known Agamas may be, the sSaiva-Siddhanta is closely allied to the Yoga and theistic forms of the Sankhya. It accepts the three ultimates, Pati the
Lord, Pasu his flock or souls, and Pasa the fetter or matter. So high is the first of these three entities exalted, so earnestly supplicated, that he seems to attain a position like that of Allah

Mohammedanism, as Creator and Disposer. But in spite of occasional phrases, the view of the Yoga that all three God, souls and matter are eternal is maintained 2 Between the
in
.

world periods there are pauses of quiescence and at the end of these iva evolves the universe and souls. That he may act in them he also evolves from himself his energy or Para9atti (Sk. Sakti). But this does not prevent the god himself in a personal

and often visible form from being for his devotees the one central and living reality. The Sakti, often called Uma, is merely Diva s reflex and hardly an independent existence.
1

2

Thus the catechism

Established opinion or doctrine. Used by the Jains as a name for their canon. of the Saiva 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-gita the ideas of the Vedanta and Sankhya are incongruously combined, so in the Tiruva9agam (e.g. Pope s edition, pp. 49 and 138) Siva is occasionally pantheized. He is the body and the soul, existence and non-existence, the false and the true, the bond and the release.

xxvni]

&IVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA
is

217

of this religion, best seen in the the personal tie which connects the soul with Tiruva9agam, God. In no literature with which I am acquainted has the

The remarkable feature

individual religious life its struggles and dejection, its hopes and fears, its confidence and its triumph received a delineation

more frank and more profound. Despite the strangely exotic
colouring of much in the picture, not only its outline but its details strikingly resemble the records of devout Christian lives in Europe. &va is addressed not only as Lord but as Father.

He

loves

and

desires

human

souls.

"Hard

though

it is

for

Brahma and Vishnu

What
$iva.

to reach thee, yet thou did st desire me." the soul desires is deliverance from matter and life with
(Arul).
"

and this he grants by bestowing grace mother love he came in grace and made me his
true";
"To

"With

;

"0

thou

who
I

art to thy true servants

thee,

O

Father,

may

1 attain, may I yet dwell with thee." Sometimes the poet feels that his sins have shut him off from communion with God.

He

lies

"like

a

worm
sore"

and troubled
forsaken
pressing
religion,
me."

in the midst of ants, gnawed ejaculating in utter misery

by the senses
"Thou

hast

But more often he seems on the point of ex a thought commoner in Christianity than in Indian

namely that the troubles of this life are only a prepara The idea that matter and suffering are not altogether evil is found in the later Sankhya where Prakriti (which in some respects corresponds to Sakti) is re
tion for future beatitude.

presented as a generous female power working in the interests of the soul. Among the many beauties of the Tiruvagagam is one which reminds us of the works of St Francis and other Christian poetry, namely the love of nature and animals, especially birds and
insects.

There are constant allusions to plants and flowers; the poem calls on a dragon fly to sing the praises of God and another bids the bird known as Kuyil call him to come. In another ode the poet says he looks for the grace of God like a patient heron watching night and day. The first perusal of these poems impresses on the reader their resemblance to Christian literature. They seem to be a tropical version of Hymns Ancient and Modern and to ascribe
refrain of one

to the deity

and

his worshippers precisely those sentiments
1

E.g.

Hymn

vi.

218

HINDUISM

[CH.

tell us are wanting among pagans fatherly It is assured salvation. of bliss the and devotion love, yearning not surprising if many have seen in this tone the result of Christian influence. Yet I do not think that the hypothesis is contrast is often probable. For striking as is the likeness the which almost in words described The deity equally striking.

which missionaries

literally

render "Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear" is also the spouse of Uma with the white breasts and curled locks he dances in the halls of Tillai and the line "Bid thou in grace my is followed by two others indicated by dots as fears begone 1 Nor can we say that emotional "not translateable being
;
;
"

."

religion here uses the language of a mythology which it has outgrown. The emotion itself while charged with the love of

god, the sense of sin and contrition, has in it another strain which jars on Europeans. $iva sports with the world and his worshippers treat him with an affectionate intimacy which may
ity

be paralleled in the religion of Krishna but hardly in Christian 2 Thus several hymns have reference to a game, such as tossing about a ball (hymn vii), battledore and shuttlecock (xiv) or some form of wrestling in which the opponents place their hands on each other s shoulders (xv). The worshipper can even scold the deity. thou forsake me, I will make people smile at thee. I shall abuse thee sore madman clad in elephant skin madman that ate the poison: madman, who chose even me as
.

"If

:

:

thy

own 3

."

Again, though in part the tone of these poems is Christian, yet they contain little that suggests Christian doctrine. There 4 is nothing about redemption or a suffering god and many ideas
,

common to Christianity and Hinduism

such as the incarnation 5

,

the Trinity, and the divine child and his mother are absent. It is possible that in some of the later works of the Sittars
Pope s Tiruvafaga7n, p. 257. Yet I have read that American American game) with Jesus.
2 1

revivalists describe

how you play

base ball (an

3
4

Pope

s

It does

Tiruvafagam, p. 101. not seem to me that the legend of Siva

s

is

really parallel to the sufferings of the Christian redeemer. benevolent exploit like many performed by Vishnu.
5

drinking the hala-hala poison At the most it is a

Although Siva
the

is

said to have been
religion, p. 20)

Catechism of

Shaiva

many times incarnate (see for instance he seems to have merely appeared in human
like Christ or

form on special occasions and not to have been as a man from birth to death.

Krishna a god living

xxvm]

SlVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA
may have
is

219

Christian influence 1

supervened but most of this

explicable as the development of the ideas expressed in the Bhagavad-gita and the ^vetasvatara Upanishad. Chronologically Christian influence is not impossible

Tamil poetry

and there is a tradition that Manikka-Vagagar reconverted to Hinduism some natives of Malabar who had become Christians 2 but the uncertainty of his date makes it hard to fix his place in the history of doctrine. Recent Hindu scholars are disposed to assign him to the second or third century 3 In support of this, it is plausibly urged that he was an active adversary of the Buddhists, that tradition is unanimous in regarding him as
.

than the writers of the Devaram 4 who make references (not however indisputable) to his poem, and that Perisiriyar, who commented on it, lived about 700 A.D. I confess that the tone and sentiments of the poem seem to me what one would expect in the eleventh rather than in the third century it has something of the same emotional quality as the Gita-govinda and the Bhagavata-purana, though it differs from them in doctrine and in its more masculine devotion. But the Dravidians are not of the same race as the northern Hindus and since this
earlier
:

ecstatic
it

monotheism is clearly characteristic of their literature, may have made its appearance in the south earlier than

elsewhere.

God and

The Tiruvagagam is not unorthodox but it deals direct with is somewhat heedless of priests. This feature becomes more noticeable in other authors such as Pattanattu Pillai, Kapilar and the Telugu poet Vemana. The first named appears to have lived in the tenth century. The other two are legendary
figures

to

whom
some

ascribed and
ancient.

anthologies of popular gnomic verses are of those attributed to Kapilar are probably

In
lines

all this

poetry there rings out a note of almost

defiant monotheism, iconoclasm
1

and antisacerdotalism.

It

may

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 the third edition.
2 3

The

is

given. This part of the introduction

is

omitted in

Tamilian Antiquary, 4, 1909, pp. 57-82. 76. pp. 1-57; Sesha Aiyar gives 275 A.D. as the probable date, and 375 as

the latest date.
4

the Tiruva9agam twice,
E.

The Saiva catechism translated by Foulkes says (p. 27) that Siva revealed first to Manikka-Vacagar and later to Tiru-Kovaiyar.
15

n.

220

HINDUISM

[CH.

be partly explained by the fact that in the south Brahmanism was preceded, or at least from early times accompanied, by Buddhism and Jainism. These creeds did not make a conquest, for the Dravidian temperament obviously needed a god who could receive and reward passionate devotion, but they cleared the air and spread such ideas as the superiority of good deeds

and the uselessness of priests. Even now verses expressing these thoughts are popular in the Madras Presidency, but the 1 is entirely sect which produced them, known as the Sittars
to rites
,

Caldwell attributes small and it is clear that century, but the evidence available is a long life. As in other had school this theistic anti-brahmanic so much as adapt it. The did not Brahmans suppress cases, the
extinct.
collection

its literature

to the seventeenth

poems

of

which goes by the name of $iva-vakyam contains different ages and styles. Some are orthodox, others
of

have no trace

Brahmanism except the use
.

of Siva as the

name

of the deity. Yet it would seem that the has not fallen under sacerdotal censure 2

anthology as a whole

The important
regarded as an
describing

sect of the Lingayats should perhaps be offshoot of this anti-brahmanic school, but before

it, it may be well briefly to review the history of orthodox Sivaism in the south. By this phrase is not meant the sect or school which had the support of Sankara but that which developed out of the poems mentioned above without parting company with Brah manism. Sankara disapproved of their doctrine that the Lord is the efficient cause of the world, nor would the substitution of vernacular for Sanskrit literature and temple ceremonies for Vedic sacrifices have found favour with him. But these were

evidently strong tendencies in popular religion. An important portion of the Devaram and the Kanda Purana of Kachiyappar, a Tamil adaptation of the Skanda Purana, were probably written between 600 and 750 A. D. 3 About 1000 A.D. the Tiru-

murai (including the Devaram) was arranged as a collection in eleven parts, and about a century later Sekkilar composed the Periya Purana, a poetical hagiology, giving the legends of
1

Sanskrit, Siddha.

Space forbids me to quote the Siva-vakyam and Pattanattu Pilld, interesting as they are. The reader ia referred to Gover, Folk-Songs of southern India, 1871, a work which is well worth reading.
3

2

The date
it

a MS. of

of the Skanda Parana creates no difficulty for Bendall considered found in Nepal to be anterior to 659 A.D.

xxvin]

&IVAISM IN SOUTHERN INDIA

221

^ivaite saints and shrines. Many important temples were dedicated to iva during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. There followed a period of scholasticism in which the body of doctrine called the Saiva Siddhanta was elaborated by four 1 Acaryas, namely Mey-Kanda-Devar (1223), Arunandi, Maraifiana-Sambandhar and Umapati (1313). It will thus be seen that the foundation of Sivaite philosophy in Tamil is later than Ramanuja and the first Vishnuite movements, and perhaps it was influenced by them but the methodical exposition of the Saiva-Siddhantam 2 does not differ materially from the more poetic utterances of the Tiruva9agam. It recognizes the three entities, the Lord, the soul and matter as separate, but it shows a tendency (doubtless due to the influence of the Vedanta) both to explain away the existence of matter and to identify the soul with the Lord more closely than its original formulae allow. Matter is described as Maya and is potentially contained in the Lord who manifests it in the creative process which begins each kalpa. The Lord is also said to be one with our souls and yet other. The soul is by nature ignorant, in bondage to the illusion of Maya and of Karma, but by the grace of the Lord it attains to union (not identity) with him, in which it sees that its actions are his actions.

In modern times Saiva theology is represented among Dravidians by the works of Sivananar (1785) and his disciple ivaism in Kachiyappar: also by the poems of Rama-linga. Madras and other parts of southern India is still a vigorous and progressive Church which does not neglect European methods. Its principal organ is an interesting magazine called SiddhantaDipika or the Light of Truth. In northern India the Sivaites are less distinct as a body and have less organization, but temples to Siva are numerous and perhaps the majority of

Brahmans and ascetics regard him as their special deity and read Sivaite rather than Vishnuite texts. But it is probably also true that they are not sectarian in the same sense as the worshippers of Krishna. It is not easy to estimate the relative numbers of Sivaites and Vishnuites in south India, and good authorities hold
1

One
It is

of his

maxima was adu adu
it

ddal, that is the

or material) with which
2

identifies itself

contained in fourteen sastraa,

mind becomes that (spiritual most completely. most of which are attributed to the four

teachers mentioned above.

222
opposite views.

HINDUISM
The
Sivaites are
divisions

[CH.

more united than the Vishnuites and conspicuous sectarian marks attract (whose many found are and chiefly among the upper classes and attention) but perhaps there is much truth in an opinion among ascetics, which I once heard expressed by a Tamil Brahman, that the real division is not between the worshippers of Siva and of Vishnu, but between Smartas, those who follow more or less observances and those who seek for strictly the ancient ritual salvation by devotion and in practice neglect the Sanskrit The worship of both gods is scriptures. There is little hostility. sometimes performed in the same building as at Chidambaram or in neighbouring shrines, as at Srirangam. In south Kanara and Travancore it is generally held that the two deities are of equal greatness and in many places are found images repre senting them united in one figure. But the great temples at Madura, Tinnevelly and Tanjore are all dedicated to iva or members of his family. If in the philosophical literature of the
is noticeable, in these rich rather the symbolism surrounding the god buildings which attracts attention. In his company are worshipped

Siddhanta the purity of the theism taught
it is

Parvati, Ganesa,

attendants he
:

is

Subrahmanya, the bull Nandi and minor shown leaping in the ecstacy of the dance and

on temple walls are often depicted his sixty-four sports or miracles (lila). For the imagination of the Dravidians he is a great rhythmic force, throbbing and exulting in all the works of nature and exhibiting in kindly playfulness a thousand antics and a thousand shapes.

Another school of Sivaite philosophy flourished in Kashmir 1 from the ninth century onwards and is not yet extinct among Pandits. It bases itself on the Agamas and includes among them the still extant Siva-sutras said to have been discovered as revelation by Vasugupta. He lived about 800 A.D. and abandoned Buddhism for Sivaism. The school produced a disschool see Barnett in Muston, 1909, pp. 271-277. J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 707-747. Kashmir Sanskrit series, particularly vol. n. entitled Kashmir Saivism. The Siva sutraa and the commentary Vimar sini translated in Indian Thought, 1911-12. Also Srinivasa lyengar, Outlines of Indian Philosophy, pp. 1681

For the Kashmir

175 and Surva-darsana-sangraha, chap.

vm.

xxvm]

SIVAISM IN KASHMIR
.

223

tinguished line of literary men who flourished from the ninth to the eleventh centuries 1 The most recent authorities state that the Kashmir school

one and that there is no real opposition between the Spanda and Pratyabhijna sections 2 The word Spanda, equivalent to the godhead and ultimate reality, is interesting for it means vibration accompanied by consciousness or, so to speak, selfconscious ether. The term Pratyabhijna or recognition is more
is
.

frequent in the later writings. Its meaning is as follows. Siva 3 is the only reality and the soul is Siva, but Maya forces on the soul a continuous stream of sensations. By the practice of meditation it is possible to interrupt the stream and in those moments light illuminates the darkness of the soul and it recognizes that it is Siva, which it had forgotten. Also the world is wholly unreal apart from Siva. It exists by his will and in his mind. What seems to the soul to be cognition is really
recognition, for the soul (which
in the divine
is

identical with the divine

mind

but blinded and obstructed) recognizes that which exists only mind. It has been held that Kashmirian Sivaism is the parent of the Dravidian Saiva Siddhanta and spread from Kashmir southwards by way of Kalyan in the eleventh century, and this hypothesis certainly receives support from the mention of Kashmiri Brahmans in south Indian inscriptions of the four
teenth century 4 Yet I doubt if it is necessary to assume that south Indian Sivaism was derived from Kashmir, for the worship of iva must have been general long before the eleventh century 5 and Kashmiri Brahmans, far from introducing Sivaism to the south, are more likely to have gone thither because they were
.

sure of a good reception, whereas they were exposed to Moslim
1

Among them may

Somananda

of the Sivadrishti,

be mentioned Kallata, author of the Spanda Kdrilcds and who both flourished about 850-900. Utpala, who

composed the Pratyabhijna-karikas, lived some fifty years later, and in the eleventh century Abhinava Gupta and Kshemaraja composed numerous commentaries. 2 Kashmirian Saivism is often called Trika, that is tripartite, because, like other
varieties, it treats of three ultimates Siva, Sakti,

Anu or Pati, Pasu, Pdsa. But it has a decided tendency towards monism. 3 Also called the Sakti or Matrika. 4 See Epig.Carn. vu. Sk. 114. 19, 20 and Jour. Mythic Society, 1917, pp. 176, 180. 5 To say nothing of Sivaite temples like the Kailas at Ellora, the chief doctrines and even the terminology of Sivaite philosophy are mentioned by Sankara on Ved.
Sutras,
ii.

2. 37.

224

HINDUISM

[CH.

own country. Also the forms which givaism persecution in their two these in assumed outlying provinces present differences: in Kashmir it was chiefly philosophic, in the Dravidian countries
the south it calls on God to help the sinner chiefly religious. In out of the mire, whereas the school of Kashmir, especially in its later developments, resembles the doctrine of Sankara,
its terminology is its own. Before the advent of Islam, Kashmir was a secluded but cultured land. Its pleasant climate and beautiful scenery, said 1 to have been praised by Gotama himself attracted and stimu lated thinkers and it had some importance in the history of

though

,

Buddhism and of the Pancaratra as well as for givaism. It 13 connected with the Buddhist sect called Sarvastivadins and in this case the circumstances seem clear. The sect did not originate in Kashmir but its adherents settled there after attending the Council of Kanishka and made it into a holy land. Subsequently, ivaism 2 entered the mountain valleys first Vishnuism and then
and flourished there. Kashmirian thinkers may have left an individual impress on either system but they dealt with questions which had already been treated of by others and their contribu
tions,

though interesting, do not seem to have touched the

foundations of belief or to have inspired popular movements. The essential similarity of all ivaite schools is so great that
coincidences even in details do not prove descent or borrowing and the special terms of Kashmirian philosophy, such as spanda

and pratyabhijna, seem not to be used in the south.

The Siva-sutras consist of three sections, describing three methods of attaining svacchanda or independence. One (the gist of which has been given above) displays some though not great
originality

the second is Saktist, the third follows the ordinary prescriptions of the Yoga. All Sivaite philosophy is really based on this last and teaches the existence of matter, souls and a
:

deity, manifested in a series of phases. The relations of these three ultimates are variously defined, and they may be identified

with one another, for the Sankhya-Yoga doctrine
1

may

be com-

In the Samyuktavastu, chap. XL. (transl. in J.A. 1914, 11. pp. 534, etc.) the Buddha is represented as saying that Kashmir is the best land for meditation and leading a religious life.
2

Chatterji,

snra, published by Barnett, called the Adhara Karikas.

Kashmir Saivism, p. 11, thinks that Abhinava Gupta s Paramfirthawas an adaptation of older verses current in India and

xxvni]

THE LINGAYATS

225

bined (though not very consistently) with the teaching of the Vedanta. In Kashmirian ivaism Vedantist influences seem strong and it even calls itself Advaita. It is noteworthy that Vasugupta, who discovered the iva-sutras, also wrote a com mentary on the Bhagavad-gita. The gist of the matter is that, since a taste for speculation is far more prevalent in India than in Europe, there exist many systems of popular philosophy which, being a mixture of religion and metaphysics, involve two mental attitudes. The ordinary worshipper implores the Lord to deliver him from the bondage of sin and matter the philosopher and saint wish to show that thought is one and such ideas as sin and matter partial and illusory. The originality of the Saiva Siddhanta lies less in its dogmas than in its devotional character in the feeling that the soul is immersed in darkness and struggles upwards by the grace of the Lord, so that the whole process of Karma and Maya is
:

:

really beneficent.

As already mentioned Sivaism has an important though unorthodox offshoot in the Lingayats 1 or Lingavants. It
appears that they originated at Kalyan (now in the Nizam s dominions) at the time when a usurper named Bijjala (11561167) had seized the throne of the Chalukyas. Their founder was Basava (the vernacular form of Vrishabha) assisted by his
2 nephew Channabasava whose exploits and miracles are re corded in two Puranas composed in Kanarese and bearing their respective names. According to one story Bijjala, who was a Jain, persecuted the Lingayats and was assassinated by them. But there are other versions and the early legends of the sect merit little credence. The Lingayats are Puritans. They reject caste, the supremacy of the Brahmans, sacrifices and other rites, and all the later Brahmanic literature. In theory they reverence the Vedas but practically the two Puranas mentioned are their
,

and

s.v. vol. rv. pp. 236-291 Presidency, vol. xxm. article Bijapur, pp. 219-1884. 2 An inscription found at Ablur in Dharwar also mentions Ramayya as a champion of Sivaite monotheism. He is perhaps the same as Channabasava. The

1

See Thurston, Castes and Tribes of southern India,

Gazetteer of the

Bombay

Lingayats maintain that Basava merely revived the old true religion of Siva and founded nothing new.

226
.

HINDUISM

[CH.

teetotallers: they 1 sacred books They are strict vegetarians and the to nor remarriage of child object marriages do not insist on the form of a in is Siva of worship widows. Their only object the neck round one suspended and carry

they always remarkable that an exceptionally severe and choose this emblem as its object of puritanical sect should a as already observed, the lingam is merely worship, but, not is its and force creative accomplished worship svmbol of the 2 true Lingayats are not liable by indecent rites They hold that to be denied by births or deaths, that they cannot be injured and that when they die their souls do not transmi

lingam or arm.

It is

.

by eorcery

to Siva. grate but go straight needed.

No

prayers for the dead are

Though trustworthy details about the rise of the Lingayats are scarce, we can trace their spiritual ancestry. They present
in in

an organized form the creed which inspired Pattanattu
the tenth century.

Pillai

About a hundred years later came a founded who great Vishnuite Church and it is not Ramanuja

nor if the least surprising if the Sivaites followed this example, orthodox party became the most definitely sectarian. The sectarian impulse which is conspicuous after the eleventh century was perhaps stimulated by the example of Moham medanism. There was little direct doctrinal influence, but a religious people like the Hindus can hardly have failed to notice the strength possessed by an association worshipping one god of its own and united by one discipline. Syrian Christianity also might have helped to familiarize the Lingayats with the idea of a god not to be represented by images or propitiated by sacrifices, but there is no proof that it was prevalent in the part of the Deccan where they first appeared. The Lingayats spread rapidly after Basava s death 3 They still number about two millions and are to be found in most
.

Karanese-speaking
all
1

districts.
is

carry the lingam, which

They are easily recognizable for commonly enclosed in a red scarf

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. 2 The use of the Linga by this sect supports the view that even in its origin the
symbol
3

is not exclusively phallic. 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).

xxvm]

THE LINOAYATS

worn round the neck or among the richer classes in a silver-box. It is made of grey soapstone and a Lingayat must on no account part with it for a moment. They are divided into the laity and
the

Jangams

or priests.

itinerant ascetics

Some of these marry but others are who wander over India frequenting especially
.

the five Simhasanas or Lingayat sees 1 They are treated with extreme respect by the laity and sometimes wear fantastic

costumes such as plates resembling armour or little bells which announce their approach as they walk. In doctrine the Lingayats remain faithful to their original tenets and do not worship any god or goddess except Siva in the form of the Lingam, though they show respect to Ganesa, and other deities as also to the founder of their sect. But in social matters it is agreed by all observers that they show a tendency to reintroduce caste and to minimize the differences separating them from more orthodox sects. According to Basava s teaching all members of the community both men and women are equal. But though converts from all castes are still accepted, it was found at the last census that well-to-do Lingayats were anxious to be entered under the name of Virasaiva Brahmans, Kshatriyas, etc., and did not admit that caste distinctions are obliterated among them. Similarly though the remarriage of widows is not forbidden there is a growing tendency to look at
it

askance.

1 At Kadur, Ujjeni, Benares, Srisailam and Kedarnath in the Himalayas. In every Lingayat village there is a monastery affiliated to one of these five establish ments. The great importance attached to monastic institutions is perhaps due to

Jain influence.

CHAPTER XXIX
VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

THOUGH Sivaism can

stronger. 1030 A.D. mentions Siva

boast of an imposing array of temples, teachers and scriptures in the north as well as in the south, and after 1000 A.D. perhaps yet Vishnuism was equally strong north-western India in about Thus Alberuni writing

and Durga several times incidentally but devotes separate chapters to Narayana and Vasudeva; he 1 quotes copiously from Vishnuite works but not from sectarian the that Sivaite books. He mentions worshippers of Vishnu are refers to Rama. It is clear he called Bhagavatas and frequently he considered that he of Vishnuism that in giving an account the described had for all practical purposes religion of the parts of India which he knew. In their main outlines the histories of Vishnuism and Sivaism are the same. Both faiths first assumed a definite form
but both flourished exceedingly when trans the south and produced first a school of emotional planted to then in a maturer stage a goodly array of writers and hymn
in northern India,

theologians and philosophers as well as offshoots in the form of eccentric sects which broke loose from Brahmanism altogether.

But Vishnuism having first spread from the north to the south returned from the south to the north in great force, whereas the history of Sivaism shows no such reflux 2 Sivaism remained
.

comparatively homogeneous, but Vishnuism gave birth from the eleventh century onwards to a series of sects or Churches still extant and forming exclusive though not mutually hostile associations. The chief Churches or Sampradayas bear the names of Sanakadi, Sri, Brahma and Rudra. The first three were founded by Nimbaditya, Ramanuja and Madhva respectively.
1 Such as the Vishnu Purana, Vishnu Dharma, said to be a section of the Garuda Purana and the Bhagavad-gita. 2 The Hindus are well aware that the doctrine of Bhakti spread from the south

to the north.

See the allegory quoted in J.B.A.S. 1911,

p. 800.

OH. xxix]

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

229

The Rudra-sampradaya was rendered celebrated by Vallabha, though he was not its founder. The belief and practice of all Vishnuite sects alike is a
modified monotheism, the worship of the Supreme Being under some such name as Rama or Vasudeva. But the monotheism is not perfect. On the one hand it passes into pantheism: on
the other
it is

in all sects the consort

not completely disengaged from mythology and and attendants of the deity receive great

respect, even

if this respect is theoretically distinguished from adoration. Nearly all sects reject sacrifice in toto and make the basis of salvation emotional namely devotion to the deity, and

as a counterpart to this the chief characteristic of the deity is loving condescension or grace. The theological philosophy of each sect is nearly always, whatever name it may bear, a variety of the system known as Visishtadvaita, or qualified monism,

not unlike the Sarikhya-Yoga 1 For Vishnuites as for Sivaites there exist God, the soul and matter, but most sects
is
.

which

shrink from regarding them as entirely separate and bridge over the differences with various theories of emanations and
successive manifestations of the deity. But for practical religion the soul is entangled in matter and, with the help of God,

The precise nature and union has rise to as many subtle theories intimacy given and phrases as the sacraments in Europe. Vishnuite sects in all parts of India show a tendency to recognize vernacular works as their scriptures, but they also attach great importance to
struggles towards union with him.
of this

the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-gita, the Narayaniya and the Vedanta Sutras. Each has a special interpretation of these last which becomes to some extent its motto. But these books belong to the relatively older literature. Many Vishnuite, or rather Krishnaite, works composed from the
eighth century onwards differ from them in tone and give pro minence to the god s amorous adventures with the Gopis and and (still later) to the personality of Radha. This ecstatic

sentimental theology, though found in all parts of India, is more prevalent in the north than in the south. Its great text book is the Bhagavata Purana. The same spirit is found in
1

refute the Sarikhya

Thus Ramanuja says (Sri Bhashya, n. 2. 43) that the Vedanta Sutras do not and Yoga but merely certain erroneous views as to Brahman
self.

not being the

230

HINDUISM
s

[OH.

Jayadeva

Gita-govinda, apparently composed in Bengal about 1170A.D. and reproducing in a polished form the religious dramas or Yatras in which the life of Krishna is still represented.

The sect 1 founded by Nimbarka or Nimbaditya has some connection with this poem. Its chief doctrine is known as dvaitadvaitamata, or dualistic non-duality, which is explained as meaning that, though the soul and matter are distinct from God, they are yet as intimately connected with him as waves with water or the coils of a rope with the rope itself. This doctrine is referred to in the religious drama called Prabodhacandrodaya, probably composed at the end of the eleventh century. The Nimavats, as the adherents of the sect are called, are found near Muttra and in Bengal. It is noticeable that this sect, which had its origin in northern India, is said to have been 2 persecuted by the Jains and to have been subsequently revived a teacher called Nivasa. This may explain why in the twelfth by Vishnuism flourished in the south rather than in the century north 3 Less is known of the Nimbarkas than of the other sects. They worship Krishna and Radha and faith in Krishna is said to be the only way to salvation. Krishna was the deity of
.

the earliest bhakti-sects.
centuries there
spiritual deity,

Then was a reaction

in the fourteenth in favour of

and

fifteenth

Rama

as a

more

but subsequently Vallabha and Caitanya again made the worship of Krishna popular. Nimbarka expressed his views in a short commentary on the Vedanta Sutras and also 4 in ten verses containing a compendium of doctrine
.

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 Dvaitadvaita was equivalent to the existence of the sect. But Bhandarkar has shown some reason for thinking that Nimbaditya lived after Ramanuja. It must be admitted that the worship of Radha and the doctrine of self-surrender or prapatti, both found in the Dasasloki, are probably late. 2 See Grierson in E.R.E. vol. n. p. 457. 3 The Church of the Nimavats is also called because it
It has

1

Sanakadi-sampradaya from Sanaka and his brethren who taught Narada, one sub-sect founded by Harivamsa (born 1559) adopts a doctrine analogous to Saktism and worships Radha as the manifestation of Krishna s energy.
professes to derive its doctrine

who taught Nimbarka. At

least

4

Called the

Daaloki.

It

is

translated in Bhandarkar

s

Vaishn. and Saivism,

pp. 63-5.

xxix]

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

231

As among the
.

Sivaites, so

history begins with poet-saints. Arvars 1 For the three earliest found, but the later ones seem most revered of them is Namm

among the Vishnuites of the south, They are called the twelve
no
historical basis has

been

to be real personalities. The arvar also called Sathagopa,
.

whose images and pictures may be seen everywhere in south India and receive the same reverence as figures of the gods 2 He may have lived in the seventh or eighth century A.D. 3 The chronology of the Arvars is exceedingly vague but if the praises of iva were sung by poet-saints in the seventh century, it is probable that the Vishnu worshippers were not
behindhand.
First

Two

circumstances argue a fairly early date.

Nathamuni is said to have arranged the hymns of the Arvars and he probably lived about 1000 A.D. Therefore the Arvars must have become classics by this date. Secondly the 4 Bhagavata Purana says that in the Kali age the worshippers of Narayana will be numerous in the Dravidian country, though in other parts found only here and there, and that those who
drink the water of the Kaveri and other southern rivers will mostly be devotees of Vasudeva. This passage must have been written after a Vishnuite movement had begun in the Dravidian

country

5
.

The hymns attributed to the Arvars are commonly known the name of Prabandham or Nalayiram and are accepted by by the Tengalai Vishnuites as their canonical scriptures. The whole collection contains 4000 verses arranged in four parts 6 and an
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
1

immersed

in the divine love.

Cf. AzJii, the

deep sea; Azhal, being deep or being

immersed. 2 An educated Vaishnava told
the same homage.
8

me

at Srirangam that devas

and

saints receive saints are

It is possible that the poems attributed to arvar really later compositions. See Epig. Ind. vol. vin. p. 294.
4
5

Namm

and other

xi. 5. 38-40.
(

Bhandarkar Vaishn. and Saivism, p. 50) thinks it probable that Kulasekhara, middle Arvars, lived about 1130. But the argument is not conclusive and it seems to me improbable that he lived after Nathamuni. * The first called Mudal-Ayiram consists of nine hymns ascribed to various saints such as Periyarvar and Andal. The second and third each consist of a single work the Periya-tiru-mori and the Tiru-vay-mori ascribed to Tiru-mangai and
one
of the

232

HINDUISM
.

[OH.

extract consisting of 602 verses selected for use in daily worship 1 This poetry shows the same ecstatic is in part accessible devotion and love of nature as the Tiruvasagam. It contem

and a temple ritual consisting in plates the worship of images him during awakening the god at morning and attending on
the day. It quotes the Upanishads and Bhagavad-gita, assumes as a metaphysical basis a vedantized form of the Sarikhya of the pastoral Krishna philosophy, and also accepts the legends

but without giving much detail. Jains, Buddhists and Saivas are blamed and the repetition of the name Govinda is enjoined. Though the hymns are not anti-Brahmanic they decidedly do not contemplate a life spent in orthodox observances and their reputed authors include several udras, a king and a woman.
After the poet-saints

came the doctors and

theologians.

Accounts of them, which seem historical in the main though 2 full of miraculous details, are found in the Tamil biographies
illustrating the apostolic succession of teachers.
fairly certain that Ramanuja, in 1118: the first, known as

It appears the fourth in succession, was alive

lived 100-150 years earlier. he is said to have arranged the
in

Nathamuni, may therefore have None of his works are extant but

poems of the Arvars for recitation temple services. He went on a pilgrimage to northern India and according to tradition was an adept in Yoga, being one of the last to practise it in the south. Third in succession was his

grandson Yamunarcarya (known as Alavandar or victor), who spent the first part of his life as a wealthy layman but was converted and resided at Srirangam. Here he composed several important works in Sanskrit including one written to establish the orthodoxy of the Paficaratra and its ritual 3
.

Namm arvar respectively. The fourth part or lyar-pa is like the first a miscellany containing further compositions by these two as well as by others. 1 Nityanusandhanam series: edited with Telugu paraphrase and English transla tion by M. B. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Madras, 1898.
ThebeatknownistheGuru-parampara-prabhavamof Brahmatantra-svatantraswami. For an English account of these doctors see T. Rajagopala Chariar, The Vaishnavite Reformers of India, Madras, 1909. 3 Agamapramanya. He also wrote a well-known hymn called AlavandarStotram and a philosophical treatise called Siddhi-traya.
2

xxix]

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

233

succeeded by Ramanuja, a great name in Indian as the organizer of a most important sect and, both theology 1 if not the founder at least the accepted exponent of the Visishtadvaita philosophy. Ramanuja was born at ^riperumbudur 2 near Madras, where he is still commemorated by a celebrated shrine. As a youth he studied $ivaite philosophy at Conjeevaram but abandoned it for Vishnuism. He appears to have been a good administrator. He made the definitive collec tion of the hymns of the Arvars and is said to have founded 700 maths and 89 hereditary abbotships, for he allowed the members of his order to marry. He visited northern India, including Kashmir if tradition may be believed, but his chief residence was ^rirangam. Towards the end of the eleventh century however, the hostility of the Chola King Kulottunga, who was an intolerant Sivaite, forced him to retire to Mysore. Here he was protected by King Vittala Deva whom he converted from Jainism and on the death of Kulottunga in 1118 he returned to rirangam where he ended his days. In the temple there his tomb and a shrine where his image receives divine honours may still be seen. His best known work 3 is the ri
,

He was

Bhashya or commentary on the Vedanta sutras. The sect which he founded is known as the ri Sampradaya and its members as the Sri Vaishnavas. As among the Sivaites
revelation

often supposed to be made by Siva through Sakti, Lord is said to have revealed the truth to his consort ri or Lakshmi, she to a demigod called Visvaksena, and he to Namm arvar, from whom Ramanuja was eighth in spiritual descent. Though the members of the sect are sometimes called Ramaites the personality of Rama plays a small part in their faith, especially as expounded by Ramanuja. As names for the deity he uses Narayana and Vasudeva and he quotes freely from
is

so here the

Boddhayana, a commentator on the Sutras He quotes several other commentators particularly Dramida, so that his school must have had a long line of teachers. 2 See Gazetteer of India, vol. xxm. s.v. There is a Kanarese account of his life called Dibya-caritra. For his life and teaching see also Bhandarkar in Berichte VHth Int. Orient. Congress, 1886, pp. 101 ff Lives in English have been published at Madras by Alkondaville Govindacarya (1906) and Krishnaswami Aiyengar ? 1909). 3 He also wrote the Vedartha Sahgraha, Vedartha Pradipa, Vedanta Sara and a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita.
states himself that he followed
of

1

He

unknown date but

anterior to Sankara.

.

(

234

HINDUISM

[CH.

the Bhagavad-gita and the Vishnu Purana. Compared with the emotional deism of Caitanya this faith seems somewhat philo
sophic and reticent.

Ramanuja

in the first clearly indicates its principal points

words of his Sri Bhashya. May my mind be filled with devotion towards the highest Brahman, the abode of Lakshmi; who is luminously revealed in the Upanishads: who in sport produces, sustains and reabsorbs the entire universe: whose only aim is
to foster the manifold classes of beings that humbly worship He goes on to say that his teaching is that of the him 1
."

of Upanishads, "which was obscured by the mutual conflict manifold opinions," and that he follows the commentary of

Bodhayana and other teachers who have abridged it. That is to say, the form of Vishnuism which Ramanuja made one of the principal religions of India claims to be the
teaching of the Upanishads, although he also affiliates himself to the Bhagavatas. He interprets the part of the Vedanta Sutras which treats of this sect 2 as meaning that the author

and ultimately disallows the objections raised to their teaching and he definitely approves it. "As it is thus settled that the highest Brahman or Narayana himself is the promulgator of the entire Pancaratra and that this system teaches the
states

nature of Narayana and the proper way of worshipping him, none can disestablish the view that in the Pancaratra all the other doctrines are comprised 3 The true tradition of the Upanishads he contends has been distorted by "manifold opinions," among which the doctrine of Sankara was no doubt the chief. That doctrine was naturally distasteful to devotional poets, and from the time of Nathamuni onwards a philosophic reaction against it grew up in Srirangam.
."

Ramanuja preaches the worship of a loving God, though when we read that God produces and reabsorbs the universe in sport, we find that we are farther from Christianity than we at first
supposed. There
is

Lakshmi 4 but
for
ri
1

it is

clear that

a touch of mythology in the mention of Ramanuja himself had little liking

mythology. He barely mentions Rama and Krishna in the Bhashya nor does he pay much attention to the consort of
S.B.E. XLVIII.
p. 3.
2

n.

2.

36-39.

*

n.

2.

43 ad fin.

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

*

xxix]

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

235

the deity. On the other hand he shows no sign of rejecting the ritual and regulations of the Brahmans. He apparently wished to prove that the doctrine of salvation by devotion to a personal god

compatible with a system as strictly orthodox as ^arikara s own. I shall treat elsewhere of his philosophy, known as the Visishtadvaita or non-duality, which yet recognizes a distinction
is

between God and individual souls. The line of thought is old and at all periods is clearly a compromise, unwilling to deny that God is everything and yet dissatisfied with the idea that a personal deity and our individual transmigrating souls are all merely illusion. Devotional theism was growing in Ramanuja s time. He could not break with the Upanishads and Vedantic tradition but he adapted them to the needs of his day. He taught firstly that the material world and human souls are not illusion but so to speak the body of God who comprises and pervades them: secondly this God is omniscient, omnipresent, almighty and all-merciful, and salvation (that is mukti or deliverance from transmigration) is obtained by those souls who, assisted by his grace, meditate on him and know him; thirdly this salvation consists not in absorption into God but in blissful existence near him and in participation of his glorious qualities.
(a) Para, the entire supreme spirit, (6) the fourfold manifestation as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, (c) incarna tions such as Rama and Krishna, (d) the internal controller or
:

He further held 1 that God exists in five modes, namely

2 Antaryamin according to the text

"who

abiding in the soul

rules the soul

within," (e)

duly consecrated images.
are at present divided into two and Vadagalais, or southern and

The
schools

followers of

Ramanuja

known
.

as Tengalais

northern 3 The double residence of the founder is one reason for the division, since both Mysore and Trichinopoly could claim
to have personal knowledge of his teaching. The really important difference seems to be that the Tengalai or southern school is inclined to break

away from
and

Sanskrit tradition, to ignore the

Vedas

in practice

to regard the

Tamil Nalayiram as an

1 This fivefold manifestation of the deity is a characteristic Pancaratra doctrine. See Schrader, Int. pp. 25, 51 and Sri Bhdahya, n. 242. 2 See Br. Ar. Up. in. 7. The Sri Vaishnavas attach great importance to this

chapter.
3

Only

relatively northern

and southern.

Neither flourish in what

we

call

northern India.
E. II.

16

236
all-sufficient

HINDUISM
scripture,

[CH.

whereas the Vadagalais, though not

insist on the authority of the Vedas. rejecting the Nalayiram, are divisions But both scrupulous about caste observances and their food. They are separated by nice of the ceremonial purity of doctrine, especially as to the nature of prapatti, questions self-surrender to the deity, a sentiment slightly or resignation bhakti which is active faith or devotion. The from different

northerners hold that the soul lays hold of the Lord, as the young monkey hangs on to its mother, whereas the southerners say that the Lord picks up the helpless and passive soul as a cat 1 According to the northerners, the consort picks up a kitten like of Vishnu is, him, uncreated and equally to be worshipped as a bestower of grace: according to the southerners she is
.

created and, though divine, merely a mediator or channel of the Lord s grace. Even more important in popular esteem is the fact that the Vadagalai sectarian mark ends between the whereas the Tengalais prolong it to the tip of the nose.

eyebrows

theologicum is often bitterest between the sects which most nearly related and accordingly we find that the use the Tengalais and Vadagalais frequently quarrel. They same temples but in many places both claim the exclusive right

Odium
are

to recite the

hymns

of the Arvars.

The

chief difference in their

recitation lies in the opening verse in which each party celebrates the names of its special teachers, and disputes as to the legality of a particular verse in a particular shrine sometimes give rise

and subsequent lawsuits. The two schools reckon the apostolic succession differently and appear to have separated in the thirteenth century, in which 2 they were represented by Pillai Lokacarya and Vedanta Desika respectively. The Tengalai, of which the first-named teacher
to free fights
1

Hence the two doctrines are called markata-nyaya and marjara-nyaya, 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 I feel quite certain about Christ, had he been asked, would have said 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 husks they ate beautiful and holy moments in his life." 2 Also called Venkatanatha. For some rather elaborate studies in the history of the Sri-Vaishnavas see V. Rangacharis articles in J. Bombay R.A.S. 1915 and
"the

19 1G

and

J.

Mythic Society, 1917, Nos. 2

ff.

xxix]

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

237

was the practical founder, must be regarded as innovators, for in their use of Tamil as the language of religion they do not follow the example of Ramanuja. Lokacarya teaches that the grace of God is irresistible and should be met not merely by active faith, but by self -surrender 1 and entire submission to the guidance of the spiritual teacher. He was the author of 2 eighteen works called Rahasyas or secrets but though he appears to have been the first to formulate the Tengalai doctrines, Manavala Mahamuni (1370-1443 A. D.) is regarded by the sect as its chief saint. His images and pictures are frequent in south India and he wrote numerous commentaries and poems. Vedanta Desika, the founder of the Vadagalai, was a native of Conjeevaram but spent much of his life at rirangam. He was a voluminous author and composed inter alia an allegorical play
,

in ten acts, portraying the liberation of the soul under the auspices of King Viveka (discrimination) and Queen Sumati

(Wisdom).

At the present day the two sects recognize as their respective who are married, whereas all Smarta Acaryas are celibates 3 The Tengalai Acarya resides near Tinnevelly, the Vadagalai in the district of Kurnool. They both make periodical visitations in their districts and have considerable ecclesiastical
heads two Acaryas
.

In the south Srirangam near Trichinopoly is their principal shrine: in the north Melucote in the Seringapatam district is esteemed very sacred.
power.

5

was only natural that Ramanuja s advocacy of qualified non-duality should lead some more uncompromising spirit to affirm the doctrine of Dvaita or duality. This step was taken by Madhva Acarya, a Kanarese Brahman who was probably
It

born in 1199A.D. 4 In the previous year the great temple of
Sri

Prapatti and acaryabhimana. The word prapatli seems not to occur in the Bhashya and it is clear that Ramanuja s temperament was inclined to active and intelligent devotion. But prapatli is said to have been taught by Nathamuni and Sathagopa (Rajagopala Chariar, Vaishnavite Reformers, p. 6). The word means
1

literally approaching.
2

The Artha-pancaka and Tattva-traya

are the best known. See text

and trans

lation of the first in J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 565-607. 3 Ramanuja set less store than Sankara on asceticism

and renunciation of the

held the doctrine called samucckaya (or combination) namely that good works as well as knowledge are efficacious for salvation. * Also called Anandatirtha and Purriaprajna. According to others he was born
world.
in 1238 A.D. See for his doctrines Grierson s article

He

Madhvas

in

E.R.E. and his own

238

HINDUISM

[CH.

and the Vishnuite Jagannatha at Puri had been completed Madhva its at was though educated as a movement height. He denied a Vaishnava. became absolutely the identity $aiva soul and held that individual the with of the Supreme Being Lord but that he is like of the modification a not is world the in Yet a son. who father a practice, rigid monotheism begets s followers than in other Madhva more not is prevalent among
sects.

They

and

of the

are said to tolerate the worship of ivaite deities 1 lingam in their temples and their ascetics dress like
travelled in both northern

Madhva

and southern India and

life, for his doctrine, being the flat contradiction of the Advaita, involved him in continual conflicts

had a somewhat troubled

with the followers of Sarikara
his library.

who

are said to have even stolen

rate they anathematized his teaching with a violence unusual in Indian theology 2 In spite of such lively controversy he found time to write thirty-seven works, including
.

At any

commentaries on the Upanishads, Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta Sutras. The obvious meaning of these texts is not that required by his system, but they are recognized by all Vaishnavas as the three Prasthanas or starting-points of philosophy and he had
to

often

show that they supported his views. Hence his interpretation seems forced and perverse. The most extraordinary
is

instance of this

his explanation of the celebrated phrase in

commentaries on the Chandogya and Brihad Ar. Upanishads published in Sacred Books of the Hindus, vols. in. and xiv. For his date Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, pp. 58-59 and LA. 1914, pp. 233 ff. and 262 ff. Accounts of his life and teaching have been written by Padmanabha Char, and Krishna Svami Aiyer (Madras, 1909). His followers maintain that he is not dead but still alive at Badari in the Himalayas.
1 See Padmanabha Char. I.e. page 12. Madhva condemned the worship of inanimate objects (e.g. com. Chand. Up. vii. 14. 2) but not the worship of Brahman in inanimate objects. 2 In a work called the Pdshanda capetikd or A Slap for Heretics, all the adherents of Madhva are consigned to hell and the Saurapurana, chaps. XXXVIII.-XL. contains a violent polemic against them. See Jahn s Analysis, pp. 90-106 and Barth in Melanges 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 Sivaites 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 Sivaite of the north who regarded Madhvism as a new-fangled version of objectionable doctrines.

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

xxix]

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA

239

the Chandogya Upanishad Sa atma tat tvam asi. He reads Sa atma atat tvam asi and considers that it means "You are not that God. Why be so conceited as to suppose that you are 1 ?
"

Monotheistic texts have often received a mystical and pan theistic interpretation. The Old Testament and the Koran have

been so treated by Kabbalists and Sufis. But in Madhva s commentaries we see the opposite and probably rarer method.
Pantheistic texts are twisted until they are

made

to express

uncompromising monotheism.

Brahma-sampradaya, because it was revealed by Brahma from whom Madhva was the sixth teacher in spiritual descent. Its members are known as Madhvas but prefer to call themselves SadVaishnavas. Its teaching seems more rigid and less emotional than that of other Vishnuites and is based on the Pancabheda or five eternal distinctions between (a) God and the soul, (6) God and matter, (c) the soul and matter, (d) individual souls, (e) individual atoms of matter. God is generally called Vishnu
sect is often called
its

The

claims that

doctrine

in his pastoral aspect.

Narayana rather than Vasudeva. Krishna is adored but not Vishnu and his spouse Lakshmi are real though superhuman personalities and their sons are Brahma the creator and Vayu 2 Peculiar to this sect is the doctrine that
or
.

except through Vayu, the son of Vishnu, salvation is impossible. Vayu has been three times incarnate as Hanumat, the helper of Rama, as Bhima and as Madhva himself 3 Souls are separate, innumerable and related to God as subjects to a king. They are
.

of three classes: those

who

are destined to eternal bliss in the

God: those who revolve eternally in the maze of transmigration: and those who tending ever downwards are
presence of

doomed

to eternal suffering.

1 See his comment on Chand. Up. vi. 8. 7. Compare Bliag.-g. xv. 7. The text appears to say that the soul (Jiva) 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 Chand. Up. mentioned above the simple words sa ya eshah are explained as equivalent to Sara 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

Bhagavata work called the Samasamhita. In his commentary on the opening of the Chand. Up. Madhva seems to imply a Trinity consisting of Vishnu, Rama ( = Lakshmi) and Vayu. a This is expressly stated at the end of the commentary on the Brih. Ar. Upan.
2

240

HINDUISM

[CH.

This last doctrine, as well as the doctrine of salvation through has led many to suspect that Madhva Vayu, the wind or spirit, Christian ideas, but it is more probable that was influenced by

he owed something to Islam. Such influence would no doubt be distant and indirect, for a Brahman would not come into contact with Moslim doctors, though it is said that Madhva 1 But some Moslim ideas such as the could speak Persian from the world and the predestina God of absolute separation eternal tion of souls to happiness and misery may have entered Brahman minds. Still, nearly all Madhva s views (with the eternal punishment) have Indian analogies. possible exception of there are innumerable souls distinct from that The Yoga teaches God and though salvation through the from and one another
.

spirit

sounds Christian, yet the Upanishads constantly celebrate Vayu (wind) and Prana (breath) as the pervading principle of the world and the home of the self. "By the wind (Vayu) as Gautama, this world and the other world and all thread, bound together 2 Thus the idea that the wind are creatures is the universal mediator is old and it does not seem that Madhva regarded Vayu as a redeemer or expiation for sin like
."

Christ.

are still an energetic and important sect. Their are at Udipi in South Kanara and they also hold headquarters an annual conference at Tirupati at which examinations in

The Madhvas

theology are held and prizes given. At Udipi are eight maths and a very sacred temple, dedicated by Madhva himself to Krishna. The head of each math is charged in turn with the supervision of this temple during two years and the change of
office is

celebrated
is

worship dancing girls for instance not being allowed, but great import ance is attached to the practice of branding the body with the emblems of Vishnu. The sect, like the Sri Vaishnavas, is divided
1 Life and teachings of Sri-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

by a great biennial festival in January. The more puritanical than in the temples of other sects,

Mahabh.

HI. 11,661) whom he considered incarnate in Sankara. It is conceivable that in his Persian studies he may have heard of Mani as an arch-heretic and have

identified
2

him with
(or

this

demon but
s either)

this

does not imply any connection between his

own system

Sankara

and Manicheism.

Brih. Ar.

Upan.

in. 7. 2.

xxix]
into

VISHNUISM IN SOUTH INDIA
parties, the
,

241

two

Vyasakutas who are conservative and use

Sanskrit scriptures 1 and the Dasakutas who have more popular tendencies and use sacred books written in Kanarese. Neither

the

ri

Vaishnavas nor the Madhvas are numerous in northern

India.
1

Among them

attributed to a disciple of

are the Manimanjari, the Madhvavijaya Madhva and his son.

and the Vayustuti,

all

CHAPTER XXX
LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA
the fifteenth century Hinduism enters on a new phase. Sects arise which show the influence of Mohammedanism, some times to such an extent that it is hard to say whether they should be classed as Hindu or Moslim, and many teachers

WITH

whereas in the previous centuries the repudiate caste. Also, centre of religious feeling lay in the south, it now shifts to the north. Hinduism had been buffeted but not seriously menaced there the teachers of the south had not failed to recognize by their pilgrimages the sanctity and authority of the northern seats of learning such works as the Gita-govinda testify to the
:
:

existence there of fervent

Vishnuism. But the country had been and unsettled by the vicissitudes invasions Moslim harassed by The were powerful in Gujarat and Jains of transitory dynasties. and moribund Buddhism were aktism In Bengal Rajputana. But in a few centuries new enthusiasms. to not likely engender

movements inaugurated in the south increased in extension and strength. Hindus and Mohammedans began to know more of each other, and in the sixteenth century under the tolerant rule of Akbar and his successors the new sects which had been
the

growing were able to consolidate themselves. After Ramanuja and Madhva, the next great name in the history of Vishnuism, and indeed of Hinduism, is Ramanand. His date is uncertain 1 He was posterior to Ramanuja, from whose sect he detached himself, and Kabir was his disciple,
.

See Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, pp. 66 ff., Grierson in Ind. Ant. 1893, and also in article Ramanandi in E.R.E. Farquhar, J.R.A.S. 1920, pp. 185 ff. Though Indian tradition seems to be unanimous in giving 1299 A.D. (4400 Kali) as the date of Ramanand 3 birth, all that we know about himself and his disciples
p. 226,
;

1

makes

ideas, too,

more probable that he was born nearly a century later. The history of becomes clear and intelligible if we suppose that Ramanand, Kabir and Nanak nourished about 1400, 1450 and 1500 respectively. One should be cautious in allowing such arguments to outweigh unanimous tradition, but tradition also assigns to Ramanand an improbably long life, thus indicating a feeling that he influenced
it

the fifteenth century.

Also the traditions as to the
differ greatly.

number

of teachers

between

Ramanuja and Ramanand

CH.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

243

apparently his immediate disciple. Some traditions give Prayaga as his birthplace, others Melucote, but the north was the scene of his activity. He went on a lengthy pilgrimage, and on his return was accused of having infringed the rules of his sect as to eating, etc., and was excommunicated, but received per mission from his Guru to found a new sect. He then settled in Benares and taught there. He wrote no treatise but various hymns ascribed to him are still popular 1 Though he is not associated with any special dogma, yet his teaching is of great importance as marking the origin of a popular religious movement charac terized by the use of the vernacular languages instead of Sanskrit, and by a laxity in caste rules culminating in a readiness 2 to admit as equals all worshippers of the true God This God is Rama rather than Krishna. I have already pointed out that the worship of Rama as the Supreme Being (to be distinguished from respect for him as a hero) is not early: in fact it appears to begin in the period which we are considering. Of the human forms of the deity Krishna was clearly the most popular but
. .

the school of Ramanuja, while admitting both Rama and Krishna as incarnations, preferred to adore God under less

mythological and more philosophic names such as Narayana. Ramanand, who addressed himself to all classes and not merely to the Brahman aristocracy, selected as the divine name Rama. It was more human than Narayana, less sensuous than Krishna.

Every Hindu was familiar with the poetry which sings of Rama as a chivalrous and godlike hero. But he was not, like Krishna, the lover of the soul, and when Ramaism was divested of mythology by successive reformers it became a monotheism in which Hindu and Moslim elements could blend. Ramanand had
twelve disciples, among whom were Kabir, a Raja called Pipa, Rai Das, a leather-seller (and therefore an outcast according to

Hindu
were

ideas) as well as Brahmans. The Ramats, as his followers called, are a numerous and respectable body in north India,

using the same sectarian mark as the Vadagalais from whom they do not differ materially, although a Hindu might consider that their small regard for caste is a vital distinction. They often
call

themselves Avadhutas, that is, those who have shaken off orldly restrictions, and the more devout among them belong
1
2

One
hoi."

of

them
s

is

found in the Granth of the Sikhs.
"

Ramanand

kau

maxim was Let no one ask a man

s

Jati pati puchai nahikoi: Hari-ku bhajai so Haricaste or sect. Whoever adores God, he is God s own.

244
to

HINDUISM

[OH.

an order divided into four classes of which only the highest is reserved to Brahmans and the others are open to all castes. They own numerous and wealthy maths, but it is said that in some of these celibacy is not required and that monks and nuns live
1 openly as man and wife An important aspect of the Ramat movement is its effect on the popular literature of Hindustan which in the fifteenth and even more in the sixteenth century blossoms into flowers of religious poetry. Many of these writings possess real merit
.

a moral and spiritual force. European scholars are only beginning to pay sufficient attention to this mighty flood of hymns which gushed forth in nearly all the vernaculars of

and are

still

India 2 and appealed directly to the people. The phenomenon was not really new. The psalms of the Buddhists and even the hymns of the Rig Veda were vernacular literature in their day, and in the south the songs of the Devaram and Nalayiram are of some antiquity. But in the north, though some Prakrit
literature has

been preserved, Sanskrit was long considered the only proper language for religion. We can hardly doubt that vernacular hymns existed, but they did not receive the im primatur of any teacher, and have not survived. But about
1400
all this

changes.

Though Ramanand was not much

of a

writer he gave his authority to the use of the vernacular: he did not, like Ramanuja, either employ or enjoin Sanskrit and the meagre details which we have of his circle lead us to imagine

him surrounded by men of homely speech. One current in this sea of poetry was Krishnaite and as such not directly connected with Ramanand. Vidyapati 3 sang of the loves of Krishna and Radha in the Maithili dialect and also in
a form of Bengali. In the early fifteenth century (c. 1420) we have the poetess Mira Bai, wife of the Raja of Chitore who gained celebrity and domestic unhappiness by her passionate
Bhattacharya, Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 445. Thus we have the poems of Kabir, Nanak and others contained in the Granth of the Sikhs and tending to Mohammedanism: the hymns wherein Mira Bai,
1

2

Valla bha
inspired

and

by Caitanya

his disciples praised Krishna in in Bengal: Sarikar Deb and

Rajputana and Braj the poets Madhab Deb in Assam: Namdev
:

and Tukaram in the Maratha country. 8 See Beames, J.A. 1873, pp. 37 ff., and Grierson, Maithili Christomathy, pp. 34ff., in extra No. to Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Part I. for 1882 and Coomaraswamy s
illustrated translation of Vidyapati, 1915. It was a celebrated Pandit in 1400. The Bengali
is said that a land grant proves he Vaishnava poet Chandi Das was his

contemporary.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

245

devotion to the form of Krishna known as Ranchor. According to one legend the image came to life in answer to her fervent prayers, and throwing his arms round her allowed her to meet a rapturous death in his embrace. This is precisely the sentiment which we find later in the teaching of Vallabhacarya and Caitanya. The hymns of the Bengali poets have been collected in the Padakalpataru, one of the chief sacred books of the Bengali Vaishnavas. From Vallabhacarya spring the group of poets who adorned Braj or the Muttra district. Pre-eminent among them is the blind Sur Das who flourished about 1550 and wrote such sweet lyrics that Krishna himself came down and acted as his amanuensis. A somewhat later member of the same group is Nabha Das, the author of the Bhakta Mala or Legends of the Saints, which is still one of the most popular religious works of northern India 1 Almost contemporary with Sur Das was the 2 great Tulsi Das and Grierson enumerates thirteen subsequent writers who composed Ramayanas in some dialect of Hindi. A little later came the Mahratta poet Tukaram (born about 1600) who gave utterance to Krishnaism in another language. Tulsi Das is too important to be merely mentioned as one in a list of poets. He is a great figure in Indian religion, and the saying that his Ramayana is more popular and more honoured in the North-western Provinces than the Bible in England is no 3 He came into the world in 1532 but was exposed exaggeration as born under an unlucky star and was adopted his by parents He married but his son died and after a Sadhu. by wandering this loss he himself became a Sadhu. He began to write his
.

.

Ramayana in Oudh at the age of forty-three, but moved to Benares where he completed it and died in 1623. On the Tulsi Ghat, near the river Asi, may still be seen the rooms which he
occupied. They are at the top of a lofty building and a beautiful view over the river 4
.

command

1

2

See Grierson, Gleanings from the Bhaktamala, J.R.A.S. 1909 and 1910. Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, 1889, p. 57.
"is

3 Similarly Dinesh Chandra Sen (Lang, and Lit. of Bengal, p. 170) says that the Bible of the people of the Gangetic Krittivasa s translation of the Ramayana Krittivasa was born Valley and it is for the most part the peasants who read in 1346 and roughly contemporary with Ramanand. Thus the popular interest in
it."

Rama was roused in He also wrote
Gitavali

different provinces at the

same time.
the

several other poems,

among which may be mentioned

deeds of
prayers.

and Kavittavali, dedicated respectively to the infancy and the heroic Rama, and the Vinaya Pattrika or petition, a volume of hymns and

246

HINDUISM
His

[CH.

an original composition and not a translation of Valmiki s work is one of the great religious poems of the world and not unworthy to be set beside Paradise, Lost. The sustained majesty of diction and exuberance of ornament are accompanied by a spontaneity and vigour rare in any literature, especially in Asia. The poet is not embellishing a laboured theme he goes on and on because his emotion bursts forth again and again, diversifying the same topic with an

Ramayana which

is

:

inexhaustible variety of style and metaphor. As in some forest a stream flows among flowers and trees, but pours forth a flood of pure water uncoloured by the plants on its bank, so in the heart of Tulsi Das the love of God welled up in a mighty

fountain ornamented by the mythology and legends with which he bedecked it, yet unaffected by them. He founded no sect,

which is one reason of his popularity, for nearly all sects can read him with edification, and he is primarily a poet not a theologian. But though he allows himself a poet s licence to
still enunciates a definite This is theism, connected with the name Rama. Since in the north he is the author most esteemed by the Vishnuites, it would be a paradox to refuse him that designation, but his

state great truths in various ways, he

belief.

is not so much that Vishnu is the Supreme Being who becomes incarnate in Rama, as that Rama, and more rarely Hari and Vasudeva, are names of the All-God who manifests himself in human form. Vishnu is mentioned as a celestial being in the company of Brahma 1 and so far as any god other than Rama receives attention it is Siva, not indeed as Rama s equal, but as a being at once very powerful and very devout, who acts as a mediator or guide. "Without prayer to iva no one can attain to the faith which I require 2 Rama is God, the totality

teaching

,

."

of good, imperishable, invisible, uncreated, incomparable, void of all change, indivisible, the Veda declares that it cannot

yet, scripture and philosophy have sung and whom the saints love to contemplate, even the Lord God, he is the son of Dasarath, King of Kosala 4 By the power of Rama exist Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, as also Maya, the illusion which brings about the world. His "delusive power is
."

define 3

And

"He

whom whom

."

1 2 3

See Growse

s

Translation, vol.
i.

i.

pp. 60, 62.
Ib. vol.
p. 77.

76. vol. in. p. 190, cf. vol. Ib. vol. H. p. 54.

p.

88 and vol. in. pp. 66-67.
i.

xxx]
a vast

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA
fig-tree, its clustering fruit

247

the countless multitude of

worlds, while all things animate and inanimate are like the insects that dwell inside and think their own particular fig the 1 God has made all things: pain and only one in existence
."

and merit, saints and sinners, Brahmans and pleasure, butchers, passion and asceticism. It is the Veda that distinguishes 2 good and evil among them The love of God and faith are the only road to happiness. "The worship of Hari is real and all Tulsi Das often uses the language of the world is a dream 3 the Advaita philosophy and even calls God the annihilator of duality, but though he admits the possibility of absorption and
sin
.
."

identification with the deity, he holds that the double relation of a loving God and a loving soul constitutes greater bliss. The

was not absorbed into the divinity for this reason that he had already received the gift of faith 4 And in a similar spirit in their wisdom he says, "Let those preach who contemplate Thee as the supreme spirit, the uncreate, inseparable from the universe, recognizable only by inference and beyond the under
saint
."

Lord, will ever hymn the glories of thy Like most Hindus he is little disposed to enquire what is the purpose of creation, but he comes very near to saying that God has evolved the world by the power of Maya because the bliss which God and his beloved feel is greater than the bliss of impersonal undifferentiated divinity. It will be seen that Tulsi Das is thoroughly Hindu: neither his fundamental ideas nor his mythological embellishments owe anything to Islam or Christianity. He accepts unreservedly such principles
incarnation."

standing; but we,

as

Maya, transmigration, Karma and

release.

But

his senti

ments, more than those of any other Indian writer, bear a striking resemblance to the New Testament. Though he holds that the whole world is of God, he none the less bids men shun evil and choose the good, and the singular purity of his thoughts and style contrasts strongly with other Vishnuite works. He does not conceive of the love which may exist between the soul and God as a form of sexual passion.
1

Growse,

I.e.

vol. n. p. 200, cf. p. 204.

and whose actions no one can understand like an actress on the stage, by the play
infinity of worlds, pp. 210, 211.
2

is

whole world dancing dancing with all her troupe, of the Lord s eyebrows. Cf. too, for the
sets the

Maya who

herself set

Growse aptly compares St Paul,
Ib. vol. n. p. 223.

"I

had not known

evil

but by the

law."

3

Ib. vol. n. p. 196.

248

HINDUISM

[CH.

Vallabhacarya the Sikhs. In the west it was the epoch of Luther and as in has taken place Europe so in India no great religious movement since that time. The sects then founded have swollen into sects have arisen from extravagance and been reformed other a mixture of Hinduism with Moslem and Christian elements, but no new and original current of thought or devotion has
:

of religious for it witnessed the careers not only of India in upheaval and Caitanya, but also of Nanak, the founder of

The beginning of the sixteenth century was a time

been started.

Though the two great sects associated with the names of Caitanya and Vallabhacarya have different geographical spheres and also present some differences in doctrinal details, both are emotional and even erotic and both adore Krishna as a child or young man. Their almost simultaneous appearance in eastern and western India and their rapid growth show that they
represent an unusually potent current of ideas and sentiments. But the worship of Krishna was, as we have seen, nothing new in northern India. Even that relatively late phase in which the
sports of the divine herdsman are made to typify the love of God for human souls is at least as early as the Gita-govinda

written about 1170. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the history of Krishna worship is not clear 1 but it persisted
,

and about 1400 found speech in Bengal and in Rajputana. According to Vaishnava theologians the followers of Valla 2 bhacarya are a section of the Rudra-sampradaya founded in the early part of the fifteenth century by Vishnusvami, an emigrant from southern India, who preached chiefly in Gujarat. The doctrines of the sect are supposed to have been delivered by the Almighty to iva from whom Vishnusvami was fifteenth in spiritual descent, and are known by the name of feuddhadvaita
or pure non-duality.
sac- cid- dnanda
1

They teach that God has three attributes existence, consciousness and bliss. In the human

The Vishnuite sect called Nimavat is said to have been exterminated by Jains (Grierson in E.R.E. sub. v. Bhakti-marga, p. 545). This may point to persecution
during this period.

For Vallabhacarya and his sect, see especially Growse, Mathurd, a district memoir, 1874; History of the sect of the Maharajas in western India (anonymous), 1865. Also Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, pp. 76-82 and Farquhar, Outlines of Relig. Lit. of India, pp. 312-317.

*

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA
is

249
is

or animal soul bliss

suppressed and in matter consciousness

suppressed too. But when the soul attains release it recovers bliss and becomes identical in nature with God. For practical purposes
the Vallabhacaris
said to have been born in 1470.

may be regarded as a sect founded by Vallabha, He was the son of a Telinga

Brahman, who had migrated with Vishnusvami to the north. Such was the pious precocity of Vallabha that at the age of twelve he had already discovered a new religion and started on a pilgrimage to preach it. He was well received at the Court of Vijayanagar, and was so successful in disputation that he was
recognized as chief doctor of the Vaishnava school. He subse quently spent nine years in travelling twice round India and at Brindaban received a visit from Krishna in person, who bade

him promulgate his worship in the form of the divine child known as Bala Gopala. Vallabha settled in Benares and is said to have composed a number of works which are still extant 1 He gained further victories as a successful disputant and also married and became the father of two sons. At the age of fiftytwo he took to the life of a Sannyasi, but died forty- two days
.

afterwards.

Though Vallabha died

as

an

ascetic,

his

doctrines are

currently or comfort. His philosophy was more decidedly monistic than is usual among Vishnuites, and Indian monism has generally taught that, as the soul and God are one in essence, the soul

known

as the Pushti Marga, the road of well-being

should realize this identity and renounce the pleasures of the senses. But with Vallabhacarya it may be said that the vision which is generally directed godwards and forgets the flesh, turned earthwards and forgot God, for his teaching is that since the individual and the deity are one, the body should be reverenced and indulged. Pushti 2 or well-being is the special grace of God and the elect are called Pushti-jiva. They depend entirely on God s grace and are contrasted with Maryada-jivas, or those who submit to moral discipline. The highest felicity is
The principal of them are the Siddhanta-Rahasya and the Bhagavata-TikaSubodhini, a commentary on the Bhagavata Purana. This is a short poem of only seventeen lines printed in Growse s Mathurd, p. 156. It professes to be a revelation from the deity to the effect that sin can be done away with by union with Brahma (Brahma-sambandha-karanat). Other authoritative works of the sect are the
1

6uddhadvaita martandn, Sakalacaryamatasangraha and Prameyaratnarnava,
edited in
2

all

theChowkhamba Sanskrit

series.

Cf. the use of the

word poshanam

in the

Bhagavata Purana, n.

x.

250

HINDUISM

[CH.

not mukti or liberation but the eternal service of Krishna and
eternal participation in his sports. These doctrines have led to deplorable results, but so strong is the Indian instinct towards self-denial and asceticism that it

the priests rather than the worshippers who profit by this and the chief feature of the sect permission to indulge the body, is the extravagant respect paid to the descendants of Vallabhacarya. They are known as Maharajas or Great Kings and
is

their followers, especially

women, dedicate

man

:

body, purse and

spirit, for it is

to them tan, dhan, a condition of the road of

himself he well-being that before the devotee enjoys anything must dedicate it to the deity and the Maharaj represents the Om. Krishna is my refuge. deity. The daily prayer of the sect is
I who suffer the infinite pain and torment of enduring for a thousand years separation from Krishna, consecrate to Krishna my body, senses, life, heart and faculties, my wife, house, Krishna 1 family, property and my own self. I am thy slave, This formula is recited to the Maharaj with peculiar solemnity by each male as he comes of age and is admitted as a full member of the sect. The words in which this dedication of self and family is made are not in themselves open to criticism and a parallel may be found in Christian hymns. But the literature
."

of the Vallabhis unequivocally states that the Guru is the same as the deity 2 and there can be little doubt that even now the

Maharajas are adored by their followers, especially by the women, as representatives of Krishna in his character of the

and that the worship is often licentious 3 Many Hindus denounce the sect and in 1 862 one of the Maharajas brought an action for libel in the supreme court of Bombay on
lover of the Gopis
.

p. 157, says this formula is based on the Naradapancaratra. Samarpana, dedication, or Brahma-sambandha, connecting oneself with the Supreme Being. 2 For instance "Whoever holds his Guru and Krishna to be distinct and different

1

Growse, Mathurd,

It is called

shall be

born again as a bird." Harirayaji 32. Quoted in History of the Sect of the Mahdrdjas, p. 82. 3 In the ordinary ceremonial the Maharaj stands beside the of Krishna

image and acknowledges the worship offered. Sometimes he is swung in a swing with or without the image. The hymns sung on these occasions are frequently immoral. Even more licentious are the meetings or dances known as Ras Mandali and Ras Lila. A meal of hot food seasoned with aphrodisiacs is also said to be provided in the temples. The water in which the Maharaj s linen or feet have been washed is sold for a high price and actually drunk by devotees.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

251

account of the serious charges of immorality brought against him in the native press. The trial became a cause celebre. Judg

ment was delivered against the Maharaj, the Judge declaring the charges to be fully substantiated. Yet in spite of these proceedings the sect still flourishes, apparently unchanged in
doctrine and practice, and has a large following among the mercantile castes of western India. The Radha- Vallabhis, an analogous sect founded by Harivamsa in the sixteenth century,
give the pre-eminence to Radha, the wife of Krishna, and in their secret ceremonies are said to dress as women. The worship
of

Radha

is

a late phase of Vishnuism and
.

is

not known even

1 Bhagavata Purana Vallabhism owes much of its success to the family of the founder. They had evidently a strong dynastic sentiment as

to the

well as a love of missionary conquest
left

a powerful combination. behind him Vallabhacarya eighty-four principal disciples whose lives are recorded in the work called the Stories of the Eighty-four Vaishnavas, and his authority descended to his son Vithalnath. Like his father, Vithalnath was active as a prose-

lytizer

and pilgrim and propagated

his doctrines extensively in

many

parts of western India such as Cutch,

Malwa, and Bijapur.

His converts came chiefly from the mercantile classes but also included some Brahmans and Mussulmans. He is said to have abolished caste distinctions but the sect has not preserved this feature. In his later years he resided at Muttra or the neigh bouring town of Gokul, whence he is known as Gokul Gosainji. This title of Gosain, which is still borne by his male descendants, is derived from Krishna s name Gosvamin, the lord of cattle 2 He had seven sons, in each of whom Krishna is said to have been incarnate for five years. They exercised spiritual authority
.

in separate districts

as we might say in different dioceses but the fourth son, Gokulnathji and his descendants claimed and still claim a special pre-eminence. The family is at present represented by about a hundred males who are accepted as
1 Strictly speaking the Radha-Yallabhis are not an offshoot of Yallabha s school, but of the Nimavata or of the Madhva-sampradaya. The theory underlying their strange practices seems to be that Krishna is the only male and that all mankind should cultivate sentiments of female love for him. See Maenicol, Indian Theism,

p. 134.
2

But other explanations are current such as Lord

of the senses or

Lord

of the

Vedas.
E.
ii.
1

7

252

HINDUISM

[CH.

incarnations and receive the title of Maharaja. About twenty 1 reside at Gokul or near Muttra: there are a few in Bombay and in all the great cities of western India, but the Maharaj of

Nath Dwara in Rajputana is esteemed the chief. This place is not an ancient seat of Krishna worship, but during the persecu tion of Aurungzeb a peculiarly holy image was brought thither from Muttra and placed in the shrine where it still remains. A protest against the immorality of the Vallabhi sect was made by Swaminarayana, a Brahman who was born in the 2 He settled in Ahmedabad and district of Lucknow about 17S0 gained so large a following that the authorities became alarmed and imprisoned him. But his popularity only increased: he became the centre of a great religious movement: hymns descriptive of his virtues and sufferings were sung by his followers and when he was released he found himself at the head of a band which was almost an army. He erected a temple in the village of Wartal in Baroda, which he made the centre of his sect, and
.

recruited followers

by means of periodical tours throughout Gujarat. His doctrines are embodied in an anthology called the

Sikshapatri consisting of 212 precepts, some borrowed from accepted Hindu scriptures and some original and in a catechism called Vacanamritam. His teaching was summed up in the

phrase "Devotion to Krishna with observance of duty and and in practice took the form of a laudable purity of life the licentiousness of the Vallabhis. As in most polemic against of the purer sects of Vishnuism, Krishna is regarded merely as a name of the Supreme Deity. Thus the Sikshapatri says
"

"Narayana and Siva should be equally recognized as parts of one and the same supreme spirit, since both have been declared in the Vedas to be forms of Brahma. On no account let it be thought that difference in form or name makes any difference

The followers of Swaminarayana deity." number about 200,000 in western India and are divided into the laity and a body of celibate clergy. I have visited their religious establishments in Ahmedabad. It consists of a temple
still

in the identity of the

with a large and well-kept monastery in which are housed about 300 monks who wear costumes of reddish grey. Except in Assam I have not seen in India any parallel to this monastery
Growse, Mathurd, p. 153. I can entirely confirm inartistic, dirty place certainly suggests moral depravity. 2 His real name was
See

what he

says. This

mean,

Sahajananda.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

253

either in size or discipline. It is provided with a library and hospital. In the temple are images of Nara and Narayana

(explained as Krishna and Arjuna), Krishna and Radha, Ganesa and Hanuman 1
.

3

The sect founded by Caitanya is connected with eastern India as the Vallabhis are with the west. Bengal is perhaps the native land of the worship of Krishna as the god of love. It was there that Jayadeva flourished in the last days of the Sena dynasty and the lyrical poet Chandidas at the end of the fourteenth century. About the same time the still greater poet
Vidyapati was singing in Durbhanga. For these writers, as for
Caitanya, religion
is

the bond of love which unites the soul and

God, as typified
Krishna. The

2 by the passion that drew together Radha and idea that God loves and seeks out human souls is

familiar to Christianity and receives very emotional expression in well-known hymns, but the bold humanity of these Indian
lyrics

seems to Europeans unsuitable. I will let a distinguished Indian apologize for it in his own words "The paradox that has to be understood is that Krishna means God. Yet he is represented as a youth, standing at a gate, trying to waylay the beloved maiden, attempting to entrap the soul, as it were, into a clandestine meeting. This, which is so inconceivable to a purely modern mind, presents no difficulty at all to the Vaishnava devotee. To him God is the lover himself the sweet flowers, the fresh grass, the gay sound heard in the woods are direct messages and tokens of love to his soul, bringing to his mind at every instant that loving God whom he 3 pictures as ever anxious to win the human heart 4 Caitanya was born at Nadia in 1485 and came under the influence of the Madhva sect. In youth he was a prodigy of
: :
."

1

abolish idolatry in E.R.E.
z

Caran Das (1703-1782) founded a somewhat similar sect which professed to and laid great stress on ethics. See Grierson s article Caran Das

But Vishnuite

writers distinguish

kdma

desire

and prema

love, just as fyws
I.e.

and
3

aydrri] are distinguished in

Greek.

See Dinesh Chandra Sen,

p. 485.

Dinesh Chandra Sen. History of Bengali Language and Literature, pp. 134-5. 4 For Caitanya see Dinesh Chandra Sen, History of Bengali Language and Lit. chap. v. and Jadunath Sarkar, Chaitanya s Pilgrimages and teachings from the Caitanya-Caritdmrita of Krishna Das (1590) founded on the earlier Caitanya-Caritra of Brindavan. Several of Caitanya s followers were also voluminous writers.

254
,

HINDUISM

[CH.

1 seventeen while on a pilgrimage learning but at the age of about emotional and even hysterical that to to Gaya began display all his teaching. He swooned at marked which religious feeling

s name and passed his time in dancing At and singing hyrnns. twenty-five he became a Sannyasi, and his of the at mother, who did not wish him to wander request near the temple of Jagannath. Here he Puri in settled too far, life in preaching, worship and ecstatic his rest of the spent

the mention of Krishna

meditation, but found time to
left

make a

tour in southern India

and another to Brindaban and Benares. He appears to have
the

management

of his sect largely to his disciples, Advaita,

Nityananda and Haridas, and to have written nothing himself. But he evidently possessed a gift of religious magnetism and exercised an extraordinary influence on those who heard him
preach or sing. He died or disappeared before the age of fifty but apparently none of the stories about his end merit credence. Although the teaching of Caitanya is not so objectionable morally as the doctrines of the Vallabhis, it follows the same
line of

making

to understand

religion easy and emotional and it is not difficult how his preaching, set forth with the eloquence

which he possessed, won converts from the lower classes by thousands. He laid no stress on asceticism, approved of marriage and rejected all difficult rites and ceremonies. The form of worship which he specially enjoined was the singing of Kirtans
or

hymns

consisting chiefly in a repetition of the divine

names

accompanied by music and dancing. Swaying the body and repetition of the same formula or hymn are features of emotional religion found in the most diverse regions, for instance among
the Rufais or Howling Dervishes, at Welsh revival meetings and in negro churches in the Southern States. It is therefore un necessary to seek any special explanation in India but perhaps
there is some connection between the religious ecstasies of Vaishnavas and Dervishes. Within Caitanya s sect, caste was not observed. He is said to have admitted many Moslims to membership and to have regarded all worshippers of Krishna as equal. Though caste has grown up again, yet the old regulation is still in force inside the temple of Jagannath at Puri. Within the sacred enclosure all are treated as of one caste and eat the
1 He married the daughter of a certain Vallabha founder of the Sect, as ia often stated.

who apparently was not

the

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA
food.

255
of

same sacred

In Caitanya
family."

s

words

"the

mercy

God

regards neither tribe nor

little originality. The deity is called or more Bhagavan frequently Hari. His majesty and omni are personified as Narayana, his beauty and ecstasy as potence Krishna. The material world is defined as bheddbhedaprakd-sa,

His theology 1 shows

a manifestation of the deity as separate and yet not separate from him, and the soul is vibhinndmsa or a detached portion of
him.

Some

souls are in

through

faith

bondage to Prakriti or Maya, others and love attain deliverance. Reason is useless in

religious matters, but ruci or spiritual feeling has a quick intuition of the divine.

obtained by Bhakti, faith or devotion, which all other duties. This devotion means absolute self-surrender to the deity and love for him which asks He who expects remunera for no return but is its own reward. tion for his love acts as a trader." In this devotion there are
Salvation
is

embraces and supersedes

(6) dasya, servitude, vatsalya, love like that of a child for its parent, (e) madhurya, love like that of a woman for a lover. All these sentiments are found in God and this combined ecstasy
(c)

five degrees: (a) santi,

calm meditation,

sakhya, friendship,

(d)

is

an eternal principle

identified with

Hari himself, just as in

the language of the Gospels, God is love. Though Caitanya makes love the crown and culmination of religion, the worship
of his followers is not licentious, and it is held that the right frame of mind is best attained by the recitation of Krishna s
of Caitanya s sect was his birthplace, Nadia, but both during his life and afterwards his disciples frequented Brindaban and sought out the old sacred sites which were at that time neglected. At the beginning of the nineteenth century Lala Baba, a wealthy Bengali merchant, became a mendicant and visited Muttra. Though he had renounced the world, he still retained his business instincts and bought up the villages which contained the most celebrated shrines and were most frequented by pilgrims. The result was a most profitable
1 The theology of the sect may be studied in Baladeva s commentary on the Vedanta sutras and his Prameya Ratnavali, both contained in vol. v. of the Sacred Books of the Hindus. It would appear that the sect regards itself as a continuation of the Brahma-sampradaya but its tenets have more resemblance to those of

names especially Hari. The earlier centre

Vallabha.

256

HINDUISM

[CH.

of Caitanya s Church in the speculation and the establishment the holy land of both the became district of Braj, which thus of The followers Caitanya at the present great Krishnaite sects. into Gosains, or ecclesiastics, who day are said to be divided

are the descendants of the founder

s

original disciples,

the

Vrikats or celibates, and the laity. Besides the celibates there are several semi-monastic orders who adopt the dress of monks

but marry. They have numerous maths at Nadia and elsewhere. Like the Vallabhis, this sect deifies its leaders. Caitanya, Nityananda and Advaita are called the three masters (Prabhu) and believed to be a joint incarnation of Krishna, though according to some only the first two shared the divine essence. Six of Caitanya s disciples known as the six Gosains are also greatly venerated and even ordinary religious teachers still receive an almost idolatrous respect. Though Caitanya was not a writer himself he exercised a great influence on the literature of Bengal. In the opinion of so competent a judge as Dinesh Chandra Sen, Bengali was raised to the status of a literary language by the Vishnuite hymn-writers just as Pali was by the Buddhists. Such hymns were written before the time of Caitanya but after him they became extremely numerous 1 and their tone and style are said to change. The ecstasies and visions of which they tell are those described in his biographies and this emotional poetry has pro
foundly influenced all classes in Bengal. But there was and still is a considerable hostility between the Saktas and Vishnuites.

A form of Vishnuism, possessing a special local flavour, is connected with the Maratha country and with the names of Namdev, Tukaram 2 and Ramdas, the spiritual preceptor of
!ivaji. The centre of this worship is the town of Pandharpur and I have not found it described as a branch of any of the four

Vishnuite Churches

:

but the facts that

Namdev
hymns
show

wrote in Hindi
are included in
to the

as well as in Marathi. that

many

of his

the Granth, and that his sentiments
1

affinities

than 159 padakartas or religious poeta are enumerated by Dinesh Chandra Sen. Several collections of these poems have been published of which the
less

No

principal
2

is called Padakalpataru. See Bhandarkar, Vainh n. and Saivism, pp. 87-99, and Nicol, Psalm* of Maraiha Saints which gives a bibliography. For Namdev see also Maouuliffe, The Sikh Religion,

vol. vi. pp. 17-76.

For Ramdas see Rawlinson, Sivaji

the

Maratha, pp. 116

E.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

257

teaching of Nanak, suggest that he belonged to the school of Raman and. There is however a difficulty about his date. Native tradition gives 1270 as the year of his birth but the

language of his poems both in Marathi and Hindi is said to be too modern for this period and to indicate that he lived about 1400 1 when he might easily have felt the influence of Ramanand, for he travelled in the north. Most of his poetry however has for its centre the temple of Pandharpur where was worshipped a deity called Vitthala, Vittoba or Pandurang. It is said that the first two names are dialectic variations of Vishnu, but that Pandurang is an epithet of Siva 2 There is no doubt that the deity of Pandharpur has for many centuries been identified with Krishna, who, as in
,
.

Bengal, is god the lover of the soul. But the hymns of the Marathas are less sensuous and Krishna is coupled not with his mistress Radha, but with his wife Rukmini. In fact Rukminipati or husband of Rukmini is one of his commonest titles. Namdev s opinions varied at different times and perhaps in different moods: like most religious poets he cannot be judged by logic or theology. Sometimes he inveigh s against idolatry understood as an attempt to limit God to an image but in
other verses he sings the praises of Pandurang, the local deity, as the lord and creator of all. His great message is that God

by whatever name he
to
all,

is

called

is

everywhere and accessible

accessible without ceremonial or philosophy. "Vows, fasts and austerities are not needful, nor need you go on pilgrim age. Be watchful in your heart and always sing the name of

and renunciation are not needful. Love Neither need you contemplate the absolute. Hold fast to the love of Hari s name. Says Nama, be steadfast in singing the name and then Hari will appear to you 3
Hari.

Yoga,

sacrifices

the feet of Hari.

."

Bhandarkar, I.e. p. 92. An eailier poet of this country was Jnanesvara who wrote a paraphrase of the Bhagavad-gita in 1290. His writings are said to be the first great landmark in Marathi literature. 2 There is no necessary hostility between the worship of Siva and of Vishnu. At Pandharpur pilgrims visit first a temple of Siva and then the principal shrine. This latter, like the temple of Jagannath at Puri, is suspected of having been a Buddhist shrine. It is called Vihara, the principal festival is in the Buddhist Lent and caste is not observed within its precincts. 3 Quoted by Bhandarkar, p. 90. The subsequent quotations are from the same source but I have sometimes slightly modified them and compared them with the original, though I have no pretension to be a Marathi scholar.
1

258

HINDUISM
Tukaram
is

[CH.
his poetry

better

known than Namdev and

of the intellectual awakening that accompanied the rise of the Maratha power is still a living force wherever Marathi-is spoken. He lived from 1607 to 1649 and was born in a family of merchants near Poona. But he was too generous to succeed in trade and a famine, in which one of his two wives he devoted himself died, brought him to poverty. Thenceforth to praying and preaching. He developed a great aptitude for

which was part

1 and like Caitanya composing rhyming songs in irregular metre he held services consisting of discourses interspersed with such In spite of persecution by the songs, prepared or extempore. Brahmans, these meetings became very popular and were even
,

attended by the great Sivaji. His creed is the same as that of Namdev and finds expression in verses such as these. "This thy nature is beyond the grasp of mind or words, and therefore I have made love a measure. I measure the Endless by the measure of love he is not to be
:

truly measured otherwise. Thou art not to be found sacrifice, fasting, bodily exertions or knowledge.

by Yoga,
Kesava,

accept the service which we render." But if he had no use for asceticism he also feared the passions. "The Endless is beyond; between him and me are the lofty

mountains of desire and anger. I cannot ascend them and find no pass." In poems which are apparently later, his tone is more peaceful. He speaks much of the death of self, of purity of heart, and of self -dedication to God. "Dedicate all you do to God and have done with it: Tuka says, do not ask me again and again: nothing else is to be taught but this." Maratha critics have discussed whether Tukaram followed the monistic philosophy of Sankara or not and it must be con
fessed that his utterances are contradictory. But the gist of the matter is that he disliked not so much monism as philosophy.

Hence he says
to

"For me there is no use in the Advaita. Sweet the service of thy feet. The relation between God and his devotee is a source of high joy. Make me feel this, keeping

me

is

me

language of the

thee." But he can also say almost in the Upanishads. "When salt is dissolved in water, what remains distinct? I have thus become one in joy with thee and have lost myself in thee. When fire and camphor are

distinct

from

1

Called Abhangs.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

259

brought together, is there any black remnant? Tuka says, thou and I were one light."

5
There are interesting Vishnuite sects in Assam 1 Until the sixteenth century Hinduism was represented in those regions by Saktism, which was strong among the upper classes, though the mass of the people still adhered to their old tribal worships. The first apostle of Vishnuism was Sarikar Deb in the sixteenth century. He preached first in the Ahom kingdom but was driven out by the opposition of Saktist Brahmans, and found a refuge at Barpeta. He appears to have inculcated the worship of Krishna as the sole divine being and to have denounced idolatry, sacrifices and caste. These views were held even more strictly by his successor, Madhab Deb, a writer of repute whose works, such as the Namghosha and Ratnavali, are regarded as scripture by his followers. Though the Brahmans of Assam were opposed to the introduction of Vishnuism and a section of them con
.

tinued to instigate persecutions for two centuries or more, yet when it became clear that the new teaching had a great popular
following another section were anxious that it should not pass out of sacerdotal control and organized it as a legitimate branch
of

Hinduism. While
faith,

fully recognizing the doctrine of justifica

tion

by and Brahmanic authority.

they also made provision for due respect to caste

2 According to the last census of India the common view that Sankar Deb drew his inspiration from Caitanya meets with criticism in Assam. His biographies say that he lived 120 years and died in 1569. It has been generally assumed that his age has been exaggerated but that the date of his death is correct. If it can be proved, as contended, that he was preaching in 1505, there would be no difficulty in admitting that he was

independent of Caitanya and belonged to an earlier phase of the Vishnuite movement which produced the activity of Vallabha and the poetry of Vidyapati. It is a further argument for this independence that he taught the worship of Vishnu only and not of Radha and discountenanced the use of images. On the other hand it is stated that he sojourned in Bengal and it
1
2

See Eliot, Hinduism in Assam, J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 1168-1186. Census of India, 1911, Assam, p. 41.

260

HINDUISM

his death his connection with the teaching appears that soon after of Caitanya was recognized in Assam. At present there are three sects in Assam. Firstly, the or less faithfully the doctrines Mahapurushias, who follow more of garikar and Madhab. They admit gudras as religious teachers

and abbots, and lay
rejecting
it.

on caste while not entirely They abstain almost entirely from the use of images
little

stress

in worship, the

only exception being that a small figure of

Krishna

in

the form of Vaikuntha

Natha

is

found

in

their

of veneration but stands temples. It is not the principal object 1 lies a to the left of a throne on which copy of the Namghosha
.

This, together with the foot-prints of $arikar and Madhab, receives the homage of the faithful. The chief centre of the

Mahapurushias

Barpeta, but they have also monasteries on the Majuli Island and elsewhere. Secondly, the Bamunia monasteries, with a large lay following, represent a brahmanized form of the Mahapurushia faith. This movement began in the
is

life-time of

Madhab. Many of his Brahman disciples seceded from him and founded separate communities which insisted on the observance of caste (especially on the necessity of religious teachers being Brahmans) but tolerated image-worship and the use of some kinds of flesh as food. Though this sect was perse
cuted by the
themselves.

Ahom kings 2 they were strong enough to maintain A compromise w as effected in the reign of Rudra
,

r

(1696-1714), by which their abbots were shown all honour but were assigned the Majuli Island in the upper

Singh

Brahmaputra
is still

if not only, residence. This island studded with numerous Sattras or monasteries, the largest of which contain three or four hundred monks, known as Bhakats (Bhaktas). They take no vows and wear no special costume but are obliged to be celibate while they remain in the

as their chief,

sattra.

The Mahapurushia and Bamunia monasteries

are of

similar appearance, and in externals (though not in doctrine) seem to have been influenced by the Lamaism of the neighbouring regions of Sikhim and Tibet. The temples are long, low, wooden
buildings, covered
1

by
I

roofs of corrugated iron or thatched,

and

Some

authorities state that the sacred

gita,
2

but at Kamalabari
Especially

made

careful enquiries

book thus venerated is the Bhagavadand was assured it was the

Namghosha.

Gadadhar Singh, 1681-96.

xxx]

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

261

containing inside a nave with two rows of wooden pillars which
leads to a sanctuary divided from it by a screen. The third sect are the Moamarias, of political rather than religious importance.

They represent a democratic element,
tribes,

recruited from non- Hindu

which seceded even in the
all

appear to reject nearly

aboriginal deities as well

^ankar Deb. They Hindu observances and to worship as Krishna. Little is known of their
life-time of

religious teaching, if indeed they have anything worthy of the in the latter half of the eighteenth century they distracted the kingdom of Assam with a series of rebellions which

name, but

were suppressed with atrocious cruelty. Caitanya is said to have admitted some Mohammedp,ns as members of his sect. The precedent has not been followed among most branches of his later adherents but a curious half-secret sect, found throughout Bengal in considerable numbers and called Kartabhajas 1 appears to represent an eccentric develop ment of his teaching in combination with Mohammedan ele ments. Both Moslims and Hindus belong to this sect. They observe the ordinary social customs of the class to which they belong, but it is said that those who are nominal Moslims neither circumcize themselves nor frequent mosques. The founder, called Ram Smaran Pal, was born in the Nadia district about 1700, and his chief doctrine is said to have been that there is only one God who is incarnate in the Head of the sect or Karta 2 For the first few generations the headship was invested in the founder and his descendants but dissensions occurred and there is now no one head: the faithful can select any male member of the founder s family as the object of their devotion. The Karta claims to be the owner of every human body and is said to exact rent for the soul s tenancy thereof. No distinction of caste or creed is recognized and hardly any ceremonies are pre scribed but meat and wine are forbidden, the mantra of the sect is to be repeated five times a day and Friday is held sacred. These observances seern an imitation of Mohammedanism 3
,
. .

1

and
2

Sects, pp.

See Census of India, 1901, Bengal, pp. 183^1 and Bhattacharya, Hindu, Castes 485-^88. Karta, literally doer, is the name given to the executive head of a joint family

The sect prefer to call themselves Bhabajanas or Bhagawanis. Another mixed sect is that of the Dhamis in the Panna state of Bundelkhand, founded by one Prannath in the reign of Aurungzeb. Their doctrine is a combination of Hinduism and Islam, tending towards Krishnaism. See Russell, Tribes and
in Bengal.
3

Castes of Central Provinces, p. 217.

CHAPTER XXXI
AMALGAMATION OF HINDUISM AND ISLAM. KABIR AND THE SIKHS
at the end of the last chapter show the mixture 1

THE Kartabhajas mentioned
a mixture of Hinduism and
is

Mohammedanism, and

found in other sects some of which are of considerable im

group of these sects, including the Sikhs and portance. followers of Kabir, arose in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Their origin can be traced to Ramanand but they cannot be
called Vaishnavas

A

and they are clearly distinguished from all the religious bodies that we have hitherto passed in review. The tone of their writings is more restrained and severe: the
worshipper approaches the deity as a servant rather than a
lover: caste
is rejected as useless: Hindu mythology is eschewed or used sparingly. Yet in spite of these differences the essential doctrines of Tulsi Das, Kabir and Nanak show a great resem

blance. They all believe in one deity whom they call by various names, but this deity, though personal, remains of the Indian not of the Semitic type. He somehow brings the world of

transmigration into being by his power of illusion, and the business of the soul is to free itself from the illusion and return to him. Almost all these teachers, whether orthodox or hetero dox, had a singular facility for composing hymns, often of high
literary merit, and it is in these emotional utterances, rather than in dogmatic treatises, that addressed themselves to

they

the peoples of northern India. The earliest of these mixed sects is that founded by Kabir 2 He appears to have been a Mohammedan weaver by birth,
1

.

It is exemplified by the curious word an-had limitless, being the Indian neg-.tive added to the arabic word had used in the Sikh Granth and by Caran Das as a name of God. prefix
2 See especially G. H. Westrott, Kabir and the Kabir Pantfi, and Macauliffe, Sikh Eeligion, vol. vi. pp. 122-316. Also Wilson, Essays on the religion of the Hindus, vol. i. pp. 68-98. Garcin Histoire dc la Litterature Hindoue, n. 120-134.

de^Tassy,

pp.

Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, pp. 67-73.

CH. xxxi]

HINDUISM AND ISLAM
.

263

1 It is admitted, though tradition is not unanimous on this point however, that he was brought up among Moslims at Benares but became a disciple of Ramanand. This suggests that he lived early in the fifteenth century 2 Another tradition says that he was summoned before Sikander Lodi (1489-1517), but the
.

We only know that he was married and had a son, that he taught in northern and perhaps central India and died at Maghar in the district of Gorakhpur. There is significance, however, in the legend which relates that after his decease Hindus and Mohammedans dis puted as to whether his body should be burned or buried. But when they raised the cloth which covered the corpse, they found underneath it only a heap of flowers. So the Hindus took part and burnt them at Benares and the Moslims buried the rest at Maghar. His grave there is still in Moslim keeping. In teaching Kabir stands midway between the two religions, but leaning to the side of Hinduism. It is clear that this Hindu
details of his life are evidently legendary.
his followers, but it is not easy to separate from subsequent embellishments, for the teaching numerous hymns and sayings attributed to him are collected

bias
his

became stronger in

own

in

compilations made after his death, such as the Bijak and the Adigranth of the Sikhs. In hymns which sound authentic
"and

he puts Hindus and Moslims on the same footing. Kabir is a child of Ram and Allah," he says, accepteth all Gurus and Pirs." "0 God, whether Allah or
1

Ram,

live

by thy

name."

"Make

thy mind thy Kaaba, thy body its enclosing temple, Conscience its prime teacher. Then, O priest, call men to pray to that mosque Wliich hath five gates. The Hindus and Mussulmans have the same Lord."
of

But the formalities
"They

good Koran 3 Caste, circumcision and idolatry are reprobated. The Hindu deities and their incarnations are all dead: God was not
."

are

riders

both creeds are impartially condemned. who keep aloof from the Veda and

1

The name Kabir seems

to

me
is

decisive.

2

Dadu who

died about 1603
in

said to have been fifth in spiritual descent from
life is

Kabir.
3

From

a

hymn

which the spiritual

represented as a ride.

Macauliffe,

vi. p. 156.

264
in

HINDUISM
of
.

[CH.

them 1 Ram, it would seem, should be understood not as Ramacandra but as a name of God. Yet the general outlook is Hindu rather than Mohammedan.
any

God

is

the magician,

who
.

brings about this illusory world in
"I

was in immobile and mobile and in moths; I passed through many when I assumed a human body, I was a Yogi, a Yati, a penitent, a Brahmacari sometimes an Emperor and sometimes a beggar." Unlike the Sikhs, Kabir teaches the
creatures, in worms various births. But
:

which the soul wanders 2

sanctity of
girl: in

life,

even of plants.

"Thou

cuttest leaves,

flower

every leaf there is life." Release, as for all Hindus, consists in escaping from the round of births and deaths. Of this he speaks almost in the language of the Buddha 3
.

"Though I

have assumed many shapes, this is my last. The strings and wires of the musical instrument are all worn out: I am now in the power of God s name. I shall not again have to dance to the tune of birth and death. Nor shall my heart accompany on the drum."
is

This deliverance

accomplished by the union or identifica

tion of the soul with God.
"Remove

the difference between thyself and united with him
:

God and thou

shalt be

Him whom I sought without me, now I find within me Know God by knowing him thou shalt become as he. When the soul and God are blended no one can distinguish them 4

."

But if he sometimes writes like Sarikara, he also has the note of the Psalms and Gospels. He has the sense of sin: he thinks of God in vivid personal metaphors, as a lord, a bride groom, a parent, both father and mother.
"Save

me,

I forgot
1

O God, though I have offended thee him who made me and did cleave unto

strangers."

sometimes used by Kabir, especially in the hymns incorporated name of God. Though Kabir writes as a poet rather than as a philosopher he evidently leaned to the doctrine of illusion (vivartardda) rather than to the doctrine of mani festation or development (parindmavdda}. He regards Maya as something eviL a trick, a thief, a force which leads men captive, but which disappears with the knowledge of God. "The illusion vanished when I recognized him" (xxxix.). 3 He even uses the word nirvana. * From Kabir s acrostic. Macauliffe, vi. 186 and 188. It is that
is

But Hari

in the

Granth, as a

pp.

this

is

a later composition.

possible

xxxi]
"Sing,

HINDUISM AND ISLAM
sing, the

265

marriage song.
as

The sovereign God hath come
I

obtained
fortune."

God

my
in

to my house as my husband bridegroom; so great has been my good

"A

mother beareth not
I

mind

All the faults her son committeth.

O, God,

am

thy child:

Why

blottest thou not out

my

sins?"

is the great Lord of the Earth "My Father To that Father how shall I go 1
?"

;

The writings of Kabir s disciples such as the Sukh Nidhan attributed to Srut Gopal (and written according to Westcott about 1729) and the still later Amar Mul, which is said to be
representative of the modern Kabirpanth, show a greater in clination to Pantheism, though caste and idolatry are still

condemned.

In these works, which relate the conversion of afterwards one of Kabir s principal followers, Kabir is identified with the Creator and then made a pantheistic deity much as Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita 2 He is also the true

Dharm Das

.

Guru whose help
laid

on

necessary for salvation. Stress is further the doctrine of Sabda, or the divine word. Hindu
is

theology was familiar with this expression as signifying the eternal self-existent revelation contained in the Vedas. Kabir

appears to have held that articulate sound is an expression of the Deity and that every letter, as a constituent of such sound, has a meaning. But these letters are due to Maya: in reality there is no plurality of sound. Ram seems to have been selected as the divine name, because its brevity is an approach to this unity, but true knowledge is to understand the Letterless One, that is the real name or essence of God from which all differen tiation of letters has vanished. Apart from some special the whole in the Sukh Nidhan doctrine set forth metaphors
1

2

Macauliffe, vi. pp. 230, 209, 202, 197. am the creator of this world Westcott, I.e. p. 144,
"1

tree

all

are contained in

me

I live

within

to the

eSect. Even in the hymns of thou and I have become one." (Macauliffe, vi. p. 180.) This identification of Kabir with the deity is interesting as being a modern example of what probably happened in the case of Krishna. Similarly those who collected the hymns which form the sacred books of the Sikhs and Kabirpanthis repeated the process which in earlier ages produced the Rig Veda.

same

I am the seed and the and all live within me and much the Adi Granth we find such phrases as
1

all

"Now

266

HINDUISM
is little
1
.

[CH.

and Amar Mul

more than a loose Vedantism, somewhat

reminiscent of Sufiism

Kabir is known as the Kabirpanth. At and Mohammedans among his present there are both Hindus followers and both have monasteries at Maghar where he is 2 It is said that buried. The sect numbers in all about a million common in the two divisions have little except veneration of both observe the practice Kabir and do not intermix, but they 3 and consecrated betel water of partaking of sacred meals, holy into two branches divided nut. The Hindu section is again known as Father (Bap) and Mother (Mai).

The teaching

of

.

,

Though
of Kabir,

there
is

is

not

much

that

is

original in the doctrines

he

a considerable figure

in Hindi literature and

may

epoch-making as marking the first fusion of Hinduism and Islam which culminates and attains political importance in the Sikhs. Other offshoots of his teaching are the Satnamis, Radha-swamis and Dadupanthis. The first were founded or reorganized in 1750 by a certain Jag-jivan-das. They do not observe caste and in theory adore only the True Name of God but in practice admit ordinary Hindu worship. The Radha-swamis, founded in 1861, profess a combination of
justly be called

the Kabirpanth with Christian ideas.

The Dadupanthis show the

influence of the military spirit of Islam. They were founded by Dadu, a cotton weaver of Ahmedabad who flourished in Akbar s

reign

and died about 1603. He insisted on the equality

of

man

kind, vegetarianism, abstinence from alcohol and strict celibacy. Hence the sect is recruited by adopting boys, most of whom are trained as soldiers. In such conditions the Dadupanthis

cannot increase greatly but they number about nine thousand and are found chiefly in the state of Jaipur, especially in the town of Naraina 4
.

The Atma mingles with Paramatma, as the rivers flow into the ocean. Only in this way can Paramatma be found. The Atma without Sabda is blind and cannot find the path. He who sees Atrua-Ram is present everywhere. All he sees is like himself. There is nought except Brahma. I am he, I am the true Kabir." Westcott, p. 168. 2 The Census of 1901 gives 843,171 but there is reason to think the real numbers
"

are larger.
it wooden sandals supposed to represent the feet stated that they believe they eat the body of Kabir at their sacred meal which perhaps points to Christian influence. See Russell, I.e. pp. 239-240.
3

Consecrated by washing in
It
is

of Kabir.
4

that some of

See Russell, Tribes and Castes of Central Provinces, them are householders.

p. 217,

where

it is

said

xxxi]

HINDUISM AND ISLAM
2

267

is of special interest since it has created not only a political society but also customs so distinctive that those who profess it rank in common esteem as a separate race. The founder Nanak lived from 14C9 to 1538 and was born near Lahore. He was a Hindu by birth but came under Mohammedan influence and conceived the idea of reconciling the two faiths.

The Sikh

1

religion

He was

attracted by the doctrines of Kabir and did not at first claim to teach a new religion. He wished to unite Hindus and Moslims and described himself simply as Guru or teacher and his adherents as Sikhs or disciples. He spent the greater part of his life wandering about India

and

that he

A

have reached Mecca. A beautiful story relates asleep with his feet turned towards the Kaaba. mollah kicked him and asked how he dared to turn his feet
is

said to
fell

and not

his

feet in a direction

head towards God. But he answered, Turn where God is not." He was attended on

my
his

wanderings by Mardana, a lute-pl<iyer, who accompanied the hymns which he never failed to compose when a thought or adventure occurred to him. These compositions are similar to those of Kabir, but seem to me of inferior merit. They are diffuse and inordinately long; the Japji for instance, which every Sikh ought to recite as his daily prayer, fills not less than twenty octavo pages. Yet beautiful and incisive passages are not wanting. When at the temple of Jagannath, he was asked to take part in the evening worship at which lights were waved before the god while flowers and incense were presented on golden salvers studded with pi rls. But he burst out into
song
2
.

"The

sun and moon,

O

Lord, are thy lamps, the firmament
is

thy salver

and the orbs

of the stars the pearls set therein.

The perfume
thy fan;
all

of the sandal tree

thy incense the wind
;

is

the forests are thy flowers,

O Lord

of

light."

Though Nanak is full of Hindu allusions he is more Moham medan in tone than Kabir, and the ritual of Sikh temples is
1 2

See especially Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, six volumes. Macaulift e, i. p. 82.
18

K n.

268

HINDUISM
Mohammedan

[CH.

rather than on the Hindu the of words Japji are: "There is but one pattern. The opening 1 and he is regarded the Creator God, whose name is true, a as than world rather as the ruler of the spirit finding expression

modelled on the

"

in

it.

"By

his

order"

all

things happen.

"By

obeying

him"

man obtains happiness and salvation. "There is no limit to his mercy and his praises." In the presence of God "man has no power and no strength." Such sentiments have a smack of Mohammed and Nanak sometimes uses the very words of the Koran as when he says that God has no companion. And though the penetrating spirit of the Vedanta infects this regal
monotheism, yet the doctrine of
phraseology
:

Maya
his

is

set forth in

unusual

God

himself created the world
:

and himself gave

names to things. He made Maya by his work with delight."

power seated, he beheld

In other compositions attributed to Nanak greater promin ence is given to Maya and to the common Hindu idea that creation is a self-expansion of the deity. Metempsychosis is and the divine name is Hari. This is characteristic of the taught O
age, for

Nanak was

Vallabhacarya.

nearly a contemporary of Caitanya and For Kabir, the disciple of Ramananda, the

name was Ram. Nanak was sufficiently

a sect to leave a successor as

conscious of his position as head of Guru 2 but there is no indication
,

that at this time the Sikhs differed materially from many other religious bodies who reprobated caste and idolatry. Under the

Ram Das, the beginnings of a change appear. His strong personality collected many wealthy adherents and with their offerings he purchased the tank of Amritsar 3 and built in its midst the celebrated Golden Temple. He appointed his son Arjun as Guru in 1581, just before his death: the
fourth Guru,
succession was made hereditary and henceforth the Gurus became chiefs rather than spiritual teachers. Arjun assumed some of the insignia of royalty a town grew up round the sacred
:

1 The original is Karta purukh (=purusha), the creative male. This phrase shows how Hindu habits of thought clung to Nanak. 2 The Guru of the Sikhs are: (a) Nanak, 1469-1538, (b) Angada, 1538-1552, (c) Amardas, 1552-1575, (d) Ramdas, 1575-1581, (e) Arjun, 1581-1600, (/) HarGovind, 1606-1639, (g) Har-Rai, 1639-1663, (h) Har-Kisan, 1663-1666, (i) TegBahadur, 1666-1675, (j) Govind Singh, 1675-1708.

3

Amritasaras the lake of nectar.

xxxi]

HINDUISM AND ISLAM
;

269

tank and became the centre of a community a tax was collected from all Sikhs and they were subjected to special and often salutary legislation. Infanticide, for instance, was strictly for bidden. With a view of providing a code and standard Arjun compiled the Granth or Sikh scriptures, for though hymns and prayers composed by Nanak and others were in use there was as yet no authorized collection of them. The example of Moham medanism no doubt stimulated the desire to possess a sacred book and the veneration of the scriptures increased with time. The Granth now receives the same kind of respect as the Koran and the first sight of a Sikh temple with a large open volume on a reading-desk cannot fail to recall a mosque.

Arjun s compilation is called the Adi-granth, or original book, to distinguish it from the later additions made by Guru Govind. It comprises hymns and prayers by Nanak and the four Gurus who followed him (including Arjun himself),
in

Ramanand, Kabir and others, amounting all. The list is interesting as testifying
great

to thirty-five writers to the existence of a

body of oral poetry by various authors ranging from Ramanand, who had not separated himself from orthodox
Vishnuism, to Arjun, the chief of the Sikh national community. It was evidently felt that all these men had one inspiration coming from one truth and even now unwritten poems of Nanak are current in Bihar. The Granth is written in a special 1 alphabet known as Gurmukhi and contains both prose and poetical pieces in several languages: most are in old western Hindi 2 but some are in Panjabi and Marathi. But though in compiling a sacred book and in uniting the temporal and spiritual power Arjun was influenced by the spirit of Mohammedanism, this is not the sort of imitation which makes for peace. The combination of Hinduism and Islam resulted in the production of a special type of Hindu peculiarly distasteful to Moslims and not much loved by other Hindus. Much of Arjun s activity took place in the later years of the Emperor Akbar. This most philosophic and tolerant of princes abandoned Mohammedanism after 1579, remitted the special

1 It appears to be an arbitrary adaptation of the Deva-nagari characters. The shape of the letters is mostly the same but new values are assigned to them. 2 This is the description of the dialect given by Grierson, the highest authority in such matters.

270

HINDUISM

[CH.

taxes payable by non-Moslims and adopted many Hindu obser vances. Towards the end of his life he promulgated a new creed known as the Din-i-ilahi or divine faith. This eclectic and as well as to composite religion bears testimony to his vanity him as the it for his viceregent or recognized sympathies,
large

even an incarnation of God. It would appear that the singular 1 was little work called the Allopanishad or Allah Upanishad It to be movement. this with connection written in purports and can be described Veda Atharva the of an Upanishad hardly
as oLher than a forgery.
It declares that
is
"the
"

Allah of the

Gods and identifies prophet the with him sun, moon, water, Indra, etc. Mitra, Varuna, not did s Akbar religion long survive his death and never the from far flourished imperial court, but somewhat later (1656) Muhammad Dara Shukoh, the son of Shah Jehan, caused a
the
of

Muhammad Akbar 2

God

Persian translation of about

fifty

Upanishads, known as the

Oupnekhat to be prepared. was propitious to the growth
,

3

The general temper of the period and immunity of mixed forms of

belief,

but the warlike and semi-political character of the Sikh community brought trouble on it. Arjun attracted the unfavourable attention of Akbar s 4 and was cast into prison where he died. successor, Jehangir The Sikhs took up arms and henceforth regarded themselves as the enemies of the government, but their strength was wasted by internal dissensions. The ninth Guru, Teg-Bahadur, was executed by Aurungzeb. Desire to avenge this martyrdom and the strenuous character of the tenth Guru, Govind Singh (16751708), completed the transformation of the Sikhs into a church militant devoted to a holy war.
,

Though the most aggressive and uncompromising
of

features

Sikhism are due to the innovations of Govind, he was so far from being a theological bigot that he worshipped Durga and
1 See Rajendrala Mitra s article in J.A.S.B. XL. 1871, pp. 170-176, which gives the Sanskrit text of the Upanishad. Also Schrader, Catalogue of Adyar Library, 1908, pp. 136-7. Schrader states that in the north of India the Allopanishad is recited by Brahmans at the Vasantotsava and on other occasions: also that in southern India it is generally believed that Moslims are skilled in the Atharva Veda.

not the Allah of the Koran. This Persian translation was rendered word for word into very strange Latin by Anquetil Duperron (1801-2) and this Latin version was used by Schopenhauer. 4 He is said to have prayed for the success of the Emperor s rebellious son.
I.e.,
3

2

xxxi]

HINDUISM AND ISLAM
said to have offered

271

was even
all his

ordinances was to

human make his

sacrifices.

But the aim

of

body of fighting men. They Hindu and to put to death every Mohammedan. The community was called Khalsa 1 within it there was perfect equality: every man was to carry a sword and wear long hair but short trousers. Converts, or recruits, came chiefly from the fighting tribes of the Jats, but in theory admission was free. The initiatory ceremony, which resembled baptism, was performed with sugar and water stirred with a sword, and the neophyte vowed not to worship idols, to bow to none except a Sikh Guru, and never to turn his back on the enemy. To give these institutions better religious sanction, Govind composed a supplement to the Granth, called Dasama Padshah ka Granth or book of the tenth prince. It consists of four parts, all in verse, and is said to inculcate war as persistently as Nanak had inculcated meekness and peace. To give his institutions greater permanence and prevent future alterations Govind refused to appoint any human successor and bade the Sikhs consider the Granth as their Guru. "Whatsoever ye shall ask of it, it will show you" he said, and in obedience to his command the book is still invested with a kind of personality and known as Granth Sahib. Govind spent most of his time in wars with Aurungzeb marked by indomitable perseverance rather than success. Towards the end of his life he retired into Malwa and resided at a place called Damdama. The accounts of his latter days are somewhat divergent. According to one story he made his peace with the Mughals and accepted a military command under the successor of Aurungzeb but it is more commonly asserted that he was assassinated by a private enemy. Even more troublous were the days of his successor Banda. Since Govind had abolished the Guruship, he could not claim to be more than a temporal chief, but what he lacked in spiritual authority he made amends for in fanaticism. The eight years of his leadership were spent in a war of mutual extermination waged with the Moslims of the Pan jab and diversified only by internal dissen sions. At last he was captured and the sect was nearly
:

followers an independent were to return the salutation of no

annihilated
1

by the Emperor Farukhsiyar.
is

According to the

This Arabic word

interpreted in this context as meaning the special portion

(of

God).

272

HINDUISM

[CH.

an orgy of ordinary account this victory was followed by torture and Banda was barbarously executed after witnessing and kinsmen. during seven days the torments of his followers We read with pleasure but incredulity that one division of the
Sikhs believe that he escaped and promulgated his peculiar doctrines in Sind. Asiatics do not relish the idea that the chosen of God can suffer violent death.

The further history of the Sikhs is political rather than us here. Despite the efforts of religious, and need not detain the Mughals to exterminate them, they were favoured by the
disturbed state of the country in the early decades of the eighteenth century, for the raids of Afghans and Persians con vulsed and paralyzed the empire of Delhi. The government of the Khalsa passed into the hands of a body of fanatics, called
of the

Akalis, but the decision of grave matters rested with a council whole community which occasionally met at Amritsar.

to have joined the confederacy as an independent soldier, bound to fight under his military leaders but otherwise exempt from control, and entitled to a share of land. This absolute independence, being unworkable in practice, was modified by the formation of Misals or voluntary associa tions, of which there were at one time twelve. From the middle of the eighteenth century onwards the Sikhs were masters of

Every Sikh claimed

the Panjab and their great chief Ranjit Singh (1797-1839) succeeded in converting the confederacy into a despotic monarchy. Their power did not last long after his death and the Panjab was conquered by the British in the two wars of

1846 and 1849.

With the

loss

of

political

independence, the differences

between the Sikhs and other Hindus tended to decrease. This was natural, for nearly all their strictly religious tenets can be paralleled in Hinduism. Guru Govind waged no war against polytheism but wished to found a religious commonwealth
equally independent of Hindu castes and Mohammedan sultans. For some time his ordinances were successful in creating a tribe, T almost a nation. ith the collapse of the Sikh state, the old hatred of Mohammedanism remained, but the Sikhs differed

W

from normal Hindus hardly more than such sects as the Lingayats, and, as happened with decadent Buddhism, the unobtrusive pressure of Hindu beliefs and observances tended to obliterate

xxxi]
those differences.

HINDUISM AND ISLAM
,

273

The Census of India 1 1901, enumerated three degrees of Sikhism. The first comprises a few zealots called Akalis who observe all the precepts of Govind. The second class are the Guru Govind Sikhs, who observe the Guru s main commands, especially the prohibition to smoke and cut the hair. Lastly, there are a considerable number who profess a respect for the Guru but follow Hindu beliefs and usages wholly or in
part. Sikhism indeed reproduces on a small scale the changeableness and complexity of Hinduism, and includes associations called Sabha, whose members aim at restoring or maintaining

what they consider to be the true faith. In 1901 there was a tendency for Sikhs to give up their peculiarities and describe
themselves as ordinary Hindus, but in the next decade a change of sentiment among these waverers caused the Sikh community as registered to increase by thirty-seven per cent, and a period
of religious zeal
1 *

is

reported

2
.

Census of India, 1901, Panjab report, p. 122. Provincial Geographies of India, Panjab, Douie, 1916,

p. 117.

CHAPTER XXXII
SAKTISM
AMONG
the
principal
1

sub-divisions

of

Hinduism must be

reckoned the remarkable religion known as Saktisin, that is the under various names, of which worship of Sakti or Siva s spouse known. It differs from most best the are Kali and Devi, Durga
sects in not being

one

due to the creative or reforming energy of any It claims to be a revelation from Siva considered but historically it appears to be a compound himself, of Hinduism with un- Aryan beliefs. It acquired great influence both in the courts and among the people of north-eastern India but without producing personalities of much eminence as

human

founder.

teachers or writers.
It

as I

would be convenient to distinguish Saktism and Tantrism, have already suggested. The former means the worship of

a goddess or goddesses, especially those who are regarded as forms of Siva s consort. Vishnuites sometimes worship female deities, but though the worship of Lakshmi, Radha and others may be coloured by imitation of Saktist practices, it is less conspicuous and seems to have a different origin. Tantrism is a system of magical or sacramental ritual, which professes to attain the highest aims of religion by such methods as spells,

diagrams, gestures and other physical exercises. One of its bases is the assumption that man and the universe correspond as

microcosm and macrocosm and that both are subject to the mysterious power of w ords and letters. These ideas are not modern nor peculiar to any Indian sect. They are present in the Vedic ceremonial, in the practices of the Yoga and even in the teaching of the quasi-mussulman sect of Kabir, which attaches great importance to the letters of the divine name. They harmonize with the common Indian view that some form of discipline or physical training is essential to
r

See also chap. xxiv. as to Saktism and Tantrism in Buddhism. Copious materials for the study of Saktism and Tantrism are made available in the
being
series of tantrie texts edited in Sanskrit

1

by the author who uses the pseudonym A. Avalon.

and Tibetan, and

in

some cases translated

CH.

xxxn]

&AKTISM

275

the religious life. They are found in a highly developed form among the Nambutiris and other Brahmans of southern India who try to observe the Vedic rules and in the Far East among Buddhists of the Shingon or Chen-yen sect 1 As a rule they receive the name of Tantrism only when they are elaborated
.

into a system which claims to be a special dispensation for this age and to supersede more arduous methods which are politely set aside as practicable only for the hero-saints of happier times.

Tantrism, like salvation by faith, is a simplification of religion but on mechanical rather than emotional lines, though its
deficiency in emotion often finds strange compensations. But Tantrism is analogous not so much to justification
faith as to

by

sacramental ritual. The parallel may seem shocking, but most tantric ceremonies are similar in idea to Christian sacraments and may be called sacramental as correctly as

in the Anglican Church baptism includes water with (abhisheka), the sign of the cross (nyasa) sprinkling and a formula (mantra), and if any one supposes that a child so treated is sure of heaven whereas the future of the unbaptized is dubious, he holds like the Tantrists that spiritual ends can be attained by physical means. And in the Roman Church where the rite includes exorcism and the use of salt, oil and lights, the parallel is still closer. Christian mysticism has had much to do with symbolism and even with alchemy 2 and Zoroastrianism, which is generally regarded as a reasonable 3 religion, attaches extraordinary importance to holy spells So Indian religions are not singular in this respect, though the uncompromising thoroughness with which they work out this like other ideas leads to startling results. The worship of female deities becomes prominent somewhat not to the late in Indian literature and it does not represent same extent as the Chinese cult of Kwan-yin for example the

magical.

Even

,

.

better ideals of the period when it appears. the Rig Veda are insignificant they are little
:

The goddesses of more than names,

and grammatically often the feminine forms of their consorts. But this Veda is evidently a special manual of prayer from which many departments of popular religion were excluded. In
1

dans
2

3

See Annales du Musde Guimet, Tome viri. Si-Do-In-Dzon. Gestes de les ceremonies mystiques des sectes Tendai et Singon, 1899. See Underbill, Mysticism, chaps, vi. and vu. See Dhalla, Zoruastrian Theology, p. 116.

1

officiant

276
the Atharva

HINDUISM

[CH.

Veda many spirits with feminine names are invoked and there is an inclination to personify bad qualities and disasters as goddesses. But we do not find any goddess who has attained a
position comparable with that held by Durga, Cybele or Astarte, 1 though there are some remarkable hymns addressed to the

Earth.

But

there

is

no doubt that the worship

of goddesses

and Semites, in Asia Minor, in Greece, Italy, and among the Kelts. The goddess Anahit, who was worshipped with immoral rites in Bactria, is figured on the coins of the Kushans and must at
one time have been known on the north-western borders of India. At the present day itala and in south India Mariamman are goddesses of smallpox who require propitiation, and one of the earliest deities known to have been worshipped by the Tamils is the goddess Kottavai 2 Somewhat obscure but widely worshipped are the powers known as the Mothers, a title which
.

(especially goddesses of fertility) as great powers is find it among the Egyptians and widespread.

both ancient

We

mythology. They are groups of goddesses often malevolent. As many as a hundred varying and forty are said to be worshipped in Gujarat. The census of Bengal (1901) records the worship of the earth, sun and rivers as females, of the snake goddesses Manasa and Jagat Gauri and of numerous female demons who send disease, such as the seven sisters, Ola Bibi, Jogini and the Churels, or spirits of women who have died in childbirth.
in

also occurs in Keltic

number and

The rites celebrated in honour of these deities are often of a questionable character and include dances by naked women and offerings of spirituous liquors and blood. Similar features are found in other countries. Prostitution formed part of the worship of Astarte and Anahit the Tauric Artemis was adored with human sacrifices and Cybele with self-inflicted mutilations. Similarly offerings of blood drawn from the sacrificer s own body are enjoined in the Kalika Purana. Two stages can be dis
:

tinguished in the relations between these cults

and Hinduism.

In the later stage which can be witnessed even at the present day an aboriginal goddess or demon is identified with one of the aspects of Diva s (generally a "black" or fierce
aspect)
1

Specially Ath. Veda, xii.

1.

Village deities in south India at the present day are usually female. Whitehead, Village Gods, p. 21.

2

See

xxxn]
spouse
1
.

&AKTISM
But such
identification
like Kali, Bhairavi,

277

is facilitated by the fact that Chinnamastaka are not products goddesses of purely Hindu imagination but represent earlier stages of amalgamation in which Hindu and aboriginal ideas are already

compounded.
are
little

When
is

the smallpox goddess
correct, for

is

identified with

Kali, the procedure

some popular forms

of Kali

more than an aboriginal deity of pestilence draped with Hindu imagery and philosophy. Some Hindu scholars demur to this derivation of $aktism from lower cults. They point to its refined and philosophic
aspects; they see in it the worship of a goddess, who can be as merciful as the Madonna, but yet, since she is the goddess of

nature, combines in one shape

life

and death. May not the

grosser forms of aktism be perversions and corruptions of an ancient and higher faith? In support of this it may be urged that the Buddhist goddess Tara is as a rule a beautiful and

benevolent figure, though she can be terrible as the enemy of evil and has clear affinities to Durga. Yet the history of Indian thought does not support this view, but rather the view that
certain ancient ideas, true and striking as ancient ideas often are, but without purging them sufficiently to make them acceptable to the majority of educated Indians.

Hinduism incorporated

The Yajur Veda 2 associates Rudra with a female deity called Ambika or mother, who is however his sister, not his spouse. The earliest forms of the latter seem to connect her with
Haimavati, the daughter of the of the mountains, and was perhaps a sacred In an interesting but brief passage of peak. originally the Kena Upanishad (in. 12 and iv. 1) Uma Haimavati explains to the gods that a being whom they do not know is Brahman. In later times we hear of a similar goddess in the Vindhyas, Maharani Vindhyesvari, who was connected with human sacrifices and Thugs 3 Siva s consort, like her Lord, has many forms classified as white or benignant and black or terrible. Uma belongs to the former class but the latter (such as Kali,
mountains.
is

She

Uma

Himalayas, and Parvati, she

.

in the jungles of

Thus Candi is considered as identical with the wood goddess Basuli, worshipped Bengal and Orissa. See J.A. 1873, p. 187. 2 Vaj. Sanh. 3. 57 and Taittir. Br. i. 6. 10. 4. 8 Crooke, Popular Religion of Northern India, i. 63. Monier Williams, Brahm. and Hinduism, p. 57 gives an interesting account of the shrine of Kali at Vindhyacal
1

said to have been formerly frequented

by Thugs.

278

HINDUISM

[CH.
.

1 Durga, Camunda, Canda and Karala) are more important Female deities bearing names like these are worshipped in most to Cape Comorin, parts of India, literally from the Himalaya 2 for the latter name is derived from Kumari, the Virgin goddess But the names Sakta and Saktism are usually restricted to those sects in Bengal and Assam who worship the Consort of Siva
.

with the

rites prescribed in

the Tantras.

Saktism regards the goddess as the active manifestation of the godhead. As such she is styled Sakti, or energy (whence the name Sakta), and is also identified with Maya, the power which is associated with Brahman and brings the phenomenal world into being. Similar ideas appear in a philosophic form in the Sarikhya teaching. Here the soul is masculine and passive its task is to extricate and isolate itself. But Prakriti or Nature is feminine and active to her is due the evolution of the universe she involves the soul in actions which cause pain but she also 3 In its fully developed form the helps the work of liberation doctrine of the Tantras teaches that Sakti is not an emanation or aspect of the deity. There is no distinction between Brahman and Sakti. She is Parabrahman and pardtpard, Supreme of the
: :

:

.

Supreme.

The birthplace of Saktism as a definite sect seems to have been north-eastern India 4 and though it is said to be extending in the United Provinces, its present sphere of influence is still
different persons
2

This idea that deities have different aspects in which they practically become is very prevalent in Tibetan mythology which is borrowed from medieval Bengal.
also
of

1

Though there are great temples erected to goddesses in S. India, there are some signs of hostility to Saktism. See the curious legends about an attendant Siva called Bhririgi who would not worship Parvati. Hultzsch, South Indian
ii.

Inscriptions, n.
3

p. 190.

There is a curious tendency in India to regard the male principle as quiescent, the female as active and stimulating. The Chinese, who are equally fond of using
these two principles in their cosmological speculations, adopt the opposite view. The Yang (male) is positive and active. The Yin (female) is negative and passive. 4 The Mahanirvana Tantra seems to have been composed in Bengal since it

recommends

for sacrificial purposes (vi. 7) three kinds of fish said to be characteristic

of that region.

On the other hand Buddhist works called Tantras are said to have been composed in north-western India. Udyana had an old reputation for magic and even in modern times Saktism exists in western Tibet and Leh. It is

highly probable that in all these districts the practice of magic and the worship of mountain goddesses were prevalent, but I find little evidence that a definite Sakta sect arose elsewhere than in Bengal and Assam or that the Saktist corruption of Buddhism prevailed elsewhere than in Magadha and Bengal.

xxxii]
chiefly

&AKTISM
1
.

279

Bengal and Assam The population of these countries is not Aryan (though the Bengali language bears witness to the strong Aryan influence which has prevailed there) and is largely composed of immigrants from the north belonging to the TibetoBurman, Mon-Khmer and Shan families. These tribes remain distinct in Assam but the Bengali represents the fusion of such invaders with a Munda or Dravidian race, leavened by a little Aryan blood in the higher castes. In all this region we hear of no ancient Brahmanic settlements, no ancient centres of Vedic or even Puranic learning 2 and when Buddhism decayed no body

Brahmanic tradition such as existed in other parts of India imposed its authority on the writers of the Tantras. Even at the present day the worship of female spirits, only half acknow ledged by the Brahmans, prevails among these people, and in
of

many tribes were goddesses who were propitiated with human sacrifices. Thus the Chutiyas of Sadiya used to adore a goddess, called Kesai Khati the eater of raw flesh. The rites of these deities were originally performed by tribal priests, but as Hindu influence spread, the Brahmans gradually took charge of them without modifying their character
the past the national deities of
in essentials.

Popular Bengali poetry represents these goddesses and feeling that they are slighted: they those who persecute ignore them, but shower blessings on their even on the obdurate who are at last compelled worshippers, to do them homage. The language of mythology could not describe more clearly the endeavours of a plebeian cult to obtain
as desiring worship

recognition

3
.

The Mahabharata contains hymns to Durga in which she is said to love offerings of flesh and wine 4 but it is not likely that
,

$aktism or Tantrism
1

that

is

a system with special scriptures

are said to be Saktas
2

But the Brahmans of isolated localities, like Satara in the Bombay Presidency, and the Kanculiyas of S. India are described as a Saktist sect. The law-giver Baudhayana seems to have regarded Ariga and Vanga with
i.

suspicion,
8

1. 13, 14.

See especially the story of Manasa Devi in Dinesh Chandra Sen (Beng. Lang, and Lit. 257), who says the earliest literary version dates from the twelfth century. But doubtless the story is much older. 4 Viratap. chap. vi. (not in all MSS.). Bhishmap. chap. xxm. Also in the Harivamsa, w. 3236 ff. Pargiter considers that the Devi-Mahatmya was probably composed in the fifth or sixth century. Chap. xxi. of the Lotus Sutra contains a spell invoking a goddess under many names. Though this chapter is an addition to the original work, it was translated into Chinese between 265 and 316.

280

HINDUISM

[OH.

was prevalent before the seventh century A.D. for the Tantras are not mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims and the lexicon Amara Kosha (perhaps c. 500 A.D.) does not recognize the word as a designation of religious books. Bana (c. 630) gives more than once in his romances lists of sectaries but though he mentions Bhagavatas and Pasupatas, he does not speak of iSaktas 1 On the other hand Tantrism infected Buddhism soon after this period. The earlier Tibetan translations of the Tantras are attributed to the ninth century. MSS. of the Kubjikamata and other Tantras are said to date from the ninth and even from the seventh century and tradition represents Sankaracarya 2 But many Tantras were written as having contests with Saktas in the fifteenth century and even later, for the Yogini Tantra alludes to the Koch king Bishwa Singh (1515-1540) and the Meru Tantra mentions London and the English.
and doctrines
.

.

From
itse]f

the twelfth to the sixteenth century, when Buddhism, deeply infected with Tantrism, was disappearing, Saktism

was probably the most powerful religion in Bengal, but Vishnuism was gaining strength and after the time of Caitanya proved
a formidable rival to
it.

At the beginning

of the fifteenth century

we hear
his

that the king of the

Ahoms summoned Brahmans

to

Court and adopted many Hindu rites and beliefs, and from this time onward Saktism was patronized by most of the Assamese Rajas although after 1550 Vishnuism became the religion of the mass of the people. Saktism never inspired any
popular or missionary movement, but it was powerful among the aristocracy and instigated persecutions against the Vishnuites. The more respectable Tantras 3 show considerable resem blance to the later Upanishads such as the Nrisinhatapaniya and Ramatapaniya, which mention Sakti in the sense of creative

energy
1

4
.

Both classes of works treat of magical formulae (mantras)
of the

But he does mention the worship
134.

Divine Mothers. Harshacar. vn. 250

and Kadamb.
2

Hymns to
is

the Devi are also attributed to

him but

I

do not know what evidence

there

for his authorship.

3 As pointed out elsewhere, though this word is most commonly used of the Sakta scriptures it is not restricted to them and we hear of both Buddhist and Vaishnava Tantras.

logical setting.

is an instance of Saktist ideas in another theo a Vishnuite work but Sita is made to say that she is Prakriti who does all the deeds related in the poem, whereas Rama is Purusha, inactive and a witness of her deeds.

The Adhyatma Ramayana
It
is

xxxn]
and the construction

ARTISM

281

of mystic diagrams or yantras. This re semblance does not give us much assistance in chronology, for the dates of the later Upanishads are very uncertain, but it shows how the Tantras are connected with other branches of Hindu thought. The distinction between Tantras and Puranas is not always well-marked. The Bhagavata Purana countenances tantric rites 1 and the Agni Purana (from chapter xxi onwards) bears a strong resemblance to a Tantra. As a rule the Tantras contain less historical and legendary matter than the Puranas and more directions as to ritual. But whereas the Puranas approve of both Vedic rites and others, the Tantras insist that ceremonies other than those which they prescribe are now useless. They maintain that each age of the world has its own special revelation

and that in this age the Tantra-sastra is the only scripture. Thus in the Mahanirvana Tantra iva says 2 "The fool who would follow other doctrines heedless of mine is as great a
:

sinner as a parricide or the murderer of a Brahman or of a woman.... The Vedic rites and mantras which were efficacious in the first age have ceased to have power in this. They are now as powerless as snakes whose fangs have been drawn and are like dead things." The Kularnava Tantra (i. 79 ff.) inveighs against those who think they will obtain salvation by Vedic sacrifices or asceticism or reading sacred books, whereas it can be won only

by

tantric rites.

Tantras are given and it is generally admitted have been lost. The most complete, but somewhat many theoretical enumeration 3 divides India and the adjoining lands into three regions to each of which sixty-four Tantras are 4 assigned. The best known names are perhaps Mahanirvana 5 6 Saradatilaka Yogini, Kularnava and Rudra-Yamala. A Tantra
Various
lists of

that

,

,

1 xi. iii. 47-8; xi. v. 28 and 31. Probably Vishnuite not Saktist Tantras are meant but the Purana distinguishes between Vedic revelation meant for previous sages and tantric revelation meant for the present day. So too Kulluka Bhatta the commentator on Manu who was a Bengali and probably lived in the fifteenth century says (on Manu n. i.) that Sruti is twofold, Vedic and tantric. Srutisca

dvividhd vaidiki tdntrikica.
3

2

11.

15.

Avalon, Principles of Tantra, pp. Ixv-lxvii. A collection of thirty-seven Tantras has been published at Calcutta by Babu RasikMohunChatterjee and a few have been published separately.
See for
full list
4

8
6

Translated by Avalon, 1913, also by Analysed in J.A.O.S. xxm. i. 1902.

Manmatha Nath

Dutt, 1900.

Edited by Taranatha Vidyaratna, with introduction by A. Avalon, 1917.

282
is

HINDUISM

[CH.

of a dialogue in which iva instructs generally cast in the form versa. It is said that the former vice his consort but sometimes as described class are correctly Agamas and the works where 1 Some are also called as the Sakti addresses giva Nigamas
.

have found no definition of the 2 The words. Prapancasara Tantra professes meaning of these to be a revelation from Narayana. 3aktism and the Tantras which teach it are generally con demned by Hindus of other sects 3 It is arguable that this condemnation is unjust, for like other forms of Hinduism the Tantras make the liberation of the soul their object and prescribe a life of religious observances including asceticism and medita tion, after which the adept becomes released even in this life. But however much new tantric literature may be made accessible in future, I doubt if impartial criticism will come to any opinion except that Saktism and Tantrism collect and emphasize what is superficial, trivial and even bad in Indian religion, omitting or neglecting its higher sides. If for instance the Mahanirvana Tantra which is a good specimen of these works be compared with Sarikara s commentary on the Vedanta Sutras, or the poems

Yamalas and Damaras but

I

.

of Tulsi Das, it will

be seen that

it is

woefully deficient in the

excellences of either.

But many
spells,

tantric treatises are chiefly

concerned with charms,

amulets and other magical

methods

of obtaining wealth, causing or averting disease and destroying enemies, processes which even if efficacious have
4 nothing to do with the better side of religion The religious life prescribed in the Tantras 5 commences with initiation and requires the supervision of the Guru. The object of it is Siddhi or success, the highest form of which is spiritual perfection. Siddhi is produced by Sddhana, or that method of
.

See Avalon, Principles of Tantra, p. Ixi. But these are probably special meanings attached to the words by tantric schools. Nigama is found pretty fre quently, e.g. Manu, iv. 19 and Lalita-vistara, xn. But it is not likely that it is used 2 there in this special sense. Edited by Avalon, 1914. 3 Satirical descriptions of Saktism are fairly ancient, e.g. Karpura Manjari, Harvard edition, pp. 25 and 233. 4 Tantrism has some analogy to the Feng-shui or geomancy of the Chinese. Both take ancient superstitions which seem incompatible with science and systema
tize
is

1

them

into pseudo-sciences, remaining blind to the fact that the subject-matter

wholly imaginary.
6

For what follows as for much else in this chapter, I translation of the Mahanirvana Tantra and introduction.

am

indebted to Avalon

s

xxxii]
training the physical

SAKTISM

283

and psychic faculties which realizes their Tantric training assumes a certain constitution potentialities. of the universe and the repetition in miniature of this constitu
tion in the

human body which contains various nervous centres and subtle channels for the passage of energy unknown to vulgar anatomy. Thus the akti who pervades the universe is
body as Kundalini, a serpentine coil of of is Sadhana to arouse this energy and make and it part energy, Kundalini is it mount from the lower to the higher centres. also present in sounds and in letters. Hence if different parts
also present in the of the

body

are touched to the
rite is called

mantras (which
to dwell in the

of appropriate the various Saktis are made nyasa)

accompaniment

human frame

in suitable positions.

The Tantras recognize that human beings are not equal and that codes and rituals must vary according to temperament and capacity. Three conditions of men, called the animal, heroic and divine 1 are often mentioned and are said to characterize three periods of life youth, manhood and age, or three classes of mankind, non-tantrists, ordinary tantrists, and adepts. These
,

three conditions clearly correspond to the three Gunas. Also men, or rather Hindus, belong to one of seven groups, or stages, according to the religious practices which it is best for them to
2 follow. Saktists apparently demur to the statement commonly made by Indians as well as by Europeans that they are divided

two sects the Dakshinacarins, or right-hand worshippers, whose ritual is public and decent, and the Vamacarins who meet to engage in secret but admittedly immoral orgies. But for practical purposes the division is just, although it must not be
into

supposed that Dakshinacarins necessarily condemn the secret worship. They may consider it as good for others but not for themselves. Saktists apparently would prefer to state the matter thus. There are seven stages of religion. First come Vedic, Vishnuite and Sivaite worship, all three inferior, and then
Dakshinacara, interpreted as meaning favourable worship, that is favourable to the accomplishment of higher purposes, because the worshipper now begins to understand the nature of Devi, the great goddess. These four kinds of worship are all said to belong to pravritti or active life. The other three, considered to be higher, require a special initiation and belong to nivritti, the
1

Pasu-, vira-, divya-bhava.

2

Avalon, Mahan. Tan. pp. Ixxix, Ixxx.
19

B. II.

HINDUISM
path
of return in

[CH.
1
.

which passion and activity are suppressed And here is propounded the doctrine that passion can be 2 that is to say that the destroyed and exhausted by passion intercourse are best and sexual of eating, drinking impulses fifth The them. stage, in which this subjugated by indulging 3 In the sixth, or Vamacara called is first is method adopted, 4 and more free from more becomes the Siddhantacara adept is finally able to enter Kaulacara, and and prejudice passion the highest stage of all. A Kaula is one who has passed beyond all sects and belongs to none, since he has the knowledge of Brah man. "Possessing merely the form of man, he moves about this 5 earth for the salvation of the world and the instruction of men These are aspirations common to all Indian religion. The peculiarity of the Tantras is to suppose that a ritual which is shocking to most Hindus is an indispensable preliminary to their attainment 6 Its essential feature is known as pancatattva, the five elements, or pancamakdra the five m s, because they all
,
.

,

."

.

begin with that letter, namely, madya, mdmsa, matsya, mudrd, and maithuna, wine, meat, fish, parched grain and copulation. The celebration of this ritual takes place at midnight, and is

The proceedings begin by the devotees themselves in a circle and are said to terminate in an seating indiscriminate orgy. It is only fair to say that some Tantras inveigh against drunkenness and authorize only moderate 7 In all cases it is essential that the wine, flesh, etc., drinking
called cakra or circle.
.

"The

eternal

rhythm

of

inwards from matter to
she recalls
it

spirit.

Divine Breath is outwards from spirit to matter and Devi as Maya evolves the world. As Mahamaya
of these

to herself

Each
gifts."

movements

is

divine.

Enjoyment and

liberation are each her

Avalon, Mahan. Tan. p. cxl. 2 Yair eva patanam dravyaih siddhis tair eva codita Kularnava Tantra, v. 48. There is probably something similar in Taoism. See Wieger, Hisloire den Croyances rcligicuses en Chine, p. 409. The Indian Tantrists were aware of the dangers of their system and said it was as difficult as walking on the edge of a sword or holding a tiger. 3 Vamacara is said not to mean left-hand worship but woman (vama) worship. This interpretation of Dakshina and Vamacara is probably fanciful.
4 5

8

Sometimes two extra stages Aghora and Yogacara are inserted here. Mahan. Tan. x. 108. A Kaula may pretend to be a Vaishnava or a Saiva. Although the Tantras occasional!} say that mere ritual is not sufficient for

sure means.

the highest religions, yet indispensable preliminary is often understood as meaning Thus the Mahanirvana Tantra (x. 202, Avalon s transl.) says "Those
the Kaulas with panca tattva and with heart uplifted, cause the salva and themselves attain the highest end." on the other hand some Tantras or tantric treatises recommend crazy

who worship
7

tion of their ancestors

But

abominations.

&AKTISM
:

2ss

should be formally dedicated to the goddess without this pre liminary indulgence in these pleasures is sinful. Indeed it may be said that apart from the ceremonial which they inculcate, the general principles of the Tantras breathe a liberal and
intelligent spirit.
is

Caste restrictions are minimized: travelling permitted. Women are honoured: they can act as teachers: the burning of widows is forbidden 1 girl widows may remarry 2 and the murder of a woman is peculiarly heinous. Prostitution
:

is

-denounced.

Whereas Christianity

is

sometimes accused of

restricting its higher code to Church and Sundays, the opposite may be said of Tantrism. Outside the temple its morality is

excellent.

A work like the Mahanirvana Tantra presents a refined form
of

may be, in conformity with 3 But other features indubitably connect ordinary Hindu usage it with aboriginal cults. For instance there is a legend which
.

Saktism modified, so far as

relates

how

scattered over

the body of the Sakti was cut into pieces and Assam and Bengal. This story has an uncouth

and barbarous

air and seems out of place even in Puranic mythology. It recalls the tales told of Osiris, Orpheus and Halfdan the Black 4 and may be ultimately traceable to the idea that the dismemberment of a deity or a human representative ensures fertility. Until recently the Khonds of Bengal used to hack human victims in pieces as a sacrifice to the Earth Goddess and throw the shreds of flesh on the fields to secure a good harvest 5 In Sanskrit literature I have not found any authority for the dismemberment of Sati earlier than the Tantras or Upapuranas (e.g. Kalika), but this late appearance does not mean that, the legend is late in itself but merely that it was not countenanced by Sanskrit writers until medieval times. Various
.

reasons for the
rather

dismemberment are given and the incident is awkwardly tacked on to other stories. One common

version relates that

when Sati (one of the many forms of Sakti) died of vexation because her husband Siva was insulted by her
1 2 3

Mahanir. Tant. x. 79. Bhartra saha kulesani na dahet kulakaminim.
76. xi. 67.

E.g.

It does not prescribe

human

sacrifices

and counsels moderation

in the

use of wine
4

and mailhuna.
s

See Frazer

Adonis, Attis and Osiris, pp. 269-273 for these and other stories
i.

of

dismemberment.
6

See Frazer, Golden Bough : Spirits of the Corn, vol.

245 and authorities quoted.

286

HINDUISM
.

[CH.

up her corpse and wandered dis 1 In order to stop ,this it on his shoulder carrying tractedly off pieces from the corpse cut and him followed Vishnu penance with his quoit until the whole had fallen to earth in fifty-one
father Daksha, Siva took

touched the ground are pieces. The spots where these pieces held sacred and called piths. At most of them are shown a rock supposed to represent some portion of the goddess s body and

some object

called a bhairabi, left

by Siva

as a guardian to

protect her and often taking the form of a lingam. The most important of these piths are Kamakhya near Gauhati, Faljur
2 in the Jaintia Parganas, and Kalighat in Calcutta Though the Sakti of Siva is theoretically one, yet since she
.

rather she

many forms she becomes in practice many deities or is many deities combined in one or sometimes a sovereign attended by a retinue of similar female spirits. Among
assumes

such forms we find the ten Mahavidyas, or personifications of her supernatural knowledge; the Mahamatris, Matrikas or the Great Mothers, allied to the aboriginal goddesses already mentioned the Nayakas or mistresses the Yoginis or sorceresses, and fiends called Dakinis. But the most popular of her mani
;
;

festations are Durga and Kali. The sects which revere these goddesses are the most important religious bodies in Bengal, where they number thirty-five million adherents. The Durgapuja 3 is the greatest festival of the year in north-eastern India and in the temple of Kalighat at Calcutta may be seen the singular

spectacle of educated Hindus decapitating goats before the image of Kali. It is a black female figure with gaping mouth

and protruded tongue dancing on a prostrate body 4
1

,

and

Assam. 2 Hsiian Chuang (Watters, vol. i. chap, vu) mentions several sacred places in N.W. India where the Buddha in a previous birth was dismembered or gave his flesh to feed mankind. Can these places have been similar to the piths of Assam and were the original heroes of the legend deities who were dismembered like Sati and subsequently accommodated to Buddhist theology as Bodhisattvas? 3 It is an autumnal festival. A special image of the goddess is made which is worshipped for nine days and then thrown into the river. For an account of the festival which makes its tantric character very clear see Durga Puja by Pratapachandra Ghosha, Calcutta, 1871. 4 One explanation given is that she was so elated with her victories over giants that she began to dance which shook the Universe. Siva in order to save the world himself beneath her feet and when she saw she was placed trampling on her husband,
Images representing
this are

common

in

she stopped.

But there are other explanations.

Another

of the strangely barbaric legends

which cluster round the Sakti

is

xxxn]

SAKTISM

287

adorned with skulls and horrid emblems of destruction. Of her four hands two carry a sword and a severed head but the other two are extended to give blessing and protection to her wor shippers. So great is the crowd of enthusiastic suppliants that it is often hard to approach the shrine and the nationalist party
in

Bengal who clamour for parliamentary institutions are among
s

the goddess
It
is

devotees.

easy to criticize and condemn this worship. Its outward are signs repulsive to Europeans and its inner meaning strange, for even those who pray to the Madonna are startled by the idea that the divine nature is essentially feminine 1 Yet this idea has deep roots in the heart of Bengal and with it another idea: the terrors of death, plague and storm are half but only half revelations of the goddess-mother who can be smiling and tender as well. Whatever may be the origin of Kali and of the strange images which represent her, she is now no she-devil who needs to be propitiated, but a reminder that birth and death are twins, that the horrors of the world come from the same source as its grace and beauty and that cheerful acceptance of the deity s terrible manifestations is an essential part of the
.

These ideas are best expressed in the songs Prasada Sen (1718-1775) which "still reign supreme in the villages of Bengal and show that this strange worship lias really a hold on millions of Indian rustics 3 The directness and childlike simplicity of his poems have caused an Indian critic to compare him to Blake. "Though the mother beat the child," he sings, "the child cries mother, mother, and clings still
higher spiritual
of
life
.

2

Rama

"

.

illustrated by the figure called Chinnamastaka. It represents the goddess as carrying her own head which she has just cut off, while from the neck spout fountains of blood which are drunk by her attendants and by the severed head itself.
1 Yet the English mystic Julian, the anchoress of Norwich (c. 1400), insists on the motherhood as well as the fatherhood of God. "God is our mother, brother

and Saviour." "As verily God is our father, so verily God is our mother." So too in an inscription found at Capua (C.I.N. 3580) Isis is addressed as una
quae
es

omnia.

The Power addressed in Swinburne s poems Mater Triumphnlis, Herlha, The Pilgrims and Dolores is really a conception very similar to Sakti. 2 These ideas find frequent expression in the works of Bunkim Chandra Chatter jee, Dinesh Chandra Sen and Sister Nivedita. 8 See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Hist. Beng. Lang, and Lit. pp. 712-721. Even the
-

iconoclast
p. 240.

Devendranath Tagore speaks

of the Universal Mother.

See Autobiog.

288

HINDUISM
am
still

[CH.

I cannot see thee, yet I tighter to her garment. True,

not

a lost child. I
"All

cry mother,

mother."

the miseries that I have suffered and

am

suffering,

I

know,
I

mother, to be your mercy

alone."

I cannot fully sympathize with this it is sung in the hymns of Rama Prasada, when even worship, but it is clear that he makes it tolerable just because he throws aside all the magic and ritual of the Tantras and deals straight with what are for him elemental and emotional facts. He makes even sceptics feel that he has really seen God in this strange

must confess that

guise.

The chief sanctuary of $aktism is at Kamakhya (or Kamaksha) on a hill which stands on the banks of the Brahmaputra, about two miles below Gauhati. It is mentioned in the Padma Purana. The temples have been rebuilt several times, and in the eighteenth century were munificently endowed by an Ahom king, and placed under the management of a Brahman from Nadia in Bengal, with reversion to his descendants who bear the title of
Parbatiya Gosains. Considerable estates are still assigned to their upkeep. There are ten 1 shrines on the hill dedicated to various forms of the $akti. The situation is magnificent, com manding an extensive prospect over the Brahmaputra and the plains on either bank, but none of the buildings are of much architectural merit. The largest and best is the temple dedicated
herself, the goddess of sexual desire. It is of the usual in northern India, an unlighted shrine surmounted style a and by dome, approached by a rather ample vestibule, which

to

Kamakhya

also imperfectly lighted. An inscription has been preserved recording the restoration of the temple about 1550 but only the
is

present basement dates from that time, most of the super structure being recent. Europeans may not enter but an image
of the goddess

can be seen from a side door. In the depths of

the shrine
akti.
tied,
is

said to be a cleft in the rock, adored as the Yoni of In front of the temple are two posts to which a goat is
is

and decapitated daily at noon. Below the principal shrine the temple of Bhairavi. Human sacrifices were offered here in comparatively recent times, and it is not denied that they
would be offered now
1

if

the law allowed.
six,

Also

it is

not denied

So

I

was

told,

but

I

saw only

when

I

visitod the place in 1910.

xxxii]

SAKTISM
"

289

that the rites of the "five m s already mentioned are frequently performed in these temples, and that Aghoris may be found in them. The spot attracts a considerable number of pilgrims from Bengal, and a wealthy devotee has built a villa on the hill and

pays visits to it for the purpose of taking part in the rites. I was informed that the most esteemed scriptures of the sect are the Yogini Tantra, the Mahanirvana Tantra, and the Kalika Purana. This last work contains a section or chapter on blood 1 which
,

gives rules for the performance of

human

sacrifices.

It states

however that they should not be performed by the first three castes, which is perhaps a way of saying that though they may be performed by non-Aryans under Brahmanic auspices they form no part of the Aryan religion. But they are recommended to princes and ministers and should not be performed without
the consent of princes. The ritual bears little resemblance to the Vedic sacrifices and the essence of the ceremony is the presenta
tion to the goddess of the victim s severed head in a vessel of gold, silver, copper, brass or wood but not of iron. The axe with

which the decapitation is to be performed is solemnly conse crated to Kali and the victim is worshipped before immolation. The sacrificer first thinks of Brahma and the other gods as being present in the victim s body, and then prays to him directly as being all the gods in one. "When this has been done" says
Siva,

who
is

victim

represented as himself revealing these rules, "the even as myself." This identification of the human
is

victim with the god has 2 among the Khonds
.

many

analogies elsewhere, particularly

It is

remarkable that this barbarous and immoral worship,

though looked at askance except in its own holy places, is by no means confined to the lower castes. A series of apologies composed in excellent English (but sometimes anonymous) attest the sympathy of the educated. So far as theology and
Sakti

metaphysics are concerned, these defences are plausible. The is identified with Prakriti or with the Maya of the Advaita philosophy and defined as the energy, coexistent with Brahman, which creates the world. But attempts to palliate the ceremonial, such as the argument that it is a consecration and limitation of the appetites because they may be gratified only in the service
1 2

Rudhiradhyaya.
See Frazer, op.

Translated in As. Researches, v. 1798, pp. 371-391.
p. 246.

cit.

290

HINDUISM

[CH.

xxxn

of the goddess, are not convincing. Nor do the gaktas, when able to profess their faith openly, deny the nature of their rites attached to them. An oft-quoted tantric or the

verse represents Siva as saying Maithunena mahdyogi mama for practical purposes that is the gist tulyo na safiisayah. And
of Saktist teaching. The temples of Kamakhya leave a disagreeable impression of dark evil haunts of lust and bloodshed, akin an

importance

impression

madness and unrelieved by any grace or vigour of art. For there is no attempt in them to represent the terrible or voluptu ous aspects of Hinduism, such as find expression in sculpture elsewhere. All the buildings, and especially the modern temple of Kali, which was in process of construction when I saw the place, testify to the atrophy and paralysis produced by erotic forms of religion in the artistic and intellectual spheres, a phenomenon which finds another sad illustration in quite
to

theological surroundings among the Vallabhacarya Gokul near Muttra. It would be a poor service to India to palliate the evils and extravagances of Saktism, but still it must be made clear that it is not a mere survival of barbaric practices. The writers of the Tantras are good Hindus and declare that their object is to teach liberation and union with the Supreme Spirit. The
different

sect at

ecstasies induced

by tantric rites produce this here in a pre liminary form to be made perfect in the liberated soul. This is not the craze of a few hysterical devotees, but the faith of
millions

among whom many
is

are well educated. In

some aspects

similar to the erotic Vishnuite sects, but there is little real analogy in their ways of thinking. For the essence of

Saktism

Vishnuism is passionate devotion and self -surrender to a deity and this idea is not prominent in the Tantras. The
strange
inconsistencies of Saktism are of the kind
istic of

which are character

Hinduism as a whole, but the contrasts are more violent and the monstrosities more conspicuous than elsewhere; wild legends and metaphysics are mixed together, and the that
peace
passes all understanding of blood.
is

to be obtained

by

orgies

and

offerings

CHAPTER XXXIII
HINDU PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
is more closely connected with religion in India than in Europe. It is not a dispassionate scientific investigation but a practical religious quest. Even the Nyaya school, which is concerned chiefly with formal logic, promises that by the removal of false knowledge it can emancipate the soul and give the bliss of salvation. Nor are the expressions system or school of philosophy, commonly used to render darsana, altogether happy. The word is derived from the root driS, to see, and means a way of looking at things. As such a way of looking is supposed to be both comprehensive and orderly, it is more or less what we call philosophical, but the points of view are so special and so various that the result is not always what we call a 1 philosophical system. Madhava s list of Darsanas includes Buddhism and Jainism, which are commonly regarded as separate religions, as well as the Pasupata and Saiva, which are sects of Hinduism. The Darsana of Jaimini is merely a

discussion of general questions relating to sacrifices the Nyaya Darsana examines logic and rhetoric: the Paniniya Darsana
:

treats of
it

grammar and

ought to be studied

the nature of language, but claims that as the means for attaining the chief end

of

man 2

."

Six of the Darsanas have received special prominence and are often called the six Orthodox Schools. They are the Nyaya

and Vaiseshika, Sankhya and Yoga, Purva and Uttara Mimamsa,
1

In the Sarva-darsana-sangraha, the best
J. C.

known compendium

of

Indian

philosophy.
2

Chatterji

s

definition of Indian philosophy (in his Indian Realism, p. 1)

is

interesting. By Hindu philosophy I mean that branch of the ancient learning of the Hindus which demonstrates by reasoning propositions with regard to

what a man ought to do in order to gain true happiness... or (6) what he ought to realize by direct experience in order to be radically and absolutely freed from suffering and to be absolutely independent, such propositions being already
(a)

given and lines of reasoning in their support being established by duly qualified
authorities."

292
or Vedanta.

HINDUISM

[CH.

The rest are either comparatively unimportant or more conveniently treated of as religious sects. The six placed on the select list are sufficiently miscellaneous and one wonders what principle of classification can have brought them together. The first two have little connection with religion,
are

though they put forward the emancipation of the soul as their object, and I have no space to discuss them. They are however important as showing that realism has a place in Indian thought 1 in spite of its marked tendency to idealism They are concerned chiefly with an examination of human faculties and the objects of knowledge, and are related to one another. The special doctrine of the Vaiseshika is the theory of atoms ascribed to Kanada. It teaches that matter consists of atoms (arm) which are eternal in themselves though all combinations of them are
.

decompose. The Sarikhya and Yoga are also related and represent two aspects of the same system which is of great antiquity and allied to Buddhism and Jainism. The two
liable to

Mimamsas

are consecutive expositions of the teaching scattered throughout the Vedic texts respecting ceremonial and the

knowledge of God respectively. The second Mimamsa, commonly called the Vedanta, is by far the more interesting and important. The common feature in these six systems which constitutes their orthodoxy is that they all admit the authority of the Veda. This implies more than our phrases revelation or inspiration of the Bible. Most of the Darsanas attach importance to the
pramdnas, sources or standards of knowledge. They are variously enumerated, but one of the oldest definitions makes them three
:

perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana) and scripture (sabda). The Veda is thus formally acknowledged to have the same authority as the evidence of the senses. With this is generally coupled the doctrine that it is eternal. It was not

composed by human authors, but is a body of sound existing from eternity as part of Brahman and breathed out by him when he causes the whole creation to evolve at the beginning
of a world period. The reputed authors are simply those who have, in Indian language, seen portions of this self-existent

teaching. This doctrine sounds more reasonable if restated in the form that words are the expression of thought, and that if thought is the eternal essence of both Brahman and the soul,
1

See Chatterji

s

work above

cited.

xxxm]
a similar eternity

HINDU PHILOSOPHY
may

293

attach to words. Some such idea is the origin of the Christian doctrine of the Logos, and in many religions we find such notions as that words have a creative 1 or that he who knows the name of a thing has power efficacy over it. Among Mohammedans the Koran is supposed to be
,

not merely an inspired composition but a pre-existing book,
revealed to

Mohammed
which

piecemeal.

It is curious that

both the sacred texts

the

Veda and the

Koran

to

this supernatural position is ascribed should

be collections of obviously human, incongruous, and often
insignificant documents connected with particular occasions, and in no way suggesting or claiming that they are anterior to

the ordinary life of man on earth. It is still more extraordinary that systems of philosophy should profess to base themselves on such works. But in reality Hindu metaphysicians are not

more bound by the past than their colleagues in other lands. They do not take scripture and ask what it means, but evolve their own systems and state that they are in accordance with it. Sometimes scripture is ignored in the details of argument. More often the metaphysician writes a commentary on it and
supports his views, though its apparent It is clear that many philosophic meaning may commentaries have been written not because the authors really drew their inspiration from the Upanishads or Bhagavad-gita but because they dared not neglect such important texts. All the Vedantist schools labour to prove that they are in harmony
it

boldly proves that

be

hostile.

not only with the Upanishads but with the Brahma-sutras. The philosophers of the Sarikhya are more detached from literature but though they ignore the existence of the deity, they acknow ledge the Veda as a source of knowledge. Their recognition, however, has the air of a concession to Brahmanic sentiment. Isolated theories of the Sankhya can be supported by isolated passages of the Upanishads, but no impartial critic can maintain that the general doctrines of the two are compatible. That the Brahmans should have been willing to admit the Sankhya as a possible form of orthodoxy is a testimony both to its import ance and to their liberality.
1 It is this idea which disposes educated Hindus to believe in the magical or sacramental power of mystic syllables and letters, though the use of such spells seems to Europeans incredible folly.

294

HINDUISM

[CH.

It is remarkable that the test of orthodoxy should have been the acceptance of the authority of the Veda and not a confession of some sort of theism. But on this the Brahmans did not insist. The Vedanta is truly and intensely pantheistic or theistic, but
in the other philosophies the

or plays a small part.
scientific

Supreme Being is either eliminated Thus while works which seem to be merely
the Nyaya) set before themselves a

treatises

(like

in scope, religious object, other treatises, seemingly religious There is a strong and ancient line of thought the deity. ignore in India which, basing itself on the doctrine of Karma, or the inevitable consequences of the deed once done, lays stress on the efficacy of ceremonies or of asceticism or of knowledge

without reference to a Supreme Being because, if he exists, he does not interfere with the workings of Karma, or with the power of knowledge to release from them. Even the Vedanta, although in a way the quintessence of Indian orthodoxy, is not a scholastic philosophy designed to support recognized dogma and ritual. It is rather the orthodox method of soaring above these things. It contemplates from a higher level the life of religious observances (which is the subject of the Purva Mimarnsa) and recognizes its value as a preliminary, but yet rejects it as inadequate. The Sannyasi or adept follows

no caste observances, performs no sacrifices, reads no scriptures. His religion is to realize in meditation the true nature, and it may be the identity, of the soul and God. Good works are of no more importance for him than rites, though he does well to
for
his time in teaching. But Karma has ceased to exist him: "the acts of a Yogi are neither black nor white," they have no moral quality nor consequences. This is dangerous language and the doctrine has sometimes been abused. But the point of the teaching is not that a Sannyasi may do what he likes but that he is perfectly emancipated from material

employ

bondage. Most men are bound by their deeds; every new act brings consequences which attach the doer to the world of transmigration and create for him new existences. But the deeds of the man who is really free have no such trammelling

they are not prompted by desire nor directed to an since to become free he must have suppressed all desire, it is hardly conceivable that he should do anything which could be called a sin. But this conviction that the task of the
effects, for

object.

But

xxxin]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

295

sage is not to perfect any form of good conduct but to rise above both good and evil, imparts to the Darsanas and even to the Upanishads a singularly non-ethical and detached tone. The Yogi does no harm but he has less benevolence and active sympathy than the Buddhist monk. It was a feeling that such an attitude has its dangers and is only for the few who have fought their way to the heights where it can safely be adopted, that led the Brahmans in all ages to lay stress on the house
as the proper preparation for a philosophic old age. utterances to the contrary, they never as a body Despite the ideal of a life entirely devoted to asceticism and approved
s life

holder

not occupied with social duties during one period. The extra ordinary ease with which the higher phases of Indian thought shake off all formalities, social, religious and ethical, was counterbalanced by the multitudinous regulations devised to keep the majority in a law-abiding life. None of the six Darsanas concern themselves with ethics. The more important deal with the transcendental progress of sages who have avowedly abandoned the life of works, and even those which treat of that lower life are occupied with ritual and logic rather than with anything which can be termed moral science. We must not infer that Indian literature is altogether unmoral. The doctrine of Karma is intensely ethical and ethical discussions are more prominent in the Epics than in Homer,
besides being the subject of much gnomic and didactic poetry. But there is no mistaking the fact that the Hindu seeks for

salvation

by knowledge. He

feels

the power of deeds, but

it is

only the lower happiness which
free

lies in

doing good works and

enjoying their fruits. The higher bliss consists in being entirely from the bondage of deeds and Karma. All the Darsanas have as a common principle this idea of Karma with the attendant doctrines that rebirth is a consequence of action and that salvation is an escape from rebirth. They all treat more or less of the sources and standards of knowledge, and all recognize the Veda as one of them. There is not much more that can be said of them all in common, for the Vedanta ignores matter and the Sankhya ignores God, but they all share a conviction which presents difficulties to Europeans. It is that
the state in which the

mind

concentrated on

itself is

ceases to think discursively and is not only desirable but the summum

296

HINDUISM

[CH.

bonum. The European is inclined to say that such a state is not being permanent. distinguished from non-existence only by But the Hindu will have none of this. He holds that mind and
thought are material though composed of the subtlest matter, and that when thought ceases, the immaterial soul (purusha or atman) far from being practically non-existent is more truly existent than before and enjoys untroubled its own existence

and its own nature. Of the three most important systems, the Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta, the first and last are on most points opposed: both are ancient, but perhaps the products of different intellectual centres. In one sense the Yoga may be described as a theistic modification of the Sankhya: from another and perhaps juster point of view it appears rather as a very ancient science of asceticism and contemplation, susceptible of combination with
various metaphysical theories.

We may consider first of all the Sankhya
its

1
.

Tradition ascribes

invention to Kapila, but he is a mere name unconnected with any date or other circumstance. It is probable that the principal ideas of the Sankhya germinated several centuries before our era but we have no evidence whatever as to when they were
first

formulated in Sutras. The

name was

current as the designa

tion of a philosophical system fairly early 2 but the accepted text-books are all late. The most respected is the Sankhya3 attributed to Kapila but generally assigned by pravacana European critics to the fourteenth century A.D. Considerably more ancient, but still clearly a metrical epitome of a system
,

already existing,
verses which

is

the Sarikhya-Karika, a

poem

of seventy

was translated into Chinese about 560 A.D. and

may be a few centuries older. Max Miiller regarded the Tattvasamasa, a short tract consisting chiefly of an enumeration of
See especially Garbe, Die Sankhya Philosophic, 1894; and Keith, The Sdmkhya System, 1919, which however reached me too late for me to make any use of it. 2 in the E.g. to tra Bhagavad-gita and Svetasvatara Upanishads.
1

According

dition Kapila taught Asuri
3

and

he, Pancaslkha,

who made
first

the system celebrated.

Garbe thinks Pancasikha may be assigned to the
This appears to be the real
"The

century A.D.

title

of the Sutras edited of
Kapila,"

and translated by

Ballantyne as

Sankhya Aphorisms

xxxm]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

297

topics, as the most ancient Sarikhya formulary, but the opinion of scholars as to its age is not unanimous. The name Sahkhya is

best interpreted as signifying enumeration in allusion to the predilection of the school for numbered lists, a predilection

equally noticeable in early Buddhism. The object of the system set forth in these works

is strictly of the practical. Sarikhya-pravacana, the cessation the of is end of man, and the complete suffering

In the

first

words

Sankhya

is

divides the contents of the

devised to enable him to attain it. Another formula Sankhya into four topics (a) that

from which

man must liberate himself, or suffering, (6) libera or the of suffering, (c) the cause of suffering, or cessation tion, failure to the discriminate between the soul and matter, (d) the
of liberation, or discriminating knowledge. This division obviously resembles the four Truths of Buddhism. The object

means

proposed
stress

is

the same and the

identical, for

Buddhism speaks

method analogous, though not as a religion and lays greater

on conduct.

of the Sankhya, briefly stated, is this. There uncreated and from all eternity, on the one side matter and on the other individual souls. The world, as we know it, is due entirely to the evolution of matter. Suffering is the result of souls being in bondage to matter, but this bondage does not affect the nature of the soul and in one sense is not real, for
exist,

The theory

when

souls acquire discriminating knowledge and see that they are not matter, then the bondage ceases and they attain to eternal peace.

The system is thus founded on dualism, the eternal antithesis between matter and soul. Many of its details are comprised in the simple enumeration of the twenty-five Tattvas or principles 1 as given in the Tattva-samasa and other works. Of these, one is Purusha, the soul or self, which is neither produced nor pro ductive, and the other twenty-four are all modifications of Prakriti or matter, which is unproduced but productive. Prakriti means the original ground form of external existence (as distinguished from Vikriti, modified form). It is uncreated and indestructible, but it has a tendency to variation or evolu1 Or topics. It is difficult to find any one English word which covers the twentyfive tattvas, for they include both general and special ideas, mind and matter on

the one hand; special organs on the other.

298
tion.

HINDUISM
The Sarikhya holds

[CH.

in the strictest sense that ex nihilc can Substance only be produced from substance and fit. is no such thing as origination but only there properly speaking manifestation. Causality is regarded solely from the point of view of material causes, that is to say the cause of a pot is clay and not the action of the potter. Thus the effect or product is nothing else than the cause in another shape production is only manifestation and destruction is the resolution of a product into its cause. Instead of holding like the Buddhists that there is no
nihil
:

such thing as existence but only becoming, the Sankhj^a rather affirms that there is nothing but successive manifestations of real existence. If clay is made into a pot and the pot is then broken and ground into clay again, the essential fact is not that

and disappeared but that the clay has undergone certain changes. continuously existing The tendency to evolution inherent in matter is due to the
a pot has

come

into existence

three gunas.
ness
;

They

rajas, as passion

are sattva, explained as goodness and happi and movement and tamas, as darkness,
;

The word Guna is not easy to translate, for it seems to mean more than quality or mode and to signify the constituents of matter. Hence one cannot help feeling that the whole theory is an attempt to explain the unity and diversity of matter by a phrase, but all Hinduism is permeated by this
heaviness and ignorance.

phrase and theory. When the three gunas are in equilibrium then matter Prakriti is quiescent, undifferentiated and unmanifested. But as soon as the equilibrium is disturbed and one of the gunas becomes preponderant, then the process of

and manifestation begins. The disturbance of due to the action of the individual Purushas or souls on Prakriti, but this action is mechanical and due to proximity not to the volition of the souls and may be compared
differentiation

equilibrium

is

1 magnet for iron Thus at the beginning of the evolutiona^- process we have quiescent matter in equili brium over against this are souls innumerable, equally quiescent but exerting on matter a mechanical force. This upsets the equilibrium and creates a movement which takes at first the form of development and later of decay and collapse. Then
. :

to the attraction of a

matter returns to its quiescent state to be again excited by the Purushas and commence its world-making evolution anew. The
1

Sankh. Pravac.

i.

96.

xxxm]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY
.

299

doctrine that evolution, dissolution

and quiescence succeed one another periodically is an integral part of the Sarikhya 1 The unmodified Prakriti stands first on the list of twenty-five

principles.
intellect,

When evolution begins it produces first Buddhi or secondly Ahamkara, which is perhaps best rendered by individuality, and next the five Tanmatras or subtle elements.
Buddhi, though meaning
tinguish objects
intellect, is

used rather in the sense of

ascertaining or perception.

It is the faculty

by which we

dis

and perceive what they

are. It differs also

from

our conception of intellect in being, like Ahamkara and all the subsequent developments of Prakriti, material, and must not be confused with the immaterial Purusha or soul. It is in fact the organ of thought, not in the sense of the brain or anything tangible, but a subtle substratum of all mental processes. But in what sense is it possible to say that this Buddhi exists apart from individuals, who have not come into being at this stage of cosmic evolution? This difficulty is not met by talking, as some commentators do, of cosmic as well as individual Buddhi, for even if all Prakriti is illuminated by Buddhi at this stage it is difficult to see what result can occur. To make the process of development coherent we must think of it not as a series of chronologically successive stages but rather as a logically con nected series and an analysis of completely evolved beings, just as we might say that bones are covered with flesh and flesh with skin, without affirming that the bones have a separate and prior existence. Ahamkara, which is, like Buddhi, strictly speaking a physical organ, means Ego -maker and denotes the sense of personality and individuality, almost the will. In the language of Indian philosophy it is the delusion or misconception which makes the soul imagine itself a personal agent and think, / see, I hear, 7 slay, / am slain, whereas the soul is really incapable
of action

and the

acts are those of Prakriti.

elements are the essences of sound, touch, savour and odour conceived as physical principles, colour, to imperceptible ordinary beings, though gods and Yogis can them. The name Tanmatra which signifies that only perceive indicates that they are concerned exclusively with one sense.
five subtle
1 Garbe, Die Sdnkhya Philosophic, p. 222. He considers that it spread thence to other schools. This involves the assumption that the Sankhya is prior to Buddhism

The

and Jainism.
E.

n.

20

300

HINDUISM

[CH.

Thus whereas the gross elements, such as earth, appeal to more than one sense and can be seen, felt and smelt, the subtle
is restricted to the sense of hearing. It exists but has nothing to do with their tangibility audible in all things sixteen further modifications to make remain There or visibility. 1 of list full the twenty-four. They are the five organs of sense

element of sound

up

,

2 the five organs of action Manas or mind, regarded as a sixth and central sense, and also as the seat of will, and the five gross
,

earth, water, light, air and ether. The Sarikhya dis the gross and the subtle body. The latter, between tinguishes is defined in more than one way, but it is called lingasarira, Karikas 3 that it is composed of Buddhi in the stated expressly and the rest, down to the subtle elements." It practically

elements

corresponds to what we call the soul, though totally distinct from Purusha or soul in the Sankhya sense. It constitutes the character and essential being of a person. It is the part which transmigrates from one gross body to another, and is responsible for the acts committed in each existence. Its union with a gross

body constitutes
of those

birth, its departure death.

Except

in the case

attain emancipation, its existence and transmigra tion last for a whole world-period at the end of which come
4 quiescence and equilibrium. In it are imprinted the Samskaras the predispositions which pass on from one existence to another and are latent in the new-born mind like seeds in a field.
,

who

for intellect, individuality, the senses, the

matter we have now accounted moral character, will, and a principle which survives death and transmigrates. It might therefore be supposed that we have exhaustively analysed the constitution of a human being. But that is not the view of

By following the evolution

of

the Sankhya. The evolution of Buddhi, Ahamkara, the subtle body and the gross body is a physical process and the result is also physical, though parts of it are of so fine a substance that ordinary senses cannot perceive them. This physical organism

becomes a

term includes gods and animals) connected with a soul (purusha) and consciousness depends on this connection, for neither is matter when isolated conscious, nor is the soul, at least not in our sense of the word.
living being (which

when

it is

1

2

Ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose. Voice, hands, feet, organs of excretion

and generation.

3

Verse 40.

*

Cf. the

Buddhist Sankharas.

xxxm]
Though the
is

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

301

soul is neither the life which ends at death (for that the gross body) nor yet the life which passes from existence to existence (for that is the subtle body) yet it is the vitalizing element which renders life possible.
like Jainism regards souls as innumerable and from one another. The word Purusha must have originally referred to the manikin supposed to inhabit the body, and there is some reason to think that the earliest teachers of the Sarikhya held that it was infinitely small. But in the existing

The Sarikhya

distinct

described as infinitely large. It is immaterial parts, dimensions, or qualities, or action. These definitions may of motion, change, incapable be partly due to the influence of the Vedanta and, though we know little about the historical development of the Sarikhya,

text-books

it is

and without beginning, end,

there are traces of a compromise between the old teaching of a soul held in bondage and struggling for release and later

conceptions of a soul which, being infinite and passionless, hardly seems capable of submitting to bondage. Though the soul

cannot be said to transmigrate, to
consciousness
it it

act, or to suffer, still

through

makes the

suffering of the world felt

and though

remains eternally unchanged and unaffected, experiences the reflection of the suffering which goes on. yet Just as a crystal (to use the Indian simile) allows a red flower to be seen through it and remains unchanged, although it seems to become red, so does the soul remain unchanged by sorrow or joy, although the illusion that it suffers or rejoices may be
in its essence it
itself from illusion, and thus from bondage. For strictly speaking the bondage does not exist it is caused by want of discrimination. Like the Vedanta, the
:

present in the consciousness. The task of the soul is to free

Sarikhya regards all this troubled life as being, so far as the soul is concerned, mere illusion. But while the Vedanta bids the soul know its identity with Brahman, the Sarikhya bids it isolate itself and know that the acts and feelings which seem to be its
really nothing to do with it. They are for the soul a spectacle or play originating in its connection but nothing with Prakriti, and it is actually said 1 "Wherefore no soul is bound, or is liberated or transmigrates. It is Prakriti, which has many bodily forms, which is bound, liberated and trans,

own have

1

Sahkh. Kar. 62.

302
migrates."

HINDUISM
It
is

[OH.

Buddhi or intellect, which is a manifestation difference between the of Prakriti, that the knowledge of the soul and Prakriti must arise. Thus though the Sankhya reposes and on a fundamental dualism, it is not the dualism of good and is first the good evil. Soul and matter differ not because the second bad, but because the first is unchangeable and the
in

second constantly changing. Matter is often personified as a woman. Her motives are unselfish and she works for the liberation of the soul. "As a dancer after showing herself on the stage ceases to dance, so does Prakriti cease when she has made herself manifest to the soul." That is to say, when a soul

once understands that it is distinct from the material world, that world ceases to exist for that particular soul, though of course the play continues for others. "Generous Prakriti, endowed with Gunas, causes by manifold means without benefit to herself, the benefit of the soul, which is devoid of Gunas and makes no return 1 The condition of the liberated soul, corre is described sponding to the moksha and nirvana of other systems, as Kaivalya, that is, complete separation from the material world, but, as among Buddhists and Vedantists, he who has learnt the truth is liberated even before death, and can teach others. He goes on living, just as the wheel continues to revolve for some time after the potter has ceased to turn it. After death,
."

complete liberation without the possibility of re-birth is attained. The Sankhya manuals do not dwell further on the character of this liberation: we only know that the eternal soul is then
completely isolated and aloof from all suffering and material things. Liberation is compared to profound sleep, the difference being that in dreamless sleep there is a seed, that is, the possi bility of return to ordinary life, whereas when liberation is once attained there is no such return. Both in its account of the world process and in its scheme of salvation the Sankhya ignores theism in the same way as did the Buddha. Indeed the text-books go beyond this and practically 2 deny the existence of a personal supreme deity. We are told that the existence of God cannot be proved, for whatever exists must be either bound or free and God can be neither. We cannot think of him as bound and yet he cannot be free like an emanci

pated

soul, for
1

freedom implies the absence of desire and hence
2

Sankh. Kar. 59-61.

Sankh. Pravac.

I.

92-95.

xxxm]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY
Similarly
1

303

of the impulse to create. and evil deeds are due to

Karma and

the consequences of good not to the government of

God. Such a ruler

is inconceivable, for if he governs the world according to the action of Karma his existence is superfluous, and if he is affected by selfish motives or desire, then he cannot be free. It is true that these passages speak of there being no proof of God s existence and hence commentators both Indian and European who skrink from atheism represent the Sankhya

as suspending judgment.

describes the President
of

But if a republican constitution duly and other authorities in whom the powers

it is not undoes not expressly say there is no king? In the Sankhya there is no more place for a deity than for a king in a republican constitution. Moreover, the Sutras en deavour to prove that the idea of God is inconceivable and self -contradictory and some commentaries speak plainly on this 2 Thus the Sarikhya-tattva-kaumudi commenting on subject Karika 57 argues that the world cannot have been created by God, whether we suppose him to have been impelled by selfish ness or kindness. For if God is perfect he can have no need to create a world. And if his motive is kindness, is it reasonable to call into existence beings who while non-existent had no suffering, simply in order to show kindness in relieving them from suffering ? A benevolent deity ought to create only happy 3 creatures, not a mixed world like the one we see like this were not condemned Arguments by the Brahmans so strongly as we should expect, but they did not like them and though they did not excommunicate the Sankhya in the same way as Buddhism, they greatly preferred a theistic variety of it

government are vested, can we argue that
it

moriarchical because

.

.

called

Yoga.
,

The Yoga and Sankhya are mentioned together in the ^vetasvatara Upanishad 4 and the Bhagavad-gita 5 says that he sees truly who sees them as one. The difference lies in treatment
1

Sankh. Pravac.

v.

2-12.

Thus Sankh. Pravac. v. 46, says Tatkartuh purushasyabhavat and the com mentary explains Isvara-pratishedhad iti 6eshah "supply the words, because we deny that there is a supreme God." 8 Nevertheless the commentator Vijnana-Bhikshu (c. 1500) tries to explain away this atheism and to reconcile the Sankhya with the Vedanta. See Garbe s
2

preface to his edition of the Sarikhya-pravacana-bhashya.
4

vi. 13.

B

v. 5.

304

HINDUISM

[CH.

rather than in substance. Whereas the Sankhya is mainly is the cultivation of theoretical, the principal topic of the Yoga that frame of mind which leads to emancipation and the methods to this end. Further, the Yoga recognizes and exercises

proper a deity. This distinction may seem of capital importance but the god of the Yoga (called Isvara or the Lord) is not its founda 1 Devotion to tion and essence as Brahman is of the Vedanta
.

God

is

recognized as one

among

other methods for attaining

if this particular procedure, which is men tioned in relatively few passages, were omitted, the rest of the the system would be unaffected. It is therefore probable that

emancipation and

theistic

portions of the
influence.

Brahmanic

Yoga are an addition made under But taking the existing Sutras of the two

it may be said philosophies, together with their commentaries, that the Yoga implies most of the Sankhya theory and the

into details

practice, for though it does not go which is to be perfected by meditation prescribes and the by adopting certain postures. breathing regulating I have already spoken of the methods and discipline prescribed by the Yoga and need not dwell further on the topic now. That Buddhism has some connection with the Sankhya and 2 Yoga has often been noticed Some of the ideas found in the Sankhya and some of the practices prescribed by the Yoga are clearly anterior to Gotama and may have contributed to his mental development, but circumspection is necessary in the use of words like Yoga, Sankhya and Vedanta. If we take them to mean the doctrinal systems contained in certain sutras, they are clearly all later than Buddhism. But if we assume, as we

Sankhya most
it

of the

Yoga

.

may safely
in

do, that the doctrine
it,

which we now study
leave the texts
ideas of the

is much older than the manuals we must also remember that when

we

we

but merely of a

line of

are not justified in thinking of a system thought. In this sense it is clear that

many
Jains

Jains, but the matter described by the Sankhya manuals and think of the relation of the soul to matter

Sankhya appear among the
of the evolution of

know nothing
is

apparently a purusha like others but greater in glory and untouched Yoga sutras, i. 24-26. It is a singular fact that both the Sankhya-karika-bhashya and a treatise on the VaiSeshika philosophy are included in the Chinese Tripitaka (Nanjio, Cat. Nos. 1300 and 1295). A warning is however added that they are not "the law of the

1

Isvara

by human
2

infirmities.

Buddha."

xxxm]
in a

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

305

more materialistic way. The notion of the separate eternal was the object of the Buddha s persistent polemics and was apparently a popular doctrine when he began preaching. The ascetic and meditative exercises prescribed by the Yoga were also known before his time and the Pitakas do not hide the fact that he received instruction from two Yogis. But though he was acquainted with the theories and practices which grew into the Yoga and Sarikhya, he did not found his religion on them for he rejected the idea of a soul which has to be delivered and did not make salvation dependent on the attainment of trances. If there was in his time a systematic Sankhya philosophy explaining the nature of suffering and the way of release, it is strange that the Pitakas contain no criticism of it, for though
soul
to us
of

who

see these ancient sects in perspective the resemblance

Buddhism to the Sankhya is clear, there can be little doubt that the Buddha would have regarded it as a most erroneous heresy, because it proposes to attain the same objects as his

own

teaching but by different methods. Sankhya ideas are not found in the oldest Upanishads, but they appear (though not in a connected form) in those of the

second stratum, such as the vetasvatara and Katha. It there seems probable, though not proven, that the origin of these ideas is to be sought not in the early Brahmanic schools but in the intellectual atmosphere non-theistic, non-sacerdotal, but
fore

audaciously speculative which prevailed in the central and eastern part of northern India in the sixth century B.C. The Sankhya recognizes no merit in sacrifices or indeed in good

works

of

any kind, even

as a preliminary discipline,

and in many

un-Brahmanic. Unlike the Vedanta Sutras, it does not exclude Sudras from higher studies, but states that there are eight classes of gods and five of animals but only one of men. A teacher must have himself attained emancipation, but there is no provision that he must be a Brahman. Perhaps the fables and parables which form the basis of the fourth book of the Sankhya Sutras point to some more popular form of instruc
details is

tion similar to the discourses of the

We may suppose took that this ancient un-Brahmanic school shape in several used the Yoga and sects, especially Jainism and Buddhism, that discipline were discipline. But the value and efficacy of
Buddha.
admitted almost universally and several centuries later
it

was

306

HINDUISM

[CH.

formulated in the Sutras which bear the name of Patanjali in a shape acceptable to Brahmans, not to Buddhists. If, as some 1 scholars think, the Yoga sutras are not earlier than 450 A. D. it seems probable that it was Buddhism which stimulated the

Brahmans

to codify the principles and practice of Yoga, for the of Buddhism arose before the fifth century. school Yogacara

perhaps a somew hat similar brahmanization of the purely speculative ideas which may have prevailed in 2 Magadha and Kosala Though these districts were not strong holds of Brahmanism, yet it is clear from the Pitakas that they contained a considerable Brahman population who must have been influenced by the ideas current around them but also must have wished to keep in touch with other Brahmans. The Sankhya of our manuals represents such an attempt at concilia tion. It is an elaboration in a different shape of some of the ideas out of which Buddhism sprung but in its later history it is connected with Brahmanism rather than Buddhism. When

The Sankhya

is

r

.

and isolated form, its Brahmanic from divergence ordinary thought is striking and in this form it does not seem to have ever been influential and now is professed by only a few Pandits, but, when combined in a literary and eclectic spirit with other ideas which may be incompatible with it in strict logic, it has been a mighty influence in Indian religion, orthodox as well as unorthodox. Such con ceptions as Prakriti and the Gunas colour most of the postVedic religious literature. Their working may be plainly traced in the Mahabharata, Manu and the Puranas 3 and the Tantras identify with Prakriti the goddesses whose worship they teach. The unethical character of the Sankhya enabled it to form the
it
is

set forth in Sutras in a succinct

,

strangest alliances with aboriginal beliefs.
1

See Jacobi, J.A.O.S. Dec. 1910,

p. 24.

But

if

Vasubandhu

lived about 280-360,

as

generally believed, allusions to the Yogacara school in the Yoga sutras do not oblige us to place the sutras much later than 300 A.D. since the Yogacara was founded by Asanga, the brother of Vasubandhu.
is

now

I find it hard to accept Deussen s view (Philosophy of the Upani-shads, chap, x) that the Sankhya has grown out of the Vedanta. 3 See e.g. Vishnu Purana, i. chaps. 2, 4, 5. The Bhagavad-gita, almost

2

though words Sankhya and Yoga in several passages as meaning speculative truth and the religious life and is concerned to show that they are the same. See n. 39; in. 3; v. 4, 5.
the

New Testament

of Vedantists, uses the

xxxm]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

307

Unlike the Sankhya, the Vedanta is seen in its most influential and perhaps most advantageous aspect when stated in its most

We need not enquire into its place of origin for final intellectual product of the schools which the clearly the Upanishads and the literature which preceded produced
abstract form.
it is

them, and though it may be difficult to say at what point we are justified in applying the name Vedanta to growing Brahmanic thought, the growth is continuous. The name means simply End of the Veda. In its ideas the Vedanta shows great breadth and freedom, yet it respects the prejudices and pro prieties of Brahmanism. It teaches that God is all things, but interdicts this knowledge to the lower castes: it treats rites as a merely preliminary discipline, but it does not deny their value
for certain states of
life.

the boldest and the most characteristic form of Indian thought. For Asia, and perhaps for the world at
is

The Vedanta

large, Buddhism is more important but on Indian soil it has been vanquished by the Vedanta, especially that form of it known as the Advaita. In all ages the main idea of this philo sophy has been the same and may be summed up in the formula that the soul is God and that God is everything. If this formula 1 is not completely accurate and a sentence which both trans lates and epitomizes alien metaphysics can hardly aspire to complete accuracy the error lies in the fact to which I have called attention elsewhere that our words, God and soul, do not cover quite the same ground as the Indian words which they are used to translate. Many scholars, both Indian and European, will demur to the high place here assigned to the Advaita philosophy. I am far from claiming that the doctrine of ankara is either primitive or unchallenged. Other forms of the Vedanta existed before him and became very strong after him. But so far as a synthesis of opinions which are divergent in details can be just, he gives a just synthesis and elaboration of the Upanishads. It is true that his teaching as to the higher and lower Brahman and as to Maya has affinities to Mahayanist Buddhism, and that later sects were
1

It

is

as to the sense and
E.
II.

perhaps hardly necessary to add that there has been endless discussion manner in which the soul is God.
21

308
repelled

HINDUISM

[CH.

by the severe and impersonal character of his philosophy, but the doctrine of which he is the most thorough and eminent is the only reality and one exponent, namely that God or spirit with the human soul, asserts itself in almost all Hindu sects,
even though their other doctrines may seem to contradict it. This line of thought is so persistent and has so many ramifications, that it is hard to say what is and what is not Vedanta. If we take literature as our best guide we may
distinguish four points of importance marked by theUpanishads, the Brahma-Sutras, Sarikara and Ramanuja.
I have said something elsewhere of the Upanishads. These works do not profess to form a systematic whole (though later Hinduism regards them as such) and when European scholars

speak of them collectively, they generally mean the older members of the collection. These may justly be regarded as the ancestors of the Vedanta, inasmuch as the tone of thought prevalent in them is incipient Vedantism. It rejects dualism and regards the universe as a unity not as plurality, as something which has issued from Brahman or is pervaded by Brahman

and

in

any case depends on Brahman

for its significance

and

existence.

Brahman

is

God

disconnected with mythology

in the pantheistic sense, totally and in most passages impersonal.

of Brahman is salvation: he who has it, goes to becomes Brahman. More rarely we find statements of absolute identity such as "Being Brahman, he goes to Brahman 1 But though the Upanishads say that the soul goes to or is Brahman, that the world comes from or is Brahman, that the soul is the whole universe and that a knowledge of

The knowledge

Brahman

or

."

these truths

is

the one thing of importance, these ideas are not

combined into a system. They are simply the thoughts of the wise, not always agreeing in detail, and presented as independent
utterances, each with its own value. One of the most important of these wise men is Yajnavalkya 2 the hero of the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad and a great name,
to
,

whom

are ascribed doctrines of which he probably never

heard.

The Upanishad represents him as developing and com pleting the views of Sandilya and Uddalaka Aruni. The former
3 taught that the
1

Atman

or Self within the heart, smaller than
"I

s

Brihad Iran. iv. 4. (5; ib. i. iv. 10. See above Book u. chaps, v and vi.

am

Brahman."
*

Chand. Up.

ill.

14.

xxxni]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY
is

309

a grain of mustard seed,

also greater

brief exposition of his doctrine

than all worlds. The which we possess starts from

and emphasizes the human self. This self is Brahman. The doctrine of Uddalaka 1 takes the other side of the equation: he starts with Brahman and then asserts that Brahman is the soul. But though he teaches that in the beginning there was one only
without a second, yet he seems to regard the subsequent pro ducts of this Being as external to it and permeated by it. But to Yajnavalkya is ascribed an important modification of these doctrines, namely, that the Atman is unknowable and trans cendental 2 It is unknowable because since it is essentially the
.

knowing subject it can be known only by itself: it can never become the object of knowledge and language is inadequate to describe it. All that can be said of it is neti, neti, that is no, no it is not anything which we try to predicate of it. But he who knows that the individual soul is the Atman, becomes Atman being it, he knows it and knows all the world he perceives that in all the world there is no plurality. Here the later doctrine of Maya is adumbrated, though not formulated. Any system which holds that in reality there is no plurality or, like some forms of Mahayanist Buddhism, that nothing really exists implies the operation of this Maya or illusion which makes us see the world as it appears to us. It may be thought of as mere ignorance, as a failure to see the universe as it really is: but no doubt the
: ;
:

view of Maya as a creative energy which fashions the world of phenomena is closely connected with the half-mytho logical conceptions found in the Pancaratra and Saiva philosophy which regard this creative illusion as a female force a goddess in fact inseparably associated with the deity.
later
in India, is
is

Upanishads, like all religious thought a quest of happiness and this happiness avowedly found in some form of union with Brahman. He is perfect

The philosophy

of the

bliss,

and whatever

is

distinct

from him

is full

of suffering 3

.

But this sense of the suffering inherent in existence is less marked in the older Upanishads and in the Vedanta than in Buddhism and the Sarikhya. Those systems make it their basis and first principle in the Vedanta the temperament is the same
:

1

Chand. Up.

vi.

2
3

See Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads. Ato nyad artam. Bpihad Ar. in. several times.

310

HINDUISM

[CH.

but the emphasis and direction of the thought are different. The Sarikhya looks at the world and says that salvation lies in
escape into something which has nothing in common with it. But the Vedantist looks towards Brahman, and his pessimism is merely the feeling that everything which is not wholly and really Brahman is unsatisfactory. In the later developments of
the system, pessimism almost disappears, for the existence of suffering is not the first Truth but an illusion: the soul, did it

but know it, is Brahman and Brahman is bliss. So far as the Vedanta has any definite practical teaching, it does not wholly despise action. Action is indeed inferior to knowledge and when knowledge is once obtained works are useless accessories, but the four stages of a Brahman s career, including household life, are approved in the Vedanta Sutras, though there is a disposition to say that he who has the necessary religious aptitudes can
life

adopt the ascetic life at any time. The occupations of this ascetic are meditation and absorption or samadhi, the state in which the meditating soul becomes so completely blended with God on whom it meditates, that it has no consciousness of its
separate existence As indicated above the so-called books of
.

1

literature are not consecutive treatises,

ruti or Vedic but rather responsa

prudentium, utterances respecting ritual and theology ascribed to poets, sacrificers and philosophers who were accepted as authorities. When these works came to be regarded as an even could not shut its eyes to revelation, orderly orthodoxy

and a comprehensive exegesis became necessary to give a conspectus of the whole body of truth. This investiga tion of the meaning of the Veda as a connected whole is called
their divergences,
is divided into two branches, the earlier (purva) and the later (uttara). The first is represented by the Purvamimamsa-sutras of Jaimini 2 which are called earlier (purva) not in the chronological sense but because they deal with rites which

Mimamsa, and

come

before knowledge, as a preparatory stage. It

is

interesting

to find that Jaimini

was accused of atheism and defended by Kumarila Bhatta. The defence is probably just, for Jaimini does
*

Maitrayana.

Self he

becomes

selfless,

Brah. Upanishad, vi. 20. "Having seen his own self as The and because he is selfless he is without limit, without cause,
in

absorbed in thought." 2 There is nothing to fix the date of this work except that Kumarila menting on it in the eighth century treats it as old and authoritative. perhaps composed in the early Gupta period.

com
was

It

xxx in]
not so

HINDU PHILOSOPHY
much deny God
as ignore him.

311
is

truly extraordinary, though about ritual, is that a work dealing with the general theory of religious worship should treat the deity as an irrelevant topic.
characteristic of

But what

much Indian

literature

The Purva-mimamsa

discusses ceremonies prescribed by an eternal self-existing Veda. The reward of sacrifice is not given by God. When the result of an act does not appear at once,

Jaimini teaches that there is all the same produced a supersensuous principle called apurva, which bears fruit at a later time, and thus a sacrifice leads the offerer to heaven. This theory

tantamount to placing magic on a philosophic basis. Badarayana s sutras, which represent the other branch of the Mimamsa, show a type of thought more advanced and pro found than Jaimini s. They consist of 555 aphorisms less than a fifth of Jaimini s voluminous work and represent the out
is

really

come

of considerable discussion posterior to the Upanishads, for they cite the opinions of seven other teachers and also refer to

Badarayana himself by name. Hence they may be a compendium made by his pupils. Their date is unknown but ^ahkara evidently regards them as ancient and there were several commentators before him 1 Like most sutras these aphorisms are often obscure and are hardly intended to be more than a mnemotechnic summary of the doctrine, to be supple mented by oral instruction or a commentary. Hence it is
of his teaching
.

the teaching of Badarayana as distinguished from that of the Upanishads on the one hand, and that of his commentators on the other, or to say exactly what stage he marks in the development of thought, except that it is the stage
difficult to define

He teaches that Brahman is the origin attempted synthesis of the world and that with him should all knowledge, religion and effort be concerned. By meditation on him, the soul is released and somehow associated with him. But it is not clear that we have any warrant for finding in the sutras (as does arikara) the distinction between the higher and lower Brahman, or the doctrine of the unreality of the world (Maya) or the absolute identity of the individual soul with Brahman. We are
of
2
.

1 Keith in J.R.A.S. 1907, p. 492 says it is becoming more and more probable that Badarayana cannot be dated after the Christian era. Jacobi in J.A.O.S. 1911, were composed between 200 and 450 A.D. p. 29 concludes that the Brahma-sutras

Such attempts must have begun early. The Maitrayana talks of Sarvopanishadvidya, the science of all the Upanishads.
2

Upanishad

(n. 3)

311!

HINDUISM
that

[CH.

(old

the

stale

of

the

released

BOU!

is

non-separation

(iivibhaga) from Brahman, but this is variously explained by the commentators according to their views. Though the sutras

arc the acknowledged text-book of Vedantism, their utterances

arc in practice less important than subsequent explanations of them. As often happens in India, the comment has overgrown

and superseded the text. The most important of these commentators is ^ankaracarya 1 Had he been a European philosopher anxious that his ideas should bear his name, or a reformer like the Buddha with little respect for antiquity, he would doubtless have taken his place in history as one of the most original teachers of Asia. But since his whole object was to revive the traditions of the past and
.

suppress his originality by attempting to prove that his ideas are those of Badarayana and the Upanishads, the magnitude
of his contribution to Indian

thought is often under-rated. We need not suppose that he was the inventor of all the ideas in his works of which we find no pre\ ious expression. He doubtless (like the Buddha) summarized and stereotyped an existing mode of thought but his summary bears the unmistakeable mark of
his

own

personality.
s

as Advaita or absolute monism. one existence called Brahman or Nothing the Self. Brahman is pure being and Paramatman, Highest two as identical), without qualities. thought (the being regarded Brahman is not intelligent but is intelligence itself. The human soul (jiva) is identical with the Highest Self, not merely as a part of it, but as being itself the whole universal indivisible Brahman. This must not be misunderstood as a blasphemous assertion that man is equal to God. The soul is identical with

^arikara

teaching

is

known

exists except the

Brahman only

in so far as it forgets its separate

human

exist

ence, and all that we call self and individuality. A man who has any pride in himself is ipso facto differentiated from Brahman as much as is possible. Yet in the world in which we move we see not only differentiation and multiplicity but also a plurality of individual souls apparently distinct from one another and from Brahman. This appearance is due to the principle of Maya which is associated with Brahman and is the cause of the phenomenal world. If Maya is translated by illusion it must
1

See above,

p.

207

ff.

xxxin

j

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

313

be remembered that

its meaning is not so much that the world and individual existences are illusory in the strict sense of the

word, as phenomenal. The only true reality is self-conscious thought without an object. When the mind attains to that, it ceases to be human and individual: it is Brahman. But when
thinks of particular objects neither the thoughts nor the objects of the thoughts are real in the same sense. They are

ever

it

appearances, phenomena. This universe of phenomena includes not only all our emotions and all our perceptions of the external world, but also what might be supposed to be the deepest truths of religion, such as the personality of the Creator and the wanderings of the soul in the maze of transmigration. In the

same sense that we
is

suffer pain

a personal

God

(Isvara)

who

and pleasure, it is true that there emits and reabsorbs the world

at regular intervals,

and that the soul is a limited existence to from body. In this sense the soul, as in the body passing is surrounded by the itpddhis, certain Sankhya philosophy, or conditions disguises, which form a permanent limiting which it remains invested in all its with psychical equipment But innumerable bodies. though these doctrines may be true
are in the world, for those souls who are agents, enjoyers and sufferers, they cease to be true for the soul which takes the path of knowledge and sees its own identity with
for those

who

Brahman. It is by this means only that emancipation is attained, good works bring a reward in kind, and hence inevitably lead to new embodiments, new creations of Maya. And even in knowledge we must distinguish between the knowledge of the lower Brahman or personal Deity (Isvara) and of the higher indescribable Brahman 1 For the orthodox Hindu this distinctor
.

1

The same

distinction occurs in the works of Meister

Eckhart

(f

1327 A.D.)

who in many ways approximates to Indian thought, both Buddhist and Vedantist. He makes a distinction between the Godhead and God. The Godhead is the revealer name but unrevealed it is described as "wordless" (Yajnavalkya s neti, neti), But God is the manifestation of the Godhead, immoveable less nothing," that is in the Godhead is one. Therefore we ran say nothing. the uttered word. God works, so doeth riot the Godhead. "He is above all names, above all nature. "Therein are they distinguished, in working and in not working. The end of all of the eternal Godhead, unknown and never to be "things is the hidden darkness
:

"the

"the

rest."

"All

(Quoted by Rufus Jones, Studies in Mystical Reliyion, p. 225.) It may is to if SankaraV distinction between the Higher and Lower Brahman be found in the Upanishads but it is probably the best means of harmonizing the feel bound to explain away. discrepancies in those works which Indian theologians
"known."

be doubted

314
tion
is

HINDUISM

[CH.

of great importance, for it enables him to reconcile which otherwise are contradictory. passages in the scriptures and meditation which make Isvara their object do not

Worship

lead directly to emancipation.
of Isvara, in

They

lead to the heavenly world
glorified, is still

which the

soul,

though

a separate

him who meditates on the Highest Brahman and knows that his true self is that Brahman, Maya
individual existence.

But

for

and its works cease to exist. When he dies nothing differentiates him from that Brahman who alone is bliss and no new individual
existence arises.

The crux
an
evil,

appertains to

of this doctrine is in the theory of Maya. If Maya Brahman, if it exists by his will, then why is it

why

is

release to be desired?

Ought not the individual

purpose, and would not it be better served by living gladly in the phenomenal world than by passing beyond it ? But such an idea has rarely satisfied Indian thinkers.
souls to serve

Brahman

s

if it is

on the other hand, Maya is an evil or at least an imperfection, like rust on a blade or dimness in a mirror, if, so to speak, the edges of Brahman are weak and break into fragments which are prevented by their own feebleness from realizing the unity of the whole, then the mind wonders uneasily if, in spite of all assurances to the contrary, this does not imply that Brahman is subject to some external law, to some even more mysterious Beyond. But Sarikara and the Brahma-sutras will not tolerate such doubts. According to them, Brahman in making the world is not actuated by a motive in the ordinary sense, for that would 1 imply human action and passion, but by a sportive impulse
If,
:

"We

see in every-day

of princes, who to any extraneous

certain doings have no desires left unfulfilled, have no reference
life,"

says Sankara,

"that

purpose but proceed from mere sportfulness. further see that the process of inhalation and exhalation is going on without reference to any extraneous purpose, merely

We

following the law of its own nature. Analogously, the activity of the Lord also may be supposed to be mere
sport, proceeding
2
."

from
1

his

own nature without
sutras, n.
1.

reference to

any purpose

This

pp.

32-3, and Sankaras s commentary, S.B.E. vol. xxxiv. 356-7. Ramanuja holds a similar view and it is very common in India, e.g.

Vedanta

Vishnu Pur.
*

i. chap. 2. See too a remarkable passage in his comment on Brahma-sutras, n. 1. 23. "As soon as the consciousness of non-difference arises in us, the transmigratory "state of the individual soul and the creative quality of Brahman vanish at once,

xxxm]
is

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

315

no worse than many other explanations of the scheme of things and the origin of evil but it is not really an explanation. It means that the Advaita is so engrossed in ecstatic contempla tion of the omnipresent Brahman that it pays no attention to a mere by-product like the physical universe. How or why that universe with all its imperfections comes to exist, it does

not explain.
in

Yet the boldness and ample sweep of Sarikara s thought have them something greater than logic 1 something recalling the grandeur of plains and seas limited only by the horizon, nay
,

rather those abysses of space wherein on clear nights worlds and suns innumerable are scattered like sparks by what he would call God s playfulness. European thought attains to these
altitudes but cannot live in them for long: it demands and fancies for itself just what Sahkara will not grant, the motive of Brahman, the idea that he is working for some consummation,

not that he was,

is

and

will

by

the

drama

of the universe

be eternally complete, unaffected and yet identical with souls that

know him. Even in

India the austere and impersonal character of Sankara s system provoked dissent: He was accused of being a Buddhist in disguise and the accusation raises an interesting 2 question in the history of Indian philosophy to which I have referred in a previous chapter. The affinity existing between the Madhyamika form of Buddhist metaphysics and the earlier Vedanta can hardly be disputed and the only question is which borrowed from the other. Such questions are exceedingly difficult to decide, for from time to time new ideas arose in India, permeated the common intellectual atmosphere, and were worked up by all sects into the forms that suited each best. In the present instance all that can be said is that certain ideas about the unreality of the world and about absolute and relative
whole phenomenon of plurality which springs from wrong knowledge being by perfect knowledge and what becomes then of the creation and the "faults of not doing what is beneficial and the like?" Although Sankara s commentary is a piece of severe ratiocination, especially in its controversial parts, yet he holds that the knowledge of Brahman depends The presentation before the mind not on reasoning but on scripture and intuition. of the Highest Self is effected by meditation and devotion." Brah. Sut. in. 2. 24. See too his comments on i. 1. 2 and n. 1. 11. * See Sukhtankar, Teachings of Veddnta according to Rdmdnuja, pp. 17-19. Walleser, Der aeltere Veddnta, and De la Vallee Poussin in J.R.A.8. 1910, p. 129.
"the

"sublated

1

"

316

HINDUISM

[CH.

truth appear in several treatises both Brahmanic and Buddhist, such as the works of Sarikara and Nagarjuna and the Gaudaof these the works attributed to Nagarjuna padakarikas, and seem to be the oldest, It must also be remembered that according to Chinese accounts Bodhidharma preached at Nanking in 520

a doctrine very similar to the advaita of Sankara though ex pressed in Buddhist phraseology. Of other forms of Vedantism, the best known is the system 1 It is an evidence of Ramanuja generally called Visishtadvaita of the position held by the Vedanta philosophy that religious leadeis made a commentary on the Sutras of Badarayana the
.

most important views. Unlike Sankara, Rama nuja is sectarian and identifies his supreme deity with Vishnu or Narayana, but this is little more than a matter of nomen clature. His interpretation is modern in the sense that it pursues the line of thought which leads up to the modern sects. But
vehicle of their

that line of thought has ancient roots.

Ramanuja

followed a

commentator named Bodhayana who was anterior to Sankara, and in the opinion of so competent a judge as Thibaut he gives the meaning of Badarayana in many points more exactly than his great rival. On the other hand his interpretation often strains the most important utterances of the Upanishads. Ramanuja admits no distinction between Brahman and
Isvara,

but the distinction

is

abolished at the expense of

abolishing the idea of the Higher Brahman, for his Brahman is practically the Isvara of Sankara. Brahman is not without
attributes but possessed of all imaginable good attributes, and though nothing exists aparl from him, like the antithesis of

purusha and prakriti in the Sankhya, yet the world is not as in $arikara s system merely Maya. Matter and souls (cit and acit) form the body of Brahman who both comprises and pervades
generally rendered by qualified, that is not absolute, Monism. scholars give a slightly different explanation and maintain that it is equivalent to Visishtayor advaitam or the identity of the two qualified (viaishta) conditions of Brahman. Brahman is qualified by cit and acit, souls and matter,
is
1

This term

But South Indian

which stand to him in the relation of attributes. The two conditions are Kdrydmsthd or period of cosmic manifestation in which cit and acit are manifest and Karandvasthd or period of cosmic dissolution, when they exist only in a subtle state within Brahman. These two conditions are not different (advai(am). See Srinivas Tyengar,
J.R.A.S. 1912,
lacharyar.
p.

1073 and also Sri Rdmdnujdcdrya: His Philosophy by Rajagopa-

xxxm]
all

HINDU PHILOSOPHY
.

317

1 He is the things, which are merely modes of his existence inner ruler (antaryamin) who is in all elements and all human

The texts which speak of Brahman as being one only without a second are explained as referring to the state of pralaya or absorption which occurs at the end of each Kalpa. At the conclusion of the period of pralaya he re-emits the world and individual souls by an act of volition and the souls begin the round of transmigration. Salvation or release from this round is obtained not by good works but by knowledge and meditation on the Lord assisted by his grace. The released soul is not identified with the Lord but enjoys near him a personal existence of eternal bliss and peace. This is more like European theism than the other doctrines which we have been considering. The difference is that God is not regarded as the creator of matter and souls. Matter and souls consist of his substance. But for all that he is a personal deity who can be loved and worshipped and whereas Sarikara was a religious philosopher, Ramanuja was rather a philosophic theologian and founder of a church. I have already spoken of his activity in this sphere.
.

souls 2

4
epics and Puranas contain philosophical discussions of considerable length which make little attempt at consistency. Yet the line of thought in them all is the same. The chief tenets of the theistic Sahkhya-Yoga are assumed: matter, soul and God are separate existences: the soul wishes to move towards God and away from matter. Yet when Indian writers glorify the deity they rarely abstain from identifying him with the universe. In the Bhagavad-gita and other philosophical cantos of the Mahabharata the contradiction is usually left without an attempt at solution. Thus it is stated categorically 3 that the world consists of the perishable and imperishable, i.e., matter and soul, but that the supreme spirit is distinct from both.
1

The

Compare the phrase
"As

for 1912, p. 66.
his

and thus does God

of Keats in a letter quoted by Bosanquet, Gifford Lectures various as the lives of men are, so various become their souls make individual beings, souls, identical souls of the sparks of

own
2

essence."

in. 3 ff. which is a great text for dwells in the earth (water, etc.) and within the earth whose body the earth (or, is different from the earth) whom the earth knows not, is, who rules the earth within, he is thyself, the ruler within, the immortal."

This tenet

is

justified
"

by Brihad Aran. Up.

Ramanuja

s school.

He who

3

Bhag.-gita, xv. 16, 17.

318

HINDUISM
this antithesis to the

[CH.

Yet in the same poem we pass from

monism

which declares that the deity is all things and "the self seated in the heart of man." We have then attained the Vedantist of view. Nearly all the modern sects, whether ivaite or

point Vishnuite, admit the same contradiction into their teaching, for they reject both the atheism of the Sankhya and the immaterial-

ism of the Advaita (since
to

it is impossible for a practical religion either God or the world), while the of existence the deny irresistible tendency of Indian thought makes them describe

their deity in pantheistic language.

All strive to find

some

metaphysical or theological formula which will reconcile these discrepant ideas, and nearly all Vishnuites profess some special variety of the Vedanta called by such names as Visishtadvaita,
Dvaitadvaita, Suddhadvaita and so on. They differ chiefly in their definition of the relation existing between the soul and God. Only the Madhvas entirely discard monism and profess
duality (Dvaita) and even Madhva thought it necessary to write a commentary on the Brahma-sutras to prove that they support

and the ^ivaites too have a commentator, Nilakantha, interprets them in harmony with the Saiva Siddhanta. There is also a modern commentary by Somanaradittyar which
his doctrine

who

expounds this much twisted text agreeably to the doctrines of the Lingayat sect. In most fundamental principles the ^ivaite and Saktist schools agree with the Visishtadvaita but their nomenclature is different and their scope is theological rather than philosophical. In all of them are felt the two tendencies, one wishing to dis tinguish God, soul and matter and to adjust their relations for
the purposes of practical religion, the other holding less that God is all or at least that all things come from return to him.

more or

God and

But there

is

one difference between the schools

of sectarian philosophy and the Advaita of ^arikara which goes to the root of the matter. ankara holds that the world and

individual existences are due to illusion, ignorance and mis conception: they vanish in the light of true knowledge. Other schools, while agreeing that in some sense God is all, yet hold

that the universe is not an illusion or false presentment of him 1 but a process of manifestation or of evolution starting from him It is not precisely evolution in the European sense, but rather
.

1

The two doctrines

are called VivartawSda

and Parindmavdda.

xxxni]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

319

figures, in

a rhythmic movement, of duration and extent inexpressible in which the Supreme Spirit alternately emits and reabsorbs the universe. As a rule the higher religious life aims at

some form

of union or close association with the deity,

beyond

In the evolutionary process the Vaishnavas interpolate between the Supreme Spirit and the phenomenal world the phases of conditioned spirit known as
the sphere of this process.

Sarikarshana, etc.; in the same way the Sivaite schools increase the twenty-four tattvas of the Sankhya to thirty-six 1 The first
.

of these tattvas or principles is Siva, corresponding to the highest Brahman. The next phase is Sadasiva in which differentiation

to the movement of Sakti, the active or female principle. Siva in this phase is thought of as having a body composed of mantras. Sakti, also known as Bindu or Suddhamaya, is sometimes regarded as a separate tattva but more generally as inseparably united with Siva. The third tattva is Isvara, or Siva in the form of a lord or personal deity, and the fourth is Suddhavidya or true knowledge, explained as the principle of correlation between the experiencer and that which It is only after these that we come to Maya, is experienced. not so much illusion as the substratum in which Karma meaning inheres or the protoplasm from which all things grow. Between

commences owing

Maya and Purusha come

five

more

tattvas, called

envelopes.

Their effect is to enclose and limit, thus turning the divine spirit into a human soul. Saktist accounts of the evolutionary process give greater

prominence to the part played by Sakti and are usually metaphysiological, if the word may be pardoned, inasmuch as they regard the cosmic process as the growth of an embryo, an idea which is as old as the Vedas 2 It is impossible to describe even in outline these manifold cosmologies but they generally speak of Sakti, who in one sense is identical with Siva and merely his active form but in another sense is identified with Prakriti, coming into contact with the form of Siva called Prakasa or light and then solidifying into a drop (Bindu) or germ which divides. At some point in this process arise Nada or sound, and
.

1 These are only the more subtle tattvas. There are also 60 gross ones. See for the whole subject Schomerus Der Qaiva-Siddhanta, p. 129. 2 It also finds expression in myths about the division of the deity into male and female halves, the cosmic egg, etc., which are found in all strata of Indian

literature.

320

HINDUISM

[CH.

gabda-brahman, the sound-Brahman, which manifests itself in various energies and assumes in the human body the form of 1 Some of the older the mysterious coiled force called Kundalini Vishnuite writings use similar language of Sakti, under the name of Lakshmi, but in the Visishtadvaita of Ramanuja and subse quent teachers there is little disposition to dwell on any feminine
.

energy in discussing the process of evolution. Of all the Darsanas the most extraordinary is that called Rasesvara or the mercurial system 2 According to it quicksilver, if eaten or otherwise applied, not only preserves the body from decay but delivers from transmigration the soul which inhabits this glorified body. Quicksilver is even asserted to be identical
.

with the supreme self. This curious Darsana is represented as revealed by Siva to Sakti and it is only an extreme example of the tantric doctrine that spiritual results can be obtained by

The practice of taking mercury to secure health and long life must have been prevalent in medieval India for it is mentioned by both Marco Polo and Bernier 3
physical means.
.

following

among whom the Vedanta could obtain a large must have been prone to think little of the things which we see compared with the unseen of which they are the manifestation. It is, therefore, not surprising if materialism met
people

A

with small sympathy or success among them. In India the extravagances of asceticism and of mystic sensualism alike find devotees, but the simple philosophy of Let us eat and drink for
die, does not commend itself. Nevertheless it is not wholly absent and was known as the doctrine of Brihaspati. Those who professed it were also called Carvakas and Loka4 yatikas Brihaspati was the preceptor of the gods and his
.

to-morrow we

account of tantric cosmology can be found in Avalon, Mohan. Tantra, also Avalon, Pra pancasdra Tantra, pp. 5 ff. Srinivasa lyengar, Indian Philosophy, pp. 143 and 295 ff. Bhandarkar, Vaishn. and Saivism, pp. 145 ff.

1

An

pp xix-xxxi. See
2

;

;

Sarva-darsana-sarigraha, chap. ix.

For

this doctrine in

China see Wieger

Histoire des Croyances religieuses en Chine, p. 411. 3 See Yule s Marco Polo, n. pp. 365, 369.
4 See Rhys Davids note in his Dialogues of the Buddha on Dtgha Nikdya, Sutta v. pp. 166 ff. He seems to show that Lokayata meant originally natural philosophy as a part of a Brahman s education and only gradually acquired a bad meaning. The Arthasastra also recommends the and

systems.

Sankhya, Yoga

Lokayata

xxxm]

HINDU PHILOSOPHY

321

connection with this sensualistic philosophy goes back to a 1 legend found in the Upanishads that he taught the demons false knowledge whose reward lasts only as long as the pleasure in order to compass their destruction. This is similar to lasts the legend found in the Puranas that Vishnu became incarnate as Buddha in order to lead astray the Daityas. But though such words as Oarvaka and Nastika are used in later literature as terms of learned abuse, the former seems to denote a definite school, although we cannot connect its history with dates, places
"

the Vedantist standpoint, and beginning from the worst systems of philosophy ascends to those which are relatively correct. This account contains most of what we know about their doctrines 2
is
,

or personalities. The Carvakas are the in the Sarva-darsana-sarigraha, which

first

system examined
written from

obviously biassed: it represents them as cynical volupt uaries holding that the only end of man is sensual enjoyment. We are told that they admitted only one source of knowledge, namely perception, and four elements, earth, water, fire and air, and that they held the soul to be identical with the body. Such a phrase as my body they considered to be metaphorical, as

but

is

apart from the body there was no ego who owned it. The soul was supposed to be a physical product of the four elements, just as sugar combined with a ferment and other ingredients produces an intoxicating liquor. Among verses described as
"said

by

Brihaspati"

occur the following remarkable lines:

"There is

no heaven, no

Nor do the
If the

liberation, nor any soul in another world, acts of the asramas or castes produce any reward.

animal slain in the Jyotishtoma sacrifice will go to heaven, does not the sacrificer immolate his own father? While life remains let a man live happily: let him feed on butter even if he runs into debt. When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return?"

Why

of the Dabistan, who lived in the seventeenth mentions the Carvakas in somewhat similar terms 3 Brahmanical authors often couple the Carvakas and Bud dhists. This lumping together of offensively heretical sects may

The author

century, also

.

Maitr. Up. vn. 8. See also Suali in Museon, 1908, pp. 277 ff. and the article Materialism (Indian) in E.R.E. For another instance of ancient materialism see the views of Payasi set forth in Dig. Nik. xxiir. The Brihad Ar. Up. in. 2. 13 implies that the idea of
2

1

body and
3

spirit being disintegrated at death was known though perhaps not relished. Translation by Shea and Troyer, vol. n. pp. 201-2.

322

HINDUISM

[CH.

XXXHI

be merely theological animus, but still it is possible that there may be a connection between the Carvakas and the extreme forms of Mahayanist nihilism. Schrader 1 in analysing a singular work, called the Svasamvedyopanishad, says it is "inspired by
the Mahayanist doctrine of vacuity (sunya-vdda] and proclaims a most radical agnosticism by asserting in four chapters (a) that there is no reincarnation (existence being bubble-like), no God, no world that all traditional literature (Sruti and Smriti) is the
:

of conceited fools; (6) that Time the destroyer and Nature the originator are the rulers of all existence and not good and

work

bad deeds, and that there is neither hell nor heaven; (c) that people deluded by flowery speech cling to gods, sacred places, teachers, though there is in reality no difference at all between Vishnu and a dog; (d) that though all words are untrue and all ideas mere illusions, yet liberation is possible by a thorough realization of Bhdvddvaita." But for this rather sudden con cession to Hindu sentiment, namely that deliverance is possible,
this doctrine resembles the tenets attributed to the
1

Carvakas.

Sanskrit Manuscripts in

the.

Adyar Library, 1908,

pp. 300-1.

DATE DUE

CAT. NO. 1137

75187

BL * 1201
.E4

Hinduism and Buddhism^.
ISSUED TO

BL
!2ol