English
It is true all these Buddhist books profess to be founded on earlier works, and no doubt this to some extent is true; but as these earlier works have not yet been discovered, we are left very much to our own powers of critical discrimination to say what is original and what may have been added to suit the tastes and feelings of an age long subsequent to the events.t+ Looking at what has been done within the last twenty years, it is not impossible that we may recover even the original Sutras, the Vinaya and the Abhidharma, as they are said to have been compiled by Upali, Ananda, and KAéyapa immediately on the death of Sakya Muni,{ or at all events we may hope that the keen criticism of modern scholars may be able, at least to some extent, to separate the wheat from the _ chaff, and restore to us a tolerably correct picture of primitive Buddhism as it existed before the Christian et. _ Notwithstanding all the difficulties of the task, considerable progress has already’ been achieved in this direction. Burnouf’s contributions are invaluable,§ while the works of Barthélemy St. Hilaire,|| of Bigandet,{’] and Vassilief,** are most useful résumés of what is known. The Germans also and our own scholars have collected a mass of materials, and discussed and dissected. a number of problems which will clear the way for a correct understanding of many questions whenever a serious attempt is made to combine the whole into a consecutive history. In the meanwhile it is of the utmost importance that everything should be gathered together and published that can throw any light on Buddhism anterior to the time when the books we now possess were reduced to their present form. The * Translated from the Thibetan by Foucaux, Paris, Ato., 1847. . : t If anyone would wish perfectly to realize the position of Buddhist scholars at ‘the present day, let — him read: carefully any one of the many versions of “ Lhystoire du Noble et Vaillant roy Alexandre le Grand,” as compiled in the middle ages, and compare it with the narrative of: the life of the same monarch as related by classical authors. Having done this, he will appreciate the difficulty ijn which Oriental scholars are now placed as regards the early‘ history of Buddhism in the life of the founder of that religion. $ J.A.S.B., vol. L. p.6; Asiatic Researches, XX. 42, &c. § Introduction & 4 l’Histoire du Buddhism Indien. Lotus. de la bonne loi, &e. || Le Bouddha et sa Religion. Paris, 1860. 7 : { The Life or Legend of Gaudama, Rangoon, 1866. ** Te Bouddhisme, ses Dogmes, son Histoire, et sa Littérature, traduit du Russe par La Comme. Paris, 1865. RISE OF BUDDHISM. 67 only written documents which certainly belong to the earlier epoch are the edicts of Asoka, engraved on the ldts at Delhi, Allahabad, and elsewhere; and on rocks at five or six places in India, extending from the shores of the Bay of Bengal to Guzerat, and to the Himalayas and Peshawar on the north. Except that at Bhabra,* these are neither doctrinal nor historical. They are dry moral precepts, and so unlike the _ Buddhism * que nune est,” that, but for collateral secondary evidence, it might very well be doubted whether they belonged to that religion at all, or it might be disputed, - as was done by the late Professor Wilson, whether they were written by Asoka. The . Bhabra inscription and further investigations have set these questions at rest. But the picture these inscriptions afford us of Buddhism 250 .c. is a wonderful contrast to what we find in the Lalita Vistara of Thibet,t as compiled in the eighth or ninth century of our era, or any other written records of the religion which we possess. Next in importance to these inscriptions are the sculptures of the two Topes, illustrated in this work. Tle gateways at Sanchi were erected, as nearly as can be ascertained, in the first half of the first century of our era, and, therefore, nearly contemporary with Nagarjuna. They are not pure, but they are purer than anything else of their kind now known to exist. “Buddha never appears in them as an object of worship. The Dagoba, the Chakra or wheel, the Tree, and other such emblems are reverenced. The Serpent does appeay but rarely, and we have vefy little of the absurd supernatural fables which afterwards-form the stock of the legends. At Amravati, three - centuries afterwards, we find a state of affairs much more in accordance with modern notions. Buddha is worshipped, but the Naga is his co-equal. The Dagoba, the Tree, the Chakra, are all reverenced; and almost all the legends of modern times may probably be traced in its sculptures, though in a purer form than in the- books. The firs; may be taken as the nearest approach we possess to an illustrated Bible of the HinayAna period, five hundred years before the oldest Buddhist book we possess; and . Amravati as a pictorial illustration of the Mahayana three centuries after its promul- gation, and just before Fa-Hian{ visited the country and gave us the earliest description we have of the faith by any outsider, since at least the very meagre and unsatisfactory accounts of the Greeks. In the frescoes that cover the walls of the Caves at Ajanta is found a third picture, three centuries later than the sculptures at Amravati, this time representing the state of Buddhist belief just before its decline. Owing to the unfortunate fire at the Crystal Palace these are not now available for purposes of illustration, but they may become so hereafter. Even, however, if we possessed drawings or photographs of them, they could never be so important for the history of the faith as the sculptures of the two Topes of Sanchi and Amravati, which represent it before the existence, in their present form, of any of the books we now possess. Our regret, however, at the loss of these copies, is very much lessened, in so far as our present purposes are concerned, by the knowledge that there were no traces of Serpent Worship in the paintings. -The only Popressiitationis of the Naga found at Ajanta are among * JR ALS. XVI p. 367. + These inscriptions will be found reprinted, in so far as er necessary for present purposes, in Appendix B, } Fo8-Koué-Ki, translated by Rémusat, &c., 4to., Paris, 1836, I 2 68 > ‘INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. ret hee te ao ee ee me pode feat ot worshi i: _ tine aS: ae ee ae eet Mcgee Coca Thee ea oo story “of Buddhisin, thes paintings sare of great “interest as illustrating either Tree or Serpent Worship, they are comparatively unimpoxtant. The same remark applies to the frescoes in the Caves at Baugh, and generally to the western Caves. ‘The tendency of the migration from Takshsasil seems a have been southward, and towards the East, and never to have descended the Ghauts or _ penetrated into the Concan. On the other hand, the most recent example I ane i acquainted with of any great Naga sculptures belonging to the classical age of — Indian art, is the well-known bas-relief at Mahavellipore,t on the eastern shore, about forty miles south of Madras, and executed apparently in the thirteenth century. This is carved on two great masses of granite rock, and extends about 90 feet north and south, by 30 or 85 feet in height. On the northern or right-hand portion, a group of elephants, beautifully executed, is advancing _ towards the centre, and above them some thirty figures, interspersed with lions. and other animals, are all turning in the same direction. On the left-hand rock the lower part was evidently intended to contain the representations of the rest of the animal kingdom, but is only commenced. The upper portion has a number of human figures, equal to that of the other half of the bas-reliefs, and all equally turning towards the centre. The artist has utilized the edge of ‘the northern rock, so as to give his principal figures a higher relief than could be obtained in the flat portions, and also to heighten their effect by having a shadow behind them. But unfortunately from this cause 4 they were so exposed that the upper portion has been _ _ broken away. When Mr. Babington drew them, in 1827, only the lower part of the great Naga was remaining, but his wife below him was quite perfect, and presents us with 4 form not found either at Sanchi, Amravati, or Ajanta. The Nagas here, both male and female, are represented as Serpents at full length, but human from the waist up- wards. . They still, however, generally have the Snake hood of three or five heads *canopying their own; in the same manner as in the Chinese woodcut, No. 3, introduced on page 538, where this more modern form of the Naga has been adopted. : BA is This form is found among the sculptures at Hullabeed _~“Sesehece and in the Caves at Iwullee, both certainly of the thirteenth SrA eer apaiea, fee or beginning of the fourteenth century, and the form con- pon SR) ae tinues down to moder times; but this example at Mahavellipore is, so far as I * T possess some hundreds of sculptured representations of the Naga. I never saw or heard of a painted Behe ta Cue was described by Bishop Heber and Mrs. Graham. A notice of it by Mr. Goldingham appeared in the Asiatic Researches, vol. y. A view of it was published by Dgniell; but the lest is that by Messrs. Babington and Hulston, in the Dransactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. ii. plates I. and If. T have two photographs of it by Dr. Hone bone lying before me. HINDU RELIGION. 69 know, among the earliest examples of the form.* In other respects the grouping there of the figures around the Naga is so similar to what we find at Sanchi, that it is at first sight difficult to believe that twelve or thirteen centuries had elapsed between the execution of the two sets of sculptures.