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There are aisles behind the fine Persian pillars. Date, first century li.c. (Photograph by Clifton & Co., Bombay.) his incarnations, and Siva with these fresh attractions, now stand side by side with Brahma. (See p. 99.) The words Saivas and Vaishnavas are used for the followers of these gods. 57. It was during this period that the six systems of philo sophy which are recognized as orthodox by Hindus were F 2 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY worked out in detail. Each took shape in its own school, gradually developed and expounded by a succession of teachers. They expressed the system in sutras in the briefest possible way, and explained the sutras by means of a commentary. Many of these ancient sutra manuals have perished, but several survive, of which the greatest is the manual of the Vedanta school, the Vedanta-sittras of Bada- rayana. Table 1 7 gives the main facts about these systems. 58. Buddhism, which originally was an agnostic philosophy attempting to do the work of a religion, early developed the beginnings of a worship, as we have already seen. During the first half of this period another step was taken. Images of Buddha, his chief disciples, the previous Bud- dhas and Maitreya, the coming Buddha, were set up at the slupas, in pagodas and chaityas. Though the original purpose was merely to stimulate meditation, and though the monks usually kept themselves to that, the necessary result was that the common people worshipped the images. Offerings of flowers and fruit were presented to them ; incense and tapers were burned before them ; and prayers were uttered with humble adoration and fervent praise. Thus far early Buddhism went ; and we have this form still preserved for us practically unaltered in Burma and Ceylon. 13. IMAGK OF BUDDHA Beside the bodhi tree at Anuia- dhapura, Ceylon. (From a post card.) INCARNATION 59. But the kingdom of the Kushans was the scene of a still more significant change. Buddhism up to this time had contained many philosophic schools, but there had been no schism. In the great intellectual activity of the Kushan Empire, however, there came a development of worship and • "—•*--• theology which split the Buddhist world in two. The new system, which finally received the name Mahayana (great path) in contrast with the old, which was called Hlnayana (humble path), soon became very popular. In it we meet the new doctrine, borrowed from Hinduism, that behind all things there is the universal soul of which the Buddhas are but manifestations. Under the old system the great ideal for the monk was to become an arhat, that is a perfect man, destined at death to pass into nirvana ; but the ideal of the Mahayana was the Bodhisattva, a being who might become a Buddha and enter nirvana but denies himself that luxury, that he may remain in the heavenly regions a gracious and powerful divinity ready to help those that appeal to him. But the chief difference lies in this, that the Hlnayana saved the few, while the Mahaycana offered Release to the many. The leaders of the Mahayana frankly treated the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas as gods, and set up a most elaborate 14. I'ODIllSATTVA FROM YDSUFZAI V. Smith, Indian Art, fig. 63. 86 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY system of worship. In front of the images in the chaitya an altar was erected on which offerings were made. The chaitya thus became a temple and the monk a priest. Prayers were composed, and a special liturgy for each great divinity. Each accessory that was likely to make the wor ship attractive and pleas ing to the people was added — richly decorated altars, paintings, gorgeous robes, music, processions, banners, incense, cvrc. Thus Buddhism, origin ally an agnostic philo sophy, became one of the polytheisms and idolatries of the world. The list of the Buddhas is given on p. 97. Buddha himself was transformed into a Saviour god, incarnate for the good of men, as we may see from the La/ita Vistara, the Saddlianna Pi/nda?-~ika, and other works of the first and second centuries A. D. Thus the same spirit that worked in Hinduism worked in Buddhism. The Gltd and the Saddharma Pnndarlka are parallel compositions. 60. The most interesting of all the new divinities of this date is Amitabha, who is described in the Amitayus Sutra and a number of other books written in North India during our period. This Buddha is said to live now in a glorious 15. MAH.\Y.\NA WORSHIP Small stfipa with image of Buddha carved on it, at Kenheri, near Bombay. (Photograph kindly favoured by Mr. Frank Anderson, Bombay.) INCARNATION paradise in the West ; but, when he was still a Bodhisattva, he vowed that he would never accept nirvana until some means were provided whereby all mankind would be able to receive salvation through faith in him. The worship of this imaginary god cannot now be traced in the history of ancient India, except in sculpture ; but it was carried into China, where he is still worshipped, and into Japan, where the two most vigorous sects of our time are worshippers of Amida, the Japanese corruption of Amitabha. 61. Literature, C-Y. During the first half of this period the scholars of India began to use the art of writing for their books. The Buddhist Tripitaka was reduced to writing in Ceylon about 85 B.C., and we may be certain that about the same time, or earlier, a similar process was carried out in India, 16. MAHAYANA WORSHIP A piece of devotional sculpture from the Kushan Empire, found at S.ihri Bahlol in N. W. F. Province. Gautama Buddha is in the centre, Avalokitesvara on the left, Maitieya on the right. These two are Hodhi- sattvas. (From Archaeological Sur rey, 1906-7, p. 114.) among Hindus as well as Buddhists. 62. We found in each Brahmanical school the subject of dharma, or the right behaviour of the Hindu in every station of life, dealt with in a Dharmasutra. In this new period these rules of conduct were gradually rewritten in a popular versified form to be used by the Hindu householder outside the schools. The poems thus produced are known as the 88 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY Dharmasastras. The greatest of all these law-books is the Mdnava Dharmasastra, or law-book of Manu, which is believed to have been founded on the Mdnava Dharma- sntra. Its growth seems to cover several centuries. It had reached its present shape by A. D. 200. One of the mo mentous changes in Hindu life which this fresh code enables 17. MAHAYANA WORSHIP. This is a bronze image of Yahochana, a Buddha of light, at Nnra, in Japan. It is 53-*- feet in height. These gigantic images were common in India. (From a postcard.) us to reali/e is this, that all widows, even virgin child- widows, were by this time forbidden to remarry. 63. It seems most likely that the first and the last books of the Ramdyana were added about the beginning of our period. Here Rama is represented as an incarnation of half the essence of Vishnu and the Ramdyana thereby becomes a Vishnuite work. About the same time large additions were INCARNATION 89 made to the Mahdbharata, which made it an epic of 24,000 slokas. In the new matter Krishna is a demi-god. The re creation and re-publication of these great works, which glorify Hindu kings and Hindu life and worship, was almost certainly carried out under the patronage of the £urigas. About four centuries later (c. A. D. 200) vast quantities of new matter were introduced into the Mahabharata, trans forming the epic into a didactic library. Among the addi tions was the Bhagavadgltd. Here and elsewhere in the new matter Krishna is represented as the Atman incarnate. The two epics are the earliest popular literature of India. They sprang from the heart of the people ; and though the Ramdyana was edited for a sectarian purpose, and the Mahdbhdrata has been perverted by the Brahmans into an immeasurable mass of priestly laws and traditions, they are still greatly beloved by the people ; and, unlike the Vedic literature, they may be read by women, and by men of any caste. 64. The Bhagavadglta or ' Song of the Adorable ', which is largely a product of Bhagavata theology, is one of the most noteworthy pieces of literature produced in India. It is the noblest and purest expressions of modern Hinduism.