388 DESCRIPTION OF SOME INDIAN IDOLS 



was recognised by a round mark on the palm of the hand, 

 which indicated his divine nature. The hair of the head is 

 curled. Tlie figure of Buda is seated on an expanded 

 flower of the nelumbo or red-flowered water-lily, which 

 grows in the waters of the Nile, of India, and of China, call- 

 ed by the Hindus the flower of the waters. This flower is 

 held sacred in India, and occurs frequently as a plinth, on 

 which figures rest in Indian sculptures ; it is seen in the two 

 figures of Suria above described, (Fig. 2. and 3.) Behind 

 Buda are two quadrangular columns supporting an architrave, 

 and surmounted by a canopy. On the base of the composition 

 is the figure of a woman, with one knee on the ground, and 

 the hands lifted up. On each side of the woman is a lion. 



The three great sects in India are the sects of Brahma, Bu- 

 da, and Iain. In a small bronze image from Ceylon, a fi- 

 gure in the usual attitude of Buda, is represented as seated on 

 the coils of a serpent, whilst the serpent extends his hood over 

 the head of the divine personage. Figures overshadowed in this 

 way are usually ascribed to the sect of Iain. In an image of 

 dark-coloured stone, about four feet high, at the India House, 

 lain-Deo is represented as a man, over whose head a snake is 

 expanding his hood. The sect of Iain is not so widely ex- 

 tended as the others. Some authors are of opinion, that the 

 religion of Buda is derived from that of Brahma ; and some 

 of the Brahmens consider Gautama Buda to be the ninth ava- 

 tar, or incarnate appearance of their deity Vishnu. Other 

 authors believe that the religion of Buda is quite distinct from 

 the religion of Brahma It is supposed by some to have had 

 its origin in the north of India, or Tibet. 



Gautama Buda is a god who assumed the human form, and 

 was born of Maha Maya, the consort of Sootah Dannah Ra- 

 jah of Cailas. Cailas is a mountain in Tibet near the source 



of 



