248 Notes to Mr. B. H. Hodgson's Sketch of Buddhism. 



Mahe'sa, they stood before liim, and he said to the first, " be thou the lord of Satya- 

 gitiia and create ;" and to the second, " be thou the lord of Bajaguna and preserve ;" 

 and to the third, " be thou the lord of Tamagund and destroy." The Guna-Kanmda 

 J'yuha is however a mere amplification of the Kdranda I'yuha, and of much less autho- 

 rity. In a passage of the Saraka Dhdra — wliich is not one of the sacred writings of Nipal, 

 hut a work of hirjh authority, written by Sarvajna Mitrapada, a Bauddha ascetic of 

 Cashmeer — the Hindu deities are made to issue from the body of the supreme Prajna' 

 just as, according to the Kiiranda Vyiiha, they proceed from that of Padma Pa'ni. 



(6) The authority for tliese ten mansions is the Diisd Bhwneslnvuni, one of tlie nine 

 great works spoken of in the answer to the thirteenth question; and which treats pro- 

 fessedly of the subject. The thirteen mansions are, however, mentioned in sundry 

 works of high authority ; and the thirteen grades of the superior part of the Cliniti/a 

 (or proper Bauddha temple) are typical of the thirteen celestial mansions alluded to 

 in the text. The most essential part of the CAaiYya is the solid hemisphere; but the 

 vast majority of Chaityasm Nipal have the hemisphere surmounted by a pyramid or 

 cone, called Churd Mimi, and invariably divided into thirteen grades.* 



(7) All this, as well as what follows, is a mere transcript from the Brahnianical 

 writings. There is, nevertheless, authority for it in the Bauddha scriptures. Tlie 

 Bnuddhas seem to have adopted without hesitation the cosmography and chronology of 

 the Brahmans, and also a large part of their pantheon. They freely confess to have 

 done so at this day. The favourite Brahnianical deities accepted by the Buddhists are, of 

 males : Maha' Ka'la, Indra, Ganesa, ITanuma'n, and the triad. Of females: Lakshmi' 

 and Sarasvati'. The Hindu triad are considered by the Buddhists as the mere servants 

 of the Buddhas and Budhisatwas, and only entitled to such reveience as may seem fit 

 to be paid to faithful servants of so higli masters. Of the origin of these deities, 

 according to the Bauddha books, I have already given one account, and referred to 

 another. The notions of the three gnnas and of the creation, &c. by the Brahmanic 

 triad as the delegates of the Bodhisatwas, I look upon to be modern inventions. 

 According to genuine Buddhism, the Biklhisatwas are, each in his turn, the active 

 agents of the creation and government of the world 



(8) An important historical person, and the apparent introducer of Buddhism into 

 Nipi'il. (See note 30.) 



(9) This is a most curious legend. I have not yet seen the Tantra whence it 

 professes to be extracted, and suspect that the legend was stolen from our -Bible, by 

 some inhabitant of Nipal, who had gathered a confused idea of the Mosaic history 

 of the origin and fall of mankind from the Jesuit missionaries, formerly resident in 

 this valley ; or perhaps the legend in question was derived from some of those various 

 corrupt versions of the biblical story which have been current among the Jews and 

 Moslems of Asia for many centuries. 



(10) This limited reply is the fault of my friend and not of his books. Matter is 

 called Prakriti by the Buddhists, as well as by the Brahmans. The Swabhavika school 



• See Piste III. 



