136 KEV. G. U. POPE^ D.D., ON 



selves, suflFering infinite modifications, till death dissolves the bond. If 

 Nirvana has not been obtained, and so another metempsychosis is 

 necessary, what survives, — the deeds without the doer, — instantaneously 

 I'eceives another embodiment, and so on until at length the deeds have been 

 atoned for, and, as it necessarily follows, the shadow of being is anni- 

 hilated, and, as the whole universe is compounded of the same KaTidas, 

 it follows that there is in reality no god, no soul, and of course no 

 immortality, nothing in fact but appearance and sensation. As presented 

 in Tamil writings, the whole system seems fragmentary. 



Manikka Va^agar presses this upon his opponent, who has nothing to 

 say in defence or explanation, but reviles the ^aiva mythology, the origin 

 of which he finds in the Vedas themselves. Here the Buddhist seems 

 to have had surer ground to tread upon, and the oidy reply that was 

 possible to Manikka Vacagar was to explain away everything as 

 allegorical and mystical. These explanations are poetical, but very far- 

 fetched, and historically find no sanction in the original myth. They are 

 ingenious, but adapted only to the comprehension of a refined and select 

 body of the initiated : to the world the system is one of puerile idolatries 

 and superstitions. Such was the Buddhist's idea. It will be noted that 

 each party claimed for its master the attribute of ' Revealer of Virtue.' 

 Buddha under the hodhi tree, and Qivan under the banyan tree, both 

 taught the ancient law of right, and on this matter no controversy arose. 

 The Tamilians are right in declaring that the morality of Buddhism is 

 essentially that of the Upanishads excej^t in the matter of forbidding 

 sacrifice ; and in regard to the last point the fact that the Buddhist 

 sanctioned the eating of the flesh of animals, though he himself would 

 not slay them, overbalanced in the mind of the (^aivites all the ethic 

 excellence of their system (Kurral., ch. 33). It will be apparent that the 

 victory of the sage was a victory of sentiment and of authority, but not 

 «ny way of logic or learning. 



NOTE IX. 



' The TiRU-vAgAGAM.' 



In considering the jioetry of Tiru Manikka Va9agar the Tamil student 

 must feel its superiority to all the vast collections of the Devaram, 

 although the authors of some of these enjoy perhaps a wider popularity 

 among the Tamil people. Versions can of course give nothing but the 

 very faintest idea of the earnestness and grace of the sage's hymns. They 



