182 



On tJie Muins of Buddha Gay a. 



I 



[No. 2, 



then to assume that on the suppression of Buddhism in the 10th 

 and 11th centuries, attempts were made and successfully carried out 

 of converting Buddhist temples to Hindu usage, and that the foot- 

 marks at Buddha Gaya are the result of one of those attempts. 



We have, however, more than a priori arguments to establish the fact. 

 In an inscription of the 10th century to which reference has already 

 been made above, it is distinctly stated that a BuddJiapad or Buddha's 

 foot was set up at Buddha Graya expressly for the purpose of perform- 

 ing thereon the Hindu rite of sraddlia* Now as the liturgy of the 

 Buddhists does not recognise that ritual, it must follow as a matter of 

 course that the inscription is a Hindu one, and since its date is 

 posterior to the downfall of Buddhism, it must be taken for granted 

 that those who put it up, desired to reduce Buddha Gaya to the service 

 of Hinduism by, what is commonly called, " a pious fraud/' 



The inscription itself is no longer traceable at Buddha Gaya. But 

 its translation in the 1st volume of the Asiatic Researches, coming 

 from the pen of Sir Charles Wilkins, may be taken as its exact 

 counterpart. It starts by saying that " in the midst of a wild forest 

 resided Buddha the aiithor of happiness and a portion of Narayana. 

 He was an incarnation of the deity Hari, and worthy of every adora- 

 tion. 1 ' The illustrious Amara Deva accidentally coming to the forest 

 discovered the place of Buddha and with a view to make the divinity 

 propitious, performed acts of severe mortification for the space of 

 twelve years. The deity pleased with this devotion appeared to Amara 

 in a vision and offered him any boon that he wanted, and on Amara's 

 insisting upon a visitation, recommended him to satisfy vicariously his 

 desire for a sight of the deity by an image. An image was accord- 

 ingly made, and Amara eulogised it by calling it Brahma, Vishnu, 

 Mahes'a, Damodara, and by attributing to it all the great deeds per- 

 formed by Vishnu in his various incarnations, " Having thus worship- 

 ped the guardian of mankind, he became like one of the just. He 

 joyfully caused a holy temple to be built of a wonderful construction, 

 and there were set up the divine foot of Vishnu for ever purifier of 

 the sins of mankind, the images of the Pandoos, and of the descents 

 of Vishnu, in like manner of Brahma and the rest of the divinities. 



Bhima Deva of the Ganga Vansa Dynasty (A. D. 1196,) but he is said to 

 have only rebuilt or repaired what had existed for many centuries before his 

 time and been subjected to many vicissitudes. 



