1845.] du Buddhism Indien, par E. Burnovf. 797 



The gods, whose names appear in the Sutras, are Narayana, Siva, 

 Varuna, Kuvera, Brahma, or Pitamaha, Sakra or Vasava, Hari or 

 Janardana, and Samkara, which is only another name for Siva, and Vis- 

 wakarman. After them a number of inferior gods are mentioned, as the 

 Devas, Nagas, Asuras, Yakshas, Garudas, Kinnaras, Mahoragas, Gandha- 

 vas, Pisachas, Danavas, and other good or evil genii. At the head of the 

 secondary deities figures Indra, generally under the name of Sakra, or 

 Sachfpati, the husband of Sachi. His name is most frequently of all 

 found in the Sutras and legends. There he generally appears before 

 Sakya, with whom he has frequent conversations, and receives the name 

 of Katisika, which title he has also in the Upanishads. His name figures 

 with that of Upendra, one of the most ancient epithets of Vishnu, even 

 in the initiary formula, by which the legend expresses that an ascetic is 

 come to the degree of an Arhat. The formula runs thus : " He be- 

 comes one of those who deserve that the Devas with Indra and Upendra, 

 respect, honour and salute them." 



All these divinities are those of the people, in the midst of which 

 Sakya lives with his ascetics. They are on the part of all castes the 

 objects of a constant and exclusive worship. Their power is not con- 

 sidered absolute by the Buddhists, but inferior to that of Buddha. 



p. 134. The evidence adduced goes far to show the connexion of the 

 popular deities of India with the founder of Buddhism. It is evident, 

 that Sakya found their worship already existing. He could pronounce, 

 and the authors of the legends believe, that a Buddha, even in this 

 life, has a superior power even to the greatest gods, although he has 

 not created them. 



The only support, which he could find in the minds of the people, 

 was the universal belief, that great holiness is necessarily accom- 

 panied with super- natural faculties ; but this was an immense support, 

 and gave him the means of bringing to bear in justification of his mis- 

 sion the belief of bygone ages ; this belief, however, is not exclusively 

 divine, in its application ; the Buddha was, as all other beings, involved 

 in the eternally moving circle of transmigration ; he had traversed several 

 existences in the bodies of animals, of condemned persons, of men and of 

 god3, having been alternately virtuous and criminal, rewarded and punish- 

 ed, but accumulating gradually merits which rendered him agreeable to 



