1849.] Br ahmans and Buddhists. 119 



to have been in B. C. 543, and Fa Hian was in Ceylon in about A. D. 

 410, so that the first of these Nirvanas was in B. C. 1087. Lieut. -Col. 

 Sykes, who quotes M. Landresse in his account of M. Remusat's re- 

 searches, shews* that the circumstances attending Sakya Buddha's early 

 career — his ministry, and preaching, his death, and the belief of his 

 followers, all tend to induce a strong belief that there had been Buddhas 

 preceding him, while Fa Hian positively asserts that a large tower in 

 Oude contained the entire bones of Sakya Muni's immediate predecessor, 

 Kasyapa. 



M. Burnouf's sources of information are two — the Sanscrit Bud- 

 dhistical works of Nepal, and the Pali or Magadhi works of Ceylon. 



It appears to me that Sanscrit was not employed by the Buddhists 

 to record events until a period when heresy was rife, there being no 

 less than 22 sects. Now it remains perhaps to be proved that the 

 Buddhism introduced into Nepal, and the Himalaya, was not that of 

 one of these sects, — was not propagated by men originally brahmans, and 

 who were retrograding towards their first faith, or rather rapidly fram- 

 ing another. He was tempted with every kind of gratification by a Rakh- 

 sha or demon to abandon the priesthood, but resisted. He had also 

 the special gift of being able to walk upon the waters, and Devils were 

 afraid of him. I do not see how the dates of these Sanscrit works there- 

 fore will yield solid data for a summing up, although they may greatly 

 aid investigation, A comparison of the substance of them with that 

 of the Ceylonese Pali books may do so. But if any suspicion shall 

 seem necessary in regard to these Sanscrit MSS. I cannot understand 

 how the ancient elements of Buddhism are to be sought for in what 

 is common to both these classes of books, for it was as easy for the 

 writers in Sanscrit to omit what was foreign to their purpose, as it was 

 for the brahmans to falsify and suppress in the manner they did, the 

 records of Buddhism which fell into their hands. Scynthianus, who 

 had studied at Alexandria about B. C. 190, visited India by sea and 

 brought back four books ;f what were they? The Vedas most likely. 



It is curious that Buddha did not write any thing himself — like 

 Christ and some of the Prophets, he preached the doctrines leaving to 

 his disciples the task of editing it. We have therefore no means of 

 * Tr. R. A. S. Vol. XII. p. 261. 

 t J. A, S. B. Vol. IX. p. 215—217. 



