HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 13 
-period in a fixed position, his leg chained to the ground, and his eyes fixed 
upon the tip of his nose, with his mind wholly absorbed in meditations. 
‘Many other and often fearful penances are voluntarily submitted to by 
these deluded followers of an idolatrous creed. 
Like all other nations of antiquity, the Hindoos considered sacrificial 
offerings one of the most important parts of their worship. The value and 
the kind of these were in many instances prescribed by the priests, who 
selected the utensils, a representation of which will be found (pl. 2, jigs. 
21-24), for the ceremony, according to the nature of the offering. 
Strong were the barriers thrown out by the founders of Brahmaism to 
guard against division or innovations; but notwithstanding all these pre- 
cautions, there sprang up, as we have said, different sects, who disagreed 
about essential doctrines. The most important schism, however, was that 
which was known as Buddhism. 
2. Tae Reticion or Buppwa, or Bupputsm. 
This religious system does not profess to be a new religion, it only claims 
to be a reformation of Brahmaism, which having become corrupted it 
sought to exhibit again in its pristine purity. The history of its founder, 
Buddha, is still enveloped in much mystery. Some assert him to be one 
of the seven planets, the one who rules the fourth day of the week and who 
is called by the Hindoos Buddha- Vara ; others consider him to be Brahma 
himself; while a third party look upon him as the ninth incarnation of 
Vishnu, and hence Avishna only under another name. Some of the 
learned among his followers say that he was the saint known also as Sacya, 
while the Hindoo transcendentalists contend that Buddha is not the name of 
an individual, but only a word used to signify a certain assemblage of 
virtues, or the character of a perfectly virtuous being. 
Hence the various accounts given of his birth and life, and the different 
representations made of him. In his character as a sage and the first 
teacher of the sublime sciences he is sometimes found as Surya (jig. 17) 
with seven heads on one body seated in an oriental fashion and with his 
eyes turned in every direction ; on his breast and in his open hand is the 
square, divided into four smaller squares, and at his feet the crescent moon. 
He is also represented in a similar position, with but one head and without 
the square on his breast or the moon at his feet as in jig.16. A more mag- 
nificent representation of him is sometimes found in which he is surrounded, 
as in pl. 3, fig. 8, with figures of men and animals, all in the act of worship- 
ping him. What we have said here will explain why he is worshipped by 
his followers under so many different names. But all agree in recognising 
him as the supreme ruler of the present age of the world. 
Buddhism flourished for a long time in Hindostan proper until Diwr- 
andara put to death Aditya, the last Buddhist king, and compelled his 
followers to seek refuge in other kingdoms. They then emigrated into the 
country of the Burmese, into Further India, China, Siam, Thibet, Mongolia, 
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