1895.] 
59 
H. P. Qastrl— Buddhism in Bengal. 
still lasts. That Buddhism has a wonderful aptitude iu assimilating 
various forms of Demon and other worships, is well known from the 
history of Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet. The Dharma worship 
appears to be a similar assimilation of some old-world superstition 
with Buddhism. 
My recent investigations into the mode of Dharma worship, during 
the Durga piija holidays in the Sub-division of Cutwa, has added 
another link to the arguments for proving the identification of Dharma- 
raja Avith the Buddha. There is a Dharma temple at Cuongachi near 
Patuli, the priest of which belongs to the Mayara caste. He was 
questioned about the method of worship, and his answers led to im¬ 
portant results. He said cooked food is never offered to Dharma; 
this is precisely the case with Buddhist and Jaina idols. They are 
regarded as emancipated men and not deities. Any cooked food when 
eaten by men becomes impure, and so no cooked food is offered to them. 
Any caste may worship Dharma. The Dorns do worship him and often 
offer hog’s flesh to him, but the Mantra by which Dharma is meditated 
upon, is very curious. It leaves no doubt that he is the Buddha. 
♦TRfrcr srtf^T *11% si’JW (it ?) i 
He who has no end, no beginning and no middle ; he who has 
neither hands nor legs, he who has no germ of body; he who has no 
form, no primordial form; he who has no birth; that Yogindra, 
approachable by knowledge,_ friendly to all men, one protector of all 
creatures, the truth, the spotless, the giver of boons to mortal men ; 
whose form is f unya or void ; may he protect you ! 
The word Yogindra applies to the Buddha, as he is called Mu- 
mndra in the Amarakosa. He is approachable by knowledge, while 
Hindu deities are approachable by devotion. 
Most of these adjectives may, though by some stretch of imagina¬ 
tion, apply to fiva or Visnu. But there is one which can never be 
applied to a Hindu deity and which is a peculiar attribute of the 
Buddha. This is Qunya-murti , identifying him with void ; this is what 
the Prajna Paramita teaches, and is what constitutes the peculiarity 
of Buddhist teaching that everything resolves itself into giinya or ‘void. 
The Sanskrit of the Mantra as obtained from the Mayara priest, is 
perfectly ungrammatical, and so I tried to get another version of it 
from a different part of the country, and if possible from a higher 
