Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2

by Charles Eliot

FOOTNOTES:

[564] Such as the Vishṇu Purâṇa, Vishṇu Dharma, said to be a section of the Garuda Purâṇa and the Bhagavad-gîtâ.

[565] The Hindus are well aware that the doctrine of Bhakti spread from the south to the north. See the allegory quoted in J.R.A.S. 1911, p. 800.

[566] Thus Râmânuja says (Śri Bhâshya, II. 2. 43) that the Vedânta Sûtras do not refute the Sânkhya and Yoga but merely certain erroneous views as to Brahman not being the self.

[567] It has been described as the earliest of the Vishnuite Churches and it would be so if we could be sure that the existence of the doctrine called Dvaitâdvaita was equivalent to the existence of the sect. But Bhandarkar has shown some reason for thinking that Nimbâditya lived after Râmânuja. It must be admitted that the worship of Râdhâ and the doctrine of self-surrender or prapatti, both found in the Daśaśloki, are probably late.

[568] See Grierson in E.R.E. vol. II. p. 457.

[569] The Church of the Nimavats is also called Sanakâdi-sampradâya because it professes to derive its doctrine from Sanaka and his brethren who taught Nârada, who taught Nimbârka. At least one sub-sect founded by Harivamsa (born 1559) adopts a doctrine analogous to Saktism and worships Râdhâ as the manifestation of Kṛishṇa's energy.

[570] Called the Daśaśloki. It is translated in Bhandarkar's Vaishṇ and Śaivism, pp. 63-5.

[571] Also spelt Alvar and Azhvar. The Tamil pronunciation of this difficult letter varies in different districts. The word apparently means one who is drowned or immersed in the divine love. Cf. Azhi, the deep sea; Azhal, being deep or being immersed.

[572] An educated Vaishṇava told me at Śrîrangam that devas and saints receive the same homage.

[573] It is possible that the poems attributed to Namm'âr̤vâr and other saints are really later compositions. See Epig. Ind. vol. VIII. p. 294.

[574] XI. 5. 38-40.

[575] Bhandarkar (Vaishṇ. and Śaivism, p. 50) thinks it probable that Kulaśekhara, one of the middle Âr̤vârs, lived about 1130. But the argument is not conclusive and it seems to me improbable that he lived after Nâthamuni.

[576] The first called Mudal-Âyiram consists of nine hymns ascribed to various saints such as Periyâr̤var and Andal. The second and third each consist of a single work the Periya-tiru-mor̤i and the Tiru-vay-mor̤i ascribed to Tiru-mangai and Namm'âr̤vâr respectively. The fourth part or Iyar-pa is like the first a miscellany containing further compositions by these two as well as by others.

[577] Nityânusandhânam series: edited with Telugu paraphrase and English translation by M.B. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Madras, 1898.

[578] The best known is the Guru-paramparâ-prabhâvam of Brahmatantra-svatantra-swâmi. For an English account of these doctors see T. Râjagopala Chariar, The Vaishṇavite Reformers of India, Madras, 1909.

[579] Âgamaprâmâṇya. He also wrote a well-known hymn called Âlavandâr-Stotram and a philosophical treatise called Siddhi-traya.

[580] He states himself that he followed Boddhâyana, a commentator on the Sûtras of unknown date but anterior to Śaṅkara. He quotes several other commentators particularly Dramiḍa, so that his school must have had a long line of teachers.

[581] See Gazetteer of India, vol. XXIII. s.v. There is a Kanarese account of his life called Dibya-caritra. For his life and teaching see also Bhandarkar in Berichte VIIth Int. Orient. Congress, 1886, pp. 101 ff. Lives in English have been published at Madras by Alkondaville Govindâcârya (1906) and Kṛishṇaswami Aiyangar (? 1909).

[582] He also wrote the Vedârtha Saṅgraha, Vedârtha Pradîpa, Vedânta Sâra and a commentary on the Bhagavad-gîtâ.

[583] S.B.E. XLVIII. p. 3.

[584] II. 2. 36-39.

[585] II. 2. 43 ad fin.

[586] Râmânuja's introduction to the Bhagavad-gîtâ is more ornate but does not go much further in doctrine than the passage here quoted.

[587] This fivefold manifestation of the deity is a characteristic Pâncarâtra doctrine. See Schrader, Int. pp. 25, 51 and Śrî Bhâshya, II. 242.

[588] See Br. Ar. Up III. 7. The Śrî Vaishṇavas attach great importance to this chapter.

[589] Only relatively northern and southern. Neither flourish in what we call northern India.

[590] Hence the two doctrines are called markaṭa-nyâya and marjâra-nyâya, monkey theory and cat theory. The latter gave rise to the dangerous doctrine of Doshabhogya, that God enjoys sin, since it gives a larger scope for the display of His grace. Cf. Oscar Wilde in De Profundis, "Christ, through some divine instinct in him, seems to have always loved the sinner as being the nearest possible approach to perfection in man.... In a manner not yet understood of the world, he regarded sin and suffering as being in themselves beautiful holy things and modes of perfection.... Christ, had he been asked, would have said—I feel quite certain about it—that the moment the prodigal son fell on his knees and wept, he made his having wasted his substance with harlots, his swine herding and hungering for the husks they ate beautiful and holy moments in his life."

[591] Also called Veṅkatanâtha. For some rather elaborate studies in the history of the Śrî-Vaishṇavas see V. Rangacharis' articles in J. Bombay R.A.S. 1915 and 1916 and J. Mythic Society, 1917, Nos. 2 ff.

[592] Prapatti and âcâryabhimâna.—The word prapatti seems not to occur in the Śrî Bhâshya and it is clear that Râmânuja's temperament was inclined to active and intelligent devotion. But prapatti is said to have been taught by Nathamuni and Sathagopa (Râjagopala Chariar, Vaishṇavite Reformers, p. 6). The word means literally approaching.

[593] The Artha-pañcaka and Tattva-traya are the best known. See text and translation of the first in J.R.A.S. 1910, pp. 565-607.

[594] Râmânuja set less store than Śankara on asceticism and renunciation of the world. He held the doctrine called samucchaya (or combination) namely that good works as well as knowledge are efficacious for salvation.

[595] Also called Ânandatîrtha and Pûrṅaprajña. According to others he was born in 1238 A.D. See for his doctrines Grierson's article Madhvas in E.R.E. and his own commentaries on the Chândogya and Bṛihad Ar. Upanishads published in Sacred Books of the Hindus, vols. III. and XIV. For his date Bhandarkar, Vaishṇ. and Śaivism, pp. 58-59 and I.A.. 1914, pp. 233 ff. and 262 ff. Accounts of his life and teaching have been written by Padmanabha Char. and Kṛishṇa Svami Aiyer (Madras, 1909). His followers maintain that he is not dead but still alive at Badarî in the Himalayas.

[596] See Padmanabha Char. l.c. page 12. Madhva condemned the worship of inanimate objects (e.g. com. Chând. Up. VII. 14. 2) but not the worship of Brahman in inanimate objects.

[597] In a work called the Pâshanda capetikâ or A Slap for Heretics, all the adherents of Madhva are consigned to hell and the Saurapurâṇa, chaps. XXXVIII.-XL. contains a violent polemic against them. See Jahn's Analysis, pp. 90-106 and Barth in Mélanges Harlez, pp. 12-25. It is curious that the Madhvas should have been selected for attack, for in many ways they are less opposed to Śivaites than are other Vishnuite sects but the author was clearly badly informed about the doctrines which he attacks and he was probably an old-fashioned Śivaite of the north who regarded Madhvism as a new-fangled version of objectionable doctrines.

The Madhvas are equally violent in denouncing Śankara and his followers. They miswrite the name Saṃkara, giving it the sense of mongrel or dirt and hold that he was an incarnation of a demon called Maṇimat sent by evil spirits to corrupt the world.

[598] See his comment on Chând. Up. VI. 8. 7. Compare Bhag.-g. XV. 7. The text appears to say that the soul (Jîva) is a part (amsa) of the Lord. Madhva says it is so-called because it bears some reduced similitude to the Lord, though quite distinct from him. Madhva's exegesis is supported by a system of tantric or cabalistic interpretation in which every letter has a special meaning. Thus in the passage of the Chând. Up. mentioned above the simple words sa ya eshah are explained as equivalent to Sâra essence, yama the controller, and ishta the desired one. The reading atat tvam asi is said not to have originated with Madhva but to be found in a Bhâgavata work called the Sâmasamhitâ.

[599] In his commentary on the opening of the Chând. Up. Madhva seems to imply a Trinity consisting of Vishṇu, Ramâ (=Lakshmî) and Vâyu.

[600] This is expressly stated at the end of the commentary on the Brih. Ar. Upan.

[601] Life and teachings of Śrî-Madhvacharyar by Padmanabha Char. 1909, p. 159. Some have suspected a connection between Madhva's teaching and Manicheism, because he attached much importance to an obscure demon called Manimat (see Mahâbh. III. 11, 661) whom he considered incarnate in Śankara. It is conceivable that in his Persian studies he may have heard of Mani as an arch-heretic and have identified him with this demon but this does not imply any connection between his own system (or Śankara's either) and Manicheism.

[602] Brih. Ar. Upan. III. 7. 2.

[603] Among them are the Maṇimanjarî, the Madhvavijaya and the Vâyustuti, all attributed to a disciple of Madhva and his son.

CHAPTER XXX

LATER VISHNUISM IN NORTH INDIA

1

With the fifteenth century Hinduism enters on a new phase. Sects arise which show the influence of Mohammedanism, sometimes to such an extent that it is hard to say whether they should be classed as Hindu or Moslim, and many teachers repudiate caste. Also, whereas in the previous centuries the centre of religious feeling lay in the south, it now shifts to the north. Hinduism had been buffeted but not seriously menaced there: the teachers of the south had not failed to recognize by their pilgrimages the sanctity and authority of the northern seats of learning: such works as the Gîtâ-govinda testify to the existence there of fervent Vishnuism. But the country had been harassed by Moslim invasions and unsettled by the vicissitudes of transitory dynasties. The Jains were powerful in Gujarat and Rajputâna. In Bengal Śâktism and moribund Buddhism were not likely to engender new enthusiasms. But in a few centuries the movements inaugurated in the south increased in extension and strength. Hindus and Mohammedans began to know more of each other, and in the sixteenth century under the tolerant rule of Akbar and his successors the new sects which had been growing were able to consolidate themselves.

After Râmânuja and Madhva, the next great name in the history of Vishnuism, and indeed of Hinduism, is Râmânand. His date is uncertain.[604] He was posterior to Râmânuja, from whose sect he detached himself, and Kabir was his disciple, apparently his immediate disciple. Some traditions give Prayaga as his birthplace, others Melucote, but the north was the scene of his activity. He went on a lengthy pilgrimage, and on his return was accused of having infringed the rules of his sect as to eating, etc., and was excommunicated, but received permission from his Guru to found a new sect. He then settled in Benares and taught there. He wrote no treatise but various hymns ascribed to him are still popular.[605] Though he is not associated with any special dogma, yet his teaching is of great importance as marking the origin of a popular religious movement characterized by the use of the vernacular languages instead of Sanskrit, and by a laxity in caste rules culminating in a readiness to admit as equals all worshippers of the true God.[606] This God is Râma rather than Kṛishṇa. I have already pointed out that the worship of Râma as the Supreme Being (to be distinguished from respect for him as a hero) is not early: in fact it appears to begin in the period which we are considering. Of the human forms of the deity Kṛishṇa was clearly the most popular but the school of Râmânuja, while admitting both Râma and Kṛishṇa as incarnations, preferred to adore God under less mythological and more philosophic names such as Nârâyaṇa. Râmânand, who addressed himself to all classes and not merely to the Brahman aristocracy, selected as the divine name Râma. It was more human than Nârâyaṇa, less sensuous than Kṛishṇa. Every Hindu was familiar with the poetry which sings of Râma as a chivalrous and godlike hero. But he was not, like Kṛishṇa, the lover of the soul, and when Râmaism was divested of mythology by successive reformers it became a monotheism in which Hindu and Moslim elements could blend. Râmânand had twelve disciples, among whom were Kabir, a Raja called Pîpâ, Rai Das, a leather-seller (and therefore an outcast according to Hindu ideas) as well as Brahmans. The Râmats, as his followers were called, are a numerous and respectable body in north India, using the same sectarian mark as the Vadagalais from whom they do not differ materially, although a Hindu might consider that their small regard for caste is a vital distinction. They often call themselves Avadhûtas, that is, those who have shaken off worldly restrictions, and the more devout among them belong to an order divided into four classes of which only the highest is reserved to Brahmans and the others are open to all castes. They own numerous and wealthy maṭhs, but it is said that in some of these celibacy is not required and that monks and nuns live openly as man and wife.[607]

An important aspect of the Râmat movement is its effect on the popular literature of Hindustan which in the fifteenth and even more in the sixteenth century blossoms into flowers of religious poetry. Many of these writings possess real merit and are still a moral and spiritual force. European scholars are only beginning to pay sufficient attention to this mighty flood of hymns which gushed forth in nearly all the vernaculars of India[608] and appealed directly to the people. The phenomenon was not really new. The psalms of the Buddhists and even the hymns of the Ṛig Veda were vernacular literature in their day, and in the south the songs of the Devaram and Nâlâyiram are of some antiquity. But in the north, though some Prâkrit literature has been preserved, Sanskrit was long considered the only proper language for religion. We can hardly doubt that vernacular hymns existed, but they did not receive the imprimatur of any teacher, and have not survived. But about 1400 all this changes. Though Râmânand was not much of a writer he gave his authority to the use of the vernacular: he did not, like Râmânuja, either employ or enjoin Sanskrit and the meagre details which we have of his circle lead us to imagine him surrounded by men of homely speech.

One current in this sea of poetry was Krishnaite and as such not directly connected with Râmânand. Vidyâpati[609] sang of the loves of Kṛishṇa and Râdhâ in the Maithili dialect and also in a form of Bengali. In the early fifteenth century (c. 1420) we have the poetess Mirâ Bai, wife of the Raja of Chitore who gained celebrity and domestic unhappiness by her passionate devotion to the form of Kṛishṇa known as Ranchor. According to one legend the image came to life in answer to her fervent prayers, and throwing his arms round her allowed her to meet a rapturous death in his embrace. This is precisely the sentiment which we find later in the teaching of Vallabhâcârya and Caitanya. The hymns of the Bengali poets have been collected in the Padakalpataru, one of the chief sacred books of the Bengali Vaishṇavas. From Vallabhâcârya spring the group of poets who adorned Braj or the Muttra district. Pre-eminent among them is the blind Sur Das who flourished about 1550 and wrote such sweet lyrics that Kṛishṇa himself came down and acted as his amanuensis. A somewhat later member of the same group is Nâbhâ Das, the author of the Bhakta Mâlâ or Legends of the Saints, which is still one of the most popular religious works of northern India.[610] Almost contemporary with Sur Das was the great Tulsi Das and Grierson[611] enumerated thirteen subsequent writers who composed Râmâyaṇas in some dialect of Hindi. A little later came the Mahratta poet Tukarâm (born about 1600) who gave utterance to Krishnaism in another language.

Tulsi Das is too important to be merely mentioned as one in a list of poets. He is a great figure in Indian religion, and the saying that his Râmâyaṇa is more popular and more honoured in the North-western Provinces than the Bible in England is no exaggeration.[612] He came into the world in 1532 but was exposed by his parents as born under an unlucky star and was adopted by a wandering Sâdhu. He married but his son died and after this loss he himself became a Sâdhu. He began to write his Râmâyaṇa in Oudh at the age of forty-three, but moved to Benares where he completed it and died in 1623. On the Tulsi Ghat, near the river Asi, may still be seen the rooms which he occupied. They are at the top of a lofty building and command a beautiful view over the river[4].

His Râmâyana which is an original composition and not a translation of Vâlmîki's work is one of the great religious poems of the world and not unworthy to be set beside Paradise Lost. The sustained majesty of diction and exuberance of ornament are accompanied by a spontaneity and vigour rare in any literature, especially in Asia. The poet is not embellishing a laboured theme: he goes on and on because his emotion bursts forth again and again, diversifying the same topic with an inexhaustible variety of style and metaphor. As in some forest a stream flows among flowers and trees, but pours forth a flood of pure water uncoloured by the plants on its bank, so in the heart of Tulsi Das the love of God welled up in a mighty fountain ornamented by the mythology and legends with which he bedecked it, yet unaffected by them. He founded no sect, which is one reason of his popularity, for nearly all sects can read him with edification, and he is primarily a poet not a theologian. But though he allows himself a poet's licence to state great truths in various ways, he still enunciates a definite belief. This is theism, connected with the name Râma. Since in the north he is the author most esteemed by the Vishnuites, it would be a paradox to refuse him that designation, but his teaching is not so much that Vishṇu is the Supreme Being who becomes incarnate in Râma, as that Râma, and more rarely Hari and Vâsudeva, are names of the All-God who manifests himself in human form. Vishṇu is mentioned as a celestial being in the company of Brahmâ,[613] and so far as any god other than Râma receives attention it is Śiva, not indeed as Râma's equal, but as a being at once very powerful and very devout, who acts as a mediator or guide. "Without prayer to Śiva no one can attain to the faith which I require."[614] "Râma is God, the totality of good, imperishable, invisible, uncreated, incomparable, void of all change, indivisible, whom the Veda declares that it cannot define."[615] And yet, "He whom scripture and philosophy have sung and whom the saints love to contemplate, even the Lord God, he is the son of Dasarath, King of Kosala."[616] By the power of Râma exist Brahmâ, Vishṇu and Śiva, as also Mâyâ, the illusion which brings about the world. His "delusive power is a vast fig-tree, its clustering fruit the countless multitude of worlds, while all things animate and inanimate are like the insects that dwell inside and think their own particular fig the only one in existence."[617] God has made all things: pain and pleasure, sin and merit, saints and sinners, Brahmans and butchers, passion and asceticism. It is the Veda that distinguishes good and evil among them.[618] The love of God and faith are the only road to happiness. "The worship of Hari is real and all the world is a dream."[619] Tulsi Das often uses the language of the Advaita philosophy and even calls God the annihilator of duality, but though he admits the possibility of absorption and identification with the deity, he holds that the double relation of a loving God and a loving soul constitutes greater bliss. "The saint was not absorbed into the divinity for this reason that he had already received the gift of faith."[620] And in a similar spirit he says, "Let those preach in their wisdom who contemplate Thee as the supreme spirit, the uncreate, inseparable from the universe, recognizable only by inference and beyond the understanding; but we, O Lord, will ever hymn the glories of thy incarnation." Like most Hindus he is little disposed to enquire what is the purpose of creation, but he comes very near to saying that God has evolved the world by the power of Mâyâ because the bliss which God and his beloved feel is greater than the bliss of impersonal undifferentiated divinity. It will be seen that Tulsi Das is thoroughly Hindu: neither his fundamental ideas nor his mythological embellishments owe anything to Islam or Christianity. He accepts unreservedly such principles as Mâyâ, transmigration, Karma and release. But his sentiments, more than those of any other Indian writer, bear a striking resemblance to the New Testament. Though he holds that the whole world is of God, he none the less bids men shun evil and choose the good, and the singular purity of his thoughts and style contrasts strongly with other Vishnuite works. He does not conceive of the love which may exist between the soul and God as a form of sexual passion.