Saura-purana (analytical study)

by Priyanku Chakraborty | 2019 | 92,293 words

This page relates ‘Buddhists denounced as “Nastikas”’ of the study on the Saura-Purana—an important Upapurana associated with the Puranic Pashupata sect of Shaivism—and offers crucial insights into the socio-religious, philosophical, and cultural history of India. The study further delves into the oral, literary, and archaeological context of Purana literature (such as the Saurapurana), highlighting its intricate connections with Vedic and Tantric traditions.

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Part 4.1 - The Buddhists denounced as “Nāstikas”

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[Full title: Buddhism and Brahmanism: different perspectives and cultural assimilation (1) The Buddhists denounced as “Nāstikas]

The main reason to dislike and denounce the Buddha and Buddhists appears as follows:

As per the Brahmanical philosophical system, the Buddhist philosophical schools are labelled as “nāstikas”,^[1] because the Buddhists did not recognise the Veda as the authority nor did they follow the Vedic rites and customs or the institution of varṇāśramadharma. Even the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa denounces the Buddha as an atheist.

It has been stated by Rāma to Jabāli that:

“yathā hi cauraḥ sa tathāhi buddhasthāgataṃ nāstimatra biddhi|
tasmāddhi yaḥ śakyatamaḥ prajānāṃ sa nāstike nābhimato budḥ syāt||”^[2]

The Saura-purāṇa states that the doctrine of the Buddhists, which is similar to Cārvākas, Jains etc., was introduced by Bṛhaspati^[3] to deprive the demons from the Vedic path.^[4]

It is a fact that, the Buddha himself did not recognize the path of sacrificial rites, especially, he condemned animal sacrifices. Those who did that kind of sacrifices, were both ātmantapa and parantapa, i.e. they harm themselves as well as the others too according to the Buddha.^[5] That approach of Buddha was criticized in the Purāṇas. The Viṣṇu-purāṇa describes that, the Buddha (Māyamoha of Viṣṇū) advised the asuras, if they wanted liberation or wished to go the heaven, they should leave the sacrifices, where animals had to be offered after killing them.

Influenced by the advice of the Buddha, leaving all the Vedic rites and rituals the asuras became pāṣaṇḍin and started to censure the Brāhmaṇas and sacrificial rites:

“svargārthaṃ yadi bāñchā vo nirvāṇārthamathāsurāḥ|
tadalaṃ paśughātādi-duṣṭa-dharmai-nibodhata||”
….. “mohitāstatyajuḥ sarvāṃ trayīmargāśritāṃ kathāṃ||
kecidvinindāṃ vedānāṃ devānāṃapare dvija| yajñakarma-kalāpasya tathānye ca dvijanmanām||
naitadyuktisahaṃ vākyaṃ himsā dharmāya neṣyate|
havīṃṣyanaladagdhāni phalāyetyarbhakoditam||”^[6]

In the Pali Dhammapada we find that, the Buddha denies to be considered as a Brāhmaṇa with mattered hair (jaṭā), or linage, or cast.

According to him:

“yamhi saccaṃ ca dhammaṃ ca so sukhī sac a Brāhmaṇa”.^[7]

The Saura-purāṇa states that, the Buddha viz. Māyāmoha of Viṣṇu deprived the asuras from the sacrificial rituals (śrauta-karma) and smārta rites.^[8]

Regarding this conflict of sacrificial and its opponent concepts, some opine that the opposition between the believers of the Brahmanism and Buddhism has been described allegorically as the conflict of Puranic gods and the demons or asuras in the Purāṇas. It is in fact the clash of the opinion of the followers of the Brahmanism and Buddhism, and it has been a familiar topic to the Indian history of religion.^[9] And it is not a farfetched concept as a whole, because the Purāṇas frequently mentioned or treated the Buddhists as asuras or dānavas.^[10]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Perhaps, in the early age meaning of the word “nāstik” was, who does not believe in paraloka i.e. life after death or who does not believe in the existence of ātman after death. To support we can refer the verses from the Koṭhoponiṣad: 1. “yeyaṃ prete vicikitsā manuṣye astītyeke nāyamastīti caike” (about the existence of ātman after death); 2. “ayaṃ loka nāsti para iti mānī punaḥ punarvaśamāpadyate me” (about the existence of paraloka after death). — But, Manu states: “nāstiko vedanindakaḥ” (Manusmṛti, 2. 12b).