Extracts from Taranatha’s history of Buddhism in India

EXTRACTS FROM TARANATHA'S HISTORY OF BUDDHISM IN INDIA. BY W. L. HEELEY, B.C.S. The existence and importance of Taranatha's work were first made known to Western students by Vassiliev, who used it freely in his work on Buddhism; * and and the book itself was translated by Schiefner from the Tibetan, and published at St. Petersburg in 1869: but it seems to me by no means to have attracted the attention it deserves, and I have no doubt that the extracts which I have now translated from Schiefner's German will interest many readers, and serve to lead them to the book itself. Taranatha steadily cites his authorities and shows an historical feeling very alien to the Oriental world generally; and his facts have therefore considerable historical weight. His lists of kings are full and contain many names not otherwise known. For the period after Hiwen Thsang his historical data are particularly valuable, as we are there left very much in the dark by historians, and future writers on mediaeval India will have the task of comparing his statements with the monumental and numismatic evidence.
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* Published in Russia in 1857; date of Schiefner's German translation, 1860.

tic evidence on which our knowledge of that period is mainly based. Taranatha's real name was Kun-snjing; he was born in 1575, and composed his work in 1608. He was a monk of the Jonang school, which after Tsongkapa's reforms was numbered among the heterodox schools, *i.e.* those opposed to the prevalent sect of the "Yellow mitres," though at a later period, after Taranatha's death, it was attached to that sect. I begin with the last chapter of the book, as perhaps the most generally interesting. I.-On Buddhist Art. "In former days human masters, who were endowed with miraculous power, produced astonishing works of art. It is expressly stated in the Vinaya-agama and other works that the wall-paintings, &c. of these masters were such as to deceive by their likeness to the actual things depicted. For some centuries after the departure of the Teacher many such masters flourished. After they had ceased to flourish, many masters appeared who were Gods in human form; these erected the eight wonderful chaityas of Magadha,-the Mahabodhi, Manjusridundubhisvara, &c., and made many other objects. In the time of king Asoka, Yaksha* artisans erected the chaityas of the eight great places, the inner enclosure of Vajrasana, &c. In the time of Nagarjuna also many works were performed by Naga artisans. Thus the works of the Gods, Yakshas, and Nagas for many years deceived men by their reality. When in process of time all this ceased to be, it seemed as if the knowledge of art had vanished from among men. Then for a long course of years appeared many artistic efforts brought to light by the striving of the individual genius, but no fixed school or succession of artists. Later, in the time of king Buddhapaksha, the sculpture and painting of the artist Bimbasara were specially wonderful and resembled those early works of the Gods; the number of his followers was exceedingly great, and as he was born in Magadha the artists of his school were styled Madhyadesa Artists. In the time of king Sila lived an especially skilful delineator of the gods, born in Marwar, named Sringadhara; he left behind him paintings and other masterpieces like those produced by the Yakshas. Those who followed his lead were called the Old Western school. In the time of kings Devapala and Srimant Dharmapala lived in Varendra [Northern Bengal] an especially skilful artist, named Dhiman; his son was Bitpalo; both these produced many works in cast metal, as well as sculptures and paintings which resembled the works of the Nagas. The father and son gave rise to distinct schools; as the son lived in Bengal, the cast images of gods produced by their followers were called gods of the Eastern style, whatever might be the birthplace of their actual designers. In painting, the followers of the father were called the Eastern school; those of the son, as they were most numerous in Magadha, were called followers of the Madhyadesa school of painting. So in Nepal, the earlier schools of art resembled the Old West school, but in the course of time a peculiar Nepalese school formed itself, which in painting and casting resembled rather the Eastern schools; the latest artists have no special character. In Kasmir too, there were in former times followers of the Old Western school of Madhyadesa; later on, a certain Hasuraja founded a new school in painting and sculpture, which is now called the Kasmir school. Wherever Buddhism prevailed, skilful religious artists were found, while wherever the Mlechchas [Mahamadans] ruled, they disappeared; where, again, the Tirthya doctrines [orthodox Hinduism] prevailed, unskilful artists came to the front. Although in Pukam [Burma] and the southern countries the making of images is still going on, no specimens of the works appear to have reached Tibet. In the South three artists have had many followers: Jaya, Parojaya, and Vijaya." II.-Panini. (From Chapter X.) "A companion of king Nanda was the Brahman Panini, who was born in the west
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* In another place Asoka is described as having subdued India by the aid of an army of Yaksha mercenaries; Vassiliev is inclined to connect the name Yaksha with the Yuei-chei, and suggests that they were Baktrian Greeks. The author, however, clearly treats the Yakshas as supernatural beings-a race of demigods, in the ordinary sense in which the word is used in the Puranas. A good deal may be said for Vassiliev's conjecture, if we bear in mind that Taranatha also ascribes a special artistic style to the Nagas, who were without doubt a particular fraternity in Kasmir, supposed to be under the special protection of the snake-gods. Works like the temple of Amravati, which shows an obvious Kasmir influence, were probably ascribed to Naga architects; and if the Graeco-Baktrian school, traces of whose influence are visible in many parts of India, represented the Yaksha art, it remains only to ascertain what works were ascribed to the Devas, and who they were.

in Bhirukavana. When he asked a chiromantist whether he possessed the power of acquiring grammatical learning, and the chiromantist answered in the negative, he made the suitable lines on his hand with a sharp pair of scissors, and resorted to all the masters of grammatical lore on the earth, pursuing that study with the greatest eagerness; and as he was still discontented, he through perseverance succeeded in summoning his protecting deity to his help. When the deity showed his face and uttered the vowel-sounds a, i, and u, Panini attained a knowledge of all the sounds that are to be found in the three worlds. The Heterodox [Brahmanists] maintain that this deity was Isvara, but have no special reasons for their belief; the Orthodox [Buddhists] on the contrary assert that it was Avalokitesvara, and refer to the prediction from the Manjusrimulatantra: "The Brahman's son Panini will undoubtedly, through the perfect insight of a Sravaka, according to my prediction, invoke by his conjurations the majesty of the Lord of the world." This Panini composed the grammatical Sutra called the Paninivyakarana, composed of 2000 slokas, namely 1000 slokas on the formation of words, and 1000 of explanation. This is, moreover, the root of all grammars. Before him there were no Sastras on the formation of words reduced to writing, and as no system existed which brought the subject under distinct points of view, individual grammarians, who brought special facts of language into connections of two and two, were esteemed as remarkably learned. Though it is said in Tibet that the Indravyakarana is older, yet, as we shall show below, though it may have penetrated earlier into the Celestial country, in India Panini's grammar was the earliest. And though pandits assert that the Chandravyakarana, translated into Tibetan, agrees with Panini, and the Kalapavyakarana with the Indravyakarana, it is universally maintained that Panini's grammar, in the copiousness of its explanations and the systematic completeness of its views, is something quite unique." III.-Kalidasa. (From Chapter XV.) "Kalidasa's biography is as follows:-At the time when the Brahman Vararuchi was in honour at the court of Bhimasukla, king of Varanasi, the king proposed to give his daughter Vasanti to Vararuchi to wife. Vasanti, however, out of pride, considering herself the more learned of the two, refused to be Vararuchi's servant. On this Vararuchi determined to outwit her, and said to the king 'Invite my learned teacher, who is a hundred-fold cleverer than I, and give your daughter to him.' He saw a cowherd of Magadha, with a handsome figure, sitting on the end of a branch and cutting the lower part of the branch with an axe; judging that this man must be unusually stupid, he had him called and after some days' rubbing and scrubbing, he carefully clothed him in the dress of a Brahman Pandit, got him as far as the expression om svasti, and told him in case he found himself before the king and his court to throw flowers at the king and say om svasti, but if any one else addressed him, by no means to answer. But in carrying this out when the rustic threw the flowers at the king he said Usatara. This the Acharya (Vararuchi) made out to be a blessing, thus explaining the sense of the four syllables-'Umaya sahito Rudrah, Samkarasahito Visnuh, tamkarasulapanischa rakshantu Sivah sarvada;' which is, being interpreted, 'May Rudra with Uma, Visnu with Samkara, And Siva holding the sounding trident evermore preserve (you)!' "Upon this Vasanti began to ask him the meaning of different words, and when he gave no answer, Vararuchi asked 'How can you expect my learned teacher to answer a woman's questions?'; and when he had thus turned all their heads, he went away to the south. While the bridegroom was carried in triumph to all the temples, he spoke never a word, till seeing at last on the outer wall of a temple the pictures of various animals and among them that of an ox, he was delighted, and put on the aspect and manners of a cowherd. Then Vasanti said 'Alas! it is a cowherd!' and saw that she had been played upon. She thought that if he were clever she might teach him the science of language, but on trial she found him very dull of comprehension. She became scornful, and sent her husband every day to gather flowers. In a certain locality of Magadha there was a figure of the goddess Kali, the work of a divine artist. To this figure he carried every day an abundance of flowers, bowed before it and prayed full of thought. When Vasanti on one occasion

brought an offering to the goddess, and her husband had gone out at daybreak to pluck flowers, an attendant of hers concealed herself by way of a joke behind the pedestal of the goddess. She was chewing pan at the time, and when the cowherd as usual came to pray she handed him a piece of the betel she was chewing, which he took and swallowed, believing that the goddess herself had really given it. There and then he attained an unlimited intellectual power, and became an eminent authority in logic, in grammar, and in poetry. As he happened to hold in the right hand a day-lotus (padma) and in the left a night-lotus (utpala), Vasanti asked him which he preferred, the beautiful day-lotus with its thick stalk, or the little night-lotus with its delicate stalk; he replied: 'In my right hand the day-lotus, in my left the night-lotus; whether with coarse or delicate stalk, take which thou wilt, O lotus-eyed!' As the lady now perceived that he had gained intelligence, she held him hence-forward in high honour, and as he had shown so much reverence to the goddess Kali he obtained the name of Kalidasa, or the slave of the dark goddess. After this he became the crown-jewel of all poets, and composed the Eight Messengers, the Cloud-Messenger (Meghaduta) and the others, the Kumarasambhava, and the other poetical Sastras. Both he and Saptavarman belonged to the sect of the Heterodox [*i.e.* non-Buddhists]." IV.-Authorities. (From the conclusion.) "If any one ask on what authorities this work depends, let him know that although many fragmentary histories of the origin of the (Buddhist) religion, and stories, have been composed in Tibet, I have not met with any complete and consecutive work; I have therefore, with the exception of a few passages, the credibility of which proves their truth, taken nothing from Tibetan sources. As, however, I have seen and heard the comments of several Guru-Panditas on a work in two thousand slokas composed by Kshemendrabhadra, a Pandita of Magadha, which narrates the history as far as king Ramapala, I have taken this as my foundation, and have completed the history by means of two works, namely the Buddhapurana composed by Pandita Indradatta of a Kshatriya family, in which all the events up to the four Sena kings are fully recorded in 1200 slokas, and the ancient History of the Succession of Teachers (acharyas) composed by the Brahman Pandita Bhataghati. In chronology too I have followed these three works, which agree except in some minor particulars. Their narrations have, as is obvious, a special reference to the rise of religion in the kingdoms of Aparantaka [India proper], but I have not been able to describe its history in Kasmir, Udyana, [Swat], Tukhara, Koki [the Indo-Chinese peninsula], and on the different islands, as I have never seen or heard of any books on the subject.'