DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0074
42
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
Avatar takes us back to Rama, who, if our chronology is
correct, may have lived B.C. 2000 ; the fourth—Narasimha, or the
man lion—may possibly point to the time the Aryans entered
India. The three first deal with creation and events anterior
to man’s appearance on earth. In this respect the Vaishnava
list differs from the other two. They only record the exist-
ence of men who attained greatness by the practice of virtue,
and immortality by teaching the ways of emancipation from
rebirths. The Vaishnavas brought their god to earth, to mix
and interfere in mundane affairs in a manner that neither the
earlier Aryan nor the Buddhist dreamt of, and so degraded the
earlier religion of India into the monstrous system of idolatry
that now prevails in that country.
No attempt, so far as I know, has been made to explain
the origin of the Naiva religion ; it was, however, most probably
an aboriginal superstition assimilated by the Brahmans. The
earliest authentic written allusion to it seems to be that of the
Indian ambassador to Bardisanes (cir. A.D. 220), who described a
cave in the north of India which contained an image of a god,
half-man, half-woman.1 This is beyond doubt the Ardhanama
form of Niva, so familiar afterwards at Elephanta and in every
part of India. The earliest engraved representations of this
god seem to be those on the coins of Kadphises II. (about 80 to
90 A.D.), where the figure with the trident and the Bull certainly
prefigure the principal personage in this religion.2 Besides all
this, it seems now tolerably well ascertained, that the practice
of endowing gods with a multiplicity of limbs took a much
greater development in Tibet and the trans-Himalayan countries
than in India, and that the wildest Tantric forms of Durga and
other divinities or demons are more common and more developed
in Nepal and Tibet than they are even in India Proper.3 If
this is so, it seems pretty clear, as the evidence now stands,
that Naivism is an aboriginal or northern superstition—possibly
introduced into India by some of the northern hordes who
migrated into India long before the Christian Era.
It is also only too true that no attempt has yet been made
to ascertain what the religion of the Dravidians was before
they adopted either the Jaina or the Vaishnava or Naiva forms
of religion. It is possible that among the Pdndu Kallus, and
other forms of ‘ Rude Stone Monuments’ that are found every-
1 Stobreus, ‘ Physica,’ Gaisford’s ed. j India,’ pp. 124-128, plate 25, and
p. 54; see also Priaulx, ‘ India and i introd. p. 50.
Rome,’ p. 153; Burgess, ‘Rock-Temples ! 3 Compare Griinwedel’s ‘ Mythologie
of Elephanta,’ 8vo ed. p. 67. j des Buddhismus in Tibet und der
2 Wilson’s ‘ Ariana Antiqua,’plates 10, | Mongolei.’ Buddhist figures have been
II ; P. Gardner’s ‘ Coins of the Greek j subjected to the same treatment as the
and Scythic Kings of Bactria and I Hindu gods: to make them demoniac.
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
Avatar takes us back to Rama, who, if our chronology is
correct, may have lived B.C. 2000 ; the fourth—Narasimha, or the
man lion—may possibly point to the time the Aryans entered
India. The three first deal with creation and events anterior
to man’s appearance on earth. In this respect the Vaishnava
list differs from the other two. They only record the exist-
ence of men who attained greatness by the practice of virtue,
and immortality by teaching the ways of emancipation from
rebirths. The Vaishnavas brought their god to earth, to mix
and interfere in mundane affairs in a manner that neither the
earlier Aryan nor the Buddhist dreamt of, and so degraded the
earlier religion of India into the monstrous system of idolatry
that now prevails in that country.
No attempt, so far as I know, has been made to explain
the origin of the Naiva religion ; it was, however, most probably
an aboriginal superstition assimilated by the Brahmans. The
earliest authentic written allusion to it seems to be that of the
Indian ambassador to Bardisanes (cir. A.D. 220), who described a
cave in the north of India which contained an image of a god,
half-man, half-woman.1 This is beyond doubt the Ardhanama
form of Niva, so familiar afterwards at Elephanta and in every
part of India. The earliest engraved representations of this
god seem to be those on the coins of Kadphises II. (about 80 to
90 A.D.), where the figure with the trident and the Bull certainly
prefigure the principal personage in this religion.2 Besides all
this, it seems now tolerably well ascertained, that the practice
of endowing gods with a multiplicity of limbs took a much
greater development in Tibet and the trans-Himalayan countries
than in India, and that the wildest Tantric forms of Durga and
other divinities or demons are more common and more developed
in Nepal and Tibet than they are even in India Proper.3 If
this is so, it seems pretty clear, as the evidence now stands,
that Naivism is an aboriginal or northern superstition—possibly
introduced into India by some of the northern hordes who
migrated into India long before the Christian Era.
It is also only too true that no attempt has yet been made
to ascertain what the religion of the Dravidians was before
they adopted either the Jaina or the Vaishnava or Naiva forms
of religion. It is possible that among the Pdndu Kallus, and
other forms of ‘ Rude Stone Monuments’ that are found every-
1 Stobreus, ‘ Physica,’ Gaisford’s ed. j India,’ pp. 124-128, plate 25, and
p. 54; see also Priaulx, ‘ India and i introd. p. 50.
Rome,’ p. 153; Burgess, ‘Rock-Temples ! 3 Compare Griinwedel’s ‘ Mythologie
of Elephanta,’ 8vo ed. p. 67. j des Buddhismus in Tibet und der
2 Wilson’s ‘ Ariana Antiqua,’plates 10, | Mongolei.’ Buddhist figures have been
II ; P. Gardner’s ‘ Coins of the Greek j subjected to the same treatment as the
and Scythic Kings of Bactria and I Hindu gods: to make them demoniac.