DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.641#0215
2o8 THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY.
family, why should the family name of this race, Goutumu,
be one of the most common names of Booddhu ? As the
capital of the most powerful of the Hindoo monarchs of
this period was in South Behar, if Booddhu was not the
son of one of the Mugiidhu kings, it is possible he belonged
to some branch of the family reigning at Benares, which
was probably then a separate kingdom. In the Temee
J£tii, a history of one of the incarnations of Booddhu, he
is said to have been the son of a king of Benares, and to
have persevered in choosing the life of an ascetic against
every possible artifice and persuasion of his royal parents.
The author has been favoured with a translation of this
work, by Mr. F. Carey, of Rangoon, and has added it at the
close of this account. If then it be admitted, that Booddhu
was a person of royal descent, that he chose an ascetic lifec,
and embraced a system of philosophy already prevalent in
India, the other scenes of the drama require no assistance
from conjecture: he became the patron and idol of the sect
which from this time became distinguished by his name;
he also received the support of the reigning monarchs, who
were attached to him not only by holding the same philo-
sophical opinions, but by the ties of blood.
This sect being thus established by Muhee-putee, the
eleven Bouddhu monarchs who succeeded him, and who
c The disposition manifested by all superstitions nations to honour and
even to deify men remarkable for outward austerity, is particularly ob-
servable amongst the Hindoos. They suppose that such a saint is a divine
oracle, or the visible representative of the deity ; they implicitly receive
bis doctrines, and pay him those honours which they conceive are due
' to gods come down in the likeness of men.' This attachment to eminent
ascetics naturally springs out of the Hindoo system; and to this, the author
conjectures, we are to attribute the origin and prevalence of the three
great schisms among the Hindoos, of Booddhu, of Afanttkli, and of Choi-
t&nyti, all of whom appear to have been religious mendicants.
family, why should the family name of this race, Goutumu,
be one of the most common names of Booddhu ? As the
capital of the most powerful of the Hindoo monarchs of
this period was in South Behar, if Booddhu was not the
son of one of the Mugiidhu kings, it is possible he belonged
to some branch of the family reigning at Benares, which
was probably then a separate kingdom. In the Temee
J£tii, a history of one of the incarnations of Booddhu, he
is said to have been the son of a king of Benares, and to
have persevered in choosing the life of an ascetic against
every possible artifice and persuasion of his royal parents.
The author has been favoured with a translation of this
work, by Mr. F. Carey, of Rangoon, and has added it at the
close of this account. If then it be admitted, that Booddhu
was a person of royal descent, that he chose an ascetic lifec,
and embraced a system of philosophy already prevalent in
India, the other scenes of the drama require no assistance
from conjecture: he became the patron and idol of the sect
which from this time became distinguished by his name;
he also received the support of the reigning monarchs, who
were attached to him not only by holding the same philo-
sophical opinions, but by the ties of blood.
This sect being thus established by Muhee-putee, the
eleven Bouddhu monarchs who succeeded him, and who
c The disposition manifested by all superstitions nations to honour and
even to deify men remarkable for outward austerity, is particularly ob-
servable amongst the Hindoos. They suppose that such a saint is a divine
oracle, or the visible representative of the deity ; they implicitly receive
bis doctrines, and pay him those honours which they conceive are due
' to gods come down in the likeness of men.' This attachment to eminent
ascetics naturally springs out of the Hindoo system; and to this, the author
conjectures, we are to attribute the origin and prevalence of the three
great schisms among the Hindoos, of Booddhu, of Afanttkli, and of Choi-
t&nyti, all of whom appear to have been religious mendicants.