[Footnote 325:  Chap.  XLIII.  But this seems hardly consistent with his other statements.]

[Footnote 326:  The Lamas in Tibet have a similar theory of progressive tantric revelation.  See Waddell, Buddhism of Tibet, pp. 56, 57.]

[Footnote 327:  In the reign of Mahipala, 978-1030 A.D.]

[Footnote 328:  Taranatha, p. 275.  For the whole subject see Gruenwedel, Mythologie des Buddhismus, pp. 41-2 and my chapters on Tibet below.]

[Footnote 329:  Schiefner (transl.  Taranatha, p. 221) describes these Sravakas or Hinayanists as “Saindhavas welche Cravakas aus Simhala u.s.w. waren.”  They are apparently the same as the Saindhava-cravakas often mentioned by Taranatha.  Are they Hinayanists from Sindh where the Sammitiya school was prevalent?  See also Pag Sam Jon Zang, pp. cxix, 114 and 134 where Sarat Chandra Das explains Sendha-pa as a brahmanical sect.]

[Footnote 330:  The curious story (Taranatha, p. 206) in which a Buddhist at first refuses on religious grounds to take part in the evocation of a demon seems also to hint at a disapproval of magic.]

[Footnote 331:  This passage was written about 1910.  In the curious temple at Gaya called Bishnupad the chief object of veneration is a foot-like mark.  Such impressions are venerated in many parts of the world as Buddha’s feet and it seems probable, considering the locality, that this footprint was attributed to Buddha before it was transferred to Vishnu.]

[Footnote 332:  There are no very early references to this Avatara.  It is mentioned in some of the Puranas (e.g. Bhagavata and Agni) and by Kshemendra.]

[Footnote 333:  But see the instances quoted above from Kashmir and Nepal.]

BOOK V

HINDUISM

The present book deals with Hinduism and includes the period just treated in Book IV.  In many epochs the same mythological and metaphysical ideas appear in a double form, Brahmanic and Buddhist, and it is hard to say which form is the earlier.

Any work which like the present adopts a geographical and historical treatment is bound to make Buddhism seem more important than Hinduism and rightly, for the conversion and transformation of China, Japan and many other countries are a series of exploits of great moment for the history not merely of religion but of civilization.  Yet when I think of the antiquity, variety and vitality of Hinduism in India—­no small sphere—­the nine chapters which follow seem very inadequate.  I can only urge that though it would be easy to fill an encyclopaedia with accounts of Indian beliefs and practices, yet there is often great similarity under superficial differences:  the main lines of thought are less numerous than they seem to be at first sight and they tend to converge.

CHAPTER XXV

SIVA AND VISHNU