[Footnote 1150:  Strictly speaking there is nothing final about Maitreya who is merely the next in an infinite series of Buddhas, but practically his figure has many analogies to Soshyos or Saoshant, the Parsi saviour and renovator of the world.]

[Footnote 1151:  See chap.  XLI. p. 220.]

[Footnote 1152:  See chap, on Mahayana, VI.]

[Footnote 1153:  A convenient statement of what is known about this cult will be found in Bhandarkar, Vaishnavism and Saivism, part II. chap.  XVI.]

[Footnote 1154:  Chap. 60. 19.  The work probably dates from about 650 A.D.]

[Footnote 1155:  Chap. 139.  See, for extracts from the text, Aufrecht.  Cat.  Cod.  Sansc. p. 30.]

[Footnote 1156:  For Sakadvipa see Vishnu, p.  II.  IV. where it is said that Brahmans are called there Mriga or Maga and Kshattriyas Magadha.  The name clearly means the country of the Sakas who were regarded as Zoroastrians, whether they were Iranian by race or not.  But the topography is imaginary, for in this fanciful geography India is the central continent and Sakadvipa the sixth, whereas if it means Persia or the countries of the Oxus it ought to be near India.]

[Footnote 1157:  The Garuda may itself be of Persian provenance, for birds play a considerable part in Persian mythology.]

[Footnote 1158:  The Aivyaonghen of the Avesta.]

[Footnote 1159:  Watters, vol.  II. 254, and Life, chap.  IV.]

[Footnote 1160:  Taranatha, tr.  Schiefner, p. 128, and Vincent Smith’s remarks in Early History, p. 347, note 2.]

[Footnote 1161:  See Rajendralala Mitra, Antiquities of Orissa, vol. n. p. 145.  He also quotes the Samba Purana.  The temple is said to have been built between 1240 and 1280 but the beauty of its architecture suggests an earlier date.]

[Footnote 1162:  58. 47.]

[Footnote 1163:  See Epig.  Ind. 72-73.]

CHAPTER LVIII

MOHAMMEDANISM IN INDIA

Let us now turn to Mohammedanism.  This is different from the cases which we have been considering and we need not trouble ourselves with any enquiry into opportunities and possibilities.  The presence and strength of the Prophet’s religion in India are patent facts and it is surprising that the result has not been greater.

The chief and most obvious method by which Islam influenced India was the series of invasions, culminating in the Mughal conquest, which poured through the mountain passes of the north-west frontier.  But there was also long established communication and to some extent intermigration between the west coast and Mohammedan countries such as Arabia and Persia.  Compared with the enormous political and social changes wrought by the land invasions, the results of this maritime intercourse may seem unworthy of mention.  Yet for the interchange of ideas it was not without importance,