The Vishnu Purana
Chapters
The Vishnu Purana: Book III: Chapter XVIII

339:4 Here is farther confirmation of the Jains being intended by our text, as the term Arhat is more particularly applied to them, although it is also used by the Buddhists.

340:5 We have therefore the Bauddhas noticed as a distinct set. If the author wrote from a personal knowledge of Buddhists in India, he could not have written much later than the 10th or 11th century.

340:6 That is, according to the commentator, a Śráddha may be performed for a man who is abroad by any of his kinsmen who are tarrying at home; it will be of equal benefit to him as if he offered it himself; he will equally eat of the consecrated food.

340:7 We have in these passages, no doubt, allusion to the Várhaspatyas, or followers of Vrihaspati, who seem to have been numerous and bold at some period anterior to the 14th century. As. Res. XVI. 5.

341:8 We may have in this conflict of the orthodox divinities and heretical Daityas some covert allusion to political troubles, growing out of religious differences, and the final predominance of Brahmanism. Such occurrences seem to have preceded the invasion of India by the Mohammedans, and prepared the way for their victories.

344:9 There is a play upon the word Bali, which means 'tribute,' or 'fragments of a meal scattered abroad to the birds,' &c.

344:10 The legend is peculiar to the Vishńu Puráńa, although the doctrine it inculcates is to be found elsewhere.

345:11 Haitukas, 'causalists;' either the followers of the Nyáya or 'logical' philosophy, or Bauddhas, those who take nothing upon authority, and admit nothing that cannot be proved; or it is explained, those who by argument cast a doubt upon the efficacy of acts of devotion.

Next: Chapter I

Hinduism

« Previous: The Vishnu Purana: Book III: Chapter XVII

Next: The Vishnu Purana: Book IV: Chapter I »