^224:* For a fuller account of this jewel, see <page 207>.

9. THE BUDDHA AVATARA.

This incarnation of Vishnu is "originally foreign to the cycle of the Avataras of Vishnu, and therefore is only briefly alluded to in some of Puranas. Where this is done, the intention must have been to effect a compromise between Brahmanism and Buddhism, by trying to represent the latter religion as not irreconcilably

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BUDDHA.

antagonistic to the former." [**] Colonel Kennedy, [*+] on the other hand, argues that the Buddha of the Puranas and Buddha the founder of the Buddhist system of religion have nothing in common but the name, and that the attempted identification of these two is simply

the work of European scholars, who have not been sufficiently careful to collect information, and to weigh the evidence they have had before them. There can be

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BUDDHIST TEMPLE AND DAGOBA AT KELANIYA, CEYLON.

little doubt that Colonel Kennedy's view is untenable. Seeing the bitter antagonism that existed between the advocates of the rival systems, it need occasion no surprise that full accounts of Buddha are not to be found in Brahmanical books, nor that the meagre accounts that are there should try to represent him as a despicable character. The Brahmanical writers were far too shrewd to admit that one who exerted such immense influence, and won so many disciples, could be other than an incarnation of deity; but as his teaching was opposed to their own they cleverly say that it was to mislead the enemies of the gods that he promulgated his doctrine, that they, becoming weak and wicked through error, might be led once again to seek the help and blessing of those whom they had previously neglected.

The Puranic account of Buddha will be given, supplemented by further particulars of his life and work from Buddhist writings.

In the "Bhagavata Purana" [**] are only four short passages respecting him. "At the commencement of the Kali-yuga will Vishnu become incarnate in Kikata, under the name of Buddha, the son of Jina, for the purpose of deluding the enemies of the gods." "The Undiscernible Being, having assumed a mortal form, preached heretical doctrines in the three cities founded by Maya (and in Kasi), for the purpose of destroying, by deluding them, the enemies of the gods, steadfast in the religion prescribed by the Vedas." "Praise to the pure Buddha, the deluder of the Daityas and the Danavas." "By his words, as Buddha, Vishnu deludes the heretics."

In the Skanda, [*+] the legend, of which the Bhagavata gives but the merest outline, is more fully given. There was a dire famine in the earth, owing to the failure of