BUDDHISM.

CHAPTER XVI.

CAVE TEMPLES OF ELEPHANTA AND SALSETTE. ROCK TEMPLES OF ELLORA.-THE JAINS. THE PARSIS. THE JEWS.-THE

MOHAMMEDANS.

THE reference occasionally made in this little work to Buddhism seems to demand some notice of its doctrines. The former prevalence of this system in the Indian peninsula; its present existence and influence in India, in the adjacent countries of Birmah, China, and Ceylon; as well as the antiquities connected with it, and which must be briefly described, seem to require some account of its principles. The devices on ancient coins found in India; the discovery, in places wide apart, of Buddhistic relics and symbols; the extraordinary excavations and their sculptures and inscriptions in various parts of India and Ceylon, and the blending of Brahmanical with Buddhistic imagery in some of the ancient cave temples, sufficiently attest the power this system once obtained. At one period it struggled hard with Brahmanism for dominion. Although it may not be conceded that Buddhism was anterior to Brahmanism, or that it ever occupied in India a pre-eminent position, it was at one epoch co-extensive with it, and for a time rose to superiority. It appears to have extended as far north as the Caucasian range. Some of the most illustrious monarchs of India were numbered among its disciples,-monarchs who made treaties with Antiochus the Great, and who successfully opposed the Greeks of Bactria. It seems at one time to have occupied a place side by side with Brahmanism and Mithraism in the worship of the Hindu Scythians. India gave its Buddhism to China: it conveyed the Buddhistic faith into that country

not long after the birth of Christ; and it is now the religion of three hundred and seventy-four millions of our fellow-men in that vast empire. It is also the religion of Thibet, Tartary, Birmah, Siam, Japan, and south and central Ceylon. Upwards of five hundred millions of the human family are at this moment the adherents of Buddhism and Brahmanism, a fact too significant to allow the philanthropist to pass over the inquiry into their principles. Under these impressions it is deemed right to occupy a page or two with a few remarks on this widely extended system of religion.

It is probable that both the systems of Brahma and of Buddha had a common origin, the former having the precedence in the order of time. The extravagant pantheism of the Brahmanical schools of philosophy seems to have created a reaction in certain minds, which resulted in the Buddhistic theory. The pantheist taught that there is only one sole, self-existing being-God; that all things are God. The revulsion of mind from this extraordinary doctrine produced the denial of the existence of a supreme Intelligence, and the persuasion that no such being as God exists at all. Thus pantheism was met by the opposite extreme of atheism. The Brahmanical theory resolves all things into spirit, to the exclusion of matter, whose existence he denies; and the Buddhistic theory resolves all things into matter, to the exclusion of spirit, whose being it ignores.

There are strong reasons for concluding that the Egyptian, Chaldean, Sabæan and Indian systems, in which the sun occupies so prominent a place as an object of adoration, had a common origin.

About the commencement of the Christian era, a fierce struggle was maintained between the followers of Brahmanism and Buddhism, that ended in the entire expulsion of the latter from India: the precise date of this event has not yet been ascertained.

The Budha at present revered was born at Pataliputra or the modern Patna, on the Ganges, B.C. 623; attained the

perfection which raised him to the deified position of Budha, B.C. 588; and died at the age of eighty, B.C. 543. The Buddhistic system teaches that every individual born into the world may become Budha, as being equally eligible for the attainment of the highest intellectual perfection, and consequent final beatitude, which consists in the extinction or cessation of being. Budha is not worshipped as a deity, or a still existent or active agent of benevolence and power; he is venerated as a remembrancer, an exemplar, the effulgence of whose purity is to serve as a guide and incentive to the future struggles and aspirations of mankind. The sole superiority which his doctrines admit is that of goodness and wisdom; and Budha himself, having attained to this perfection by the immaculate righteousness of his actions, the absolute subjugation of his passions, and the unerring accuracy of his unlimited knowledge, became entitled to the homage of all, and was required to render it to none.

This system interweaves with itself the doctrine of the metempsychosis; it teaches a series of existences, but denies that the present body or soul had ever a prior existence. The present existence is the effect of previous being, as a tree is of an antecedent seed or tree: it is not the tree from which the originating seed or tree came-desire produces the future existence. The past being terminates; the supervening existence arises from the cherished passion of that which has ceased to be. The metaphor of a lamp, as well as that of a tree is employed to illustrate this dogma. One lamp is employed to light another, but the lighted lamp is not the one from which the light was derived. Final beatitude, or the escape of the soul from existence, is not absorption into the Supreme Essence,-that is denied to exist at all,-but a complete and final cessation of being: hence Buddhism differs from Brahmanism.

As to the visible universe, that is the self-originated result of procession from eternal matter, this eternal matter is naturally subject at remote intervals to decay and formation;

but this and the organization of animal life, are but the results of spontaneity and procession, not the products of will and design on the part of an all-powerful Creator.

Such are the leading principles of this system as regards the condition of things animate and inanimate. The notions of the Buddhists on geography and astronomy, the existence of superior and inferior worlds, the existence of supernals and infernals, and places of temporary enjoyment and misery, are much the same as those of the Hindus.

These notices of the Buddhistic religion, although very short, will suffice in relation to the object of their introduction, which is that of elucidating some of the peculiarities found among the antiquities of India. They may also be useful to some who may wish to understand the peculiarities of religious belief existing among eastern tribes. In my intercourse with intelligent friends in England, the question has often been raised as to the difference which exists between the systems of the Brahmanists and the Buddhists; the preceding paragraphs may serve to convey to any into whose hands this little volume may come, the information which some may desiderate.

In this chapter it is proposed to give a brief account of some of the most remarkable antiquities; but the notices will be short, and made in subservience to the main object pursued, that of casting light on the opinions, observances, and religious establishments of the Hindus. In many parts of India and Ceylon there are numerous places sacred to the objects of religion, and for which a deep veneration is cherished by the people. Some of these hallowed spots are the natural features of the country, as mountains, rivers, waterfalls, promontories, and other objects, which have become famous by some real or supposed event connected with them in the legendary stories of Hindu literature. The lofty Himalayas, the Ganges, Adam's Peak, Ramisseram, Cape Comorin, and other places, are regarded with intense interest by all earnest Hindus who are conversant with the stories

recorded in the popular literature, and they are consequently visited by pilgrims from every part of the country.

Besides these, and similar objects, there are monuments of art that attest the zeal and munificence of those who originated them: such are the extensive excavations, the cavern temples and monasteries, and the rock or monolithic temples, in the provinces of Bombay and on the eastern coast. To some of these interesting objects it is now proposed to direct attention; and, in the first place, I shall endeavour to describe briefly the wonderful caves in the Presidency of Bombay, some of which I had the opportunity of visiting previous to my departure from India. The antiquities of the class under review are so numerous and extensive, that it were impossible to do more in this brief survey than make a few references to their number and character; the chief may be enumerated, and one or two selected for more particular description.

The most remarkable cavern and rock temples are at Karli, Ajantá, Nasik, Ellora, Salsette, Elephanta, and Mahavalipuram. The architecture of the caves is monumental in its character, possessing much of the colossal grandeur and vastness of the Egyptian style, with which it harmonizes in its general outline and design. In the absence of any distinct base, and in the exhibition of double capitals peculiar to Egypt, and in the sculptured figure of a devotee or saint instead of Isis, on the capitals, the Indian cave pillars are similar to those of Egypt. When I visited the excavations of Egypt after my departure from India, I could have imagined myself again at Salsette, had not the subjacent valley of the Nile served to dispel the illusion: I refer more particularly to the minor excavations at Beni Hassan and Tel-el-Amana. It may be remarked that in the excavations of Egypt there is a lightness and beauty that create a cheerful feeling rarely felt in viewing similar monuments in India. The cave of Elephanta seems pervaded with a sentimental gloom that is not dissipated by a near inspection of its