Indian Antiquary Vol 37

SR No.: 032529
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 454
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 222

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1908.
The other gods (outside the family 14 of Râma) mentioned in the Inscription are Nṛisimha (man-lion), and Adi Kola, or boar incarnation, together with Anjaneya or Hanuman, but I could not find any reference to the dwarf incarnation, whose shrine appears to be the oldest on the hill. The statue is still on the hill with one leg raised, bat much mutilated, the details of which may be seen in two similar figures beautifully carved and placed in niches of two temples15 at Purt, within the enclosure of and near the great Jagannath temple. Lastly, the rivers Sura and Kalipâ, which join near Râmtêk and retain their old names are eulogised for their sanctity. It appears to me that this Inscription formed the basis of the Sindúragiri or Ramték Mahatmya, expanded into sixteen Adhydyas as published by a local Press, but at Râmtêk there is said to be a manuscript containing forty-two Adhyayas.
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Nagarjuna.
The most interesting place appears to be the cave of Nagarjuna, over the entrance of which a Mâlguzar has recently set-up a structure, to give it an appearance of a temple. This makes the place conspicuous, as the solitary white speck on the eastern end of the mountain can be seen from a long distance. Inside the cave there is placed a figure of Naga, and a human head supposed to represent Arjuna, worshipped with a meaning satisfactory to the vulgar. Those who claim to be more informed tell the tradition that Nâgârjuna was a Brahman, who practised severe austerities in that cave, long before the advent of Râma to Râmtêk. His penances ultimately secured him the boon that he would be an era-maker like Sâlivâhana or Vikramaditya. This is yet to come, and the people believe it will.
I am inclined to believe that this tradition has some facts underlying it. It discloses that one Nagarjuna lived in that cave long before the construction of Râma's temples, and although the evidence is not very great at present, I venture to surmise that this Nagarjuna was the great Buddhist reformer of ancient India, the founder of the Madhyamika philosophy. He appears in literature as a man of remarkable genius, as an almost universal scholar, a Buddhist religious enthusiast of rare liberality, a profound philosopher, a poet, and author of great literary abilities and an intense lover of his species.'16 It was not only as an apostle of Buddhism, however, that Nagarjuna was famous in his life-time and long afterwards both in his own land and foreign countries. He was also trained in all the learning of a Bramanical student; he knew the virtues and qualities of herbs, the secret influences of the stars, the science of alchemy and the arts of the magician and exorcist. He was so renowned as a physician and eye-doctor that the fame of his success reached China. Mr. Thomas Watters considers that he probably lived about the 3rd century A. D., and the general testimony as to his native place is that he was born in Vidarbha.
14 Sit and her sons, Kusa and Lava and Lakshamana, whom the composer of the Inscription describes paradoxically; mal&putramaytm iva kahitim imas vibhrach chhirobhir vibhu Brt Ramaratare hartḥ sahachraral Samkho 2 py abamkhátmakak. Lakshmana though a snake (éamkha) by being an incarnation of Seshaniga, is not snake-souled.
15 I observed a slight difference in the subordinate figures of these statues. In the Ramtek statue there is a figure close to the leg on the ground, and an absurd story has been invented to the effect that the whole represents a brother and sister, the former kicking the latter (which the uplifted leg suggests), with the result that for that sin he got maggots in his other leg, which the sister, out of compassion for her brother, is pioking ont. Tho popular name of this statue is Bhau bahin,' i. e., brother and sister.
16 Watters' Yuan Chwang, Vol. II, p. 203 ff.