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the opinion expressed by Oldenburg. is be lieved, by almost all to be the true one. "It is evident" says Prof. Oldenburg "that Buddha was a head of the monastic order of the very same type as that to which Nataputta belonged, that he journeyed from town to town in the garb and with all the external circumstances of an ascetic, taught and gathered round himself a band of disciples to whom he gave simple ordinances." Max Muller has expressed himself emphatically against those who consider Buddha to be a mythical personage and not an historical personality. He says 'I can not help thinking that it was Buddha's marked personality far more than his doctrine, that gave him the great influence on his contemporaries, and on so many generations after his death. Whether he existed or not such as he is described in the Suttas, there must have been some one, not a mere name, but a real power in the history of India, a man who made a new epoch in the growth of Indian
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
