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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1904.
uncompromising convictions; the avowed and officially proclaimed predilection does not amount to a passion, still less to intolerance. Although they profess themselves fervent worshippers of Bhagavat, of Mahēsvara, of Sugata, &c. (parama-bhagavata, p-mahesvara po-saugata), the Gupta kings, those of Valabhí, the race of Harsha, and many other royal families, distribute none the less their eclectic favours among all the clergy and all confessions (see, e. g., my Donations religieuses des rois de Valabhi, in the Mémoires de la section des Sciences religieuses, 1896, pp. 75-100). Without refusing to Buddhism the freedom of circumstance, the 'Satakarnis proclaim their pretensions to Brahmanical orthodoxy. Their epigraphy opens at Nānāghat with a long nomenclature of grand Vēdie sacrifices and magnificent salaries paid to Brāhmans by a prince of their family. From Götamiputa onwards, at least, each of the kings. is careful to affirm his relationship to the great Brahmanic clans : Götamiputra, Väsishthipatra, &c. Gotanipata, the hero of the Nāsik prasasti, is exalted as "the Brähman par excellence" (aka-banhana); he has increased the prosperity [117] of the families of the Brāhmans (dijā. vara-kutuba-vivadhana); he has accomplished the fundamental and essential work of Brahmanism, by putting a stop to confusion among the castes which is the abomination of desolation in society governed by Brahmanic law (vinseatita-chatuvara-sakara); the medels which he recalls are the heroes of the Brahmanic epic: Răma, Kēšava, Arjana, Bhimasēna, Janamējaya, Sagara, Yayati, Nahusha. The Puranas also have faithfully enrolled the list of Satakarni kings in the succession of the dynasties which represent across the dislocation of Indian history tho orthodox transmission of sovereign power.
The Kshatrapas, on the contrary, are strangers, change-masters, imposed by the conquest; of Scythian origin confounded with the Greeks, with whom tradition continually associates them (Saka-Yavana), they have introdueed into India the great religious indifference which characterises their race, which manifests itself in the Helleno-Irano-Indian pantheon of the coins of the Kushanas as well as in the universal religiousity of the Mogal. Akbar. It is not upon them that the Brahmans must count for the restoration of their influence; their mere presence in power is an insult to orthodoxy. Buddhism, on the other hand, greets and wel oomes with favour these curious and childish barbarians, always ready to adopt & new faith without abandoning their ancient gods, happy and flattered to naturalize their families and their gods in the classic soil of fabulous riches and of the [118] all-powerful magi; it satisfies therewith its thirst for propagation, its ardoar for apostleship ; it preaches its holy truths to them, its ideal of gentleness and charity. Rudradāman flatters himself to have " kept his promise to respect human life, except in combat" (purusha-vadha-nivrilti-krita-satya-pratijaona anya(tra) sasigrāmēsku). The immortal glory of Kanishka, still spread over all oriental Asia, attests at what price the Church knew how to pay for the adherence of these barbarians.
Sanskrit has remained for the Hindu of the present day a sacred language, of magic power, powerful by its ay Mables, its sounds and its particles; it is a superhuman language which commands the forces of nature. Buddhism itself has in time placed itself at the service of this superstition. The priests who stilt study the rudiments of Sanskrit in Tibet, China, and Japan, believe the combinations of the alphabet to possess mysterious forces. An object decorated with the Sanskrit character is sacred ; to use it outside of religious observance is to commit sacrilege. The Sakas must have found the same prejudico in force when they penetrated into India; bat, exploited by the Brahmans for their own profit, the prejudice must have had for adversaries the other rival confessions of Brahmanism, such as Buddhism and Jainism, which keep their canonical and traditional scriptures in Prakrit editions. Two or three centuries earlier, [119] Asoka doubtless had not so much as thought of borrowing Sanskrit from the Brahmanic schools to use in his inscriptions; but India, unchangeable only in appearance, had changed since then ; continued relations with the Hellenic world had introduced new ideas; the invasion of the Sakas and the Turash kas had established barbarian dynasties in the very heart of the country, at Mathurā, at Ujjayini. Buddhists and Jains aspired to appropriate the language of which the Brahmatus had kept the official monopoly.
