Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
When Champa was finally conquered the temple was sold to the
Annamites, who admitted that they could not acquire it except by some
special and peaceful arrangement. Even now they still continue the
worship of the goddess though they no longer know who she is[347].
Dong Duong, about twenty kilometres to the south of Mi-son, marks the
site of the ancient capital Indrapura. The monument which has made its
name known differs from those already described. Compared with them it
has some pretensions to be a whole, laid out on a definite plan and it
is Buddhist. It consists of three courts[348] surrounded by walls and
entered by massive porticoes. In the third there are about twenty
buildings and perhaps it did not escape the fault common to Cham
architecture of presenting a collection of disconnected and unrelated
edifices, but still there is clearly an attempt to lead up from the
outermost portico through halls and gateways to the principal shrine.
From an inscription dated 875 A.D. we learn that the ruins are those
of a temple and vihâra erected by King Indravarman and dedicated to
Avalokita under the name of Lakshmîndra Lokeśvara.
3
The religion of Champa was practically identical with that of Camboja.
If the inscriptions of the former tell us more about mukhalingas and
koshas and those of the latter have more allusions to the worship of
the compound deity Hari-hara, this is probably a matter of chance. But
even supposing that different cults were specially prominent at
different places, it seems clear that all the gods and ceremonies
known in Camboja were also known in Champa and _vice versa_. In both
countries the national religion was Hinduism, mainly of the Śivaite
type, accompanied by Mahayanist Buddhism which occasionally came to
the front under royal patronage. In both any indigenous beliefs which
may have existed did not form a separate system. It is probable
however that the goddess known at Po-nagar as Bhagavatî was an ancient
local deity worshipped before the Hindu immigration and an inscription
found at Mi-son recommends those whose eyes are diseased to propitiate
Kuvera and thus secure protection against Ekâkshapingalâ, "the tawny
one-eyed (spirit)." Though this goddess or demon was probably a
creation of local fancy, similar identifications of Kâlî with the
spirits presiding over cholera, smallpox, etc., take place in India.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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