The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c12.14

c12.14

But, first of all, it is relevant to present briefly to the non-Orientalist reader the goddess whose acquaintance we invite him to make. In truth, she was originally only a fairy, and even a wicked fairy. By birth she, as well as her troup of imps, belonged to the race, often maleficent, of spirits of the air (*yaksha*), in whom popular Indian belief had, and still has, a habit of incarnating contagious maladies. She herself personified the most pitiless of infantile epidemics. It is well known that in the India of the present day, in spite of the progress of vaccination, small-pox is dreaded to such an extent that it is still the custom not to reckon children among the members of the family until they have victoriously passed through the trial of this terrible disease. This is why the « green » Hâritî still receives from the Buddhists of Nepal the worship which the Hindus of the plains address to the « cold » Çitalâ. That she should have ended by transforming herself from a formidable scourge into a beneficent divinity will not surprise any student of religions. Of course, there was a legend to explain this transmutation of worthless lead into pure gold. Buddha in person had once converted the *yakshinî* who decimated, or (as is metaphorically written) pitilessly « devoured », the children of the town of Râjagriha (now Râjgir, in Behar). In order to convert her to more human feelings, he decided to deprive her for a time of Pingala, the last and most loved of her five hundred sons. Some even relate that the Master hid Pingala under his inverted alms-vase : and on Chinese paintings we do, in fact, see hordes of demons vainly endeavouring by the help of cranes and levers to turn over the huge bowl, in which the little genius is imprisoned (¹). However this may be, the stratagem succeeded. The grief caused to Hâritî by this momentary separation made her return to herself, or, better, put herself in the place of simple mortals, whom she had at times robbed of their sole offspring : she swore never to do so again. However, every one must live, even the wicked who repent. As soon as she is converted, the ogress mother respectfully calls the attention of the Master to the fact that the first precept of his morality, by interdicting all homicide, really condemns her and her five hundred sons to die of hunger; and Buddha, much struck by the justice of this remark, promises that henceforth in all convents his monks shall offer a daily pittance, of course on condition that she and hers faithfully observe their vows...