A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c6.88

c6.88

Up to the present day there is no religion of the world more extensively prevalent than the religion of Buddha¹; and though it has been banished from the soil of India, and no living follower of this creed is now to be met with in that country ¹, yet it has found a refuge and second home in Ceylon, Siam, Ava, Pegu, the Birman Empire, China, Tibet, Tatary, Mongolia and Siberia, and is, even in its present corruption, looked upon and practised as the only true system of faith and worship by many millions of human beings. Truly, then, the moment when this religious doctrine took its origin in India is an era in the intellectual history of the world; and, from an historical point of view, India may be considered, at that time, as passing through the meridian of history. The most accurate observers of the progress of the Indian mind have, therefore, chosen this moment as the most favourable for fixing, historically and chronologically, the position of India: Professor Wilson in his "Viṣṇu-Purāṇa," Professor Burnouf in his "Introduction to the History of Buddhism," and Professor Lassen in his "Indian Antiquities."