A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t4.50

v2.c19.s6.t4.50

The fundamental idea, the glorification of the wonderful redeemer Avalokiteśvara, the "Lord who looks down," *i.e.*, who looks down with infinite pity on all beings,² is the same in both versions of the Kāraṇḍa-Vyūha. Avalokiteśvara here appears as the typical Bodhisattva, who refuses to assume Buddhahood until all beings are redeemed. Avalokiteśvara's one and only task is to bring the doctrine of salvation to all beings, to help all sufferers, to save them from every distress, and to exercise infinite pity that does not even shrink from sin,³ and does not stop at the gates of hell. The early chapters of the Kāraṇḍa-Vyūha describe how he descends into the terrible hell Avīci, in order to release the tortured ones from their torment. No sooner has he entered, than the burning heat is transformed into a pleasant coolness; in place of the cauldron in which millions of the damned boil like pulse, a refreshing lotus-pond appears. The place of torture becomes an abode of joy.¹ From hell Avalokiteśvara goes to the abode of the Pretas and refreshes these ghosts, which are eternally tortured by hunger and thirst, with food and drink. One of his wanderings takes him to Ceylon, where he converts the cannibal witches (Rākṣasīs), thence he goes to Benares, where he preaches the doctrine to beings born as insects and worms, and then to Magadha, where he miraculously rescues the inhabitants from a dreadful famine. In Ceylon he appears as the winged horse Balāha, in order to bear away from the island the shipwrecked ones who had been allured by the witches, and to rescue them from destruction.[^2)