A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5.1

v2.c19.s6.t5.1

Repeated reference has already been made to the great similarity between the Mahāyāna-Sūtras and the Purāṇas. We have seen that in the ancient Purāṇas, many texts which were connected with the cult of the Hindu gods, were included or appended, such as Māhātmyas, Stotras and Kalpas.⁴ In the same way there is also a Buddhistic "Purāṇa," the Svayambhū-Purāṇa, which is not really a Purāṇa, but a Māhātmya. It is a glorification of the holy places in Nepal, especially the Svayambhū-Caitya near Kathmandu. The work is a manual for pilgrims, and therefore also contains descriptions of ceremonies (*e.g.*, for the worship of Nāgas so as to obtain rain) and many a legend attaching to the various holy places. Thus for instance in Chapter IV the Maṇicūḍāvadāna¹ is told by way of glorifying the river Maṇirohiṇī. In the Svayambhū-Purāṇa, Svayambhū, “the Self-Existent,” which is in Hinduism one of the names of the god Brahman, appears as the king and teacher of the world, seated on a wondrous lotus, the root of which had been planted in bygone ages by an earlier Buddha. There are five different recensions of the work, which differ from one another more in their external form than in contents.² None of the recensions can, however, lay claim to very great antiquity. Perhaps the work was not written earlier than the 16th century.