A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5.11

v2.c19.s6.t5.11

The Paramārthanāma-Saṃgīti⁶ is a hymn of the type which occurs as early as in the Yajurveda, the Mahābhārata and very frequently in the Purāṇas,⁷ that is to say, a litany consisting of an enumeration of names and laudatory epithets of the deity. Another work which is composed mainly for devotional purposes, is a poem in 9 stanzas, the Sapta-Buddha-Stotra, “Praise of the Seven Buddhas,” in which the six Buddhas of previous ages, from Vipaśyin down to Kāśyapa, and then Śākyamuni and the future Buddha Maitreya are worshipped and invoked one after the other; likewise the Naipālīya-Devatā-Kalyāṇa-Pañcaviṁśatikā, by an otherwise unknown “poet” Amṛtānanda, a litany of 25 stanzas, in which the “Nepalese deities,” *i.e.*, a motley list of Buddhas, beginning with Svayambhū, Bodhisattvas, Hindu gods and goddesses, Buddhist personifications, Tīrthas and Caityas, are invoked, amid praises, to send down blessings (kalyāṇa).¹