A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5.18
A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5.18
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v2.c19.s6.t5.18
The Bhakti-Śataka, "the Hundred (stanzas) on Bhakti,"² by Rāmacandra Kavibhāratī, a Brahman of Bengal, who came to Ceylon under King Parākramabāhu (about 1245 A.D.) and was converted to Buddhism, affords an example of how the Brahmanical-Indian idea of Bhakti or the love for God, was transferred to Buddha. In this work the Buddha is worshipped and praised, in the ornate style of poetry and in elaborate metres, as the only teacher, redeemer and dispenser of mercies, in precisely the same fashion as Rāma, Kṛṣṇa or Śiva in Brahmanical Bhakti poems. The work might just as well belong to the Mahāyāna as to the Hīnayāna, for it is essentially a Hindu poem as far as ideas are concerned. By way of example, I give a few verses (31-34) in translation :