A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t5.5

v2.c19.s6.t5.5

Just as this Māhātmya is composed in the true manner of the Viṣṇuite and Śivaite Māhātmyas, similarly the sole difference between the Buddhistic Stotras or hymns, and those which are dedicated to the worship of Viṣṇu or Śiva, lies in the names of the divine beings which are the objects of adoration. Some of these Stotras are the works of well known poets in the ornate style of poetry and in elaborate metres, others are litanies after the manner of those which we find in the Purāṇas. A few of such Stotras also gained admittance to earlier texts, such as the Mahāvastu, Lalita-Vistara and others. The hymns of Mātṛceṭa have already been mentioned. We have a collection of four hymns (Catuḥstava) of Nāgārjuna in the Tibetan translation.¹ King Harṣavardhana (600-647 A.D.), who, under the influence of the Chinese pilgrim Hsüan-Tsang, leaned more and more strongly towards Buddhism during the last years of his life, composed a Suprabhāta-Stotra,² a morning hymn in praise of Buddha, in 24 verses, and an Aṣṭa-Mahā-Śrīcaitya-Stotra,³ a "hymn in praise of the eight great shrines," in 5 stanzas. The poet Vajradatta, who lived under King Devapāla in the 9th century, is the author of the Lokeśvara-Śataka, the "Hundred (stanzas) in praise of Lokeśvara."⁴ Legend has it, that the poet became a leper owing to a curse. He implored Lokeśvara, *i.e.*, Avalokiteśvara, to help him, and each day he composed an elaborate Sragdharā stanza in praise of him. When three months had gone by, and he had completed the hundredth stanza, the Bodhisattva appeared to him, and he was healed.⁵ In this very elaborate poem Avalokiteśvara is described in the greatest detail from his fingers to his toes, his fifty names are enumerated, and his qualities, his love and his mercy glorified.