The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c14.152

c14.152

As we don't find asceticism—perhaps even for this reason—mentioned among what are called in the Mahâsîla "low arts and swindling practices," magic incantations, the knowledge of which among the Brâhmaṇas was taken for granted by King Juṇha, were looked upon as such by the Buddhists. The long list of magic incantations enumerated in the Mahâsîla shows that the most ancient practice of magic was widely prevalent among the Brâhmaṇas; of some of these *mantas* and their employment we read even in the Jâtakas. In the Vedabbha Jâtaka (I. 253) we meet with a Brâhmaṇa who being in possession of the knowledge of *vedabbhamanta* can bring about a rain of precious stones at a certain position of the stars; another Brâhmaṇa knows the magic practice with the help of which one conquers the earth (pathavijayamanta, II. 243). In the same category as the knowledge of these magic formulæ belong sciences, mentioned likewise in the Mahâsîla, like knowledge of people and animal languages, which are ascribed in the Maccha Jâtaka to the purohita, (so pana sabbaru-taññu hoti, I. 211) and further, the vatthuvijjâ, i.e., the art of knowing through supernatural signs the correct position of a house, a cloth, etc. In the Suruci Jâtaka the king who wants to build a palace for his son summons the teachers of this art (vatthuvijjâcariyas, IV. 323) and lets them find an auspicious place for the building.