History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.58.3

v3.c37.58.3

Even about that time he was not universally so treated and orthodox writers like Kumārila (who flourished somewhere about 650 to 750 A. D.) did not admit that he was an avatāra. In his Tantravārtika (p. 195 on Jaimini I. 3. 4) Kumārilabhaṭṭa says that the Śākya texts were promulgated by Buddha and others that had strayed from the path of the three Vedas and that acted contrary to the Vedas and asks ¹⁷²⁶ the question "what assurance is there that one, who, himself being a kṣatriya, transgressed the dharma laid down for kṣatriyas and betook himself to the profession of a religious teacher and accepted gifts, would impart instruction in dharma that would not lead to confusion? It has been said 'one should leave at a distance a person who does acts contrary to the other world. How can one who deceives himself confer benefit on another'"? The Bṛhatsaṁhitā of Varāhamihira (60. 19) states the persons who are to hold the office of worshipper in the temples of several deities, viz. the Bhāgavatas for Viṣṇu, the Magas (Śākadvīpīya brāhmaṇas) in temples of the sun, *dvijas* smeared with ashes in Śiva temples, those who know the group of *mātṛs* in the temples of the Mother Goddesses, brāhmaṇas in the temples of Brahmā, Buddhists in the temples of Buddha who was good to all and whose mind was full of peace, naked ascetics in the temples of Jinas; whoever is a devotee of a particular god should worship that god according to the procedure prescribed in his own cult.¹⁷²⁷