History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.276

v7.c91.276

Kumārila (7th century A. D ) did not accept Buddha as an avatāra, though about that century some people had come to recognize him as such (vide note 1629). Besides, as shown above, there were many views about the total number of avatāras, their names and the order in which they appeared. Vide Dr. Katre's paper in Allahabad University Studies, vol. X. pp 37-130 for discussion on 33 avatāras. The Varāha avatāra is mentioned in the Eran stone Boar¹⁶²⁹ Inscription of Toramāna (Gupta inscriptions pp 158-160) in the first quarter of the 6th century. The Raghuvamśa (IV. 53 and 58) refers to the recovery of land near the Sahya mountain from the Western Sea by Rāma (Bhārgava); vide pp. 89-90 and note 224 above for references in the Mahābhārata and Purānas to Paraśurāma's exploits. The Sarvānukramanī p 42 on Rg. X. 110 names as rsi Jamadagni or his son Rāma The Meghadūta mentions the planting of the left foot of Visnu on Bali (i. e. the Vāmana avatāra). Māgha in Śiśupāla-vadha (XV. 58) regards Bodhisattva (Buddha) as an avatāra of Hari and as sought to be tempted by the hordes of Māra. Māgha¹⁶³⁰ flourished about 725-775 A. D. The knowledge of Vāmana and Krsna avatāras can be carried back centuries before the Mahābhāsya of Patañjali, since it refers to works and dramatic representations of the imprisonment of Bali and the killing of Kamsa (vide pp. 130, 203 and notes 330, 521 above). In the Daśāvatāra cave at Ellora one sees the representations of Varāha, Narasimha, Vāmana and Krsna. These caves are ascribed to the 8th century A. D.¹⁶³¹ Therefore, it appears almost certain that some at least (viz. Vāmana, Paraśurāma and Krsna) of the usual ten avatāras had been recognised some centuries before Christ and all ten had come to be recognised by some writers and other people before the 7th century A D.