Re: Info. on daSAvatArAlu
Sitaramayya Ari (ari@Oakland.edu)
Tue, 7 Jan 1997 15:28:52 -0500 (EST)
On Tue, 7 Jan 1997, Prabhakar Vissavajjhala wrote:
>
> 'buddha' (originally named as 'gaUtama siddhArdha') was supposedly born in
> 500 years B.C. in lumbini gardens (can't be sure of its geographical
> location today. But it was in India). The father was king 'SuddhOdhana' and
> mother was 'mAyAvati'. As the legend had it, based on some of the
> astrologers' predictions, his father brought him up in an extremely-happy
> filled environment, without letting him know what is the misery of/in life.
> However, after marriage (wife: yaSOdhara) once, gaUtama realized the
> miseries of human life and left the kingdom and went in search of finding
> the solutions for the same. He successfully returned as 'buddha'. As the
> legend had it, by that time yaSodhara tries to persuade him to get into the
> family-routine, which obviously he abandoned, he had a son named 'rAhul'.
>
> Coming to my point, 'buddha' opposed some of the 'vEdic' traditions' of his
> time (especially animal sacrifice during 'yAgAs') and preached 'ahimsa' one
> of the most imortant principles of 'buddhism'. Hence, 'buddhism' emerged
> in contrary to 'vEdic' religion. So, the info. I seek now is, who was the
> pioneer, to place 'buddha' among the ten incarnations (daSAvatArAs) of
> 'vishNu' a vEdic god, when 'buddha' is anti-vEdic? Certainly, this is not
> done by 'buddhists' as they neither believe in god, nor they would have
> been interested in projecting 'buddha' that way. If so, it would have been
> done by a 'Hindu'. Certainly, one may quote the 'ashTapadi' of jayadEva
> (praLaya payOdhijalE) describing the 'daSAvatArAs'. However, I strongly
> believe that jayadEva (12th century A.D. of Orissa) was not the pioneer to
> do that. So, who was that great and sensible soul to put 'buddha' among
> 'dasAvatArAs of vishNu' for the first time?
>
Would that be a sensible and great soul who distorted the truth and listed
Buddha among the vedic gods? Or may be distorting is the greatness in
itself?
Sitaramayya Ari.