to expose the foolish puerilities, into which our unfortunate fellow-subjects, now unable to defend themselves, have fallen; but to shew the truth that, fallen as they are, they once possessed a religion refined and beautiful.
M. Creuzer[1] says, “There is not in all history and antiquity perhaps a question at the same time more important and more difficult than that concerning Buddha.” He then acknowledges that by his name, his astronomical character, and close connexion, not only with the mythology and philosophy of the Brahmins, but with a great number of other religions, this personage, truly mysterious, seems to lose himself in the night of time, and to attach himself by a secret bond to every thing which is obscure in the East and in the West. I apprehend the reason of the difficulty is to be found, in a great degree, in the fact, that our accounts are taken from the Brahmins who have modelled or corrupted the history to suit their own purposes. I am of opinion that the Buddhists were worshipers of the sun in Taurus, the Bacchus of the Greeks; that they were the builders of the temple of Jaggernaut, in front of which the Bull projects; and that they were expelled from Lower India when the Indian Hercules, Cristna, succeeded to the Indian Bacchus. That is, when the sun no longer rose at the equinox in the sign Taurus, but in the sign Aries. This is, I believe, the solution of the grand enigma which M. Creuzer says we are not able entirely to solve, and this I will now endeavour to prove.
2. “Buddha is variously pronounced and expressed Boudh, Bod, Bot, But, Bad, Budd, Buddou, Boutta, Bota, Budso, Pot, Pout, Pota, Poti, and Pouti. The Siamese make the final T or D quiescent, and sound the word Po; whence the Chinese still further vary it to Pho or Fo. In the Talmudic dialect the name is pronounced Poden or Pooden; whence the city, which once contained the temple of Sumnaut or Suman-nath, is called Patten-Sumnaut. The broad sound of the U or Ou or Oo, passes in the variation Patten into A, pronounced Ah or Au; and in a similar manner, when the P is sounded B, we meet with Bad, Bat, and Bhat. All these are in fact no more than a ringing of changes on the cognate letters B and P, T and D. Another of his names is Saman, which is varied into Somon, Somono, Samana, Suman-Nath, and Sarmana. From this was borrowed the sectarian appellation of Samaneans, or Sarmaneans. A third is Gautama, which is indifferently expressed Gautameh, Godama, Godam, Codam, Cadam, Cardam, and Cardama. This perpetually occurs in composition with the last, as Somono-Codom or Samana-Gautama. A fourth is Saca, Sacya, Siaka, Shaka, Xaca, Xaca-Muni or Xaca-Menu, and Kia, which is the uncompounded form of Sa-Kia. A fifth is Dherma, or Dharma, or Dherma-rajah. A sixth is Hermias, Her-Moye, or Heri-Maya. A seventh is Datta, Dat Atreya, That-Dalna, Date, Tat or Tot, Deva-Tat or Deva-Twasta. An eighth is Jain, Jina, Chin, Jain-Deo, Chin-Deo, or Jain-Eswar. A ninth is Arhan. A tenth is Mahi-Man, Mai-Man, or (if Om be added) Mai-Man-Om. An eleventh is Min-Eswara, formed by the same title Min or Man or Menu joined to Eswara. A twelfth is Gomat or Gomat-Eswara. A thirteenth, when he is considered as Eswara or Siva, is Ma-Esa or Har-Esa; that is to say, the great Esa or the Lord Esa. A fourteenth is Dagon or Dagun, or Dak-Po. A fifteenth is Tara-Nath. And a sixteenth is Arca-Bandhu or Kinsman of the Sun.”[2]
Again. “Wod or Vod is a mere variation of Bod; and Woden is simply the Tamulic mode of pronouncing Buddha: for in that mode of enunciation, Buddha is expressed Pooden or Poden; and Poden is undoubtedly the same word as Voden or Woden.”[3] This etymology is assented to by Sir W. Jones, if it were not, as I believe it was, originally proposed by him. Woden was the
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