an enlightened one, he first approached
his former companions in a grove near
Väräæasï to announce to them the good
news of the finding of deathlessness and
freedom from suffering. It was only in
the course of time that Buddha’s teach-
ing, which de-emphasized caste and ritu-
al, and taught liberation through an eth-
ical life and meditation only, was consid-
ered heterodox and his followers were
deemed outside the Hindu community.
In later centuries, when Buddhism
became the predominant religion in
India, Hindus considered it (together
with JAINISM) the paradigm of a nästika
(heterodox) system, a DARŸANA(2) that
did not recognize the Veda as supreme
authority and precluded membership in
SANÄTANA DHAØMA. From the eighth cen-
tury CE onwards, beginning with
Kumärila Bhaflfla’s Ÿlokavärttika, a major
Hindu polemic against Buddhism devel-
oped, which found expression in hun-
dreds of literary works as well as
in the occasional persecution of
Buddhists. In modern India there is a ten-
dency to consider Buddhism as one of the
forms of Indian religiosity that in course
of time was reabsorbed by Hinduism.budha (‘wise, intelligent’)
The planet Mercury; son of Soma (moon),
by TÄRÄ(star), wife of BØHASPATI.Bühler, Georg (1837–98)
A gifted linguist (he studied Latin, Greek,
Arabic, Persian, Zend, Armenian and
Sanskrit), he spent many years in India as
professor of oriental languages at
Elphinstone College, Bombay, and was
officially entrusted with the collection of
Sanskrit manuscripts in the Bombay
Presidency. He produced valuable cata-
logues of manuscripts, edited texts and
produced translations of Sanskrit and
Prakrit texts. He specialized in Indian
law and contributed a translation of the
MANU-SMØTIwith an extensive intro-
duction of his own to the Sacred Books
of the East series. He later occupied the
chair of Sanskrit at Vienna and became
co-founder of the Oriental Institute of
Vienna and its journal.Burnouf, Eugéne (1801–52)
He studied Sanskrit with his father,
Jean-Louis Burnouf, and with L. de
Chézy, the first occupant of a chair in
Sanskrit at a European university.
While his main interest was in Buddhist
texts, he contributed to the study of
Hinduism through his translation of the
entire Bhägavataminto French (1840–8).
He persuaded Max MÜLLERto under-
take the first critical edition of the
ØGVEDA(1849–73).45 Burnouf, EugéneEncyclo - Letter B 10/2/03 9:37 am Page 45