Buddhism in India

The Bhakti Movements 211

direct influence of Buddhism lasted much longer. According to

N.N. Basu, after the destruction of the monasteries of Vikramsila

and Udantapura around CE 1200, the bhikkus fled mainly to

Orissa and Tibet. In Orissa they enriched the Buddhist movement

which survived for centuries on a kind of underground basis (1982:

12). He argues that the Bauris, or ‘Bathoris’, one of the well-known

Dalit castes in Orissa, were originally equal in rank to the

Brahmans, but persecuted for following the observances of

Buddhism. (This illustrates a persistent theme, later emphasised by

Iyothee Thass and Ambedkar, of Dalits being originally Buddhists).

The medieval bhakti movement in Orissa (c. 1450–1600) is

described as a ‘social protest movement’ by a young Dalit scholar,

Raj Kumar. Its founder was Sarala Das, a poet who took the title

‘Sudramuni’ to challenge the idea that only the twice-born could be

sages. As a protest against the Sanskrit writing of court poets who

took the king as their center, he wrote the Mahabharata, Bilaka

Ramayanaand Chandi Puranain the language of the people focusing

on their real-life situation. Following him were the Panchasakhas,

five famous Vaishnava sants: Balarama Das, Jagannatha Das,

Achutananda Das, Jasobanta Das and Ananta Das. These figures

dominated Oriya literature for a century. They used the language

of the people, protested against the rigidities of temple life and

monasteries, and sought to ‘rise above the dualistic debates reducing

religion almost to the level of an intellectual polemic and ignorant

prejudice’ (Raj Kumar 1995: 97). They also sought to participate

in the Vedantic discussions held at the Jagannatha temple, and

challenged the prohibition against the right of Shudras to study the

Vedas and Dharmashastras.

Basu claims that this was a kind of ‘crypto-Buddhism’, a synthesis

of Tantra, Buddhism and Vaishnavite themes. Achutananda Das

is described as wandering in the forest in search of the Lord, who

tells him,

In the Kaliyuga I have made myself manifest again as Buddha. It is

desirable, however, for you in the Kaliyuga to hide your Buddhistic

frames of mind from view. You (five) are indeed my five souls, my five

lives. All trouble and calamities will now be put an end to by means

of the Nirakara mantra (devotion to the formless Brahman or Sunya)...

I tell you, take refuge in Buddha, in mother Adi-shakti as the first

primordial energy (i.e. Dharma) and in the Sangha...know that the

Buddha is none else but Brahman himself (cited Basu 1982: 113).

Who can without doubt be called a Brahman?

Let us think and analyse the meaning of the word.

Then they should be saluted and adored as supreme,

who appointed the words of the Vedas as a gift for moksa;

Life, the body, caste, colour, action, religion, let us look and search

out the meaning,

Baheni says, first see if wisdom, learning, spiritual and theoretical

understanding

are the marks of a Brahman (#278).

The poem then critiques all these ways of characterising the ‘essence’
of the Brahman—‘life’ (jiv), ‘body’ (deh), ‘caste/birth’ (jati), ‘wisdom’
(panditya), ‘action’ (karma) and ‘religion’ (dharma)—arguing either
that they can in no way differentiate among persons or that they
simply make no sense. Since such characteristics belongs to all living
human beings, ‘Brahmans’ as a caste have nothing unique in them.
Bahenbai then composes several verses of her own on the same theme:

Those who tell stories of Hari are called Haridas,

those who are saintly are called saints,

We give names according to actions, and identify all people

in this way,

Sonars are those who make things of gold,

those who do medicine are called Vaidyas,

Baheni says, in the same way,

one who dwells with Brahma is saluted as a Brahman’ (#295).

This is certainly the Buddhist style of dealing with the issue of
Brahmans and birth.
Tukaram, remembered as one of the greatest writers in Marathi,
an equivalent of Shakespeare in English or Goethe in German
(Chitre 1990, 1991: Intro). To the ‘orthodox’ he is a great devotee
who nevertheless affirmed Vedanta and the real superiority of the
Vedas, while non-Brahman radicals picture him as a social rebel
and to Dalits he is nearly a Buddhist. The real research on Tukaram
and his outpouring of poetry and song, remains to be done.

‘Crypto-Buddhism’ in Orissa

Finally we come to the bhakti movement of Orissa, which was one
of the last strongholds of Mahayana and Vajrayana, and where the

210 Buddhism in India