Removing The Sheen From Buddhism

[Husky]

Post 1/2



tamilandvedas.com/2014/06/13/agastya-in-jataka-tales-and-kalidasa/

The Jataka Tales is a collection of tales of the numerous births of Bodhisatva, who later became the Buddha. It is a record of very old folk tales adapted by the Buddhists to suit their needs. They were current among Indians [read Hindus] from time immemorial. Buddhists did not hesitate to distort and twist all the old tales including the popular Hindu stories for their purpose.

They even used Ramayana, Mahabharata , Puranas and Panchatantra stories and ‘’Buddhaized’’ the stories.

The tamilandvedas site then proceeds to mention that the Buddhist Jatakas tried to clone some adventures of the Vedic Hindoo rishi Agastya as well, under the new name "Akitti" (badly prakritised version of Agastya?) before laughably trying to pass him off as "a previous life of the Buddha" too.



While this is suddenly interesting because it concerns the travels of one Akitti to Damila (aka Dravida) regions - the "south" - an obvious but actually bad copy of the pre-existing Hindoo narratives of Vedic Rishi Agastya settling in Tamil regions - it is also relevant for how it does NOT have anything to do with (nor support) the further Bauddhifying fictions from the 11th century where the Vedic Rishi Agastya at Potiyil who learnt Tamil from Shiva was suddenly appropriated by one Buddhist author attempting to project Agastya as having learnt Tamil from the Avalokiteshwara fiction instead.



Specifically:

- the Buddhist Jataka concerning Akitti does not mention Potiyil

- Buddhists have (at least until this very moment) denied that Akitti is supposed to be Agastya, and instead pretended that he - as other Buddhist clones of Vedic Rishis - were unrelated Buddhists characters. In other words: Akitti etc was just the usual bad Buddhist clone of the Hindoo original.

- Goes without saying there's no mention of Avalokiteshwara [nor Potalaka] in the Akitti Jataka (and not in any other Jataka either, I suspect: probably wasn't invented yet or not popular yet)

- No mention of Agastya learning Tamil or writing a Tamil grammar in the Jataka

- Needless to say, no mention of Agastya learning Tamil from Avalokiteshwara

- It is very telling that the much later Buddhist (post Hsuan-Tsang's 7th century) attempts at encroaching on Vedic Rishi-Siddhar Agastya at Potiyil specifically do not use the Akitti Jataka to launch their preposterous claims.





All this means that - tragically - the Akitti Jataka can't be held up as an "old Buddhist tradition of Agastya learning Tamil from Avalokiteshwara" let alone for the hogwash of there having ever been an ancient cult to Avalokiteshwara at Potiyil, let alone that Potiyil should be identified as Potalaka. [Earlier posts on this and the previous page of this thread explain why these observations are relevant.]



On the plus side (though the plus is exclusively to the benefit of Hindoos and Hindoo religion), the Akitti Jataka coming into being - and its obvious copying from pre-existing Hindoo sources - merely confirms that the Hindoo narratives of Agastya settling down south in the Dramila/Dravida [i.e. southern Indian] regions are very old (e.g. already mentioned in MBh), and were obviously still so popular in Buddhism's time that even Buddhism decided to pillage from these Hindoo narratives to acquire content for its Jatakas.





Here's the character background page for Akitti from the site which hosts English translations of the Jatakas. It also gives a very brief summary o the Akatti/Akitti Jataka itself:



wisdomlib.org/definition/akitti/index.html

Akitti, 1 Definition(s)

AKA: Akatti

'Akitti' belongs in these categories: Buddhism, Pali





1 DEFINITION(S):

The Bodhisatta in one of his births. He was a brahmin magnate of Benares, who, after giving away all his wealth in charity, retired to the forest with his sister, Yasavati. When gifts were brought to him as homage to his holiness, he sought obscurity, and, leaving his sister, dwelt in Karadipa, then known as Ahidipa, eating the leaves of a Kara tree sprinkled with water. By virtue of his asceticism Sakkas throne was heated, and Sakka (Anuruddha in a previous birth), having tested him, and being satisfied that worldly attainments were not his aim, granted him various boons, including one that Sakka should not visit him any more and disturb his asceticism! (J.iv.236f).



(Varanasi/Benares seems to be a very common backdrop for many of the cloned characters of the "Buddhist" Jatakas. Which is another thing that dates the Jatakas and ultimately Buddhism.)



His story is given in the Cariyapitaka (p.1), to illustrate dana paramita. In the Nimi Jataka he is mentioned in a list of eleven sages (*), who, by their holy lives; passed the Peta world to be born in Brahmas heaven. In the Jataka mala (no.7) his name occurs as Agastya, but he should not be confused with the Vedic sage of that name (See Vedic Index). Perhaps he belonged to the Kassapagotta, because, in the conversation related in the Jataka story, Sakka addresses him as Kassapa. (J.iv.240-1)



(*) J.vi.99, the others being the seven brothers Yamahanu, Somayaga, Manojava, Samudda, Magha, Bharata and Kalikarakkhiya; and Angirasa, Kassapa and Kisavaccha. See also KhA.127f

Somayaga is obviously a Vedic name indicating a Vedic ritualist, i.e. a Hindoo onlee.

Angirasa is yet another attempted clone of a Vedic Rishi. And so is Kassapa - Prakritised version of Kashyapa (but like Buddhism did above, Jainism also hijacked the Vedic Kashyapa gotra for a teerthankara - more competition).



For the translated version of the Akitti Jataka itself - and to see how Buddhism tried to mirror/plagiarise from some of the pre-existing Hindoo tradition of Vedic Rishi Agastya's travel to the south, see



wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/the-jataka-volume-iv/d/doc80654.html

Akkita Jataka



It is obviously clear, and a matter only further underlined by the bit highlighted in blue above, that the Vedic Rishi Agastya is NOT the same as the later Buddhist clone "Akitti" of the Jatakas. And that all the Hindoo narratives concerning Agastya - including the ancient ones about Agastya settling in Tamil regions, making his main abode in Potiyil, learning Tamil from Shiva and Murugan and writing the first Tamil grammar - are all originally exclusively Hindoo narratives (and are not "shared" with Buddhism: these Hindoo narratives were not yet cloned by Buddhism in its Jataka-manufacturing era) and do not and will Never remotely concern Buddhism, but concern Hindoo religion alone. Further, Hindoos only ever mean the Vedic Rishi-cum-Siddhar Agastya*, and do not mean the Jatakas' Akitti clone of him, nor the much later (11th century CE) independent Buddhist attempt to inculturate on the same Vedic Rishi-cum-Siddhar Agastya and his Potiyil background either.



*Including where all the Agastyar Kovils and moorties are concerned (which Agastya moorties - often with wife Lopamudra - are also seen in the famous Tamil Hindoo Shaiva kovils of SE Asia, which SE Asian Hindoo temple Agastya moorties are also dated well before India's Tamil Buddhist attempts to inculturate on Agastya via his Tamil grammar).



Am mentioning all the above in pre-emption, in case [neo-]Buddhists or Bauddhified (like Rajeev Srinivasan) next try to use the Akitti Jataka in their desperation to claim Potiyil - or even the Hindoo traditions regarding the Vedic Rishi Agastya or his moorties or kovils - as being "originally" Buddhist. Buddhists really are that jealous, desperate and vicious.



Tragically for them all, there is No connection between those elements plagiarised into the Akitti Jataka and the 11th century Buddhist claims attempted on the person of the Vedic Rishi of Agastya: because, as mentioned above, sadly for all Buddhist inculturationists, the Akitti Jataka does not have any references to Agastya at Potiyil or learning Tamil from Avalokiteshwara (or any reference to Potalaka or even Avalokiteshwara). The blame lies squarely at the feet at early Buddhism, which only plagiarised from pre-existing Hindoo religion in parts in order to be able to tell short stories so that a tenuous Buddhist moral could be slapped onto each. As also seen in Buddhism's limited plagiarism from Valmeeki Ramayanam (Buddhism limited its plagiarism from VR to mainly just the Ayodhya Kanda section).



Am sure there was more to be said, but can't remember.



BTW, if I find any "Hindu" "nationalist" trying to sell off Agastya and related matters to Buddhism (or whatever), I will make this personal. [And just to be clear, that last is not some lame romantic overture/innuendo, but a threat - obviously.]