A.D., for Aryadeva the successor of
Nagarjuna was a southerner and the legends told of him recall certain
Dravidian myths. Bodhidharma too came from the South and imported into
China a form of Buddhism which has left no record in India.

7. _Revival of Hinduism_

In 320 a native Indian dynasty, the Guptas, came to the throne and
inaugurated a revival of Hinduism, to which religion we must now turn.
To speak of the revival of Hinduism does not mean that in the previous
period it had been dead or torpid. Indeed we know that there was a Hindu
reaction against the Buddhism of Asoka about 150 B.C. But, on the whole,
from the time of Asoka onwards Buddhism had been the principal religion
of India, and before the Gupta era there are hardly any records of
donations made to Brahmans. Yet during these centuries they were not
despised or oppressed. They produced much literature[18]: their schools
of philosophy and ritual did not decay and they gradually made good
their claim to be the priests of India's gods, whoever those gods might
be. The difference between the old religion and the new lies in this.
The Brahmanas and Upanishads describe practices and doctrines of
considerable variety but still all the property of a privileged class in
a special region. They do not represent popular religion nor the
religion of India as a whole. But in the Gupta period Hinduism began to
do this. It is not a system like Islam or even Buddhism but a parliament
of religions, of which every Indian creed can become a member on
condition of observing some simple rules of the house, such as respect
for Brahmans and theoretical acceptance of the Veda. Nothing is
abolished: the ancient rites and texts preserve their mysterious power
and kings perform the horse-sacrifice. But side by side with this,
deities unknown to the Veda rise to the first rank and it is frankly
admitted that new revelations more suited to the age have been given to
mankind.

Art too enters on a new phase. In the early Indian sculptures deities
are mostly portrayed in human form, but in about the first century of
our era there is seen a tendency to depict them with many heads and
limbs and this tendency grows stronger until in mediaeval times it is
predominant. It has its origin in symbolism. The deity is thought of as
carrying many insignia, as performing more actions than two hands can
indicate; the worshipper is taught to think of him as appearing in this
shape and the artis