ubandhu and Asanga, who
probably lived in the fourth century, were constructive thinkers. It is
true that their additions were of the dangerous kind which render an
edifice top-heavy but their works show vitality and had a wide
influence[23]. The very name of Asanga's philosophy--Yogacarya--indicates
its affinity to Brahmanic thought, as do his doctrines of Alayavijnana
and Bodhi, which permit him to express in Buddhist language the idea
that the soul may be illumined by the deity. In some cases Hinduism, in
others Buddhism, may have played the receptive part but the general
result--namely the diminution of differences between the two--was always
the same.

The Hun invasions were unfavourable to religious and intellectual
activity in the north and, just as in the time of Moslim inroads, their
ravages had more serious consequences for Buddhism than for Hinduism.
The great Emperor Harsha ({~DAGGER~}647), of whom we know something from Bana and
Hsuean Chuang, became at the end of his life a zealous but eclectic
Buddhist. Yet it is plain from Hsiian Chuang's account that at this time
Buddhism was decadent in most districts both of the north and south.

This decadence was hastened by an unfortunate alliance with those forms
of magic and erotic mysticism which are called Saktism[24]. It is
difficult to estimate the extent of the corruption, for the singularity
of the evil, a combination of the austere and ethical teaching of Gotama
with the most fantastic form of Hinduism, arrests attention and perhaps
European scholars have written more about it than it deserves. It did
not touch the Hinayanist churches nor appreciably infect the Buddhism of
the Far East, nor even (it would seem) Indian Buddhism outside Bengal
and Orissa. Unfortunately Magadha, which was both the home and last
asylum of the faith, was also very near the regions where Saktism most
flourished. It is, as I have often noticed in these pages, a peculiarity
of all Indian sects that in matters of belief they are not exclusive nor
hostile to novelties. When a new idea wins converts it is the instinct
of the older sects to declare that it is compatible with their teaching
or that they have something similar and just as good. It was in this
fashion that the Buddhists of Magadha accepted Saktist and tantric
ideas. If Hinduism could summon gods and goddesses by magical methods,
they could summon Bodhisattvas, male and female, in the same way, and
these spirits were as