is true that the later
Buddhism of Java was by no means of the Siamese type, but probably the
idea was current that the great kings of the world were pious
Buddhists and consequently in most countries the local form of
Buddhism, whatever it was, began to be held in esteem. Java had
constant communication with Camboja and Champa and a king of
Madjapahit married a princess of the latter country. It is also
possible that a direct stimulus may have been received from India, for
the statement of Taranatha[444] that when Bihar was sacked by the
Mohammedans the Buddhist teachers fled to other regions and that some
of them went to Camboja is not improbable.

But though the prestige of Buddhism increased in the thirteenth
century, no rupture with Brahmanism took place and Pali Buddhism does
not appear to have entered Java. The unity of the two religions is
proclaimed: Buddha and Siva are one. But the Kamahayanikan while
admitting the Trimurti makes it a derivative, and not even a primary
derivative, of the original Buddha spirit. It has been stated that the
religion of Java in the Madjapahit epoch was Sivaism with a little
Buddhism thrown in, on the understanding that it was merely another
method of formulating the same doctrine. It is very likely that the
bulk of the population worshipped Hindu deities, for they are the gods
of this world and dispense its good things. Yet the natives still
speak of the old religion as Buddhagama; the old times are "Buddha
times" and even the flights of stairs leading up to the Dieng plateau
are called Buddha steps. This would hardly be so if in the Madjapahit
epoch Buddha had not seemed to be the most striking figure in the
non-Mohammedan religion. Also, the majority of _religious_ works which
have survived from this period are Buddhist. It is true that we have
the Ramayana, the Bharata Yuddha and many other specimens of Brahmanic
literature. But these, especially in their Javanese dress, are _belles
lettres_ rather than theology, whereas Kamahayanikan and Kunjarakarna
are dogmatic treatises. Hence it would appear that the religious life
of Madjapahit was rooted in Buddhism, but a most tolerant Buddhism
which had no desire to repudiate Brahmanism.

I have already briefly analysed the Sang Hyang Kamahayanikan which
seems to be the most authoritative exposition of this creed. The
learned editor has collected many parallels from Tibetan and Nepalese
works and similar parallels between Javanese