tha gives us the names of several doctors of
the Vinaya who flourished under the Pala dynasty. Even as late as the
reign of Ramapala (? 1080-1120) we hear that the Hinayanists were
numerous. In the reign of Dharmapala (_c_. 800 A.D.) some of them
broke up the great silver image of Heruka at Bodh-Gaya and burnt the
books of Mantras.[329] These instances show that the older Buddhism
was not entirely overwhelmed by Tantrism[330] though perhaps it was
kept alive more by pilgrims than by local sentiment. Thus the Chinese
inscriptions of Bodh-Gaya though they speak at length of the three
bodies of Buddha show no signs of Tantrism. It would appear that the
worship celebrated in the holy places of Magadha preserved a
respectable side until the end. In the same way although Tantrism is
strong in the literature of the Lamas, none of the many descriptions
of Tibet indicate that there is anything scandalous in the externals
of religion. Probably in Tibet, Nepal and mediaeval Magadha alike the
existence of disgraceful tantric literature does not indicate such
widespread depravity as might be supposed. But of its putrefying
influence in corrupting the minds of those who ought to have preserved
the pure faith there can be no doubt. More than any other form of
mixed belief it obliterated essential differences, for Buddhist
Tantrism and Sivaite Tantrism are merely two varieties of Tantrism.

What is happening at Bodh-Gaya at present[331] illustrates how
Buddhism disappeared from India. The abbot of a neighbouring Sivaite
monastery who claims the temple and grounds does not wish, as a
Mohammedan might, to destroy the building or even to efface Buddhist
emblems. He wishes to supervise the whole establishment and the visits
of pilgrims, as well as to place on the images of Buddha Hindu
sectarian marks and other ornaments. Hindu pilgrims are still taken by
their guides to venerate the Bodhi tree and, but for the presence of
foreign pilgrims, no casual observer would suppose the spot to be
anything but a Hindu temple of unusual construction. The same process
went a step further in many shrines which had not the same celebrity
and effaced all traces and memory of Buddhism.

At the present day the Buddha is recognized by the Brahmans as an
incarnation of Vishnu,[332] though the recognition is often qualified
by the statement that Vishnu assumed this form in order to mislead the
wicked who threatened to become too powerful if they knew the tru