ayambhu Purana is an account of the
manifestation of the Adi-Buddha written in the style of those portions
of the Brahmanic Puranas which treat of the glories of some sacred
place. In its present form it can hardly be earlier than the sixteenth
century A.D. The Nepala-mahatmya is a similar work which, though of
Brahmanic origin, puts Buddha, Vishnu and Siva on the same footing and
identifies the first with Krishna. The Vagvati-mahatmya[296] on the
other hand is strictly Sivaite and ignores Buddha's claims to worship.
The Vamsavali, or Chronicle of Nepal, written in the Gurkha language
(Parbatiya) is also largely occupied with an account of sacred sites
and buildings and exists in two versions, one Buddhist, the other
Brahmanical.

But let us return to the decadence of Buddhism in India. It is plain
that persecution was not its main cause nor even very important among
the accessory causes. The available records contain clearer statements
about the persecution of Jainism than of Buddhism but no doubt the
latter came in for some rough handling, though not enough to
annihilate a vigorous sect. Great numbers of monasteries in the north
were demolished by the Huns and a similar catastrophe brought about
the collapse of the Church in Bihar. But this last incident cannot be
called religious persecution, for Muhammad did not even know what he
was destroying. Buddhism did not arouse more animosity than other
Indian religions: the significant feature is that when its temples and
monasteries were demolished it did not live on in the hearts of the
people, as did Hinduism with all its faults.

The relation between the laity and the Church in Buddhism is curious
and has had serious consequences for both good and evil. The layman
"takes refuge" in the Buddha, his law and his church but does not
swear exclusive allegiance: to follow supplementary observances is not
treasonable, provided they are not in themselves objectionable. The
Buddha prescribed no ceremonies for births, deaths and marriages and
apparently expected the laity to continue in the observance of such
rites as were in use. To-day in China and Japan the good layman is
little more than one who pays more attention to Buddhism than to other
faiths. This charitable pliancy had much to do with the victories of
Buddhism in the Far East, where it had to struggle against strong
prejudices and could hardly have made its way if it had been
intolerant of local deities. But in India