"The exact meaning of the Arabic rendering of Indian terms is ambiguous, starting with the meaning of budh/budd/but. As the Buddhists had been the first big producers of ornate sculptures for veneration, viz. Buddha statues, the word but became the standard Persian term for "idol", so an idol-worshipper was called But-parast, and an idol-breaker But-shikan, even when the idol was not a Buddha statue. Al-Baladhuri says that "the Indians give in general the name of budd to anything considered with their worship or which forms the object of their veneration. So, an idol is called budd.' (...) In the circumstances, is it likely that the freshly arrived Arab chronicler could distinguish a category of "Buddhists" in the general population of Hindus?... At that stage, the Arab-Muslim newcomers simply couldn't distinguish between Brahmins and Buddhist monks, all But-parasts, "idol-worshippers"."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Buddhism and Hinduism
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Buddhism and Hinduism →
Related Quotes
"The application of the Hindu Code to Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains was a historical development, and it would be too lat…"
"[Buddhism is] a Hindu phenomenon, a natural product, so to speak, of the age and social circle that witnessed its bir…"
"The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; …"
"There had never existed a 'Buddhist India' that was not as much and at the same time and in the same area a Hindu India."
"There is no true opposition of Buddhism and Brahmanism, but from the beginning one general movement, or many closely …"
"It may readily be granted that Buddhist thought is far more consistent than the thought of the Upanishads. The Upanis…"
"So, in spite of an intellectual misunderstanding concerning the notion of Self, the substance of the Upanishadic and …"
"In comparing Buddhism (the teaching of Gautama, that is) with Brahmanism, we have then to understand and take into ac…"
"Ananda Coomaraswamy concedes that Buddhism developed a more satisfactory systematization of certain Upanishadic ideas…"
"I will choose only the least harmful way for the country. And that is the greatest benefit I am conferring on the cou…"