It’s well-known that Buddha was at a later phase included into the Hindu pantheon as an avatar of Vishnu. This myth is frequently invoked by the modern Hindus to encompass Buddhism as a part of Hinduism. What is not well known is the status of Vishnu as a deity within Buddhism per se. In the previous article, we had seen the status of Shiva in Buddhism, and now we analyze in detail the status of Vishnu vis-à-vis Buddhism.
Compared to Shiva who has relatively more references in the Mahayana Buddhist sutras and the numerous Vajrayana Tantras (where he appears as Rudra, to be always subdued by the wrathful Buddhist deities at the end), references to Vishnu are quite less. This perhaps may be due to the fact that, the later Buddhists were in a position to directly interact more with the Shaivaites than the Vaishnaivites.
Theravada Buddhism
As already referred in the “Shiva in Buddhism” article, Theravada Buddhism is quite orthodox in admitting deities into its fold. Rather than integrating the deities directly into the religion, it tends to keep the deities in the periphery as local deities to be worshipped for favor or as Dharmapālas (Dharma Protectors).
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lankan Theravada, Vishnu is worshipped as “Upulvan” (Pali. Uppala-Vaṇṇa). The equivalent Sanskrit title is “Utpala-Varṇa” (Blue-Lotus-Colored). Vishnu is frequently depicted as blue colored (Blue being a euphemism for the original Black color of the deity). Vishnu as Upulvan is the Kshetra-Pāla (Protector of the Land) of Sri Lanka. Buddha before his parinirvana seems to have seen the island of Sri Lanka as the future place where his shāsana (law) will flourish. Therefore, he orders Indra for its protection. Indra then entrusts the protection of the island to Vishnu (Incidentally, Vishnu originally seems to have been subordinate to Indra in the Vedas. This seems to preserve the early status of Vishnu as a sub-ordinate deity).
As Buddhism evolved over times, it had to face the new Puranic Brahmanism with the influence of the Vishnu, Shiva and other deities rising over time, compared to the other Vedic deities who were now often reduced to a tutelary status. Puranic Brahmanism was highly syncretic assimilating everything that came in its way. Even Buddha himself was assimilated to the Brahmanical Pantheon as one of the Avatar-s of Vishnu. At the same time, Buddhism had also attempted in assimilation of the Brahmanical Deities into its fold. However, this part is not that much widely known.
In Tamil Shaivaite world, 63 nāyaṉmārs, are a set of 63 Legendary saints who are widely venerated. The 63 Nayanmars supposedly lived in a Time where the Shramanic Jaina religion was very popular. Traditionally the Nayanmars are said to be one of the reason for the downfall of the Jaina Religion and popularizing the Vedic Shaivism among the public.
