The Historical Origin of Guan Yin

I have been looking for the historical origins of Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) for quite a few years but most of the works I found only talks about the mythical aspects of her. But the more I searched, the more I find her to be a fictional figure, which if it is true, would negate the spiritual practices dedicated to her. Recently, I have been reading the work of Dr Lokesh Chandra, “The Origin of Avalokitesvara”, which gives the conclusion that she is a derived persona of Vedic origins. Dr Lokesh Chandra is a prominent scholar of the Vedic period and Buddhism, and also the son of a famous Sanskrit scholar. He is also a recipient of Padma Bhushan award, one that is conferred by the President of India. All this gives great credibility to his research work.

According to his article, Guan Yin was actually a later transformation of what was originally Brahma, the Hindu god with four faces. As the article is very through and in-depth, I am unable to reproduce it here but nonetheless it is available for download here: http://www.indologica.com/volumes/vol13/vol13_art13_CHANDRA.pdf

Do take a look...