Christianity Before Christ Or, Prototypes of Our Faith and Culture

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PRINCETON,
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Division...:
Section
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Number
O. Q.
J.
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST.
" "We should
feel
cheered by the words of that pious philosopher
(St.
when he boldly declares that there is no religion which

many errors, does not contain some real and divine truth."
Augustine)
among
its
Professor
Max
Miiller.
"A man ought to honour his own faith only; but he should never
abuse the faith of anybody. There are even circumstances when the
religion of others
fortifies his
own
ought to be honoured. And in acting thus a man

and assists the faith of others."
From King
faith
PiyudatVs Rock Inscriptions.
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST;

OR,
PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH
AND CULTURE.
CHARLES
J.
STONE,
F.E.S.L., F.R. Hist.
S.,
AUTHOR OF "CRADLE-LAND OF ARTS AND CREEDS."
LONDON:
TRUE NEE
&
CO.,
LUDGATE
1885.
[AH
rights reserved.]
HILL.
BALLANTYNE, HANSON ANI> CO.

EDINBURGH AND LONDON
<C*vv
SYLLABUS OF CHAPTERS.
I.
The monastic system of Buddhism in India, as
described by the Chinese Pilgrim, Fah-Hian, in the fifth
Chapter
century a.d.
Hiouen Thsang's description of Buddhist monasand of the towns, &c.

seventh century
The drama of the ancient Hindus, " Hero and
Chapter
Nymph."
Chapter IV. The dramas of "Malati and Madhava," and of the
Necklace."
Chapter V. Allegorical drama of the " Rising of the Moon of
Awakened
Chapter VI. Wealth found in India by the Mohammedans in
the eleventh century.
Chapter VII. Remains of ancient Central America, Mexico,
and Peru Romance of our media3val days in the great
Chapter
II.
teries in the
A.D.,
III.
"
Intellect."
Indian
epic.
The "Great Supporter" (Mahabharata epic)

presents Ancient banquets Fortified townsfighting.
Rules for
Chapter IX. Philosophical aphorisms Assembly of princes
Names of the Divine in the human Duty of the warrior.
Chapter X. Krishna as the earthly mediator The camp,
not
doctors, &c. The battle array Cookery Yavanas
Greeks).
Chapter XL Magnificence of the old Indian heroes Fetes and
amateur theatricals Description of Krishna's city of
Dwaravati Mr. H. Chintamon on the " Divine Song."
Chapter XII. The ancient deities of the Hindus All maniChapter VIII.
Wedding
fair
(?
festations of one
Supreme Being.
The incarnation of the "All-Pervading" in

the hand of
Krishna Competition in feats of arms
the Princess Krishna reveals himself to his
Chapter XIV. Professor Monier Williams and the " Divine
Song Milton The holy Fire Krishna as the Eternal
Creator Destruction of a sceptical monarch.
the benefit of
Chapter XV. Descent of Vishnu as Krishna
of Purusha (universal
humanity Primeval
Chapter XIII.
for
relations.
"
for
sacrifice
soul).
'
'inns
vi
Chapter XVI.
Spell upon the Princess Krishna on account
of
Krishna's wives Association

sins in a previous existence
of Krishna, so also of Buddha, with the ancient philosopher
Kapila.
The ages of the world's history Prominence Paradise attained by charity and the other
virtues.
Chapter XVIII. The wreck of the universe Survival of one
and entry into the eternal Infant's body.
holy
Chapter XIX. Krishna brings food by miracle to the Princess
Krishna Commencement of the " Song Celestial
entitled by Mr. Edwin Arnold in his translation in verse).
Chapter XX. Continuation of the " Bhagavad Gita," or " Song
Celestial."
Chapter XXI. Infinity of Hari or Krishna He the
of
Creator of beingsThe eternal man.
Chapter XXII. Reconciliation of the adoration of the Divine
in Shiva and Vishnu.
Chapter XXIII. Account of the birth and infancy of Krishna
The tyrant Kansa endeavours to encompass his destruc&c.
Chapter XXIV. The childhood of Krishna amongst the pastoral folk Homage done to him by Indra, the Indian
a tournament.
Jupiter Theatre of King Kansa prepared
Chapter XXV. Overthrow of King Kansa's wrestlers, then of
the king himself Prototype of Washington Irving's story
of the long sleep Construction of Krishna's
Chapter XXVI. Faith inculcated in Krishna as Vishnu upon
Chapter XVII.
of sacrifice
sage,
" (so
is
sacrifice
all sacrificers
tion,
for
city.
Chivalrous devotion to woman shown in the anearth

cient Indian books.
Chapter XXVII. Allegorical termination of the great Indian
epic, in the style of Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress."
Chapter XXVIII. The war between angels and devils deProfessor H.
rived from the " ancient books " of India
H. Wilson of Oxford upon these Hari and the Indian
Venus.
Chapter XXIX.
Professor H. H. Wilson
parallel with the Platonic Christians

and the Mother of the World.
on the Puranas, and
The All-Pervading
Story of constancy of faith in the " Indian

Hell from the Christian Tertullian.
Chapter XXXI. Stages of existence in the "Ancient Book of
the Preserver Constant existence of Cesava (HariKrishna).
Chapter XXXII. End of the existing world Vasudeva or
Krishna as the Supreme and Universal Spirit Suggestion
Chapter XXX.
Preserver"
"
of Archaic
Buddhism.
Chapter
vii
XXXIIL
Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Book of the

Blessed One)
Quotation from the Veda as to the
universal embodied spirit and the primeval sacrifice
Krishna as the manifestation of the Divine.
Chapter XXXIV. Doctrines of the " Ancient Book of the
Blessed One " as compared with Christian Evangelicalism
Series of incarnations of the All-Pervading.
Chapter XXXV. Incarnation of the All- Pervading at the end
of the present world
Reconcilement of Krishnaism and
Buddhism.
Chapter XXXVI.
M. Leveque on the Orphic theology

Quotation from Ovid's " Metamorphoses " The Golden
Verses.
Chapter
XXXVIL City
of the "Blessed One,"
and
his do-
mestic relations.
Chapter XXXVIII. Great period required for the systematisation of the Hindu formulas of faith, supposing the actual
books to have been written within our
era.
Chapter XXXIX. Corroboration of the developments of both

Buddhism and Krishnaism from the philosophy attributed
to Kapila Sir W. Jones as to Krishna and the Divine
Spirit Transmigration of souls in the Institutes of Manu
The individual soul united with the Supreme Soul.
Chapter XL.
Inscription from Buddha-Gaya with mingling of

Krishnaistic ideas Last words of the Chinese Buddhist
Pilgrim, Hiouen Thsang Protestantism in India.
tracts The
" Mother of
the Universe in India.

Chapter XLIII. Succession of Buddhas M. Emile Burnouf
as to the succession of
Chapter XLIV. Description of the daughters of Zion in Isaiah
Chapter XLI. Buddhist ritual from Nepaulese
Hindu reformer Ramanuja and others.
Chapter XLII. Monasticism and adoration of the
"
religions.
as applicable to Hindu women in the present day

Institutes of Manu on transmigration and final beatitude.
Chapter XLV. Arrian as to Ancient India Its cities, system
of " standing armies," &c.
Also the testimony of Megasthenes.
Chapter XLVI. Affinities to Christianity in the ancient religions of Mexico, Peru, &c.
Chapter XLVII. The cross, &c, in Mexico Remark of Dr.
Zerffi as to the striking analogies between East and West.
Chapter XLVIII. "Forest" portion of the Hymns of the
" Praise " Veda Quotation from the Yajur Veda as to the
Universal Spirit Sacrifices without actual death in the
Vedic
ritual.
viii
Chapter XLIX.
Colebrooke on the integrity of the Vedas

Agni as the first self-existent man The Cross as exhumed
by Dr. Schliemann from Troy.
Chapter L. Hymns of the " Praise" Veda from the translation
of M. Langlois.
Chapter LI. Unity of Deity in the Vedas The sacred Brahminical confession of faith "Speech "as the All-Per-
vading.
LII.
Krishna, Hercules, Quetzalcoatl seeming idenChapter LIU. Upanishads from Professor Max Miiller's
" Sacred Books of the East."
Origen as to the transmigraChapter LIV. Doctrines of
tion of souls Theophilus of Antioch in regard to Christians holding the transmigration of souls
Irenseus as
to the resurrection of the body, &c.
Chapter LV. St. Irenseus as to the duration of the
of
Christ Paley, in his " Evidences of Christianity," as to
Irenseus.
Chapter LVI. Quotations from Christian Fathers as to Buddha,
&c. Mr. Lillie on the history of Buddha Quotations
from the rock-cut inscriptions of King Piyudasi.
Chapter LVII. The Nestorian or Malabar Christians in India
Story of Mandavya His death upon the stake and
descent into Hell to punish the King of the dead.
Chapter LVIII. Salem and the previous incarnation of the
Chapter
tical
also Apollo.
St.
St.
life
St.
Divine in Melchizedek in the Bible.
APPENDICES.
I.
Mr. H.
S.
Ashbee in description of the Library of Tan-
jore.
II.
The
invocation of the Mahabharata as compared with
Froissart's introduction to his History.
Buddhist temple in the Japanese village on view in

London in 1885.
IV. Adam in Ceylon.
V. Authenticity of the inscription at Buddha-Gaya.
VI. Hymns of the Rig Veda, from Professor H. H. Wilson's
translation.
VII. Ancient crosses found in India.
VIII. The doctrine of the metempsychosis in Mohammedanism.
IX. Attributes of Krishna as compared with the Odin of
III.
Ancient Germany.
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST.
CHAPTER
Strange resemblances appear
I.
in the world's ancient
Weird
faiths to the religion revealed to us in Judrea.
prototypes of our most sacred doctrines and ordinances

are found in the ancient books of the East,
we know
and in what
America on the
of the religions of ancient
Our modern
one hand, and Etruria, &c. on the other.
science acknowledges the doctrines of Buddhism, the

religion of the " Enlightened," to
gated
by
at
the
least
third
have been promul-
century
Of a
B.C.
period in the East about coeval with that in which
the Emperor
Christianity
Constantine professed and established
West,
the
in
we have
recently
had
revealed to us curious and interesting pictures in the
accounts of the travels of the Chinese Buddhist Pilgrims.
In these the
the material world

the
is
fifth
much
is
line of
march
of
and seventh centuries of our

that
is
amazing.
and India, in the
the spiritual in
distinctly displayed to us at about
fifth
The
era.
And
there
travels in Affghanistan
century of our
era, of
the
first
of
OR,
Fah Hian, show religious and

philanthropical establishments which we have certainly
held to have been of comparatively modern growth.
these Buddhist Pilgrims,
His narrative has been translated by the Eev.
Beal,
S.
Professor of Chinese in University College, London.
The Pilgrim
describes monasteries which appear to
present absolute similarities to those of the Church

of
Rome
both in general aspect and interior regula-
He
tions.
relates
chambers, beds,
that all the resident priests have
coverlets,
tinually
or
employ themselves
The
works
clothes,
priests
con-
of benevolence,
in reciting their scriptures, or remaining in pro-
found meditation.
and
in
and
drink
food,
provided without stint or reserve.
Strangers are hospitably received
their feet washed.
of nuns.
He
He
describes the
also
mentions convents
monks
as erecting towers
in the monasteries, several stories in height, in honour
He
of their saints.
altogether indicates fashions in
our
own
outside
the
architecture as elaborate as
and
social
institutions,
with political
world
of
the
The excavated
"religious," correspondingly complete.
temples, monastic halls, and cells of India have lately
been assigned to some centuries before and after this

period.
But a
description
of
the
Pilgrim's
seems
evidently to apply to the excavations of Elora in the
province of Aurungabad.
harama
of the
He
styles
former Buddha Kasyapa.
them a Sang-
He
indicates
venerable antiquity, and that they have been deserted
by regular monks.
PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH AND CULTURE.

Throughout
India
monastic
the
establishments
appear to have been in a most flourishing condition
He
in the fifth century a.d.
observes that, from the
time of Buddha's Nirvana, the kings and nobles
of
India began to erect Viharas for the priesthood, and to
endow them with

and oxen
lands, gardens, houses,
them.
to cultivate
endowments," he continues,
"
and
also
The records
men
of these
being engraved on sheets
have been handed down from one king
of copper,
another
"
and
of possession,
to
no one has dared to deprive them
so that
to this
day they continue
to enjoy
their proper revenues."
He
alludes to priests,
numbered by
tens of thousands,
to processions, cars, images, &c.
He
finds in
3000 monks studying
Affghanistan
the Buddhistic Scriptures styled the Small and Great
Going south-eastwards, he passes various
Vehicles.
temples,
10,000
containing
priests
or
appear, however, to have been Brahminical.
Buddhism
to
prevail
kingdoms
in
in
that
Western
deities
He
region.
India,
finds
(devas) appears
comes, however, to
which
" firmly believe in
Here laymen, even
the law of Buddha."
who
He
Jumna; but what
in the vicinity of the
he terms the worship of the
more,
kings, are
not allowed to remain seated in the presence of the

priesthood on any loftier seat than a carpet on the
ground.
"
He
says of
The inhabitants
are
no boards
Madyadesa
are
(the middle country),
prosperous and happy
of population
and revenue.
there
Those only

CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST; OR,
who farm
produce
of
the royal demesnes pay a portion of the
as
justice,
The
rent.
no
inflicts
administration
the
in
king,
punishment
corporal
after repeated attempts to excite rebellion, the
hand
cut
is
he continues,
The people
only,
right
off."
"
" kill
no living creature, nor do they
drink intoxicating liquids
country,"
this
of
and with the exception
of the chandalas, they eat neither garlic nor onions.
They do not deal

shambles
He
nor
wine
of
He
Here he mentions
father.
600
remarks that the
which the poor of
city,
to
tute
and
may
cripples,
inspect their
700
or
nobles
priests, scholars,
and
landowners
them food
He
states that
das
all
countries,
the
desti-
Physicians
repair for shelter.
diseases,
and, according to their cases,
or drink, medicine or concoctions
everything, in fact, that
may
contribute to their ease.
King Ashoka constructed 84,000 pagoand that he presented the whole of Jambudwipa
(the island of the Eose Apple, old
in money.
alludes to
system
"
He
of relic worship.
80
for India) to
did this four times."
what appears
himself, assisted
or
name
the four quarters, and redeemed
the priests of
70
there
markets."
country have founded hospitals within the
this
order
are
their
Kapilavastu, and sees the ruins
Buddha's
monasteries containing
&c.
around
shops
visits the city of
of the palace of
living animals, nor
in
by
feet in
to
it
again
Fah Hian
have been a very elaborate
The
"
Enlightened
his disciples,
height, as a
"
(Buddha)
had raised a tower
model
for all
of
future

commemorative buildings
He
height.
He
of the sort.
states that
Jambudwipa was 470
the highest tower in
mentions
flags
feet in
and silken canopies as
articles of religious decoration.
The Pilgrim weeps

the " Enlightened "
He
in pious ecstasy at a cave
is
where
alleged to have sat in adoration.
recounts his (Buddha's) endurance of every sort of
agony
He narrates that he
He tore out his eyes
for the sake of all flesh.
left his
country, wife, and child.
He mangled his flesh to

deliver a dove from a hawk.
He sacrificed his head
in alms.
He gave his body to a famishing tiger. He
When he became
grudged not marrow nor brains.
to
bestow them on another.
perfect Buddha, he
was
in the world forty-nine years,
preaching the law, and converting men.
He
He
gave rest to the wretched.
Having passed through countless
births,
he had done the above-mentioned acts

he entered Nirvana.
saved the
lost.
amongst which
of self-sacrifice,
Since that event
1497 y ea1 3
have passed.
The Chinese Pilgrim, then, travelling through India

what he could of his religion, to visit its
to learn
sacred places, and to obtain copies of the Buddhist

scriptures, believed that the
was
at the period at
scholar, Sir
B.C.
It
epoch
which our
William Jones, placed
appears
that
of the
first
it, viz.
the Buddhist
Enlightened
great Sanscrit
about 1000
scriptures
usually learnt by rote in the monasteries,

events, that copies of scriptures
and
were
or, at
their books
all
were
He
rare.
could not obtain one
till
he reached Patna,
visits the birthplace of
Buddha, and con-
on the Ganges.
Fall
Hian
templates the ruins of his father's palace.

of his narrative
The whole
seems consistent in indicating a greater
antiquity for the founding of his faith than
we have
been disposed, in our reliance upon the Ceylonese

Chronicles, to admit for
it.
Altogether he displays the existence of what must
have been a highly
artificial
civilisation,
fully ordered
system of religious
to practical
philanthropy.
ment seems
classes
to
show that the
Lad become
ritual,
And Fah
and a care-
with attention
Hian's
aristocratical
state-
and military
as thoroughly subservient to the
Buddhist clergy as ever they had or have become

to the
Brahminical or Eomanist priesthoods.
account which has been quoted

pretensions of the Buddhist
is
If the
accurate, the lofty
monks may be reasonably
supposed to have had a share in producing their sup-
from India, by the regal power,
pression, or expulsion
or
by a general revolt
tensions.
of the laity against these pre-
This has usually been ascribed only to the
Brahmins.
By
this period of
Fah Hian, Buddhism had adopted
the idea of an antagonist to Buddha, extremely suggestive of the Christian Antichrist.
Fah Hian
relates
that this person, Devadetta, poisoned his nails, in order

that he might destroy
alive into hell.
He
Buddha
states that
but he was sent
Devadetta had
down
still

body of
to
disciples existing,
the three
six heretical sects in
reality of worldly
to the
is
paid religious reverence
past Buddhas, but not to Sakia
He
(Gautauma Buddha).
Buddha
who
words of
"
phenomena."
St.
Fah Hian,
Mark
Muni
mentions the existence of
Middle India, who
perishing," says
xiii.
"
allowed the
When
the law of
in curious analogy
"men who have
14,
acquired religious merit shall escape from destruction,
and seek refuge in the mountains.

will repent,
and Maitreya Buddha
Extracts from the
chapter
Then the wicked

will come."
Hindu drama
period, in
of this
and following chapters,
iii.
will
show that
besides the spiritual in religion, the spiritual in
was very assiduously
life
Philosophy, general
cultivated.
education, and the fine arts seem to have been peace-
ably pursued, with both imagination and refinement,

at the time
when Borne was taken and plundered by
Alaric, king of the Visigoths.
CHAPTER
The Chinese
pilgrim,
II.
Hiouen Thsang,
visited
about two centuries later than Fah Hian.
Here
India
is
an
account of a monastery in Magaddha, taken from M.

Stanislas Julien's translation of his travels.
to
It
appears
have been considered by the Pilgrim as the most
magnificent of the monasteries of India.
He
describes
by a brick-wall, and containing eight

Steeples were ranged in
courts and several halls.
regular order, and pavilions ornamented with coral.
it
as surrounded
Domes, he
were boldly elevated to the clouds,
says,
and the summits of the temples seemed to fly beneath
From
the vapours of the heaven.
their
windows the
winds and clouds could be beheld, and
rising of the
beneath their
audacious in their height, the
roofs,
The
sun and moon might be seen in conjunction.
monastery was surrounded by water, adorned with the
blue lotus, overhung by the glistening butea fronclosa
with
mango
blossoms, and shaded
scarlet
its
In the various courts the houses of
groves.
"
the " religious
by luxuriant
had each four
The
stories.
pillars of
the pavilions were decorated with dragons, and they
had balconies
with the colours of the rain-
brilliant
Columns were orna-
bow, and with carved balustrades.

jade, painted
mented with
door-posts were
elegantly
constructed
were
tained
0,000
decorated,
glittering
of
with variegated
instant
and richly
and
the
flashing
tiles,
The
roofs
every
The monastery con-
light.
" religious,"
chiselled.
who
studied that collection
of the Buddhist scriptures styled the Greater Vessel.
Even Oxford, with

only
contains
graduates in
The
ence
all
travels of
of
Buddhist
its
about
its
increased numbers of late years,
3000
Hiouen Thsaug
monasteries
monks by
and
students
resident
colleges combined.
numbered
tens
of
testify to the exist-
by
thousands,
thousands
and
through a
great part of India at about the seventh century a.d.
The
begun to
religious fervour had, however, already
decline in favour of that particular form of devotion, for
he finds
many
He
ruined and deserted monasteries.
mounds or monuments
Buddhist monarch Ashoka, who
constantly comes across relic

attributed to the great
has been assigned to about the third century

the
district
of
In
B.C.
Benares he finds a flourishing and
dense population, the villages being close together, and
many
filled
families
enormously
rich.
Their
with rare and precious objects.
houses are
He
describes
the people there as polite in their manners and fond
though few revere the law
of study,
of
Buddha.
In
the city he beholds twenty temples of the Brahminical

deities,
with towers of
many
stories,
magnificent chapels
constructed of artistically sculptured stone and of

richly painted.
Shady
trees
He
impart their cooling charms to the scenes.

scribes the statue of the
being made of brass and

height.
"
His aspect
sight, respectful
awe
is
wood
and streams of pure water

de-
god Mahesvara, or Shiva, as

little
under a hundred
feet in
grave and majestic, and, at his
is felt
as
though he
still
lived."
To the north-east of Benares, he finds a relic monument constructed by Ashoka, and a great Buddhist
By the monument is a column of blue
monastery.
stone, pure as a mirror, its surface being polished
clear as glass.
In
it
(Buddha) might be seen.

into
many
courts, all
and
the shade of the Enlightened
The monastery
is
surrounded by a wall.
divided
Here
io
he beheld balustrades, pavilions with double

In
admirable in construction.
two hundred
in
feet
mounted by an image
gold.
The bases
Amra
of the building
hundred monks
summit
sur-
staircases
were
of
there were a hun-
each containing a statue of
the " Enlightened " in brass, of

fifteen
its
tree, fabricated in
and
monument
dred richly-adorned niches
stories,
midst was a Vihara,
with
height,
of the
All around this
stone.
its
life size.
There were
in this monastery.
Mr. Eergusson seems to suggest, in his history of

Indian architecture, that the epoch of
commenced
its
grandeur
at about the seventh century of our era.
But the circumstantial accounts of
this pilgrim,
even
allowing for exaggeration, appear to demonstrate that

India, throughout its extent (which
about equivalent
is
Europe without Eussia and Sweden), was
to that of
then already
filled
with magnificent
edifices.
They
were erected in stone and in wood, with decorations

in the precious metals
and in gems.
They had towers
and pinnacles, and they were constantly adorned by

Sacred and domestic edifices of
statues.
dimensions
existed
and
varied
seem
architecture
imposing
to
have
throughout the country, as in our modern
Europe, by at least
there were
600
Many
a.d.
numerous ruins in the land.
on the Ganges, at
its
were
old,
while
At Mahasara
confluence with the Sona, the
Pilgrim finds, for instance, a temple consecrated
Narayanadeva,
i.e.
to the divinity, or
also styled Vishnu,
and held
to
to
form of divinity,
have been incarnate
11
He
on the earth as Vasudeva, Hari, or Krishna.

describes
double
"
The
as
it
stories,
having
pavilions
and towers with
decorated in the most brilliant manner.
statues of the deities are
with marvellous
art,
sculptured in stone
and numerous miracles are re-
lated to have occurred there."
Of the inhabitants
have much esteem
that they
letters;
of several provinces
sometimes
he
even
cultivation
for the
states
he observes
of
they are
that
actually ardent in study, while they are usually de-
scribed as benignant in disposition
and most
polite in
manners.
He
describes the towns as generally built of brick,
with walls around them, sometimes of bamboo stakes.
The public
terraces.
edifices
have their towers, belvideres, and
Houses constructed
of
wood
have
tiled
The form of the buildings is the same as in

roofs.
The monasteries he states to have been
China.
erected with extraordinary art, with pavilions of two
or three stories in height at their angles,
and
beams adorned with
doors, windows,
elegant
and the
sculptures.
joists
The
and porches are covered with paint-
ings in different colours.
Taking his accounts into consideration, with those

in the plays,
and other indications which are
to be
found throughout the literature in the Sanskrit, the

theory seems utterly untenable that the inhabitants
of this continent of India learned the arts of building
and sculpture in stone from the Greeks
after
Alex-
12
Considered conjointly with the old
ander's invasion.
civilisation of the still vaster China, long ages of in-
digenous culture are suggested.
Hiouen Thsang
down
travelled
the
eastern
of India, nearly to the south of the peninsula,
ascended by the western
side
and
In the south as well
side.
the north he finds the intermingling of Buddhist
as
monasteries with congregations of

ing the temples of the
" heretics,"
Of one
" deities."
frequent-
district
in
Madras Presidency he observes that the
the present
people are brusque in their manners, but attached to
good faith and
justice,
and much given
Of Kosala in
disputations.
that the inhabitants are brave but violent

are partisans both of heresy
to
religious
he remarks
this region,
;
that there
and truth amongst them
and that they are distinguished by the elevation and

In Dhanakatcheka, in
brilliance of their knowledge.
the
district of
their
are black,
skins
violent in their
vate
letters.
divinities
the river Godaveri, he remarks that
and that they are naturally
manners
Here he
still
finds
that they love to culti-
many
and many ruined convents.
temples of the
In one
district,
bordering on the sea, he remarks that they care not

for letters,
but only for the pursuit of lucre.
are the ruins of a great
while
many hundred
number
Here
of ancient convents,
temples of the
" deities "
(devas)
are in existence.
In Dravida of the South, he states that the in1
See Appendix
I.

habitants
show
observes
that
He
a great respect for learned men.

their language
13
and the characters
of
their writings differed from those of Central India.
Altogether, in south as well as north, he finds a cultivated, literary people, usually of amiable
character
Occasionally, as
has been
and honest
disposition.
the case in Italy to recent times, he encounters brigands.
He
often
one hundred
stiipas, of
and images
of
the relic monuments,
finds
or
two hundred
Buddha, of ninety
called
feet in height
feet in height, are
mentioned, sculptured in stone as well as in brass.
The numerous images
of smaller size are often adorned
with precious stones.
CHAPTER
The India
III.
of this later Buddhistic period, viz., at
the seventh century
A.D.,
about
seems rather to have afforded
prototypes of future European culture than copies of

that of the
Roman Empire.
It
was certainly
far in
advance of the Empire of Charlemagne in the west.
We
of
culture aud
backwards to the Vedas or sacred " Books
can trace the progress of Indian
spirituality
Knowledge."
latest, to
These have been assigned, at the
the epochs of the Argonautic expedition and
the siege of Troy,
viz.,
from 1225 to 1184
B.C.
From
specimens of Indian poetry which will be adduced
it
will appear that the inhabitants of ancient India
not
much
from the Greeks
to learn
establishment
the temporary
of
at
had
the time of
power in the
their
north-west, after the decease of Alexander the Great.
unsurpassed perfection of Greek

the Indian being proadmitted,
must
be
sculpture
But
of
course the
bably over-elaborate always
but over-elaboration
is
suggested by their world of foliage and flowers.

It
is
said
in
the
Tatlcr,
No. 42, that in Wills'
Coffee-house a gentleman remarked that there was no
method
in the world of
knowing the
taste of
an age or
period so good as by the observations of the persons
At about
represented in their comedies.
the epochs
corresponding with those of the abandonment of Britain
by the Bomans, the Danish invasions, the Saxon heptarchy, and Alfred the Great's victories, with his inperiods of the Crusades
many
produced in
Of
troductions
lately
India.
extending,
perhaps, to
the
elaborate dramas were
these,
" Sakuntala,
or
the
by Sir William Jones,

by Brofessor Monier Williams
has been
Fatal Bing,"
and
culture
of
translated
first
adapted and performed in Germany.
play entitled
"
Hero and
to Kalidasa, author of
and Nymph," old
"
Nymph "
Sakunlala."
artificial
is
attributed
In this "Hero
civilisation
and
spiritual
love of the beauties of nature appear, such as
been customary
age.
It has
it
has
only to place to the credit of our
own
been translated by H.
Hayman
Wilson,
late Brofessor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford.

In the prelude a dialogue between
"
Actor
demonstrates
"
that-
"
Manager
"
15
and
dramas were no novel
institution at this epoch.
The Manager says

"
of
Many
assemblies have witnessed the composition
former dramatic
exhibit one not
bards
therefore
propose
to
drama
of
represented, the
hitherto
Desire the company to be ready
Vikrama and Urvasi.

to
do justice to their respective parts."

Actor. " I shall,
sir."
Manager. " I have now only to request the audience
work
to listen to this
of
Kalidasa with kindness and
attention."
chorus
introduced
its
of Apsarasas,
and the play
mingling of
human and
or
is
character
in
is
supernatural beings, of our
"Midsummer- Night's Dream,"

principal
heavenly nymphs,
altogether suggestive, in
the
or
piece,
"Tempest."
the
king,
The
has
Brahmin for a confidential companion. But he is by

no means represented as an austere ascetic, but rather
in the guise of
of " eccentric
what we should consider

comedy."
as a character
Observing, for instance, that
the king
is
kitchen
because " the very sight of the savoury dishes
sad and silent, he proposes a visit to the
in course of preparation will be sufficient to dissipate all
melancholy ideas."
that the
moon
and sugar."
is
On
another occasion he remarks
" as beautiful as a ball of almonds
"
Here
is
description
noontide
the
of
heat,
of
another style
"'Tis past mid-day.
Exhausted by the heat,
The peacock plunges

That
in the scanty pool
feeds the tall tree's root
the drowsy bee
Sleeps in the hollow chamber of the lotus,
Darkened with closing petals. On the brink

Of the now tepid lake the wild duck lurks
Amongst the sedgy shade and even here
The parrot from his wiry bower complains,
;
And
The king
calls for
loses the
water to allay his
thirst."
nymph by whose charms he
has
been fascinated, while wandering with her amidst the

groves, for she has entered
upon enchanted ground,
and consequently been transformed into a slender vinetree.
Distracted, he searches
for
his
beloved.
He
exclaims
"
The monarch of the woods,

With slow desponding gait,
Wanders through vales and
floods,
And rocks and forest bowers,

Gemmed with new-springing flowers,
And mourns, heart-broken, for his absent
mate."
In his anxiety to obtain tidings he makes inquiries

of a
peacock which he sees perched upon a jutting
crag
"Bird
Oh
Of
and eye of jet,

me, have you seen the lovely face
of the dark-blue throat
tell
my
fair bride, lost in this
dreary wilderness
The peacock shows no sympathy,
so the
king con-
"

tinues to lament,
now
while music
singing,
17
con-
is
tinually heard
"Yonder amid
Of the broad
the thick and shady branches

jambic, cowers the koil, faint
Her flame
of passion in the hotter breath
Of noon.
She, of the birds,
wisest framed."
is
I will address her

" Say, nursling of a stranger nest
my
Say, hast thou chanced
love to see,
Amidst these gardens of the blest,

Wandering at liberty,
Or warbling with a voice divine
Melodious strains, more sweet than thine
He
entreats
this
bird,
"
whom
lovers
deem
love's
messenger," to lead his steps to where she strays.
He
exclaims passionately
<:
Why did she leave one so devoted to her will

In wrath she left me. But the cause of anger lives not
In my imagination. The fond tyranny
That women exercise o'er those that love them
Brooks not the slightest show of disregard.
How now, the bird has flown. 'Tis ever thus.
?
All coldly listen to another's sorrows."
After asking the swan whether he has seen her,

" Graceful straying
Along the flowery borders
and apostrophising other
envy
"
ceives a
gem
off
"
he contemplates witli
birds,
a royal elephant,"
bough snapped
of the lake,"
from a
and
his
tree.
mate accepting a
At length he
more roseate than the blush
of
per-
the
18
He
ashoka blossom."
because she
for
whose brow
absent
is
But a
adorned.
unwilling to take this jewel,
is
possesses wondrous virtue.
it
have
should
it
him take
voice in the air bids
Let
it
it,
adorn his
hand, and he will shortly cease to lament for his
He
absent bride.
He
emotion.
the boughs,
no bees
and
silent, sad,
obeys, and forthwith feels a strange
gazes on a vine
"
No
He
presses the
'
" a
absent lord, making

is
heard,
and the
his
of
melancholy likeness
their reunion, they return to the city,
Music
songs;
her causeless
for
and expressions
affectionate explanations,
sings
their
and the vine changes into Urvasi."
his heart,'
its
blossoms deck
shows the image
lonely, she
who now mourns
repentant love,
indignation.
her with
regale
After
of delight at
which laments
cloud their
downy
voice
invisible
to
car."
or chorus
"
The ardent swan
And
his
mate
all his spirit is
recovers,
delight
With her aloft in air he hovers,

And homeward wings his joyous
There
is
another
act,
however, in which the Indian
Mercury, Narada, descends to

of the king's
flight."
assist in the
inauguration
son as vice-monarch, and the chorus
invokes blessings on him

"
Son of the monarch the universe filling,

Son of the god of the mist-shedding night,
Son of the sage, whom the great Brahma, willing,
Called, with creation, to
life
and
to light."

In fact the spiritual side of
is
always present
The play ends with the following
in these dramas.
benediction from the king

"
life
19
May learning and prosperity oppose

No more each other, as their wont,
as foes
But, in a friendly bond together twined,

Ensure the real welfare of mankind."
This drama of " Hero and
Nymph " may
nounced ultra-sentimental, but surely

denied that
reception of
it
indicates
spiritual
cultured
ideas.
It
it
be pro-
cannot
be
the
for
life
fitted
not
only suggests
Shakespearian plays, but the masques of our ancestors,
modern French
partly
Feerics, and the partly sentimental,

humorous extravaganzas by Mr. Planch e, which
were produced on the English stage about the year
King Charming, or the Blue Bird of Paradise,"

mind by the king's dialogue
with the peacock. In our " King Charming," however,
1853.
is
"
curiously recalled to
it is
not the heroine
who
is
who
changed into a
"
is
transformed, but the king
blue bird of Paradise."
CHAPTEK
Mrs. Manning observes,
India," that the
in her
IV.
"Ancient and Mediaeval
play of Malati and
Madhava
is
one
of the few
which shares with Sakuntala the honour
being
occasionally read
still
by pandits.
of
It represents
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST OR,
20
a time at which the temples of Shiva and
were
Indian Cupid)
Kama
(the
although
generally frequented,
Buddhists and Buddhist schools and convents were

powerful.
This play
is
attributed to the eighth century a.d.
It has a plot founded upon a

by Professor Weber.
dramatic device which has been frequently employed
modern
in
times, one of
the latest
Mr. Theyre Smith's comedietta
The story here
is
of "
examples being
My
Uncle's Will."
that two school companions of high
rank pledged each other that so soon as their respective children should be of the right age they should
The
be married.
to the
King
father of the girl
which place the scene

of the
boy
kingdom
is
is
Prime Minister
of Padmavati, supposed to be Oujein, at

of the play
is laid.
The
to the south
of
Oujein.
In preparation for
the intended marriage the boy, or young man,

to study logic in a
city in
then
its
father
the Prime Minister of a neighbouring
is
Buddhist college at Oujein, the
which resided the future bride and her
father,
Prime Minister.
Curiously the head of this college or convent
woman who had

Here
is
for
We
to
the
lovely
is
Malati.
have in England our preparatory schools
boys presided over by the

should be considered
college in
is
been nurse
a marriageable youth sent to study under a
woman.
woman
sent
which
old enough
logic is
to love,
to
seems
fair
sex,
but that a
the correct head of a
be taught to a boy
to
who
have been a realisation

of
" sweet-girl
the
may
the time
men
graduate
now
feminine colleges
will be sent to
have our
when hoys
young
or
be under the instruction of some
An
of one of them.
Principal
may even
take place between the semi-
young men and
naries at present set apart for

respectively,
We
idea.
"
Oxford and Cambridge, and
he approaching
celebrated feminine
interchange
in
21
ladies
"
This
good
and the two become commingled.
woman," remarks Mrs. Manning,
" is
a Buddhist
and conscientious, clever and scheming, and by her

the whole plot of the drama
is
worked
command
them, when, owing to the

girl is
ordered to
wed another
She
out."
promotes the love-making between the two, and
assists
of the King, the
instead of her lover.
former pupil of hers has, by long-continued austeri-
ties,
obtained mystic powers of flying, &c.
her aid the denouement

lovers
are
and by
brought about, and the
is
This feminine ascetic bows in
united."
adoration before the Lord of Bhavani (Shiva), showing

that
Buddhists had continued the adoration of
the
now
the Deity,
considered Brahminical, with that of
Buddha.
The worship
the
of
terrible aspect as Kali, here called
at this epoch
incident
the
in
heroine
to
rescued
from
The hero
even
human
drama
sacrifice
the
Shiva, under her
spouse of
Chamunda, claimed
One sensational
victims.
is
her to
sacrificial
the
the
kidnapping of
goddess.
sword
by
her
She
the
is
lover.
observes, on one occasion, that the damsel
22
draws his heart

"
This renders
Wilson, " that
rod
like a
possible,"
it
ironstone gem.
the
of
remarks Professor H. H.
magnets, as well as the pro-
artificial
perties of the loadstone,
were known to the Hindus."
The play terminates with a tag of philanthropic

after the Buddhist Abbess has brought
character,
The
about the happy denouement.
lover, blest
with
the object of his adoration, says
My happiness
"
henceforth
perfect
is
all
The wish I cherish, more is this, and may

Your favour, holy dame, grant it fruition.
may the virtuous be exempt from error,

And fast to virtue cling. May monarchs, merciful
And firm in equity, protect the earth
May in due season from the labouring clouds
The fertile showers descend and may the people,
Still
Blest in their friends, their kindred, and their children,
Unknowing
When
want, live cheerful and content."
Malati
friend,
who
sent for
her to assume
red
the
in
lover's
the bridal costume
the temple of
Sri (the
This consisted of a corset of white
muslin
and a chaplet
of
be wedded to the King's pro-
disguises himself in
Indian Ceres).
silk,
to
is
from her predicament by her
tege, she escapes
of
marriage
mantle,
flowers.
procession
with
Here
necklace,
is
conveying
sandal,
description
her
to
the
Temple
hollow
murmur comes upon
the ear like that of
rushing clouds, and as the procession draws nearer,
drums that peal

"
White umbrellas
in
joy
drown every other sound.
float, like
trembling lotuses, in the
"

lake
the
of
Banners
atmosphere."
waves as they play before the wind

which hover about
like
vance, their golden bells

are
23
undulate like
of the
choiuris,
The elephants adtinkling as they stride. They

swans.
mounted by merry bevies
of
damsels singing songs
of rejoicing, " uttered indistinctly, as interrupted
by
the betel which perfumes their mouths, and blazing

like rays of light with glittering jewels."
as if they
As Malati
were portions
herself draws near
throng of attendants
fall off to
of
these
were of variegated
jewels, the writer further remarks,

tints,
And
Indra's divine bow.
we
are told that the
a respectful distance,
and keep back the crowd with staves covered with

Her elephant, painted with vermilion,
gold and silver.
dawn
resembles the ruddy

pearls
on
her brow
(an
or with the twenty-seven
allusion
to
the
twenty-
seven lunar mansions), looks like the brilliant night.
Malati herself, in her deep

fair
appears like some
grief,
plant just budding into flower, but withered at
the core.
Here
is
speech
assigned
to
much dramatic
Weber to the eighth
minister in a play of
also
by Professor
plotting
prime
action, ascribed
century.
It is
suggestive of the words which Shakespeare puts into
the
mouth
that the
of the
drama
sleepless monarch.
of the period
It also shows
was no mere spontaneous
outburst of uncultured genius, but
with
rules,
" unities
and constructed
in
artificial,
elaborated
what we have styled the
24
" It will not be.
Of night
Sleep
flies
me
nor the change
or clay, short intermission brings
From watchful care

And aids the crooked
;
Such task
whilst fate continues adverse,

projects of
Chanakya.
mine, as on dramatic bard
is
Devolves, to
the object of the action,
fix
Develop fitting incidents, uprear

Fruit unexpected from self-pregnant seeds,
Dilate, condense, perplex, and last reduce
The
a
Ill
various acts to one auspicious close."
play
King Harsha
1 1
13 and
called
The Necklace," attributed
Kashmir, who reigned between
of
125,
trait-painting.
"
we
find
The scene
princess
is
in
to
A.D.
skilled in por-
the garden
of the
palace.
The Princess Sagarika has

the king, with
whom
In her picture he
is
just painted a portrait of
she has already fallen in love.
the god of
love, to
whom
and perfumes are being presented, as in a
masque
The
in
friend
which she had seen him play that
and companion with
from Ceylon discovers her, and

here, but so intent
not notice
flowers
sort of
my
whom
says,
part.
she has come

"
Ha
she
is
upon some painting that she does
approach."
The
friend, Susangata,
name, perceiving whose portrait she has taken,

her upon her admiration for this god of love
by
rallies
and saying
she must give the god his bride, she adds the portrait
of Sagarika to the picture.
of the
This friend was in charge
Queen's favourite talking-bird, called here a
s&rika.
The princess
is
rather distressed to find she has
will not betray
you
it
more
is
and
leaves
The
by confused
which announce that

the stable
"
princess be-
the friend cools her with lotus-
Nevertheless the princess faints
fibres.
until aroused
likely this prattling
bird will repeat our conversation."
comes much agitated
Be assured
says, "
The friend
revealed her secret.
25
"
voices behind the scenes,
the
monkey has escaped from
and, rattling the ends of his broken chain
of gold, he " clatters along as
bound with tinkling
anklets,
if
number
of female feet,
were in sportive motion."
Chased by the grooms and frightening the women,

he has bounded through the inner
By
the picture
and
it
is
dropt
comes into the possession
The ambassador from Ceylon

tion
gate.
monkey terrifying the girls,

when they make their escape,
this device of the
at the magnificence
exclaims that
The eye
is
its
"
of
sounds,
King
me
palace.
He
The
ear
is
and the heart
is
of
regaled with
gratified
attending princes.
by
The
of Sinhala (Ceylon) is here effaced
and the magnificence

betrays
king's
avenues present a splendid scene.
mixing with the throng

state of the
struck with admira-
the
bewildered amongst the stately steeds and
mighty elephants of war.

harmonious
of the king.
is
of the entrance into every court
into rustic admiration."
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST: OR,
26
CHAPTER
Our
allegories
certainly
had
the
European
the drama.
century
"
entitled
is
Moon
or the Rising of the
Delusion
Prabodha-Chandro-
Awakened
of
and philosophical in
theological
represented as king and
is
Love, Anger, Avarice, and

whilst Hypocrisy,
all
its
Intel-
design.
commander
of
other sensuous powers
Self-importance,
Materialism,
and
heresies are his allies.
On
of
some centuries
curious play, attributed to the twelfth
which
a.d.,
lect," is
all
literary renaissance
their prototypes in India
not only in the poetry of the country but in
earlier,
daya
of
V.
the opposite side
an army of
virtues.
is
Reason, monarch and leader
An
encounter ensues between
these opposing forces, but finally Tranquillity enables
Reason
to
Moon
Awakened
of
harmonise
with
Revelation.
Intellect can arise
Then the
and illuminate
mortals.
The prologue commences with an invocation

Supreme
Spirit
we approach
Light,
which, appearing as
water, earth."
soul returns
"
in
sea
of
deceiving
To that highest Light the
when plunged
earthly
the
itself as ether, air,
created
in deepest stillness."
this is intended the conception that
tions
to the
With reverence
that spotless, heavenly, self-recognising
beams of the mid-day sun, evolved

fire,
"
the primeval cause.
ambitions,
desires,
when
By
the aspira-
and unrest
in
"
27
general are extinguished in the contemplation of the
Supreme Being, and

All
of
individual
the
in
the realisation of the Spirit
in
then
self,
individual
the
becomes one with the Divine.

"
The
light prevails
of
followers
the ascetic
when
the world
Deity whose
the
adorned with the crescent moon, and who
known by
"
(Shiva).
head
is
made
is
eye in the centre of his forehead
the
But wherefore many words

"
the manager.
with
filled
is
The glorious Gopala
(i.e.
"
continues
the goatherd
Krishna), he whose lotus feet are irradiated by the
diadems of kings,
day
desires us this
to
evince
our joy in the accomplished victories of our prince,
King Kirtivarman.
perform a drama
shall
Awakened
composed
which
"
eager to see,"
we
and
curtain
it
follows
is
calls.
he
to
Tranquillity
and we have chosen

of the
Moon
of
This piece, the manager con-
king
will at
An
proposes.
Krishna
much-honoured
by the
the
'The Rising
Intellect.' "
Misra,
we propose
which personified
in
entitled
is
tinues,
"
this purpose
be a leading character
that which
what
For
and
the
multitude
once prepare.
actress
appears,
The manager
He
are
lifts
inquiring
replies
as
You
are aware that Gopala,
whose fame resounds
through every region, has with his sword conquered

inimical kings, and has re-established our Raja Kirti-
varman upon
the
his throne.
The
battlefield
on which
demonesses dance, proclaims his praise in
far-
"
28
resounding
whilst
notes,
the
women
little
Kobbolds clash together with their nimble
the
of
ringers the
and the wind, resounding through
skulls of the dead,
the frontal cavities of the slain elephants, trumpets

forth his fame.
become
of the
This Gopala," he concludes,
"
having
tranquil, desires the performance of the Rising
Moon
of
Awakened
Desire the per-
Intellect.
formers to take their parts."
The
actress asks for explanation of Gopala's tran-
The manager
quillity.
replies that it is analogous
no other proceeding in the world's

of
followed by
violent activity,
history.
seasons of absolute
repose, are characteristic of Eternal Deity.
Gopala, as soon as his duties had been
Karman
quered
(activity)
to
Periods
And
fulfilled,
this
con-
Eeason conquers De-
as
lusion.
voice
is
heard behind the scenes, which says
You good
"
for
nothing
fellow
how
dare
you
declare that Delusion will be conquered so long as I

exist
"
Ah
(Desire)
world.
Love
He
"
!
says the manager, " that
who, with
We
is
his
rolling
have enraged him.
is
eyes,
Love
or
Kama
bewitches
the
Let us begone."
represented as accompanied
declares that Eeason originates in
by Pleasure.
mere books, and
cannot acquire an ascendancy over his weapons, such

as lovely palaces, youthful maidens,
flowers
amongst
which the bees are humming, winds laden with the

scent of jessamine, moonlit nights.
Pleasure, however,

thinks that Eeason
observes that fear
is
29
a formidable opponent, but Love
natural to the feminine heart, and
is
he bids her remember
that,
and
posed of sugar-cane
bow
although his
his
com-
is
arrows of flowers, that

Love, how-
he can nevertheless, subdue the universe.
ever, states that Saraswati (eloquence or divine wis-
dom)
is
about to appear on the earth, and that she will
be a terrible enemy.
Hypocrisy
represented as a Brahman.
is
and Avarice are
Deceit, Greed,
his
Egotism,
King
friends.
Delusion enters with numerous followers, and speaks

superciliously of those
tinct
who
conceive that soul
is dis-
from body, and that reward can be enjoyed in a
When
future existence.
behind the scenes
"Make
he appears, a voice exclaims
ready
the
bejewelled
crystal
palace.
Let
Sprinkle the floors with sandal- scented water.
the fountains play.
Plant waving
flags,
Erect arches of precious stones.

brilliant as
the rainbow, on the
palace roof."
The King declares that the Material alone is true.

Nothing is known of what is beyond. Death is the
end.
Charvaka, or materialist, appears
accompanied
These thank King Delusion for giving

by a pupil.
them and their friend Vice comfort and courage and
;
they warn him of a dangerous female, a strict devotee

of Vishnu (the All-pervading) called Devotion. Heresy
boasts that he will convince Eeligion,
who
has become
30
the ambassador of
Reason, that justice, blessedness,
the Yedas, ascetic practices, knowledge of holy books,
and the doctrine of rewards
mere
follies
in future existence are all
that she will perceive the error of seek-
ing blessedness by the abstinence from sensuous enjoy-
ment and become
An
indifferent to Eevelation.
and a Buddhist
ascetic of the sect of the Jains
mendicant appear on the scene, who are enslaved by

the
allurements
of
become intoxicated,
and
sense,
handing one another wine-cups and dancing together

in drunken frolic.
The troops
of
King Eeason
readiness for action,
whose spears are said
and
infantry,
like
a forest of lotus'
temple
of
Vishnu
in
blossom.
that
that Delusion
Awakened
may
arriving at
to the world,
the
which im-
may
Intellect
arise
and
be destroyed.
In the battle that ensues, Eeason

offers as
to
On
cavalry,
move onwards
Benares, Eeason adores the deity
and prays that he may grant

plores him,
are ordered to be in
elephants, war-chariots,
is
victorious,
and
terms of peace that Delusion should abandon
the altars of Vishnu, the holy places on rivers or in
woods, and also the hearts of the pious

self
and
But Delusion
cal Doctrine
Wisdom
betaking him-
his followers to such peoples as are barbarous.

is
not yet conquered, and he calls Hereti-
and Logic
reveals
to
herself,
the rescue.
Then Divine
armed with the beneficent
influence of the sacred books from the
and the adorers of Vishnu, Shiva
Vedas onwards
(literally
the aus-

picious one), and
Sun
of the
round
rally
declares that Brahma, or primaeval Light,
and without beginning or
changeless,
She
her.
is
tranquil,
From
end.
31
this
holy Light have proceeded Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, to
whom man
prays
and she says that the Lord of the
Universe must be apprehended by means of the holy
Again a
teaching of the Scriptures.
Some
waged.
Buddhists
heretics are destroyed
fly to
fierce
by holy
battle
is
learning.
the eastward, and others take refuge in
Love is slain by Eight DiscriminaAnger by Patience, and Eeason becomes united
distant countries.
tion,
with Revelation.
It is
announced that the Moon
of
Awakened Intellect has arisen, that Light has entered

into Mind and swallowed up Delusion and his adhe-
And
rents.
the drama concludes with the following
" tag "
"Now
Eeason contented, now are
is
overthrown
and
I,
the All-pervading,
Now,
therefore,
fertilise
his
enemies
through the favour of worshipping
have
pray
attained
that
the earth, that kings
true
blessedness.
seasonable
may
rule in peace,
who are delivered from

truth, may be safely carried
that the noble-minded,
the knowledge of
that ocean of
life
which
is
afflicted
may
rain
and
sin
by
across
by the sorrows
of
egotism."
This work, observes Mrs. Manning, was
little
known
Europe until the year 1842, when Professor Eosenkranz of Konigsberg induced a friend, who was
in
familiar alike with Sanskrit
and with Sanskrit philo-
32
sophies,
make
to
for
him
Sanskrit into German.

in assigning
new
translation from
was correct
translator
If this
our
to the twelfth century of
era,
it
must have been written before Mahommed's capture
of
Benares in
it
194,
when he
is
said to have demolished
the idols of a thousand temples and to have loaded
camels with his
four thousand
During the
spoil.
preceding two centuries the North- Western Provinces
had been overrun by the Mohammedans and terrible

destructions of life, and of temples and images, had
;
taken place at Lahore, at Somnauth in Gujerat, and
Benares
other places.
drama
described in the
is
as
splendid in buildings which have stolen their whiteness from the moon, adorned with many-coloured
and possessing
gardens
filled
flowers of delicious perfumes.
bable that
it
medans when
can have
this
extracts
It does not
seem pro-
from the
Moham-
work was composed.
VI.
which have been
cited from this
other plays display culture, both of

a very elaborate kind.
we
and
trees,
suffered
CHAPTEE
The
flags,
with lofty
and
mind and body,
From Mohammedan
of
history
obtain an insight into the wealth of India at the
close of this dramatic period.
have found in the temples
of
Mahmoud
is
stated to
Mathura, on the Jumna,

five large idols of
value,
pure gold, with eyes of rubies of great
and above a hundred images
When
of silver.
returned to Ghizni, he displayed, as his

in value
33
he
spoil, bullion
9,000, with jewels, pearls, and other
.^"4 5
precious effects, and
found a spacious
fifty-six pillars,
350
hall,
At Somnauth he
elephants.
with
its lofty roof,
supported by
covered with plates of gold, and inlaid
with precious stones.
One pendent lamp spread
a re-
fulgent light over thousands of small images in gold or

silver,
ranged around the temple.
In the midst stood
a great idol of marble, which he caused to be broken
immense quantity of jewels

The treasure which he took from
in pieces, and in which an
were discovered.
this celebrated sanctuary is stated to
to
20,000,000 dinaurs, computed
have amounted
to be equal, at the
lowest computation, to ,9,166,666, 13s. 4d.
In this
2000 Brahmins, there were 500

300 musicians, and 300 barbers. In
establishment, besides
dancing
girls,
the south of India, as well as in the north, an almost

incredible
amount was obtained
of
wealth
in gold,
precious stones, pearls, elephants and horses, &c. &c.
The Mohammedan
away
soldiers are
their spoil in silver as too
said to have
thrown
cumbersome
to carry
on the march, such was the abundance of gold.

reported that
rings of
They
no persons wore bracelets, chains, or
any other metal than gold
and
all
the plate
in the houses of the great, as well as in the temples,
was of beaten
At about
gold.
this period the
enthusiasm of Europe was

c
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST
34
engaged in the crusades

Sepulchre.
and the
OR,
for the recovery of
the
Holy
Notwithstanding the amenities of chivalry,
rising beauty of Gothic architecture,
can
it
scarcely be contended that our civilisation was then

so
advanced as that indicated in these Indian plays of
the epoch rangiug from the
the twelfth century
first to
In the year 45 5, Borne had been taken

In 476
and sacked by the Vandals under Genseric.
of our era.
the Western Empire came to
Goth assumed the
its
King
title of
and Odoacer the
end,
of Italy.
century Justinian, in the Eastern
Boman
In the sixth
Empire, had
reformed the law, and published the code which be-
came the foundation

the
of jurisprudence in
revival of learning
in
the West.
observes that at every step, as
the decline and

of
fall
we
Europe upon
But Gibbon
sink deeper into
of the Eastern Empire, the annals
each succeeding reign impose upon the historian
an ungrateful and melancholy

the Byzantine Empire,
names both
of
"
task.
The
subjects of
who assume and dishonour
the
Greeks and Bomans, present a dead
uniformity of abject vices.
succession of priests or
courtiers tread in each other's footsteps in the
same
In the fourteenth
path of servitude or superstition."
century Constantinople was besieged, in the fifteenth

captured by the Turks,
quering
the
Hindus
in
two
great
Northern
Mohammedanism
Aryan
India and
civilisations
of
the
had been manifested
of
Greeks
the
in
The
zeal
in religious
war
Eastern Europe at about the same period.

of Christianity
thus con-

" Vitalian," says
so early as the sixth century.
bon, in chapter xlvii. of his History, " with an
Huns and
of
35
Gib-
army
Barbarians, for the most part idolaters,
declared himself the champion of the Catholic Faith.
He
depopulated Thrace, besieged Constantinople, ex-
terminated sixty-five thousand of his fellow-Christians,

till
he obtained the recall of the bishops, the satisfac-
and the establishment of the Council
tion of the Pope,

of Chalcedon,
an orthodox treaty reluctantly signed by
the dying Emperor Anastasius

to
"
who was
considered
have offended against the true Trinitarian doctrine
The seventh and eighth centuries
of the Church.
described as a "period of discord and darkness,
much
and
science
literary
appeared, to reappear in the
accomplishment had
dawn
In the
science as well as art in high development.
Manu, by
Code
of
Code
of Justinian,
at least a
thousand years before the
laws had been promulgated for the
commerce, the conveyance
and the duties
rulers, as
of
well
moral and religious observances.

the time
when monasticism
was obtaining
dis-
of restoration in the
India possessed certainly at this epoch
ninth century."
regulation of
are
when
full
its
as regulations for
Curiously at about
in India
influence
of property,
was
declining,
it
Europe in the
in
establishment of the Dominicans and Franciscans in
about the year
a.d.
But imposing
as
have been the extent and flourishing condition

monastic bodies
Chinese Pilgrims
in
Europe, the
certainly
revelations
exhibit
may
of the
of the
more amazing
36
spread in India of their system in Buddhism, which
seems precisely analogous to that of our begging Friars.

Considering
it
in the plays,
it
civilisation
to
Indeed
this is
admitted by
in conjunction with the culture displayed
seems impossible to conceive the Eastern
have been
imitated from the West.
demonstrated by allusions in the Vedas,
all scholars to
have been compiled in their
present form -by at least the time of David, in the
century
eleventh
marching
accounts
with
of
Certainly
B.C.
progressing
the
Chinese
the
spiritual
was
And
the
fifth
and
civilisation.
Pilgrims of the
seventh centuries testify to an extraordinary amount

of
religious
fervour
side
by
side
with the worldli-
ness depicted in the drama.
CHAPTER
At
VII.
this period, corresponding to
the " Flight " of the
Prophet Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, and to the

firm establishment of the use of images in the Catholic
Church, as Gibbon informs
had
us,
art of block-printing
centuries.
The
religions of
in India each possessed a

writings,
China.
China boasted
to
have
2000 years while the

had been known there for four
a code of laws for nearly
the latter of
Brahminism and Buddhism

voluminous body of sacred
which had been adopted in
In India also existed numerous essays
of a

and poems
scientific,
always
elaborate
of
spiritual character.
and
but
fanciful
The general
life
37
of these
great countries, embracing populations at least twice
modern Europe and America
as extensive as those of
was widely cultured.
combined,
In
the
civilised warfare, in the social ceremonies
modern
love of the beautiful, our
surpassed
or
were certainly
states
which mingled with
ferocity
literary culture of Borne.
taste
of
There was not that extent of barbarism
forestalled.
or
rules
and in the
in
Greece,
grandeur
the
if
and
not equalled in
temporary power, had
been
excelled in the permanence and stability which has
even
to this
day marked the institutions of the popu-
lous realms of Asia to the east of the Indus.
In Central America, Mexico and Peru, magnificent

temples and palaces were in existence, with colleges
of
priests,
educational
establishments
of a
religious
character for both sexes, and a most elaborate devotional ritual,
combined with exceedingly careful and
apparently long-matured systems of political economy.

Prescott, in his " Conquest of Peru," observes that
"
no
man
man could become poor in

The law was constantly directed to enforce
could be rich, no
"
Peru."
a steady industry and a sober management of a man's

affairs."
city,
and
Of
them
Trees,
its
In regard
altars
to religion,
temples were in every
smoking with burnt-offerings.
ruins Prescott observes that "
some
find in
a warrant for an antiquity of thousands of years.
which measure nine
feet in diameter,
have shot
38
up
the
ill
midst of
Accumulations
buildings."
of
vegetable mould are found nine feet above pavements.
Between Vera Cruz and the
capital of
"
Mexico
stands
the venerable relic called the Temple of Cholula.
mound,
a pyramidal
is
unburnt brick, rising
The popular
or
built,
to the height of nearly
tradition of the natives
erected by a family of giants,
180
that
is
who had
It
with
rather cased,
it
feet.
was
escaped the
great inundation, and designed to raise the building

to the clouds
but the gods, offended with their pre-
sumption, sent
fires
from heaven on the pyramid, and
compelled them to abandon the attempt."
Mr. George Squier, in
"
of Travel
Incidents
and
Exploration in the Land of the Incas," observes that

"
the temple of the sun was the principal and pro-
bably the most imposing

Peru,
not in
edifice,
but in
all
of
splendour and riches
its
if
all
not only in Cuzco,
The accounts
America.
left
by the conquerors,
and in which they have exhausted the superlatives

their grandiose
duced as
to
be familiar to every intelligent
400
They represent the structure as being

circuit,
of
language, have been so often repro-
with high walls
of
finely cut
chronicle, erroneously attributed to
that the writer never
saw but two
comparable with
workmanship.
it
in
reader.
paces in
The
stones.
Sarmiento, states
edifices
in Spain
The cornice
of
the walls, outside and in, was of gold, or plated with

crold,
was
as
were the inner
walls.
At
the eastern end
a great plate of gold representing the sun
and,

ranged beneath
it,
chairs,
were the desiccated
bodies
of
the
and seated
in royal robes,
some
Inca rulers.
say
This plate,
39
in golden
embalmed
all
of
one
from one wall to the other, and was the

Surrounding
only object of worship in the building.
piece, spread
were other separate structures, dedicated

Moon, Venus, the Pleiades, Thunder,
court
the
respectively to the
Lightning, and the Eainbow.
There were also a large
saloon for the Supreme Pontiff, and apartments
for
All these are described as having been
attendants.
richly decorated with gold
In Mr. Norman's
and
silver."
" Ptambles
in Yucatan, or
of Travel through the Peninsula
Notes
including a Visit to
the remarkable Euins of Chi-Chien, Kabah, Zayi, and
Uxmal," he remarks
"
For
five
saying,
many
down among
monuments of a city which, I hazard

must have been one of the largest the
I beheld before me, for a circuit
world has ever seen.

of
days did I wander up and
these crumbling
little in
of the first
miles in diameter, the walls of palaces and
temples and pyramids, more or

earth was
less dilapidated.
The
strewed, as far as the eye could distinguish,
with columns, some broken and some nearly perfect,

which seemed to have been planted there by the
genius of desolation which presided over this awful
solitude.
After the most careful search I could dis-
cover (amongst the Indians) no traditions, no superstitions,
He
no legends
of
remarks that
any kind."
"
the buildings which are
now
in
4o
the most perfect state of preservation, are the temple,

castle,
pyramid, and other erections, upon a succession
composed
of terraces
embedded
of rubble,
in mortar,
held together by finished walls of fine concrete limestone
the sides of which are invariably located with
reference to the four cardinal points, and the priucipal

fronts facing the East."
All this must signify an educated and cultivated

people with a spiritual
Their traditions seem to
life.
have pointed to the West
for their origin
while the
Etrurians, Pelasgi, &c. appear to have evidently de-
The account of the
scended from the East.

the
Babylonian Empire
mystery
science
regions
in
in
of
Egypt
of
2,
and the
of
art
Genesis
involved,
is
seem
to suggest
and sub-tropical Asia
tropical
starting-points
xi.
commencement
in
which the
the
origin of
march
of
for
the spiritual.
and
the
the
The
Hindus, on the evidence of language, &c, are acknowledged to be our cousins.
and didactic scriptures

scientific essays,
poems and
and
Certainly their devotional

their
moral, philosophical,
their epic, idyllic,
fables, &c.
&c.
seem
to
most complete ancient advance in

have taken place amongst them.
our
own
there
is
culture,
so
much
and that
that
is
of the
the
spiritual
While suggestive
of
Greeks and Eomans,

Their culture appears
See " Cradleland of Arts and Creeds," by C. J. Stone, chaps,

&c.
to
purely characteristic of India
that all seems to be indigenous.
xii.,
and dramatic
demonstrate the
x.,

to
be
much more
in
harmony with our European
41
life
than that suggested by the mouuments of Egypt and

Babylon, or even by the records of Greece and Eome.
If
we
consider Europe as a whole during the last three
with
centuries,
and
its
warlike aristocracies,
its
priestcraft, its
commercial
free
cities,
its
art,
code of manners,
we
and
architecture,
the institution of chivalry and
literature,
religions
its
absolutisms, and, on the other hand,
its
general
find strikingly analogous consti-
tutions of all kinds in the descriptions of the Sanskrit
Mohammedan
literature.
of
influence and the depression
conquest had not then affected India.
Venison,
mutton, and strong potations nourished the old warrior
The rules for fair fighting in the field are

more elaborate than those which have been proIn regard to the
mulgated in European warfare.
race there.
softer side of life, in the constant admiration of
charms of nature, in the luxury and
the
artistic taste dis-
played in the adornments of dwellings, and in the

devotion of the brave to the
fair,
the romance of our
mediaeval days seems suggested, combined

luxuries
of
the present
Indian epic poem, the
"
time.
with the
Whether the
great
Mahabharata," which gives us
so
much
to
the tenth or thirteenth centuries before our era, or
ascribed
information upon these points, be relegated
to
some centuries
seems to signify
in
it.
played,
An
little in
after
its
commencement,
considering the
life
depicted
indigenous civilisation appears to be dis-
demanding many thousands
of
years for
its
42
when we compare with
development
civilisation
and the three thousand years
we know
culture which
our
it
of historical
have preceded
to
own
it.
Cer-
tainly neither the classical civilisations of the Mediter-
ranean, Babylon nor Egypt, nor the
seem
displayed in
the
Roman Empire,
to be able to claim parentage for the life
Aryan
ourselves
It appears to
pages.
its
and ideas
show the
life of
the Greeks and

Upper Ganges at the
the Buddhistic influence was widely
race
on
the
race akin to
the plains of the
period before
extended.
CHAPTER
VIII.
1
The Mahabharata (Great Bharata, that is, " supporter,"
from the old name of India) poem consists of about
215,000 long
lines, as Professor
Whether
Oxford has observed.
by one or several poets,

the grandeur of
conception.
it
size,
its
Milton's
"
is
10,600
has been composed
remarkable not only for
but the completeness of
its
Paradise Lost " seems great in
dimensions as in merit, but

lines,
it
Monier Williams of
it
only extends to about
and the "Paradise Regained" contains
Even the voluminous Spenser's " Fairy

It is difficult
has only some 30,000 lines.
Queen
" poem can have
to conceive that this " Great Bharata
about 2 1 00.
"
been composed at or after the epoch

1
See Appendix
II.
of
the Chinese

was formerly
by European
assigned
Pilgrims.
It
scholars to
some period before the
43
century
fifth
B.C.,
but of late years portions have been attributed to cen-
By
turies within our era.
the Hindus
3000
to Divine revelation at about
revealed in
pages
its
is
elaborate
it is
ascribed
The culture
B.C.
but
seems to
it
appertain to an earlier age than the era of Buddhist
monasticism.
It contains accounts of passages in the life of Hari,
Krishna, or Vasudeva, as he
many
is
variously styled, amongst
who is held to have been the

he who moves upon the waters)
other appellations,
divine Narayana (or
incarnate upon the earth.
But
succinct history of his whole
it
does not afford a
life,
seeming to infer
that the readers or auditors of the
with
The narrative
it.
poem
are acquainted
of his parentage
and youth
is
The main
given in the last book as an appendage.
poem is a great civil or dynastic war,

many efforts have been made to deduce
subject of the
from which
historical facts
but the whole epic bears the aspect
of being poetical
A mass of
in
it.
doctrine,
or allegorical rather than historical.
ancient legends have been gathered together
Didactic
discourses
on
points
of
religious
moral and ceremonial conduct, the rules of
fighting, &c.
&c. are continually introduced, as deli-
vered by Krishna, or the venerable or virtuous kings,

chieftains,
the
work.
and
prelates,
From
who form
the
the significations of
these have an allegorical aspect
characters in
their
especially as
names
many
of
44
them
are related to have been incarnations of various
Brahminical
the marriage of
over this legend
minds either
to
have been miracu-
remote tradition seems apparent in

the five princes, the
heroes of the
But the poet has smoothed
one princess.
story, to
of
and some
divinities,
lously born.
certainly repugnant to the ordinary
of the inhabitants of ancient
modern Hindustan
by
Bharata or
asserting that the five were,
in reality, only incarnations of the
same divinity under
different forms.
When
the marriage takes place, an Arch-Brahmin
ceremony
presides in the sacramental

fire,
and
prayers.
offers
at the sacred
The wedding procession
is
gorgeous with robes, bouquets, ornamented cars, golden

garlands, &c.
The antiquity
of the
custom of be-
stowing presents upon the bride and bridegroom
is
shown by the enumeration of the gifts sent on the

occasion by the divine Prince Krishna, who is a
relation of the husband.
These consisted of golden
ornaments embellished with

vestments,
furs,
and
tissues of
precious
various
glittering gems.
He
countries,
stones,
costly
coverlets
also sent couches
of
and
chairs of various kinds, hundreds of vases incrusted
diamonds
with
servants born in
and
many
lapis
lazuli
countries,
accompanied
endowed with youth,
beauty, and good manners, and splendidly attired.

also
presented them
great
richly
size,
by
He
with well-trained elephants of
with horses excellent and well trained and
adorned,
and
with
cars
handsomely
embel-

lislied
and resplendent with golden
studs.
45
Finally,
he sent a quantity of unstamped gold, and millions of

golden pieces of money.
On
another occasion, amongst
the presents sent by Krishna are enumerated cars
by four
with garlands
horses,
men who had been
of bells,
drawn
and with coach-
instructed by able masters
also
one thousand radiant damsels, with one hundred thou-
sand horses from the
district of
Balkh.
Dr. Hunter observes that "glass was already
Hindus
to the
in the time of the Mahabharata, in
which we read that

one
the
of
at the raja-surya of Yudishthira,
royal pavilions
was paved with
'
black
which Duryodhana on entering mistook
crystal,'
water,
known
and drew up
his
garments
lest
for
he should be
wetted."
Yudishthira (firm in battle), the elder of the virtuous princes
who
are associated with the divine Krishna,
being themselves indeed incarnations of inferior divinities,
is
described as banqueting on venison and wild
boar, with
fruits,
The company
singing,
sweetmeats, and various potations.
entertained with instrumental music,
and dancing.
mense and
stones,
is
The palace
described as im-
beautiful, adorned with statues
and surrounded by
and blue
is
lotus, &c.
lakes, lovely
and precious
with the red
The sage Narada, a semi-divine
personage, comes to them, and
is
declared to be versed
in all the ancient histories, expert in logic, and greatest

of doctors
treatises,
in his
knowledge
of the six philosophical
acquainted with the true nature of peace and

46
war, and capable of absorption

that One,
He
who
is
tenders the
at the
king
by contemplation
in
same time Two and Many.

concerning
advice
the
regal
duties
"
Let thy ministers," he says,
acquainted with the treatises on
He
it
may
well
politics, carefully
keep
Let thy kingdom be securely de-
secret thy counsels.
fended, that
who should be
"
not be even insulted by enemies."
inquires whether the king's fortresses are well
stored with water, corn, arms, engines of war, soldiers,
Does
workmen, and money.

announce the times
of
officers skilled in
army
the position of the
truly a hero
the use of arms
army a proper allowance
remarks the sage,
if
of
is to
his
and does he give
manner suggested by the indigence
When
Are
For,
the day passes without their receiv-
which has been recognised

evils.
pay and rations
ing either pay or rations, the soldiers

a
after proper
Is the general of his
his
and,
him
ablutions, does he explain to

stars
Arch-Brahmin duly
his
sacrifice
may
behave in
of their master,
as a cause of very great
he marches to meet the enemy, the king
be careful to throw out advance guards, and also
to protect the rear of his army. " But," the sage wisely
demands,
to
"
do you conquer yourself before attempting
vanquish others
says, "
but
March
valiantly to
when you have gained
battle,"
he
the victory, become
yourself the protector of your enemy."
The king must have
secretaries to regulate his ex-
He
penses.
asked whether his societies of handi-
is
craftsmen are composed of honest folk
by the
sage, it is only
crafts
Are
that the world
formed
his villages
the towns
Are
Then
men
falsehood,
can exist in easy prosperity.
his decrees proclaimed in the midst

Is
is
he surrounded by
with sabre
attire,
made concerning
inquiries are
aud he
rage,
says the
and handi-
for defence after the fashion of
a bodyguard, in red and splendid
medical
for,
practice of the arts
of the assembly of the people
in hand
47
his
warned against materialism,
negligence,
sloth,
and idleness
who
gether with such persons as avoid those
to-
possess
knowledge.
The sage further inquires

collectors
have
to
as
whether the tax-
recourse to impositions,
such as extort-
ing false dues from foreign merchants
country
whether regular
the agriculture,
labourers,
who
whether the king looks into
and protection given
visit the
the state
relief is
of
extended to
to the blind, to idiots,
&c.
On
another
occasion
Krishna depicts
a fortified
town, and sets forth the manner in which

leaguered.
Its
and engines
of
it is
arched gateways, arsenals, wide
war
are mentioned.
be-
streets,
Additional defence
moats surrounding it is afforded by pallisades.

The attacking army encamps everywhere around the
city, except in the cemeteries and temples of the
to the
deities.
the field
to
abandon
will not strike one
who has
The true warrior

of battle.
He
is
said never
48
been smitten
already
ground,
the
to
renders himself a prisoner, nor a
nor an old man, nor a warrior
who
who
nor one
woman, nor a
child,
or with his
flies,
weapons broken.
Flights of arrows are described as concealing every-
thing in their density like
many weapons
M.
coundis) which
to
are enumerated.
mean
E.
and
Amongst various
&c, appears a word (bhou-
of lances, swords,
species
Cuirasses
clouds.
Burnouf and others have held
firearms.
CHAPTER
IX.
Such aphorisms as the following, from the Mahabhamust surely have been the product of a highly
rata,
cultivated age.
Politeness
especially
is
Holy Scripture
is
Humanity
mother
wife
of
is
does not
live,
these
five
to
is
Pienown
is
the
avarice.
friend
to
the
upon
deities,
son
is
man
is
earth.
who
guests,
is
a man's
given by destiny.
although he breathes,
Health
That
the highest duty.
great weight
Manes, and to his
happy.
Contentment the greatest of
happy who can abandon

soul.
the
the grandest of riches.
the greatest of gains.

pleasure.
displayed by
That
A
man
gives nothing
servants,
the
soul.
the aim of the dancer and comedian,

good living that of the servant
49
the lot of
fear is
the king.
Cupidity keeps us from heaven.

Science
disputes.
is
nature of things.
Avarice
pity
while folly
is
an enemy
Constancy
of
the
true
good towards
to
difficult
a malady without end.
is
wicked.
is
Patience supports
explanation
Pity is the desire of
Anger
all beings.
the
conquer.
A man
without
immobility in duty,
is
ignorance thereof.
is
Neither birth, prayer, nor the knowledge of Holy

Scripture, but only good conduct, can bestow the real
quality of a Brahmin.
"
Truth
is
the ladder for mounting to heaven
is
necessary as
is
a vessel for traversing the sea.
as
Patience
the virtue of the feeble and the ornament of the
These two
strong.
endowed with
means
tion
man who
anger,
desire,
master
can find the
a religious mendicant absorbed in
and a warrior wounded
towards his enemy.
are over Paradise
These two have a part in the disc
to give.
of the sun
men
patience, a poor
advice from the
and
idle,
to
medita-
death, with his face
These three doors open to hell

avarice.
Let not a king
take
the unscientific, or from dancers.
Let these remain in thy house with the surroundings

of prosperity
an
a poor friend,
old father, an unfortunate Brahmin,
and a
sister
with her children.
This
indicates a period before the prevalence of Sati, or the
immolation of the widow on her husband's pyre."
Here
is
a sucrcrestion of sea voyaging bein^ within
50
the general cognizance of the readers or audience of
poem
the
a vessel
sea.
The iron-tipped arrows and barbed

extracted from a man's body, but
pull out the dart of a
his
recitations
it
Do
of
may
shafts
is
be
impossible to
word which has buried
the depths of the heart.
by
by those who
said to be hated
is
have traversed the worst part of the
itself in
not estimate a Brahmin
low-voiced prayer, but by his
By
never abandoning truth.
truth immortality
may
be attained.
Covetousness, desire, and anger achieve
man's ruin.
Death does not devour that man who,
duly awakened by his
reflections,
which have taken possession

praises of death
is
immortality.
if
he
is
but death
his wealth,
he
is
is
exalted to Paradise
and
merchant who has read, and distributed

and
so the
man
In the Oudyaga division

scription
Poets utter
negligence, while vigilance
The warrior who has read the Vedas,
slain in battle,
so also the
is
smites those vices
him.
of
of inferior class.
of
the Mahabharata a de-
given of an assemblage of princes.
This
is
held in a court, vast, white with marble, decorated with
and suggesting the splendour
of the
was sprinkled with the most precious
sandal.
gold, glistening,
moon.
It
It
was furnished with
chairs, dazzling in
decorations,
constructed of wood, iron, ivory, or gold, on which were
thrown coverlets elegantly designed.

costumed in the richest robes, with
They
are
powdered with sandal
bouquets of flowers.
The princes are
celestial
ornaments.
and they have great
They drink even
to inebriety,

The forms
of spirituous liquors.
of ceremonial address
are minutely described, corresponding to the
salaam
of the
Hindu,
It
of the
hands in attitude
was no crude conception
deity which, having adopted
what we hold
uttered these words of Krishna
That
Vasou, because he abides in
creatures
called
Vishnu
From his
Mddhava
cause he
comes the name
is
derived
formed
supreme
God with
'habitation,
true nature.
his
is
styled the
immortal
waters.
assists at the birth of
names each
everything.
for
he
is
is
He
is
He
is
is
called
this
dark-
styled Hrishikesa
and Narayana
everlasting.
evil.
He
is
styled
man), and the eternal duty.
for
He
He
possesses the science of
reposes in truth, and truth in
the truth.
He
White Lotus, the

and imperishable
every being, good or
creature, for he
He
He
union with
the
the blue-lotus eyes.
march upon the
then, from
from his grandeur.
for ruling over the organs of sense,
his
called
know that his name of

and his name Madhouka be-
of
blue colour; also he
is
God,
of all
Krishna on account
he
Human,
of Vasoudeva.
(the All-pervading)
unification in
is
all
of
be the
to
Christian truth of the Divine manifested in the
his divine birth,
modern
in the lowly bending of the
i.e.
body and the joining together

of supplication, &c.
51
It
him
Govinda (the herds-
must be remembered
that herdsman precisely corresponds to our shepherd.
Flocks of sheep are not kept by Indians.

not breed mutton for eating.
only be a herdsman.
They do
The pastor there can
52
Krishna advocates peace,
still
he propounds the
sacred duty of the warrior in terms which would be

received with the highest applause amongst the chivalry
of
He
Europe.
The duty
death.
says that defeat

of the warrior
seek victory or
to
Death has many advantages over the
death in battle.
incurring of reproach.
in the
no better than
is
is
Cynical wisdom
remark that Brahmins,
friends,
is
apparent
and
relations
The Brah-
themselves turn away from a poor man.

minical author or authors
assert that the true
of
Brahminhood depends upon the
Brahmin's deeds and
spirit of the
work frequently
this
life,
not upon his
mere hereditary association with the order

is
but care
taken to inculcate the constant propriety of sup-
porting the Brahmins.
At
all
great ceremonies ac-
counts are given of vast numbers of presents bestowed
upon them
cars, &c.
golden
&c.
priesthoods
It
pieces, cattle, fruits, golden
adorned
must be allowed that our modern
and ministers
of
various
denominations
have also secured for themselves as corporations their

fully
due proportion of the wealth
of the
communities
with which they are connected.
In reading
gems
this
great
poem
it
is
not that a few
of high religious feeling, or of pithy wisdom, or
rare poetical descriptions, suggesting high culture, are

to be extracted
from an
from masses of matter worthless except
archaeological point of view.
On
the contrary,
earnest devotional addresses which would be perfectly

suitable to a modern pulpit, worldly-wise apophthegms,

accounts of the magnificence,
and of carefully educated

abound throughout
parent polytheism
its
is
taste,
pages.
shown
and luxuries
political
and
of
social
53
life,
order,
Continually the ap-
to express the attributes
and omniscient
or aspects of one eternal, omnipresent,
many
forms,
but especially and entirely in the Prince of
many
Supreme
Spirit
who
appellations,
known
as
incarnated upon earth in
in
is,
modern
The
Krishna.
beauties of nature
is
times,
more particularly
enthusiastic
ever apparent
love
the
of
whether exulting
in the grandeur of mountains, the loveliness of sylvan
scenes
rich in the flowers which, in India,
bloom
in
gorgeous tints on forest trees, in the beauty of tropical

gardens, or perhaps most fervently in dilating on the
tranquil
charms
of waters, exquisitely
the blue and crimson lotus, &c.
upon triumphant
are
heroes, cities
odorous with
Meats
of
many
the
sandal
adorned with
Flowers are showered
on ceremonial occasions
and
other
styles of cookery, sauces
perfumes.
and sweet-
meats, intoxicating liquors of various kinds, are also
recounted at banquets with admiration

refined delights certainly
seem
but the more
to inspire, in the higher
degree, the poetic ecstasies of the author.
stantly truth, courage, purity of soul
are extolled.
And
con-
and gentleness
Ceremonial acts of religion are enjoined
but the highest aspiration
of
holiness
is
declared to
be the seeking after union with the Divine through

meditation and
There are
faith.
many
eccentric legends in the
poem, but
54
like those in our
Scriptures, they appertain to a
In Christianity the
past age.
tion of
own
Eve by the Serpent,
ing of Balaam's
ass,
of the Ark, of the speakof
Samson
&c, have been credited
as truth-
and of the strength
residing in his hair, &c.
ful facts of ages of miracles,
which have ceased in the
These ancient
present day.
of the tempta-
stories
held to be
are
stories
divine,
and are reverently read throughout Christen-
dom.
And
Mahabharata
so the curious legends in the
and
of the wonderful doings of old patriarchs
and
of the
human, are
It
would
first
still
esteemed sacred amongst the Hindus.
certainly
advancement
seem
of indigenous
and
that
there
allegories are collected in
of didactic sayings
on
been
has
no
thought in India since the
An immense number
epoch of this poem.

stories
saints,
manifestations of the Divine to the
it,
all topics, religious
of
old
with stores
and secular
and with frequent and varying illustrations of the

The numerous conceptions
real unity of the Divine.
of the
reality
Hindu Pantheon
are
shown repeatedly
only forms of one Supreme
all and everything.
Spirit,
to be in
who
is
in
Altogether, like the discoveries
of geology in respect to the history of the earth, these
revelations of the great Indian epic seem to open to
our conceptions a remote past of civilisation.
CHAPTER
Krishna endeavours
parties in
X.
mediate between the inimical
to
(Vide
as ambassador.
the poem, and goes
by Hippolyte Fauche,
trans,
55
vol.
vi.,
p.
126,
ct
scq.)
Before setting out, he bathes and solemnly performs

the due matutinal ceremonial; adoring the sun and
His car is
and inclining before the Brahmins.
armed for the journey. It is adorned with moons and
fire,
crescent moons, and with brilliant standards, and

is
of
styled a charming object of
five " virtuous "
some distance from their capital

bid him adieu, " Firm in Battle," the
him
as
whom
"
Lord of
the
beings,
all
accompany him
princes,
to
man exempt from
and when they
eldest, addresses
eternal
god of gods
passion ought to obey."
Saints assemble from all parts to greet Krishna,
they
"
His
good augury are said to follow his march.
friends, the
style,
" this
god,
become
Courtesans and kings," they say,
who
art the verity."
heard and rain
Darkness prevails over

route.
"
cloudless sky.
rivers of Scinde turn their courses
own
warrior
whom
prince.''
contemplate thee
As Krishna advances thunder
falls in a
all
it
Birds and beasts
art.
The seven
is
great
from East to West.
the world, except upon his
The women assembled upon
his line of
march overwhelm with flowers of the sweetest fragrance

" this grand being, whose happiness is found in the
welfare of all creatures."
In traversing the various
56
towns and kingdoms the inhabitants

to
behold him.
"room the horses

b
come
all
due accordance with the
in
Brahmins
on their treatment.
him
invite
treatises
to repose
adorned with precious
in their houses, described as
of con-
Everywhere he constitutes the topic
stones.
versation
and
agreed that pleasure will result
is
it
forth
alights he gives orders to
"When he
who treat him with due honour, and pain to

who do not receive him. The roads are watered
to those
those
the gates of the towns are decorated to receive
while
throng
inhabitants
the
women
Crowds of charming
cars
in
on
or
upon every
are
him
foot.
palace.
and minstrels, the sweet

chants of women and concerts of tambourines and
drums, flutes and conch shells, accompany him.
The hymns
When
peace,
vast
of poets, bards,
has
mission
Krishna's
failed
and war has been declared, the tumult of a
encampment
powerfully described, the noise
is
of men, horses, elephants, horns, cars, and
war.
Then
there
and the whole

waves
preserve
to
in
is
the putting on
is
engines of
of cuirasses,
&c,
described as in commotion like the
Market-places are established
a tempest.
Doctors and surgeons are mentioned,
in the camps.
duly provided with instruments and learned in the

treatises
on
medicine.
cavalry and infantry

tens
of
thousands.
Cars,
armoured
are described
And
as
district
having
selected for the camp, well watered, shaded
with abundance
of
turf,
elephants,
numbered by
been
by woods,
the king surrounds
it
with
&c, and then constructs
cemeteries, temples, altars,
palace
provided
for
bows
weapons
of
and arrows, coats
iron
battle-axes,
Mountains
himself.
57
of
are
maces,
mail,
The
arrows, sabres, standards, &c.
warriors have vestments ornamented with gold, and
even golden cuirasses and coats of mail.

quite arrived at
they had not, in those days,
If
the civilised neatness of the breechloading
engine
of
destruction
they had
if
not
rifle
as
an
altogether
reached to the extent of Christian culture in designing-
weapons
of
war
in general, they had, at all events,
manifested considerable imagination in conceiving and

skill in
completing these.
Besides
all
the varieties of
and swords, they had arrows which were

shot through tubes as well as from the ordinary bows
spears, axes,
and they had some species of

water, and they threw from
shells filled
with boiling
chariots
their
burning
They had also the mysterious firearms to

which allusion has been made, the nature of which
balls.
does not seem to be known.

troops
is
stated to have been
The proportion
It
seems
the troops of each
to
the
one car to ten elephants,
to each elephant ten horsemen, to each

foot-soldiers.
of
horseman seven
Lave been customary
description
to
for
engage with one
another, cavalry with cavalry, infantry with infantry,
&c.
That the general equipment
brilliant,
may
of
the whole was
be inferred from the foot-soldiers being
described as wearing golden garlands.
Several of the heroes
who
are on the side of the
58
princes opposed to those whose cause
Krishna, appear to feel that
he
to conquer as
against
is
it
them
espoused by
is
hopeless to expect
is
but they conceive
themselves to be bound in honour, and in the true

of our mediaeval chivalry, to fight on.
spirit
The
allegorical nature
shown
in
Krishna's
poem seems
of the
friends,
the
virtuous
to
be
Princes,
having preferred his alliance without armies, and himself
engaging not to bear arms in the contest, to that
of hosts of warriors without him.
The army
is
described
as
drawn up
array on each of the days of battle
in
a cross in the form of an eagle with

stretched, a lotus,
air is
their chariots,
is
different
wings out-
its
fanciful forms.
The
Heroes, in
flights of arrows.
even send showers of arrows from their
single bows, such
aim
and in other
darkened with the
in
a half moon,
is
the rapidity of their
Their
fire.
so exquisite that they are described as cutting
in sunder lances hurled at them, or other arrows in

their flight
for
slicing
employing arrows with a crescent head

purposes.
Allowing
imagination and exaggerations

still
of
for
the
the
exuberant
poet,
it
must
appear, from the descriptions of the shooting, that
archery had been brought to a pitch of perfection not

surpassed by our magnificent English long-bowmen of
the Cressy and Poictiers period.
battle
is
heightened by the sound
conch-horns.
The uproar
of the
Flaming darts are thrown.
of the
drums and
The cavalry
have barbed javelins and swords with glittering
points.

After the melee, in confusion upon the
59
of battle
field
are banners, the embroidered caparisons of horses, and

rich
of variegated
coverlets
colours, javelins, maces,
tridents,
hooks to seize the golden ornaments of the
enemy,
glistening
gold,
golden
with
inlaid
gold,
arrows
scimitars,
tiaras,
and
with ivory
hilts
cuirasses,
with
feathered
helmets,
swords
amidst
bodies,
decapitated heads with their earrings, aigrettes, &c,
command made
batons of
stones, severed
arms
on them, turbans
lapis lazuli or precious
of divers hues,
with golden half-moon
Surgeons are mentioned as coming with
crests, &c.
their
of
cavaliers with their bracelets
of
instruments
The
wounded.
to
extract
chieftains
arrows
the
described
are
from
as
the
eagerly
ascending their war chariots, burning as ardently with

the desire "of victory as merchants with that of gain
when they embark upon the
great
victory has been obtained, the hero
But attention
whom
is
When
celebrated
is
chanted by the bards, minstrels,
songs
in
ships.
and
in
poets.
continually turned towards Krishna,
are said to be victory
and eternal
glory.
He,
in reply to laudations of himself, says, I cease not to
work
for the
preservation of the entire world.
he declares that death

the body
the soul will live again.
Amongst
suicide
is
And
merely the destruction of
are
list
of
evil-doers
reprobated,
with
who commit
who maintain
those
those
atheistic or infidel opinions.
Though the Hindus have been blamed
for possessing
60
no
histories of their country,
many
valuable historical
it is
not impossible that
MSS. may have
perished, for
bards are said to be especially learned in the ancient

histories.
Comfitures, pates, various kinds of cakes, rice boiled
with sweetmeats, &c, condiments flavoured with rum,

in addition to meats "artistically prepared," with carefully seasoned gravies,
&c, and various kinds
of intoxi-
cating liquors, seem not only to have been enjoyed by
the warriors, but by the Brahmins to
great extent.
There are even said to have been rivers of ingeniously
made potations. And their revels were accompanied

by songs as in Northern Europe.
Throughout the poem, on the other hand, honour,
courage, patience, truth, and tenderness are lauded in
precept and example.
But
to
become inebriated
after
a gay banquet seems to have been regarded with no
more abhorrence than

era,
when
in
England during the Georgian
the clergy as well as the gentry indulged
freely in all the pleasures of the table.
The descrip-
tions of the life of the heroes of the poem, associated

as they are with allusions to the excellence of agriculture,
and the admirable work of
the civilised form of
men
artisans,
and with
the warfare, suggest a
set
of
corresponding to those of that period rather than
to those of
such an age as the Homeric in Greece.
Culture and grandeur of archaic civilisation appear

in the noble pages of the Iliad
and Odyssey ; but the
frequent allusions in this Indian epic to treatises on
61
the various branches of the political and social arts,
and the
the
than descriptive nature of
allegorical rather
poem
indicate an epoch
itself,
which may be styled
literary.
Perhaps
our
sixteenth
which produced
century,
Shakespeare and Spenser, and which was witnessing

the revival of classical learning
corresponds
and
Mahabharata epic than the Georgian

been observed,
it
it
can
and
difficult
to
monuments had overspread
difficult
to
of this
As has
period.
after Buddhistic monasteries
is
have been written

relic
of Protestantism
more accurately with the age

conceive that
the land.
It is also
conceive that the invasion of Alexander,
and the subsequent establishment of the Greeks upon

the north-west of India, can have attracted no more
attention than appears in allusions to people styled
Yavanas
in a
manner
of the Greeks.
As
this
certainly not at all suggestive
term Yavana, which was be-
stowed upon the Greeks, was subsequently applied to

the
Mohammedans,
employed
it is
evident that
it
may have been
to designate the people of the Bactrian region
before the advent of the Greeks.
In
fact,
the
word
seems clearly to have been applied to the inhabitants

of
that
before
district,
it fell
The epoch
or
of the
the
some neighbouring
poem would
been earlier than the

B.C. at
to
under the power
latest.
of
territory,
Alexander's successor.
therefore appear to have
latter half of the fourth
century
Portions or episodes may, of course,
have been introduced afterwards, but the descriptions
62
of the
civilisation,
and the doctrine of
faith
in the
manifestation of the Supreme Spirit in Krishna, appear
They
throughout the work.
are not merely episodical.
In the
They have an aspect of distinct antiquity.
episode called the Bhagavad Gita, or Divine Song,
Krishna
reveals
especially
to
his
favourite
Prince
Arjouna that release from transmigrations upon earth
and union with the Divine may be attained through

faith in himself.
trine with
era, its
But
if
the association of this doc-
Krishna could be shown
deduction
to
be within our
evident from the doctrine of union
is
with the Divine taught in the older Platonic-like philo-
The
sophies.
or
six great systems of the ancient
Bharatans, with
their
Hindus
elaborately-framed logical
modes, &c, seem to take the antiquity of cultured
life
further backwards even than this poem.
CHAPTER
Beneath
XI.
the gorgeous azure of the Indian sky, and
in the dazzling sunshine, the ancient Indian armies
must have presented a most

period,
when
As has been
land,
observed,
it is
was
after the monastic
Buddhism had become
established in the
difficult to conceive that this
of
at this
a poet, or poets, became inspired to com-
pose the Mahabharata.
system
brilliant aspect
and from the thirteenth
to the fifth century B.C.

seems to have been the more likely epoch.
Allowing
heightened colouring of the descriptions, as
for the
63
we
can scarcely suppose the pictures to have been drawn
from no model, we
may
panoply of glorious war
The
glittering.
"
"
conceive the
have been marvellously
to
chieftains
pomp and
wore
tiaras
bouquets of flowers also of gold.
of gold,
and
Their banners were
heavily
emblazoned with the same, and had many
devices
which
have
Their
heraldry.
sparkled with
descended
four -horsed
bells,
and
to
us
chariots
their
in
mediaeval
clanged
and
arrows were winged
with peacocks' or herons' plumes.
Lances and great
maces were decorated with ribands
of golden
weapons
their
in
general,
their
tissue
and the
bracelets,
dangling jewels of their head-dresses glittered with

precious
stones.
The
horses
and
elephants
caparisoned with colour and magnificence.

riors also
had umbrellas and fans
One
swordsmen.
great
like the old
and pious hero
is
were
The warJapanese
represented
as having been only vanquished after being so transfixed with arrows that
them.
this
he
is
enabled to repose upon
They support him from the ground.
constancy to remain for some time, uttering
moral
is
Upon
couch of seeming torture he has the courage and
reflections.
described
and
A
it is
many
tremendous combat with clubs

stated that
it is
unfair to strike
below the waist in a club-fight, as in a modern English

boxing-match.
To return from war
to
the stage, the Harivansa
64
(or history of the
family of Hari), the last book of the
Mahabharata, has been ascribed to about the period

our Plantagenet monarchs
of
but again the descriptions
of India in the travels of the Chinese Pilgrim render

it difficult to
epoch.
conceive
having been written at that
its
the
It also suggests
fifth
century
B.C.
rather
than a later period.

Fetes are described as given on the occasion of a
great sacrifice of
father,
Vasudeva (the name of Krishna's
but often applied to Krishna, or Hari, himself).
The narration suggests that amateur

in vogue at the period.
Firstly,
were
theatricals
an account
is
given
an apparently professional actor who charms them

by his admirable light-comedy style, and his power of
universal mimicry, which had been especially bestowed
of
Then the
upon him by the Brahmins at his request.
principal members of Krishna's tribal family disguise
One
themselves in the garb of comedians.

as
becoming what we should
of the
company, another
is
the rest take various" parts.

ladies distinguished
an orchestra
is
by
added.
call the
"
is
described
leading
man
"
the " low comedian," and
With them
their graces
are conjoined
and
talents,
and
Concealed under the guise of
the characters which they were to enact, they arrive

in a popular quarter of the city
assigned to
them
presents conferred
At the
upon the
for residences,
and
and
five
houses are
hospitalities
and
upon them.
representation they firstly perform a

subject of
the
Eamayana
epic,
drama
the actors

being in
suitable
prologue
ensue,
stuffs
it
is
costumes.
After
many
related that
the
65
customary-
interesting
scenes
which evoke enthusiastic applause and precious

and gems are bestowed upon the performers.
;
After the
principal piece, recitations, &c, are given.

The King causes a handsome theatre to be constructed,
and therein concerts are held of wind and stringed
instruments, also vocal, with choirs of women.

is
performed,
(the god
nymph
of
and
riches)
History
the Loves of
And now
of Indra's heaven)."
gests that not only
"
the
entitled
were they careful
of
play
Couvera
Bambha
(a
a passage sugto attire
characters in fitting costumes, and not only were
their
women
allowed to perform as upon our modern stage, but that
they actually had our scenic
It is related that
effects.
the decorations, by a magical effort of the art of the
Yadavas, represented,
Kelasa
the
Olympus
The description
or
of
in
natural aspect,
its
Krishna's city
Dwarvaka, suggests a
Mount
the Hindus.
of
capital not
of
Dwaravati,
unworthy
placed by the side of our modern Paris.
Its
to
be
turrets
overlook parks, flower gardens, plantations, canals, and

basins of
water, walls resplendent with gold, woods,
and the distant mountains.
Its arcades are enriched
with gold and precious stones, and
it is
surrounded by
deep moats and lofty ramparts glistening with yellow

stucco,
on which are placed engines
killing a
hundred men at a
eight principal streets
and
shot.
six
of
war capable
of
The town contains
grand squares, with a
66
wide road running around
In these
it.
and great men could display
ladies
streets
the
their corteges with-
The
out crowding, for seven chariots could go abreast.
houses had staircases enriched with gold and precious

stones,
and the windows
had golden
lattices.
In
Krishna's palace were a thousand crystal columns, and

it
was
chiefly constructed of precious
liquors are placed here
and
When
stones.
Krishna enters the city in triumph vases

there, the
of agreeable
heads of the
come to meet him, and the women shower

flowers upon him from the housetops, &c. The allegories contained in this work are not only religious and
moral, but astronomical and meteorological.
Mr. Hurrychund Chintamon, in his commentary on
corporations
the " Divine Song " (Bhagavad Grita) of the
observes that
rata,
its
object
is
own
spiritual nature.
Krishna as
"
Him
in
"
Thou
All,"
the beauty of his
The Prince Arjouna addresses

and Krishna
whom we live, and

whom nothing
and without
the removal of those
man
mists of error which hide from
amon remarks
is
declared to be
move, and have our being,

is
the origin of
death, might, wisdom, and goodness."
allegory, in
Mahabha-
that all this beautiful
which the opposing
all birth,
Mr. H. Chint-
poem
is
but an
forces represent Passion
Reason, in the form of Krishna,

and Intelligence.
Arjouna
(Mind)
to wage war against Passion,
advises
Pride, &c.
Intelligence, Devotion, Patience, Content-
ment, Friendship,
ment,
Intellect,
Compassion,
Revelation, and
Tranquillity,
Retire-
Science are respec-

tively opposed to Passion, Irreligion, Anger,
67
Avarice,
Falsehood, Pride, Envy, Haughtiness, Injury, Enjoy-
ment, and Hypocrisy.

Constantly in the " Great Bharata
in the divine
man.
upon
Hopes
is
urged
sympathy with
Supreme Being,
earth, suffering in
union
of
" faith
with
the
through and in that manifestation,
held
are
forth.
These appear to afford distinct analogies to Christian

doctrines.
Gentleness combined with courage, charity,
and
patience,
universal
exalted for admiration.
love
are
in
continually
it
Altogether not merely sug-
gestions, but the actual teaching of Christianity,

to
be contained in
not
it,
as will be
shown
in quotations
accidentally, or in episodes, but in the design
and completion
of the whole.
Krishna, under his various appellations,
and
seems
adored as
assertion
and
divine, with
self-sacrifice
supreme example of
is
invoked
unvarying constancy of
inculcated
is
as
the
religion.
CHAPTER
XII.
Let us suppose that additions or interpolations have

been made in this " Great Bharata " since the time of
Christ. Our Gospel narratives, nevertheless, cannot be
reasonably conceived to have suggested
tian
analogies
of
the
poem.
all
Actual
the Chris-
Christianity
68
might have been considered

of
some
them
of
to
have formed the basis
we had found them
if
OR,
But
isolated.
the work contains such immense profusion of allegories,
and multiplicity
variety of legends,
doctrines, in
which the unity
manifestation in Krishna,
render the
to
they have been
first
all
Christian
of the
of Deity,
is
supposition
of the forms
and
faith in
humanly untenable
from
His
These seem
set forth.
imagined
of
the
that
suggestions
introduced into India in the
faith
ages of the Church.
Their connection
is
too evi-
dent with the religious ideas and philosophical expo-
which are acknow-
of those Indian scriptures
sitions
by
ledged
the
all
"
The
Christian.
science of our day to
Great Bharata
be pre-
poem seems
"
to be
a stupendous and profusely variegated and ornamented
commentary upon the following
Manu
of
Of
"
all duties
texts in the Institutes
the principal
true knowledge of one supreme
most exalted
tality."
..." Him
tal
others
fire,
God
of all sciences, because
in
some adore
Manu, lord
is
;
to acquire
that
is
as present in elemenof creatures, or
distinctly present in Indra, regent of the clouds
the
atmosphere, others
as
the
ensures immor-
it
the
more
and
Most High Eternal
Spirit."
This ancient Indian code of laws

to about the ninth century
mentators have argued

or later,
its
it
is
attributed usually
but some modern com-
to be later.
originality is
tion of divinity with
B.C.,
Whether earlier
The associa-
undoubted.
an earthly prince had also been

suggested in the following text of
even though a
ful
a mere mortal
is
who appears
divinity,
in
king,
lightly
from
must not be treated
child,
the idea that he
Maim
no, he
human
69
"
a power-
is
From
shape."
this suggestion, to conceive the
Almighty incarnate
an actual or mythical monarch,
of
in
extreme valour and
seems a sequence absolutely prototypical of
sagacity,
Even the celestial King of birds is in

shown to be only One with the Supreme
the Universe.
But especially this Supreme
Christianity.
his
turn
Spirit of
be worshipped as Xarayana, moving on
Spirit is to
the waters, incarnate upon earth as Krishna for man's
The
benefit.
poem commence with the

Honour Xarayana and N"ara,
divisions of the
following adjuration
"
greatest of men, the goddess Sarasvati (divine wisdom),
and Vyasa
(meaning compiler or
sage, alleged author of the work),
collector,
and then
holy
recite this
poem, which gives the victory."

Nara, always coupled with Narayana,
upon earth
is
incarnate
young prince, and

As Krishna is invoked
Supreme Spirit, so Arjouna
as Arjouna, a brilliant
constant friend of Krishna.

as the
incarnation of the
said
is
chief
to
be the
regent
of
incarnation
the elements.
of,
or
son
of,
Indra,
Krishna means the
dark one, Arjouna the white or shining one.
The darkness
of
Krishna in one place
by the idea that the colour

cally changes
are
now
of
is
explained
the Deity metaphori-
with the ages of the
world.
As we
in the fourth, the black, equivalent to
the
70
classical
Iron Age,
ence with
observed,
"
it
Now
it.
has become dark in correspondKrishna, or Hari, as has been
not seem to be introduced into the
does
" epic
Great Bharata
assume that those
to
any novelty.
as
whom
poem
the
is
seems to
It
addressed will
be acquainted with his name, and that they will already
be believers in his divine
office.
The poem
said to
is
have been inspired by the Creative Power, and
to be in
harmony with the four Books of Knowledge (Vedas).

Having been first recited in royal presence, it is then
recorded in the introduction to have been narrated before
holy sages, and the supposed bard thus commences

"
When
Man,
have done homage to the Primitive
I shall
to Isana, the adorable, the honoured, the absolute
Being, the Eight, the Eternal One, to
him who
is
revealed
and unrevealed, the essence of the ineffable monosyllable,

the non-existent, or rather to that which at the same
time exists and does not

that which
exist,
who
is All,
who
and which does not
exists
Creator, the ancient,
supreme,
imperishable
All-pervading, called also Hrishikesa and

chief of beings
ing happiness
admirable
many
pure, without
sin,
work
of
the
to
the
the
Hari, the
purpose of the
magnanimous Vyasa, which
bards are recounting, which lives in the abridg-
ments and developments
of
Brahmins," &c.
Further on the old blind monarch, who
have heard
how, in
the
interest
of
one of
is
the principal characters in the story, says

I
above
happy and bestow-
I will declare the holy
is
exist, to
the
"
When
world,

Maghava-Vasudeva came
incarnate
to
which he
soul on this earth, of
He seems
to
narration of
an acknowledged
assume here that
is
universal
his
the sole energy
it
is
new
merely a
is
"
who
and blessed
imperishable
assuredly,
sanctity
the
itself
the
Certainty, the Light without end,
exists not,
who
who
origin,
is
the
is,
and
purification,
whose divine works
at the
whom
from
called
Brahman, the Supreme
eternal
the sages have related,
and
Vasudeva,
immortality,
truth,
"
Again, before
story.
Krishna himself appears upon the scene, he

the
71
same time
exists
the universe derives
its
commencement and development,
the birth, death, and resurrection of beings."
CHAPTER
XIII.
The author
of the
view
comprehensiveness, and declares that there
exists
basis
of
its
work adopts a very
self-opinionated
no legend upon the earth which rests not
upon
this recital
be capable of effacing
and
all sin
its
perusal
is
except the sin against
hadeva (Great God, or Great Shining Being
Mahadeva is one with

Hindu trinity.
its
declared to
Ma-
literally).
Shiva, the third person in the
After Krishna under some one of his names has
been frequently mentioned, the following account of

his incarnation is given
illustrious divinity,
who
"
To favour the worlds, the
receives the adoration of the
72
world,
Vishnu, incarnated himself in the
Devaki
(the
womb
of
Divine One), and became the Son
of
He who
Vasudeva.
without beginning or end, the
is
God, Creator of the world, the Imperishable, the Chief

of beings, the Universal Soul, Nature, the All-power,
the Principle of
essence
the Creator of
life,
all
the Swan, the adorable Narayana, he

all,
who
soul),
not born
is
He
he whose
goodness, the Immortal, the Infinite One,
is
the
ineffable
who
nourishes
Purusha (universal
willed, for the increase of virtue, to be
born
in the race of men."
Krishna
is
introduced in the epic under the
first
The
hand of a princess
is
or noble
who can win her
in
following circumstances
offered
any prince
to
competition of feats of arms at a species of tournament.
On
such an occasion great distributions
made
various sorts are

said,
come
kings,
to
and sons
Brahmins.
of kings,
of riches
Hither,
and
it
of
is
sacrificers
students in the Veda, firm in their vows, and admirable
young men
athletes,
of
&c.
side in the
many
The
"
countries,
virtuous
"
also
princes
actors,
poets,
come whose
war Krishna espouses, and who have been
manner which
recalls to mind the banished duke and his followers
And as they make
in Shakespeare's " As you like it."
that
they
read the " Books
related
it
is
journey
their
ejected from their rightful heritage in a
of
Outside the city grand preparations
Knowledge."
are
with
made
for the
porticoes,
competition.
arcades,
Pavilions are raised
and commodious
staircases.

They
and
are adorned with elegant carpets, couches,
They
seats.
73
perfumed with aloes and sandal, and
are
decorated with wreaths of flowers.
Here we have the
first
meeting of Krishna with
these virtuous princes, his friends and relations
and
he certainly appears upon the scene as one supposed

reader of the poem, also repre-
to be familiar to the
sented as
known
tournament
to the public present at
described
in
After
it.
sort of
this
diversions
of
comedians and dancers, &c. &c, on the sixteenth day
who
of the fete the princess,
is
in
rately costumed, descends into
display
Then
herself.
competition, elabo-
the
religious
amphitheatre to
ceremonies are per-
formed, the musical instruments are silenced, and

is
it
solemnly proclaimed that whoever draws a bow of
tremendous strength, and shoots

cession
through
ring,
shall
five
arrows in suc-
have the
princess
wife, provided his qualifications in respect to
vigour, beauty,
who
and birth are
has not yet
satisfactory.
made himself known
to
to
manly
Krishna,
them,
falls
into reverie as he recognises the exiled princes under

their disguise as Brahminical students.
princes
are
victorious,
much
to
The disguised
the delight
of
the
Brahmins present, and
to the disgust of the aristocratic
warriors,
who exclaim
that they are not qualified to
win the
prize.
Then Krishna informs
the assembled
kings that the princess has been legally won, and he
comes to the disguised princes, embraces the

the eldest, and says, " I
am
Krishna."
feet of
In this in-
74
cident
Krishna appears, as
more
is
frequently the case,
as a wise prince than as a divine person
on being asked how he knew them in their

simply
rejilies
he
that no others could have accomplished
But the Prince Arjouna,
the deed.
for
disguise,
bow and
the feat of bending the
before accomplishing
shooting the arrow,
He
has thought of Krishna as divine.
has bent in
reverence to Indra, Isana (Shiva), and Vishnu
and
he also has rendered homage in thought to Krishna.
At
is
conclusion
the
of
this
accompanied by Baladeva,
Krishna
beautiful
ideal
the
narrative
charming
man.
of
it
quickly,
his brother."
certainly
is
part of
God - made man departed
said that the "
It
conception,
can easily be compre-
hended how such a hero can have become too be-
by the Hindus
loved
to
be easily deserted for the
object of adoration set before
There
sionaries.
him
is
calculated to render
Europeans,
viz.,
manner
which
in
them by Christian mis-
but one association connected with
him odious
in the eyes of
the plurality of wives.

this
But
in the
attribute of his personality
is
narrated, and in other particulars, such as his colour,
the antiquity of the conception seems certainly demonstrated, especially as it is
associated with the strange
marriage of the princes, his associates.
Honour, the sanctity

general
of
the
plighted
word, and
benevolence, are always connected with the
sanctity of faith in Krishna as the divine manifested
upon
earth.
But the
brilliant,
joyous,
and
even
75
life
are not considered to be in-
compatible with religion.
Great ascetics and hermits
voluptuous sides of
up
are constantly held
superhuman powers
with
seem, upon
mediaeval
occasions, to
Europe,
and accredited
to admiration
;
but even these ascetics
Christianity of nobles
while the
and knights, burghers and peasants, appears

corresponded with this aspect of the Krishna
monks and hermits
co-existed
who
is
much
to
have
religion,
are held not to
have been invariably superior to carnal

There
So in
indulge in gaiety.
gratification.
the " Great Bharata " epic which
in
suggests our mediaeval conceptions of mingled chivalry
and
religion.
CHAPTER
XIV.
Till the puritanical and " evangelical
"
elements were
introduced into or revived in Christianity, some three

or four centuries
ago,
there does not seem to have
existed so distinct an idea of
and profane
divine
in
the
the separateness of the

Catholic
Church.
Buddhism the misery and worthlessness

existence
to be
In
of worldly
was preached, and true happiness inculcated

self and its
found in the entire abnegation of
desires.
In the religion of Krishna, although tremen-
dous austerities and fearful penances were extolled, the

1
See Appendix IX.
76
general conception of religion was more worldly.
It
certainly seems to correspond, as has been suggested,
with what
of
may
be conceived to have been the religion
The
spirit
that which induced
Count
one of our mediaeval knights-errant.
seems akin
of devotion
to
Eobert of Paris to take his stand before the Chapel of

our Lady where four cross-roads met, as Sir Walter
Scott
narrates.
Here, in mingled adoration of
the
Madonna and his lady-love, he dared any knight to

combat who might pass.
Even in the sacred Bha"
gavad-gita, the " divine song " of the " Great Bharata
epic,
Krishna exhorts the Prince Arjouna
duty as a warrior,
before
declaring
divinity
and propounding a system
sophy.
The
feasting,
do his
to
his
universal
pious
of
philo-
with strong meats and potent
potations, described in the poem, again brings the life
generally depicted into juxtaposition with our mediaeval
days rather than with modern Hinduism.

Professor Monier Williams of Oxford
some scholars who seem
to conceive
is
amongst
that the didactic
discourses in the " divine song " present an aspect so
analogous to
derived from
Christian doctrine that they must

it.
be
But similar teaching, equally Christian
in conception, seems to pervade the
poem
so continually,
that this especially Christian-like portion
reasonably argued
to
may
be more
be a spiritual development in
old India, logically to be expected from the context of
the work.
The Hindus have seemed
advantage of the
so slow in taking
efforts of Christian missionaries in
our

age,
to
and translations of the
Bible, that
comprehend how they can
so eagerly
it
is
may
difficult
have adopted
Christian ideas eighteen hundred years ago.
course the difficulty
77
But
of
be explained by supposing
the divine aid to have miraculously accompanied early
In that case the Hindus must be
apostles in India.
regarded
as
altered the life

in
many
who have exaggerated and
Christians
of Christ, while retaining a resemblance
incidents,
Him
and assigned
to their
own
part
of the world.
As Milton, 1600
our
faith,
years after the promulgation of
became inspired
redemption in his great
Aryan
poet,
or
poets,
glorify
to
so
epic,
would seem
inspired to recount the glories
of
the
work
of
the
more ancient
to
have become
Krishna, and the
grandeur and goodness of actual or imaginary heroes

devoted to him.
of our
own
It
poet,
the belief of
have been necessary

for
would appear
that, as in the case
the multitude
must
to yield the requisite inspiration
such a stupendous and often sublime work.
It
has been asserted by European critics to have been a

compilation by " crafty Brahmins " to promote their
own
ends.
But
aid of Krishna.
their
It
system
is
complete without the
would seem probable,
if
the
work
was dictated by Brahminical design, that this happened

after Krishna had become the veneration of the people,
in order to associate him with Brahminism.
The stories of Krishna in this poem connect him
with the sun and the holy
fire
(Agni).
And
his
7S
constant association with Arjouna, the incarnate Indra,
seems to signify the Supreme
Spirit, associating
and directing the Eegent
Elements, the Monarch
Heaven and
of
the
of
fire
of the
" as
and
is
Bharata
"
purifier
and the
to the deities
thus
addressed
mouth
the
art
sacrifice
So
is
shown in
" Books
the
in
the
of
"
Great
gods,
the
thou conveyest the offering
Thou art
Thou art the
the Vedas are born of thee.
the admirable light, the breath of
supreme Energy
Holy One.
be
will
invoked in those
is
the mediator between the divinities
He
"Thou
men.
as
scriptures,
earlier
Knowledge
of
Agni, the sacred
of the divine beings.
quotations from the Vedas,
with
life.
purify
me by the truth."
Krishna addressed as the soul
of
the Vedas,
Hari, greatest Being in the world, the eternal Origin,
the Sustainer of that which has been, of that which

is,
of
that which will be, the asylum assured to the
unfortunate, &c.
the Sabha division of this " Great
It is said in
Bharata
Narayana, the adorable lord of the
that
"
world, was born in the race of Yadu.
He
shone upon
earth like the queen of the stars in the midst of the

" This
constellations.
whose might
upon
"
all
Hari, exterminator of enemies,
the gods adore, behold him, dwelling
earth, like a child of
child of
Manu,"
would seem
to
is
Manu."
The
expression,
frequently used in this poem.
It
signify child of the first self-existent
man-type.
"
Oh,
is
it
not marvellous
"
is
exclaimed in this

Sabha portion
of the epic, " that the
79
Being existing by
himself,
should take unto himself the form of this
warrior,
endowed with such vigour?"
Subsequently
the king, whose cause Krishna espouses, answers to a
holy sage that he has heard of the actions of Krishna

since his birth,
who
has brought happiness on eartli
He
for all creatures.
then recounts his praises, his
knowledge, his universal good
qualities, his liberality,
He
science, humility, firmness.
him the Father,
calls
the perfect Founder of worlds, the Sovereign, the Soul

" in effect,"
of
worlds
he continues,
is
Krishna
in
He
is
the Superior of
he
all beings,
is
four elements, has
the moon,
may
has for
cause
in
the Intelligence, the grand
Light, the Water, the
its
Heaven and
All which exists, composed of
all.
all subsist in
root in Krishna
the sun and
Krishna, the Vedas, kings, and
the way
of the
universe,
extend on high, below, on

its
which
the constellations, the planets, the cardinal
Mount Meru
it
its
all
invisible Nature, the eternal Creator,
Wind, the
Soul, the
the Earth
and fortune
and
this universe,
moveable and immoveable, has
exists,
Krishna.
points
" the generation
however
all sides,
far
everything
head, in the worlds and amongst the divine
beings, the adorable Cesava."
This
is
tains at
uttered in an assembly of kings and chief-
which Krishna
is
present.
prince impetu-
ously exclaims that he will place his foot on the head

of
any one who doubts
falls
on
his
it.
At
this a
shower
of flowers
head from heaven, and invisible voices
So
applaud him.
that
But one of the monarchs present says
may have worked
although Krishna
sustained a mountain for seven days, &c,
wonderful.
In
contends that
fact,
latter replies that
worthy
The
and cuts
the
off
monarch
this
arrived.
glittering
the sun, comes to his

it,
marvellous
to inveigh against Krishna.
time, but that this has

his discus.
the
to
The
he has promised to endure offences
from
of death
nothing
he admits Krishna's power, but
does not reach
it
and he then proceeds
miracles,
it is
to the
He
hundredth
then thinks of
weapon, evidently typical of
hand
at the thought.
He
casts
head of the unbelieving king.
Forthwith prodigies occur.
Rain
falls
in a cloudless
sky, with lightning, &c.
Though inculcating gentleness and mercy, Krishna

slays the unrighteous, both demons and men.
CHAPTER XV.
The happiness
Bharata
"
of the earth, according to the " Great
poem, had been ruined by demons entering
men and
into the forms of

sonified),
heavily
burden, and tormented by

that
God who
is
animals.
fear,
the parent of
for
of
(per-
her
implores succour of
all creatures.
Brahma, surrounded by divine beings,
nymphs, &c, and prays
The Earth
by the weight
oppressed
sages,
deliverance.
She sees
heavenly
Brahma

orders the gods (devas
= divine
Si
beings) to get sons to
contend against the demons (Asuras), and they
But
ceed to become incarnate in the world.
go to the heaven of Narayana, or Vishnu
all
pro-
first
they
" to
him
of
the yellow robe, the brilliant one, with the charming

eyes
"
and Indra, chief
to him, "
stance."
Be incarnate
And Vishnu
assents.
In concert with the
yana arrangements
deities,
for the
brother of Krishna,
as
is
God
portion of the immortal
Vishnu, considered
Indra makes with
ISTarfi-
descent upon earth.
deva, the father of Krishna,
the
the heavenly host, says
of
thyself in a portion of thy sub-
alleged to be himself a
of gods
Sesha,
an
also
is
Vasu-
the
and Baladeva,
incarnation
of
type
of
serpent,
eternity.
Krishna's
tyrant
who
infancy,
his
from the reigning
escape
has been informed that a child will be
born of Krishna's
mother
for
his
destruction,
youthful days amongst the cowherds, &c.

are not related
book,
the
till
a later invention
is
his
stories
the end of the "Great Bharata."
Harivansa, containing them has
But that the story
added.
these
been
of his pastoral life is not
shown by the
epithet, "
Lover
of
the shepherdesses," being applied to him, &c. &c.
Under the name
of Cesava,
he
is
thus addressed by
the sage Vyasa, the alleged author of the poem,

is
who
supposed to have been his contemporary, and who
appears among the personages of the work attributed

to
him
"
Thou
art the beginning
and the end

F
of all
S2
beings, thou art the treasure of penitences, the eternal

sacrifice
thou art Hari, Brahma, the sim and moon,
time, the earth, the cardinal points, the creator, and
Thou art slayer of Madhu (the

demon), the supreme way. Thou destroyest the demons
by hundreds. There exists in thee neither anger, nor
At the end of an
envy, nor falsehood, nor cruelty.
the grandest of men.
age of the world thou withdrawest

thyself,
and thou then becomest
beginning of the world's age,
thy navel that Brahma
it
That which belongs
one
who
to
At
replies
to him,
to thee.
Every
Krishna
me, belongs
hates thee, hates me."
Again, Krishna
addressed thus
is
"
In the
creation of beings thou wast the only patriarch
wast the creator of
all
worlds.
art the sacrifice, the sacrificer
and truth
truth.
the
from the lotus of
is
born, father of all things,
is
moveable and immoveable."

"
beings into
all
this world.
Thou
Thou
thou.
art
art
Thou
art
first
thou
Vishnu, thou
and the victim.
Patience
art the sacrifice
which
the Eternal, the
way on which
is
the
holy inarch, soul of beings, without cessation in action.
The
constellations,
worlds
all
the worlds, and the guardians of
subsist in thee
beings, of those
who
thou art the lord of
all
who
are
are divine,
and
of those
born of Manu."
The meaning
of the expressions, sacrifice
as applied to Krishna,
gested by his
would seem
to
and victim,
have been sug-
being regarded as the universal soul.
Evidently sacrifice had grown into an institution before

the religion of the Veclas became systematise*!.
produced benefits apparently to the
fice
the
as for
stipends.
them
Sacri-
priests,
received presents, or obtained the victims.

requisite for
83
It
who
was as
to procure the offerings of the people
priests
of
modern days
to
receive their
From such reasons, or from superstitious
feelings of veneration,
became regarded as
sacrifice
something so essential to
life
that the deities were
said to
have produced the world by offering up uni-
versal,
primeval soul in
Victims, even in
sacrifice.
the Vedas, had begun to give place to the bloodless

rice-cake, or offering of the juice of the moon-plant.
And when Krishna came

of the world, he
As Purusha,
sacrifice,
the victim.
universal soul, he seems to have been the
Purusha
sacrifice.
regarded as the soul
to be
was styled the
is
said,
in the A'eda, to be the
whole universe, which has been, and whatever shall

be,
and the lord of immortality.

"
The gods performed
a sacrifice with
Purusha as
This victim, Purusha, born in the begin-
the oblation.
ning, they immolated on the sacrificial grass.

is
Purusha
recognised as having a personality as the universe,
or rather as the soul of the universe
Vishnu,
blessed,
Bhagavat,
Narayana,
i.e.
the
and he
is
also
all-pervader,
he who moves upon the waters, &c, incarnate
on earth as Krishna, and in numerous other forms in

all
times and
Sacrifice,
all
worlds."
reading of the scriptures, alms, penitence,
truth, patience, the suppression of the sensual desires,
84
the contempt of riches
branches into which
As
is
these are said to be the eight
divided the
way
of duty.
the sacrifice rather corresponds to the sacrament
of our Christian altars than to the old blood sacrifices,
these eight
would seem
considered the
are
And
to
proper
precisely constitute
qualities
what
Christianity.
of
that form of Christianity which contemns cere-
monies, and derides the efficacy of works, except as

the fruit of faith,
also
is
Bharata," though not
inculcated in the " Great
so constantly
and strenuously
perhaps as in the Bhagavata Purana and other writings sacred to Krishna.
CHAPTER
In consoling the Princess,
XVI.
who becomes
the bride of
the princes his friends, Krishna exhibits his absolute

reliance in himself.
"The Himalaya," he
be broken, the earth be
split in fragments,
says, "shall
and the grand
basin of waters dried up before his words shall have
been uttered in vain."

It is related of this Princess that, in a former birth,
owing to
sins
committed in a
still
previous existence,
she was unable to find a husband, notwithstanding her
beauty and accomplishments.
The
single condition
being considered disgraceful in the ancient civilisation,

before
Buddhism had spread with
its
recommendations

of celibacy, she
prayed earnestly
for a
husband
85
in five
emphatic repetitions.
She was informed from heaven that the

ruled her
spell
which
in this respect, in chastisement of her
life
former actions, could not be removed in this existence,
but that she should have
husbands in her next
five
She replied that she only desired one, not

but she was informed that her
five
five
life.
spouses
emphatic prayers had
each been separately answered, and that she must have
And
the five husbands.
so
it
tion of feats of arms,
happened that the
won
semi-divine princes, brothers,
five
her in the competi-
and together married
her.
Krishna, on the other hand, has numerous wives.
have been conceived that the Deity,
It appears to
incarnate upon earth, would dwell amongst humanity

in all that
man.
was considered most highly becoming
to a
Marriage was held to be a sacred institution.
Even the Brahminical

his studies
till
who might continue
student,
middle
life,
and who might
retire
in
to
the hermit existence at the end of his days, was bound

to
become the married man and householder
time.
licentiousness
which
recalls to
the classical divinities.
been mere
illusion.
But
mind the
certainly
Ascetic celibacy has occasionally
seem
to
astronomical observations.
constellations
vagaries of
alleged to have
this is
been adopted amongst his adorers.
amours
for a
Krishna, however, even exhibits an apparent
appear to
The
stories of his
have been suggested by
The sun and moon and

have been the foundations
86
upon which many

went
as time
One
of the
on,
fanciful tales
became more and more materialised.
morals which the "Great Bharata" appears
to be intended to teach
The
gambling.
have been based, which,
is
the sinfulness or folly of
Pandu
chief of the virtuous
He
cannot resist an invitation to play.
princes
protests that
he does not desire to gamble, but he succumbs to temptation,
and
finally loses
kingdom and everything with
At length he
the dice.
the Princess, who,
stakes
however, indignantly repudiates his right to do
The
so.
ends by these princes going forth into the
affair
forests, stript of
all
their possessions,
and burning
to
avenge an insult which has been put upon their wife.

In consoling her, Krishna utters the words which have
been quoted at the beginning
remarks that women,
dice, the chase,
men from
precipitate
of
the
summit
this
the play
He
and ardent liquors
of their prosperity;
that great blame in the eyes of wise
gambling
chapter.
men
is
seen in
and he says that he would have stopped
he had been present.
if
He
then relates vari-
ous deeds of war which had occasioned his absence, for

not only
is
Krishna the incarnate Narayana, a husband,
He
but an ardent warrior.

fact,
to deliver the world
but also to instruct

lead
it
into the
way
it
has become incarnate, in
from demons and tyrants,
in virtue
of happiness
Doubtless the former view of his

ancient.
But the characters
and goodness, and
by
faith
office
in himself.
was the more
of the moral teacher
and
the warrior are so indissolubly intertwined, and both
87
are so evidently in sequence with ideas of the Vedas,
that
it is
impossible to aver that the moral side only
has been attributed to him after acquaintance with
our Gospel dispensation.

Krishna, in this warlike character, seems to have
been naturally adored by the warriors of North-Western

India,
like
and under corresponding forms by the old war-
tribes
of
Northern Europe, while the peaceful
Buddhistic doctrines were obtaining a hold amongst

the milder races of the East.
of
Pythagoreanism these
In the gentle precepts
seem
last
have obtained
to
upon the Mediterranean, developing
footing
into
Platonism, and eventually displaced by Christianity.
Although Krishna
concerned in these wars for
is
the destruction of depraved humanity, he deprecates
unnecessary wars, and endeavours to act as mediator
between the opponents in the great war narrated in

this
poem.
Nara and Narayana

upon earth
nor holy
are
to accomplish
men
said
to
have descended
what neither divine beings
could perform
the burden which oppressed
to
it.
relieve
"
The
the earth of
fortunate, All-
pervading Spirit has come upon the earth (Vishnu)
he
is
the adorable God, Hari, the Invincible,
also Kapila
Now
"
(Maluibhdrata Vanaparva).
Kapila, with
connected,
is
named
whom
Hari, or Krishna,
is
thus
the reputed founder of one of the six
great Indian systems of philosophy.
of Berlin remarks, in his
"
Professor
Weber
History of Sanscrit Litera-

8S
ture,"
that " Kapila, the originator of the
system of philosophy, appears in

dignity itself "
(i.e.
amongst Yedic
regarded
Kapila
is
raised to divine
it
book which the Professor classes

Kapila, in
literature).
fact,
became
an incarnation of Vishnu or Narayana.
as
Professor
in a
Samkhya
associated
also
Weber
with
closely
Buddhism.
observes that the close connection of
Buddhism
him as long
Kapila's tenets with
uniformly speak of
the legends of which
anterior to
Buddha
name
proves conclusively that the system bearing his

is
oldest system of philosophy.
to be regarded as the
Krishna and Buddha are therefore both connected with
same philosophical system, which
the
in about the
century
fifth
B.C.
is
undeniably
Buddha's epoch,
to be assigned to a period previous to
And
this
again cor-
roborates views concerning the antiquity of Krishna.
In
Krishna and Buddha were really different
fact,
aspects
or
the
same
realisation
Divine Being to lead mankind
of
to
the
need
of
happiness by an
actual revelation on earth in Person.

It is
exclaimed in this vana division of the
Bharata," that Krishna
upon the
earth.
who know
"
He
is
Great
the ancient god descended
Brahmins
Knowledge (Vedas), men who
is
the Books of
"
the eternal deity.
possess science of universal soul, are assured that the
magnanimous Krishna
(the
Herdsman)
is
is
the
the eternal deity.

greatest of purifiers.
Govinda
He
is
the saint of saints, the most fortunate of the fortunate,

the everlasting god of gods
he
is
imperishable, the

supreme
thought
lord,
Hari, whose
soul
inconceivable in
is
the pure and primitive essence of
Succour
is
the august
implored of the
life."
God who bestows succour
N amy ana, who
deities (devas) say to
89
The
has had no birth.
him, Thou art our creator, author,
king
and destroyer of the world
king of the
of the
deities.
Again
it is
said that Kapila
the Vasoudevide,
is
i.e.,
Krishna, the son of Vasudeva.
Then Krishna
Om
in
is invoked by the mystic syllable

Aum), signifying the divine union of three
Om, adoration to the Preserver of the Uni-
(or
one.
adoration to thee, distinct
verse,
Sovereign of the deities
(sovereign of the waters)

of
Eight
the earth
is
(fire),
Yaruna
thou art the Divine Seed
thy body.
CHAPTER
We
from the universe,
thou art Agni
XVII.
commonly use the word "gods"
in
translation
of the
Sanscrit devas, which means, literally, shining
beings.
The ancient P>haratans imagined a heaven of

and brilliant personages who ruled the
powerful
elements,
directed
the
course
interfered with the life of
They
of
the
planets,
humanity upon the
also conceived regions of darkness
beings corresponding to our demons.
and
earth.
inhabited by
But the word
90
which we apply
god,
universe,
is
sublime but
Ruler of the
scarcely an accurate appellation for these

still
The
beings.
the Supreme
to
created and not everlasting heavenly
must have naturally suggested
stars
habitations for superhuman, glittering persons.
After
had been perceived that the whole universe
of stars
it
and planets was in motion, while the polar
mained seemingly
star re-
legend originated
fixed, a beautiful
connected with this adoration of Bhagavat, or Vishnu,
Krishna, &c.
young
in despite of temptations
prince,
and
was conceived
in faith to him,
Dhruva
trials,
to
have been translated
to this fixed point in the highest heaven,
established, nearest to Bhagavat,
The seven
him.
stars
army
of clouds
where he was
and ever devoted
to
of the Great Bear were supposed
Then the
be seven great sages.
to
(Firm), who,
remained constant
coming up
dark, tumultuous
in the rainy season in
gloomy
mass, awe-inspiring in their weird forms, seemed an

array of evil
Hence came
spirits
stories of
dark-angel hosts.
come
who
to
invading
the
realms of
light.
wars between the heavenly and
When
Bhagavat or Narayana had
be adored as the Supreme Spirit,
it
was he
delivered the heavenly beings from the demons.
All beings and

had proceeded from him.
must eventually return to him. Meanwhile
All, indeed,
things
all
the idea gradually grew, apparently from about

B.C.
in
at least, that
some form
bliss
1500
he was frequently present on earth,
or other, to relieve suffering,
here and hereafter.
and lead
to

In the
first
of the four ages
91
of the world, corre-
sponding to the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages

of the classics, eternal virtue
is
related to have reigned.
There were no divine beings nor demons.

did not die
there were no
human
Creatures
sacrifices,
wars, or
incorporeal, reigned alone.
The
Soul of all beings, Nariiyana, was then white.
The
The Cause,
hatred.
Brahmin,
regal,
merchant, and labouring classes pre-
served their distinctions, and

occupations.
same ceremonial.
the
all
creatures loved their
They followed
They had but one God.
Man
was given
solely to
duty
he obtained the supreme way in association with the

Universal Soul.
In the next ages
had become
sacrifice
Vishnu, or
and passions had become prominent.

Narayana, assumed the yellow and red
the
Books
of
colours,
Knowledge became divided
Alms and penitence were
necessary,
requisite,
and
into four.
maladies and
upon the children of Manu, who

At length, in the
Self-Existent.
is the son of the
dark or Iron Age, Vishnu became black (i.e. manisufferings increased
Calamities followed
fested as Krishna, the dark one).
then
the
Deity descended
save
to
world
the
and
created beings from destruction.

"
Brahma even is the

who has had
have no end, who is called
Above the heavenly palace
of
abode of Narayana, the Master, Supreme,
no beginning, who will

the Nature of
deities
the nature of
all
beings
whom
the
themselves cannot behold in his beauty, com-
92
posed of
all
This place of Vishnu
splendours.
ardent than the sun or
fire
its
is
more
brilliance can scarcely
be sustained by deities or demons.
There the Master
of creatures, the Nature of all things, the Being existent

of himself, illumines in his
presence the stars give no

yana, devotion conducts
grandeur
all
those
In his
all beings.
To him,
light.
who
are
Hari-lSrara-
wedded
to
supreme penitence."
By
All this was not mere abstract religion.
and
is
truth,
it
is
said,
heaven
may
charity
Truth
be attained.
more estimable than any mere purposeless contem-
plation of charity
estimable
reached
of his
harm
how can
works
Man
dise
by
to
virtues.
charity,
but charity in any reality

"
than even truth.

a
man
How
is
more
can heaven be
assure himself of the fruit
"
?
pressing on, without sloth, can arrive at Parahis works, associated
with the merit of doing
no living being, by charity, and by the other

Truth, the suppression of desires, penitence,
persistence
profitable to
in
virtue,
these
must ever be
man.
Religious
ceremonies
are
especially
enjoined
Brahmins, and the other classes are to present

ings to them.
In
and good works
is
fact,
a religion of
apparent.
rites,
to
offer-
repentance,
But the "Great Bharata"
continually connects these works with faith in Krishna,
while the Puranas ("ancient books
") still
more strenu-
ously urge this doctrine.

" First," says a holy sage
in
the
"
Great Bharata,"

"
homage must be
Ancient,
93
offered to the Self- Existent, to the
Immortal,
Indistinct
Eternal,
to
him
of
the Yellow Kobe, Creator and Destroyer, the Pure, to
him who
is
the Source and Energy of
Vedas know not what
this
Man
Even the
all.
knows.
All marvels
here below have their completion in him."
CHAPTER
Heaven and
XVIII.
earth have passed
away, and will be
destroyed again.
In the wreck
of the universe it is narrated that
one
Nothing remained but
most holy sage alone survived.
a waste of waters, without even atmosphere
but holy
ascetics are continually gifted
with powers even tran-
scending those of the
deities,
when they
are absorbed
in Narayana.
sage,
Markandeya,
swam with
This
the waters, but found no asylum.

ceived a sacred Indian
infant,
" into
who
told
him
Presently he perit
was an
" Enter,"
he says,
Beneath
fig-tree.
to rest there.
my body."
The sage enters, and sees the entire world, with

kingdoms and cities, the ocean with its sea-monsters,
and the Eiver Ganges, the four castes, the deities, and
their enemies the demons, &c.
hundred years, he
infant's body.
But
still
And
travelling for one
cannot find the limit of the
at length
he emerges, and again
94
sees the child lying under the branch of the tree, in
yellow robe and luminous with splendour.
The
know
him, saying,
saint adores
thee, thou
who
"
Clod, I desire
art sublime in this illusion of
All powerful deity was in thee.
grandeur.
to
thy
Infinite
"
Power, how was all the world in thy body ?
The God of gods replies, " Even the deities know
me
not in truth, but for love of thee I will recount
how
precede
under
my
thee.
It
Thou hast placed thyself

and I have shown myself to
creation.
protection,
a great lesson from the
is
ledge which
is
The
given thee.
This work of intelligence
existed before the material.
Hence am
was done by me.

birth
am
in eternity,
is
and
Books of Know-
intellectual waters
I called
shall
the creator and destroyer of
Narayana
my
have no end.
all
beings.
am
Vishnu, Brahma, and Sakra, and the monarch of the

dead.
am
am
Shiva,
and Soma, and the Patriarchs.

thou greatest of Brahmins.
the Sacrifice,
The
my mouth, the earth my feet, the sun and the

moon my eyes, the heaven my head, and the wind
my breath. The Brahmins are my mouthpiece, the
warriors my arms, the merchants and farmers my
thighs, the labourers my feet. The Books of Knowledge
fire
is
have issued from me.

material
fire).
My
am
penitence, and the absence of

creatures.
When
the sun, and Agni (the
law disposes beings towards truth,

malignity towards
all
virtue diminishes and vice increases,
then I create myself and enter into a
human
body.
am
the Soul of
honour
faithful
The universe
infant
not.
create
me
in all
am under
the form of an
Brahma awakes
infant, while
110
Under the form of Brahma he

the world and its beings."
who
This god, says the sage

is
ways throughout the world.
sleeps while I
who am
I,
Krishna, Hari, Govinda.
seek succour of him
He
is
The
I bring joy to all the universe.
all.
who
95
will
and
arise
recounts these marvels,
" Go,"
he continues, "and
gives succour."
asked what limit this age of the world will
have, and he replies in terms eminently suggestive of

the accounts of the end of the world
Truth, he says, will be
tures.
mingled,
atheists
become merely
and
misery,
and shortened
will
be
lives
and Brahmins will

Husbands and wives,
will
will be in ruins,
The
At length
brilliance.
sinister auguries.
thing,
Then
The lower
destroyed.
no asylum will
sin,
trees
classes
disciples.
wars will prevail, rains
become overwhelming, and the

their
Darkness,
ensue.
and the Brahmins become their
will preach,
lose
in our Scrip-
the classes inter-
be at enmity.
sons, will
The temples
will
abound,
will
disputatious.
fathers
and gardens
lost,
stars
constellations will
will
fire will
remain,
only
show
consume every-
and only groans
of
anguish be heard.
At length on the ruins of the world will come the

new age. Brahmins will again be recognised as the
first of classes.
Then will arise the Brahman Kalki,
surnamed the Glory
of
Vishnu, surpassing in beauty,
96
energy, and
From
intelligence.
thought will be
his
He
born chariots of war, warriors, and weapons.
will
be king, victorious in virtue, monarch of the entire
world
and he
He
earth.
bring the celestial favours upon
shall
will
immolate the barbarians, and prepare
the great sacrifice
of
the
horse (in
significance
Then the children
universal dominion).
of
of
Manu, by
example, will obtain happiness, and the destruc-
his
tion of robbers will ensure tranquillity.
Virtue will return.
exterminated.
deities
and holy hermitages
Vice will be
Temples
will be revived.
to
And
the
the
faithful will replace heretics.
This would certainly seem to suggest a period

portion of the poem,
all events, this
antagonistic
ideas,
when Buddhistic
supremacy, were
But it seems scarcely probable that

Buddhism had apparently become
gaining ground.
it
Brahminical
to
for, at
was written after
Though Brahminism
become
canons of scripture, mon-
a state religion under Ashoka.
continued to exist
so prominent, in
astic
when
its
that form of faith had
councils,
establishments, and in the favour of a powerful
monarch,
it is difficult
have alluded to
it,
to conceive
that the poet could
except in more elaborate manner,
considering his usual prolixity.
If this
view be
correct,
these passages must have been written at least three
hundred years
The
"
B.C.
Great Bharata
"
contains
an account
of
king of Yavanas, who comes from beyond the northwestern borders
of
India, to
combat with Krishna,

and who
is
97
eventually slain in a mystic manner.

the
seems, however, almost impossible that
It
King
of
poem can have symbolised AlexThe

invasion, or other Greek influence.
the Yavanas in the
ander and his
idea of blackness
of
the Greek
its
fact
except the
appears
Altogether this poem, and
name.
and in
associated with him,
is
no suggestiveness
accounts of the
manifestation of the divine in Krishna and his doctrine,

to appertain to a grand
seem
civilisation
in existence in the present British India
century
rate,
That
B.C.
and
artificial
an
class
of
but in those days, as in medieval Europe,
war seems
of
and arms.
day a valiant
this
fifth
ancient, elabo-
laws, commerce, arts,
India has retained to

warriors
was then
civilisation
in
which was
by the
to
have been more generally the pastime
aristocratical
were preaching
The Brahmins, however,
class.
docility, gentleness,
temperance
and
they subdued the haughty warriors by assertions of

their
own transcendent
curse of a
and they
tain
Brahmin possessed
also taught that
was
They taught that the
powers.
terrific
and certain
force,
no house of king or chief-
complete without
its
Brahmin
chaplain.
Indeed the connection of warriors and Brahmins
is
very similar to that of the combined barons and priests

of mediaeval Europe.
Church
in
his
But the
celibacy
has
Buddhist than the Brahmin.
priest
rather
of
the Papist
resembled
the
CHAPTER
The
XIX.
Princess Krishna, who, in
had received the
five
transmigration,
this
husbands, after having to remain
single in her previous
life,
power
Wanting food during the time
Krishna.
of
when she and
reposes implicit faith in the
her husbands are outcasts and wanderers
on the face of the
She
earth, she thinks of him.
calls
him, in her heart, the Imperishable Son of Devaki

the protector
and
its
of
who want
the world, the soul

"
author.
Oh
of
Lord," she says,
a way, protect
me
"
world,
the
Way
of those
in thy compassion,
God, thou beginning and end of beings
thou Supreme
Boot!"
Cesava comes
hungry
give
me
to
her and
to
eat,
and
desire."
She
that she
must bring him
moment
she thinks that he
of
no
food.
a seething-pot
is
am
"Krishna, I
will do all that
replies that she has
But speedily dishes

and beverages
says,
He
and
making fun
of all sorts are produced
as well as eatables to entertain a
Brahmins who have arrived and craved
you
rejoins
for the
of her.
from
it,
number
hospitality.
Krishna, in this aspect of the beneficent friend, continually affords prototypes of Christ.
king
is
said to
is
He
is
have descended upon earth to chastise the
wicked and save the virtuous.
now
But the warrior-
always his accompanying character.

"
This adorable Vishnu
named, here below, Krishna.
The
exploits of
99
august god, without birth, without beginning or
this
end, adored in all
He
sages.
is
celebrated by the
the worlds, are
called Krishna, the Invincible,
who
bears
the club, discus, and conch shell."

"
This deity (Krishna)
clad in a robe of yellow
He
sacred treatises.
Arjouna
is
adorned with a diadem, and
is
He
silk.
is
ever protected
the supreme
of
all
the
Divinity, and
by him."
It is in the so-called episode of
Song that the system
versed in
is
Bhagavad-gita or Divine
Krishna
is
especially displayed.
This portion of the Mahabharata was translated by
Mr.
J.
Cockburn Thompson a generation
been styled an episode, and

sodical,
in
but
it
its
nature
is
ago.
It
has
certainly epi-
arises naturally out of the context,
and
is
no way a separate portion of the whole.
When
the
princes
entered
upon the great war,
Krishna, although he had engaged himself not to be-
come a combatant
in the
contest, consents to act as
Arjouna's charioteer.
As they
are advancing
amid the martial din
drums, trumpets, and conch
shells,
when he says
Krishna,
Imperishable One
Stay
Let the
remain between the armies."
At the sight of
raised
grandly-powerful bow,
his
"
relations
is
seized
inquires,
tions
"
on the other
side,
whom
he
with profound compassion.
come from
Krishna
"
of
Arjouna has just
is
to destroy,
to
car
his
he
Can good, he
this slaughter of those his connec-
he says,
" I desire neither
kingdom,
nor pleasure, not even the empire of the three worlds
ioo
And he
(heaven, earth, and hell) at this cost."
down upon
The
the seat of the chariot.
slayer of (the
with his eyes
it
demon) Madhou addresses him,
full of tears.
" this
he inquires,
that
Whence
"
failure of
his duty to fight,
is
sits
spirit
comes, Arjouna,"
He
"
tells
and consoles him
slaughter by saying that in reality
it
of
is
no conbe no
Notwithstanding death, there will
sequence.
real cessation of
Just as in this
existence.
him
for the
life
behold in their turn infancy, maturity, and old age,

this life, another
after
we
so,
body will be obtained, and the
wise need not be troubled with what happens here.
The contact with matter causes
both pleasure
These things must be endured,
pain.
for
and
they are not
in their turn they are born and die.

The man who can regard pleasure and pain as equal is
These bodies
wise, and he participates in immortality.
everlasting
come
to
He who
an end, but the soul
is eternal,
thinks the soul can be killed
distinguish between soul and body.

into a
Soul
new
is
body, just as the body takes
invulnerable.
and the gate

Krishna
The
Death
of Paradise is
then
is
imperishable.
is
unable to
soul will pass
new
clothes.
better than dishonour,
open to the warrior.
continues by saying
expound the Sankhya philosophy,
i.e.,
that
he will
the system attri-
buted to the above-mentioned Kapila, whose soul was

alleged
to
have been
himself,
Narayana, &c, in a
previous manifestation.
Accomplish works, said Krishna, without considering
PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH AND CULTURE,
When
Seek wisdom as thy refuge.
their recompense.
ioi
your reason shall have traversed the dark regions of

error, you will arrive at absorption in the Absolute
Being.
comes
Folly
of
He who
anger.
desires of this world can obtain, in the
is
without
hour of death,
complete separation from matter and union with the
The world
Absolute.
retains us with the
men who,
works.
Those
follow,
without
of
full
murmuring,
the
declare, are freed from the influence
are
many.
Whenever
vice,
know them
there
for the preservation of the
and
my
office,
Renouncing anger,
purified
my
by the
fire
am
Births
of works.
know them
not.
born in each age
good and the destruction of
Whoever knows,
divine
which
opinion
weakness in virtue and accession of
is
then I produce myself.
the wicked.
continually
faith,
but you
all,
chain of
will
in its verity,
my
birth
return no more to birth.
fear, desire,
many
of knowledge,
bosom, are come to the
life
of
my
faithful,
and taking refuge in

in me.
Those who
them in this world of

men by sacrificing to the deities. But the man to whom
The
I am known is freed from the bondage of works.
desire perfection in works obtain
man who
is
without knowledge, without
soul lulled asleep
by doubt,
perishes.
faith,
with
The sage who
has renounced the fruit of works arrives at tranquilHe who is attached to the recompense is enlity.
chained by the force of desire.
He whose
on union sees that the Great Soul
and that
all
is
soul
is
fixed
in all creatures,
creatures are in the Great Soul.
io2
No
one,
my
son,
continues Krishna,
Having become a
happiness.
for
is
the
of
un-
citizen of worlds reserved
when he has there made his

period, fallen away from the union,
the families of those who are happy
the good actions,
abode
for a vast
he will pass into
He
and pure.
can become united with the thoughts
which animated
away
all his sins in
he
led into the
is
and again he
his previous body,
At
strive to attain perfection.
the purification of
I
am
whom
the honour
present, and
is
given.
whom
me
really
is
know
beings,
all
am known by none
future, but I
soul in
its
plenitude.
Those who have
am
soul identified with me, that I
before
it
of
Those who take refuge in me, know the supreme
them.
know
births,
and death of the entire
birth
one of the faithful desires to honour,
past,
many
the principle
Whatever may be the divine person
world.
may
washed
length, having
supreme way.
of living beings, the
to
he
way
if
author of good works, can enter into the
all
the deities, before
me.
Arjouna inquires,
sacrifice
all beings,
Krishna
is
the
of
first
beings,
all
the sacrifices, these
How
replies that the
before the deities
perishable, he
all
with
learnt,
before
art thou the
first
man-type was before
in this essence of the

sacrifices.
Those who
have come to me, he says, entered into the supreme

perfection, are
no longer condemned
the abode of pains.

of
Brahma men
and return
to
From
describe
animate
this
the
fresh
to
earth
be reborn in
to the
world
revolution of a circle,
bodies,
but
he
who

new
seeks his abode in me, endures no
103
births here
below.
am
" I
the supreme way, Invisible
the world, and

sacrifice, I
am
all
sacrifice
one
is
receive
it
and that which
me
to
am
willingly.
and you
born
before the deities."
shall
all
If
any
I
flower,
creatures
they seek refuge in me,
if
to
me.
Attach thy soul

I
divinity," replies Arjouna, " is
art Purity, the eternal
or
equal towards
come
to me,
;
with piety water
women, the lowest ranks,
Thy
and those who
honour me.
they shall enter the supreme way.
"
the
am, Arjouna,
not
is
to other gods in faith,
offers
am
the ceremony, the mother and father,
the asylum, immortality and death.

that which
have created
beings repose in me.
Man, the
first
am
the First-
supreme
thou
God, the Lord
without birth."
CHAPTER XX.
While two
great armies, marshalled in their opposing
ranks, are about to

this dialogue
commence an
between one
of
internecine
his divine charioteer curiously continues.

illustrate his
for
supreme
divinity, bestows
the time, divine eyes.
supreme union with
all
strife,
the principal leaders and
"
Krishna, to
upon Arjouna,
Behold," he says, "
things."
He
is
my
then trans-
104
figured before Arjouna,
who
beholds in his body the
entire universe, conserving unity in its multiple divi-
Krishna informs him that
sions.
he,
Time, which works the destruction of
all
Bhagavat,
is
men, that
all
the warriors in the two armies shall perish, himself
only excepted.
Arjouna then adores him, and addresses him as

First
Creator,
Infinite,
Sovereign
the
of
the
gods,
Habitation of the world, the great Treasure of this
Wind, the
universe, the
says, " If
He
Fire, the universal God.
have spoken to thee brusquely,
if
have
not duly honoured thee, forgive me, deign to pardon
me
as a father a son, a
Arjouna has seen
may
he
may
By
form.
his
be known, he
even oneness
friend his friend, or a lover
Krishna declares that no other than
his mistress."
may
be
He who
towards
comes to
all
beings
If
is
" I
and
am," he
exempt from enmity

me.
will
lift
out
whose waves overwhelm the world, and
save from death, those
me.
in verity,
be obtained with him.
says, " first object.
of the sea,
exclusive devotion
seen
you cannot
who
place their thoughts on
establish yourself solidly in
me
by thought, arrive by ascetic process. Knowledge

is of more value than religious ceremony, meditation
is
before knowledge
works
is
above
of dissolution,
all.
if
the renouncing of the fruit of
When
truth
is
a mortal conies to the time

in all his belief, he enters
the pure world of the saints.

to passion
and desire
If he dies,
of action, or still
still
delivered
immersed in
105
obscurity of soul, he will be reborn in a foolish or
Whoever
wicked mother.
serves
me
in constant piety,
For
Brahma.
participates in the essence of
am
the
habitation of Brahma, the incorruptible food of
which are upon
Hymns
Books
earth, but the
are its leaves
of
and
When
Knowledge.
towards
turn
the form of the sun
Memory,
the
wide-
soul,
from
..." Under
I am
bodies.
origin of things."
penetrate
all
Books of Knowledge and Sacred

Whoever knows me for the Supreme
Science, the
Scriptures.
Spirit,
universal
primordial,
this
which came the ancient
its
Let man, therefore,
no return.
is
with
this tree,
heaven.
know
to
it is
down with the axe of inmay that place be sought
difference to the world, then
from which there
in
roots
know
to
spreading roots, has been cut
are
is,
said, a divine fig-tree imperishable, the branches
it is
of
life,
There
the eternal justice and infinite happiness.
knows
qualities
Courage, constancy, and patience
all.
appertaining
divine
the
to
condition
hypocrisy, anger, vanity belong to the nature of demons.
Those who give way to their
desires,
existence of God, will descend to the
Krishna
my
continues
Arjouna,
my
sublime word; thou art
declare to thee that
me
to
which
thy heart, address to
sacrifices
{i.e.,
"
me
is
and deny the
impure
hell."
Hearken
still
to
well-beloved, I will
for
thy good.
thy adoration,
Fix on
offer to
me
the bloodless sacrifices or sacraments of
offerings of clarified butter, &c.
and honey seem
to
have been
In the morning this

offered,
the holy
fire
106
Then there was the

Thou shalt come to
sacrifice of the moon-plant, &c).
me," he continues, " I promise that which is true.
adored, with other ceremonies.
Come
from
to
me
Afflict
all sins.
Do
not repeat these
but he
who
will reveal this
servant will come, without doubt, to
The man who
me.
who
my
possesses
faith
without desire,
has heard these words, shall go to the happy
worlds of souls
He
enjoins
the hermits
who have done holy
calm, living on
hopes of return
discerns
is
one single
little food,
imperishable soul
the heart of
all
all
thy
soul,
praises
&c, participat-
Charity exercised in
his
"
He who
in all
creatures.
beings
creatures on the wheel of Time.
and you
He
not good, he declares.
realises the Indivisible in
resides in
works."
the observance of caste.
ing in the essence of Brahma.
all
not thyself.
words to the impenitent
mystery to
I will deliver thee
only as thy refuge.
beings,
Iswara
he traverses
all
Take refuge with
son of Bharata, in this only asylum,
shall obtain the grace of
supreme peace and
the eternal Paradise."
CHAPTER XXL
It had been suggested that this Divine Song, from
which these few extracts have been given, is an interBut surely if any author had intruded it
polation.
into the older poem, he would have selected a more
107
suitable opportunity than this field of battle for his
and
on the soul
disquisition
Krishna as the Supreme.
adoration
on the
of
would seem much more
It
probable that the inspiration of genius happened to

come to the poet who composed the whole account
at
point
this
in
his
He
work.
consider the unities of the
story,
not pause
did
but
his
let
to
ideas
this
and
other portions of the work, that the story of the
war
flow.
to suppose,
seems reasonable
It
was a mere peg on which

thought that the story of
and then that
later
hang
to
epigrammatic
and
didactic,
from
religious, moral,
has
It
vesture.
been
the war had been written,
hands interspersed
it
with these
The gambling incident in

may have been some
that
there
the story suggests
religious
and other
topics.
legend of a family or dynastic feud arising out of that

vice.
The author may have taken that
suitable
illustrating
for
depravity
of
story
one of his morals,
gambling, which
viz.,
as
the
seems to have been
very prevalent in ancient India, even in Vedic times,

as
in
modern Europe.
But
his
main
design
and
purpose was evidently to illustrate the divine office

of Krishna,
pendium
of
and produce, in interesting form, a comprofitable exhortations and instruction.
Of course there may have been more than one author,

and alterations and emendations may probably have
occurred, but its mere length need not hinder us from
ascribing
it to
a single author.
And
if
differences of
style are discerned, the inequalities of genius
may
be
io8
So has Shakespeare's real authorship been
the cause.
It is a compilation evidently of all the exist-
deuied.
ing
stories
with which
To transcribe
these,
with
all
his knowledge, addiug his
whole
author was acquainted.
the
the ancient
own
215,000
to the length of
not impossible work for
maxims within
and bringing the
ideas,
a great but
lines, is
one man.
Fifty lines a day,
300 days in the year, would complete

Hallam has calculated, says a
"Temple Bar" of March 1 881, that Lope
for less than

it
in
fifteen
writer in
years.
Vega was author of at least 21,300,000 lines.

But Krishna Dwaipayana, or Krishna of the Island,
de
also styled
Vyasa
(collector or arranger),
poem and
who
is
said
have collected the
have composed this

Vedas and Puranas, seems too miraculous a personage
to
Moreover, he
to be the real author.
the epic
name
and
it
he attributed
introduce the
name
of
it.
attributes his history of
The Divine Song
So did
author's
real
Sir
Walter
Scott
and Washington Irving
New York
of the "
to Knickerbocker.
Great Bharata
may
"
be a
complete exposition of the doctrines attributed
Krishna than appears elsewhere
fect
introduced in
Jedediah Cleishbotham in pre-
lude to his Waverley Novels
to
is
would seem that the
has become merged in that of the personage to
whom
more
to
harmony with
his aspect
but
it
is
in per-
throughout the poem,
as set forth in deeds, discourses,
and descriptions of
the popular veneration of him.
Again he
the
Bhishma
division of the poem,
"
says,
in
Depose thy heart

in me, let thy reason dwell in
Brahma, creator
the world, adores Krishna as
of
or Narayana,
Vishnu
and
am
I myself
says, " I take refuge in thee.
regions of heaven
earth, the
feet are the divine
thy arms
body
"He who
all beings, arrives at unity."
honours me, as existing in
Thy
me, and thou shalt be
and shalt have no more doubt."
in me,
thy form
the deities are thy
thou hast for eyes the sun and moon.
and
patience,
duty
109
thy
are
Strength,
Krishna,
daughters.
destroyer of sorrow, thou art the way, thou art the
guide of
with
saints
beings
all
and
the
reliance
in
faith,
deities sing
mouth of the
on some one
thy
Brahma owned himself created

He besought him to take
thy names,
Xarayana or
of
Bhagavat.
the
human
destroy the demons, and restore virtue
lords
worlds, replied
the
of
and descended
to be born of
in
favourable
of the
accents,
Brahma
Vasudeva.
form,
upon the
Then the blessed Bhagavat, commander
earth.
"
of
the most sub-
praises, as
All beings are in thee, their asylum."
lime of marvels.
to
Filled
world.
This son of Vasudeva must be propitiated.
says,
He
is
the master of the entire world, the sovereign lord of

all
he
the
is
universe,
There he
title
their
of
who
is
the Eternal
Man.
is
is
there
I,
Brahma, am.
the
Unknown,
his
praises
Demons and
head, must
because he
whose son
Behold there the greatest
a man.
the Imperishable,
are
deities,
sung under the

with Indra at
not disdain the son
called
man.
He who
Still
of mysteries.
of
Vasudeva
can despise him
ho
incarnated
human members
in
enveloped in
is
Bhishma, one of the great, pious heroes of
darkness."
the poem, says that he has learnt this sublime, eternal
mystery, that the son of Vasudeva
Brahma, father
of the worlds.
is
This son of Vasudeva
his son.
formed
He
of all beings.
the august Lord
is
of the entire universe,
the eternal God,
is
Shiva himself
is
He
also.
When
appointed to the castes their proper duties.
(Narayana, manifested in Krishna) had created
he
light,
wind, and water, he reposed on his couch in the midst

of the water,
and became absorbed in the Absolute Being.
He
created the
of
Knowledge
and breath, the word, and the Books
fire
the
worlds, the
He
deities.
the
is
bestower of favours, past, present, and future
He
he became
slew the terrible, malignant
demon
He
incarnate as the boar and the man-lion.

father
of
and mother
of
Mauu
the child of
"
all.
Joy
first
down
before
spirit."
"
He
of all beings
shall
shall
bow
no faintness
into
of
the sacrifice of the sacrificers, creator
is
the
of all duties."
who
to read this book,
Krishna, falling
Hari,
created
who
thinking being, the primeval man-type),
have the happiness
is
companion
will be the
(here again the
Infinite.
eternal
man
the
way
of the first
After the leading prince of Krishna's
side has conquered, he attributes his success to him.

" Victory
comes
thine anger.
from
thy
grace,
destruction
from
For thou art our asylum, Krishna, thou
placest thy faithful
where
fear cannot reach them."
Again in the Drona division
of this "
Great Bharata,"
PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH AND CULTURE, in

the old blind king, whose sons are striving
whom
the princes with
against
being him-
allied,
is
convinced of the divinity and might of the divine
self
man, inquires,
How
"
when they have

of
Krishna
men
can these princes be defeated
asylum the most eminent
for their
the eternal, the spiritual teacher of the worlds,
the absolute lord of the universe, the august Narayana
"
?
"Listen," he says, "to the divine actions of the son
The magnanimous
of Vasudeva.
his birth in
having taken
infant,
a family of shepherds, slew the (demon)
Yamouna
king of horses in the forests of
he im-
molated in his infant arms a malignant beimj in the
form of a
The monarch Kansa
bull.
and other monarchs,
many
armies
of
enemies
(deity of the ocean), he
conch
shell.
What
prodigy which
Then
it
the
bit
he
in his splendour,
He
dust.
vanquished
and conquering Varuna
became master of the
other
could
accomplished
was the recompense
Krishna as the sovereign
of
my
repeat
in
celestial
that
my
great
assembly
devotion to behold
of the universe."
(In an assembly of princes and chieftains Krishna
had displayed a vision of himself as the supreme

spirit, and had enabled the blind monarch to see his
grandeur.)
"
This son of Vasudeva," he continues,
"
whom
the
Eegenerated invoke as the father of the whole universe,
Pandu
he
fights for the
of
Cesava (Krishna).
Arjouna
princes.
Victory
is
and eternal glory with the son
for ever
of
is
the soul
with Arjouna,
Vasudeva."
CHAPTEE
While Krishna
XXII.
acting as charioteer to Arjouna, he
is
intercepts with his
own bosom
a dart aimed at him.
This dart, in the breast of Cesava, became a bouquet
and garland
of flowers.
much
After the death of Arjouna's son, Krishna,

repairs
afflicted,
Arjouna's palace
to
"
(Arjouna's wife).
sister
he says
" there is
not
console his
be inconsolable,"
an hour, supreme in our destinies,
which death has appointed

happiness from
Do
to
this,
Derive
creatures.
for all
that he
was a valiant hero
has conquered those worlds created pure, where
Thy son
desires are satisfied.
way
to
is
he
all
entered into that
which those aspire who seek the good
by
and penitence.
Do
learning, the
Scriptures, purity,
By
not weep.
the
entered Paradise."
commenced,
son's death,
in
most
exalted
Before
the
of
ways he has
has
fighting
which Arjouna craves
Krishna conveys him
to
to
again
revenge his
heaven, where
both render homage to Bhava (Shiva), and seek aid of

him.
The
poet, in describing Krishna's
the auspicious one,

self of the
Supreme
of reconciling
to
who
is
Spirit,
to Shiva,
a manifestation like him-
would seem
to be
desirous
who had been acunder the name of Shiva
his views those
customed
to adore the divine
and
numerous
his
homage
titles.
In fact the Brahminical

assertion, that the
Almighty may be truly worshipped
under different appellations

earnestness, seems here to
piness
in
this
by
But hapto
be
faith in Krishna.
By thy
enemies
"
be illustrated.
and that to come, seems
life,
by the author as attainable in the utmost per-
fection
"
adored in faith and
if
and continually throughout the poem held
especially
forth
113
is
Govinda,
grace,
the
victory
over
our
assured," says the chief of Krishna's party.
whom
Those with
thou art
satisfied
are assured of
conquering the three worlds themselves (heaven, earth,
and
They can commit no
hell).
fault,
nor can they
Entered into immortality, they
suffer defeat in war.
By
enjoy the eternal worlds.
thy favour, Lord of the
organs of sense, this world of beings, moveable and
immoveable, appointed
revolution
in
the
to
course,
its
describes
midst of low-voiced prayers
its
and
oblations of clarified butter."

"
In
wrapped
came
is
the
beginning
in
obscurity.
into
all
was nothing but
Thanks
The Lord
being.
the creator of
there
of
to
thee,
sea,
the world
the organs of sense
the worlds, the Eternal, the First
Soul, without beginning or end, the everlasting God,
the Architect of the world, the primitive
Man, the
Ancient One celebrated in the Books of Knowledge,

lord
of
the children of
greatest of
Manu.
Adoration
to
thee,
men, Master, Lord, Sovereign, Good Fortune
of the universe."
ii4
It
must
tions that
events, evident from the quota-
be, at all
have been given, that Krishna was regarded
Supreme Almighty manifested on earth

man, and that faith in him was held to conduct
the
as
happiness here and hereafter.
denied that such a religion
to be
is
analogous to Christi-
more evidently derived from
Indian scriptures than from our
it
appears seems
ideas in the oldest
own Old
Testaments.
In the quotation just given
that Krishna
is
in the Vedas.
is
rather suggested
in
them
just as
But
perceive references to Christ in
The Vedas
for
But passages
arose.
the holy
fire,
New
claimed
seems that he
it
or
Books
appear to have been composed before
him
or
it is
than actually named or described
we
the Old Testament.
to
can surely not be
It
But the aspect under which
anity.
as
&c, and
to
Knowledge
of
the belief in
in these works, referring
to
incarnations of the Divine
man, and, in the Institutes of Mann,
to deities
incarnate in kings, &c, as has been remarked, seem

clearly to lead to the
belief in him.
The
Krishna, though analogous in some of

Christianity, seems
elaborate
connected
aspects to
indissolubly with the
system of incarnations
ritual, faith in
religion of
its
of
deities,
the metempsychosis, &c.
So
religious
many
of
these fanciful yet usually allegorical conceptions seem
undoubtedly Indo-Aryan
that
it
is
difficult
to
con-
ceive that the remainder are borrowed, as they are distinctly akin to the rest in conception
And much
of
the whole can
and sentiment.
be assigned to astro-

In
nomical or physical observations.
system
and
homogeneous
seems
115
the whole
fact,
unascertained
of
antiquity.
CHAPTER
The
XXIII.
story of Krishna's birth, infancy,
and youth
is
given at length in the Harivansa, the last book of or
an addendum to the
"
Great Bharata
" epic.
The Harivansa has been translated
M.
"
Langlois.
of the
"
learn,"
Hari Family,"
save
earth to
how
Now
beings,
"
it is
into
French by
said in this
history
how Vishnu descended on

whose hope
this god, full of glory
and
and lord he
was born
holiness,
the
is
in
A demon had become incarnate in Ivansa, the monarch of Madura,

which is described as a city beautified with parks and
the house of the sage Vasudeva."
gardens, terraces, open places, altogether " brilliant as
the smile of beauty."
and
horses,
watered by
and
It is full of elephants, chariots,
surrounded
by
fertile
fields,
duly
Indra, the regent of the elements.
Curiously, Narada, the sort of Indo- Aryan Mercury,
though
represented as a divine person, goes to the
tyrant Kansa, and warns
Devaki
enemy
him
that the eighth child of
will be born for his destruction,
the gods,
and that
his
way of heaven, the grand mystery of

he who is amongst these the greatest, and
is "
the
n6
who only
He
exists of himself."
must respect him

infant, let him do
still, if
so.
says that he (Kansa)
he can attack him when an
Kansa pretends
though really devoured by
to fear nothing,
and
disquiet,
of the
may
wicked avail
Before
be averted
he
gives
Meanwhile he
orders to destroy Devaki's children.
prays that destiny
OR.
but the prayers
not.
descending upon
Hari goes
earth
who seems
goddess Kali in heaven,
to
the
to
be identified
He
with the divine sun (Savitri) of Vedic hymns.

tells
her that in order to deceive Kansa she must be
born of the shepherdess Yasoda, wife of Nanda, when
he
is
born of Devaki.
After
Vasudeva
birth
change the children, transferrin" Kali

Kansa, hearing of the
Devaki.
seize the
new-born
infant,
and
to the
birth, will
will
side of
come and
in his rage grasp her
the foot and dash her to pieces on the stones.
by
Then
she shall forthwith be relegated to heaven in glory,
appearing in a robe of sable
and pearls gleaming
Then
follows a
silk,
with yellow vestment
like the rays of the
hymn
moon, &c.
in her praise, in which, as
the case of all the deities introduced in the
becomes associated with the Supreme
Spirit,
to be a personification of certain forms in
power
of life
desire,
appearing
which the
and death becomes manifested.
" Mortals," says
virtues
in
poem, she
Hari
and honour
to
her, "
who
believe in
thee, shall receive
children or riches.
Those who
ways, those who are tossed on the
my
all
that they
fall
into evil
tempest of the

by
ocean, or besieged
enemies, shall have re-
their
Thou
course to thee.
117
shalt be perfection, happiness,
glory, modesty," &c.

"
Thou
shalt be deity of the terrible
Thou
as well as the beautiful.
way
of all beings
supreme
light
thou art the
Thou
pleaders
all,
the
sacrifice
art
object
piety
of
points of the horizon are

in
young
Thou
litigation.
the assured protectress of mortals.
from
is
in thee,
all sin,
my thought,
my
soul
the
for
girls,
sustainest
in voyages, in prison, in danger of life
heart
and the
the object of hunger in all beings.
It is in thee that the chief
beheld.
art the night, the first
thou art death, and ready to devour
the ensanguined flesh
and barbarous
thou art
Goddess,
my
deliver
me
and bestow on me thy favour."
" Behold," says the
divine Dourga
as
it
author, " the
panegyric of the
has been transmitted to us in
ancient traditions."
When
Nanda
the proper hour arrives the wife of the pastor
gives birth to Kali,
seas rage, the

itself
and Devaki
to Krishna.
The
The night found
mountains tremble.
in the constellation Abhidjit,
and the name
of
Victory was given to that hour in which the divine
Hari manifested himself to the world
Narayana, the eternal

worlds.
spirit,
Music sounded
and showers
of
flowers
the
first
the powerful
element of the
in heaven, with chants of joy,

fell.
The
entire
world was
happy in the birth of the Lord of the organs of sense

and Vasudeva beheld on his breast the marks of his
"
n8
He
divinity.
then took the child and effected the
Kansa became informed
change of infants.
had occurred and went

the
women
"
You have
my
must
of
what
the cries of
about her, she implored compassion for her
daughter.
children
Amid
to Devaki.
slain," she
said, "
seven of
poor daughter die also
my
But he ruthlessly seized the infant and dashed
it
to his feet.
Then Dourga quitted the form, and

crowned and
gleam of pearls
divine
and she has now become
Virgin, object of
Her
deities."
arose in the
robe
is
air,
All her limbs have the
magnificent.
the
homage
eternal
of black
and
" that
of the
She
gold.
dissi-
pates the obscurity of night as she appears in the
air,
holding in her hand an immense goblet, in which she
quenches her
announces
to
She dances and laughs, and
thirst.
Kansa
his death.
This " Divine Virgin

in
voyages,
in
battle,
prototypical aspect to "

to
whom,
" protectress of
as the saviour of shipwrecked mariners,
see chapels dedicated on the

offerings
destruction.
destroying
is
we
French coast hung with
But
the Virgin-Mother.
to
aspect Kali
cause.
those engaged
&c, certainly has a curious

Our Lady " of mediaeval days,
her other
in
a fury, a Hecate, a power of horror and
Kansa craves the pardon

her child,
saying that
She says that she forgives him.
only Time, " the
first
the direction which he
Devaki
for
was the
She accuses
who
follows
received from the
moment
author of
lias
of
destiny
evils,

Death
of the first creation of beings.
is
119
the necessary
consequence of birth."
Then
follows a description of the country to
The
the infant Krishna has been taken.
which
properties
there are duly fenced, and
in
their centres are the
made
to
butter-making.
Allusion
stables.
young
is
shepherdesses are attired in black
vestments
their earrings are
formed
their breasts are modestly veiled,
The
and yellow
wild flowers,
of
and they are carry-
ing jars upon their heads to fetch the water of the
Yamouna.
When Narayana became
incarnate in Krishna, he
simultaneously became incarnate in Bala-Eama
who was born

is
of
also,
But Krishna
Vasudeva's wife Eohini.
always represented as the actual Narayana on earth,
merely constituting a com-
this collateral incarnation
panion to him. Bala- Rama
is
the incarnation of eternity,
as has been observed, personified as the serpent Sesha.
Bala-Eama
is
Amongst the miracles
of
Krishna's
related that in order to keep

tied
to
carries
Krishna
light in colour, while
a ponderous car
away two
him from
straying,
but he drags
great trees also in
another time he kicks over a chariot
is
childhood,
its
it
off,
dark.
it
is
he
is
and
course.
At
this being sup-
posed to refer to the passage of a star through the

constellation Rohini,
He and
his brother
this pastoral region,

in
yellow,
which
is
represented by a chariot.
Bala-Rama spend seven years
in
Krishna being described as attired
with a garland
of
wild-flowers
and the
120
He
pastoral flute, the brother in black.
mends the pastors to move

herbage was becoming scanty.
the
that
appears
It
then recom-
another
region,
as
cowherds formed a sort
of
to
nomadic race in India, dwelling in temporary abodes.
The migration
described.
is
There are crowds of
Then
lands.
new camping-ground
the
at
branches
beds
fur
of
they con-
and cabins consisting
struct huts covered with turf,

of
Skins and stuffs are
trees.
cars,
and yellow, with gar-
of shepherdesses in black
files
and they have abundance
of
spread
milk, and are
contented.
The charms
sound the
and
the forest are described, where re-
of
cries of the
flowers
wild peacocks, where the trees
arches overhead, and
form
everything
breathes of the tender passion.
In this sylvan
district
lake inhabited by a
is
One
terrible and obnoxious serpent.
day, to the con-
sternation of the cowherds, Krishna tumbles himself

into this lake.
heads,
rises
The monstrous
serpent, with his five
amidst flames, and surrounded by other
great serpents, the officers of his court.
But Krishna
him and stamps upon him, knocks about the

away one of
serpent
owns
the
this
Upon
the serpent-king's heads.
himself vanquished and Krishna orders him to betake
kicks
serpents in general, and seizes and hurls
himself to the sea with

raise
a song
of praise,
bavin ct such a son.
all of
his.
And
the cowherds
and congratulate Xauda on

The
Bala-Rama, having taken some
brother,
from a
of date-palms, a
forest
fruit
sort of monster, cor-
enchanter of the
and
responding to the giant
121
old
European mediaeval romances, comes in the form of a

Bala-Rama cries out to
shepherd and seizes him.
Krishna
advice as to what he
for
And
emergency.
the author cared
show that
to
his story
progress of
the
for
less
one of those
which seem
interpolations
episodical
do in this
to
is
occurs
again
here
than for the expositions of Krishna's doctrine which

it
contained.
Krishna replies that the

placed
"
which Kama
difficulty in
one of the inconveniences of his
is
But there
is
tinues, " spiritual
Thou
and unalterable.
art clad in
mysterious form of an incompre-
but thou art also the
animates the universal
Brahma
the world thy body.
thou guardest
knowledge
in
Who
thyself
them.
Thou
Infinite.
in the
of
two
tell
is
thy head,
the secrets which
even the gods have no
Thou
art
surnamed Ananta,
am
myself.
We
constitute
Thou
separated, yet always united.
the eternal, immortal Sesha.

art also
can
which
sustainest the universe, and thou art
world that which
but one body
The heaven
life
the antique
era, the essence of
himself.
Nara-
spirit of
yana, the revolution of worlds, the breath of
deities,
is
nature.
another nature in thee," he con-
a terrestrial body,
hensible being
human
That which
that which thou art equally
in one body."
am.
am
art
thou
We
are
122
Then Bala-Kama
and
recalls to
mind
his divine existence,
finds himself full of the force "
He
in the three worlds."
strikes the
which
circulates
monster on the
head, and a voice from heaven applauds the victory of
the Invincible Infant.

deity of force
Hercules.
Bala-deva
and here again
But the adoration
have become merged
of
means the
literally
a suggestion
is
of
Bala-Kama seems
to
in that of Krishna.
CHAPTER XXIV.
After two months
brated
of
amongst these
the fete of Indra
rain
horns are adorned with peacocks' feathers,
autumnal
flowers.
Chants
is
bells,
Brahmins perform the sacred
Hill
rites,
"
is
accomplished.
and are duly preKrishna
sented with various kinds of nourishment.

mystically becomes himself
and other provisions are

are
crowned with
flowers,
the
is
Then
abundant, with mountains of rice and viands.

"
and
joy resound, cream
of
the great " sacrifice " of the
cele-
The cows'
people.
pastoral
hill,
and
offered to him.
and are driven
rice,
milk,
The cows
in
solemn
But while Krishna, as

procession around
the Universal and Supreme Spirit, enters this mounthis
tain, to
which the
hill.
villagers are
offering adoration, he
same time, present amongst them as the

Goatherd Krishna, and renders homage unto himself
is,
at the
123
in the mountain.
This must surely be intended
set forth that the
simple, ancient superstition
to
which
led the pastoral people to venerate the hill as divine,
was
still
acceptable,
if
sincerely offered, to the divinity
and who was himself the hill, as,

The Church of
indeed, he was the entire universe.
who
of all nature,
is
Christendom has conceived
that, in similar significance,
Christ laid His hand upon the bread and declared that
it
was His body though
in the
Indra
flesh.
is
Krishna, and he pours
He was
there present Himself
angered at the devotion to
down
deluge of rain, the
clouds being described as resembling elephants.
goatherds have recourse to Krishna, and beseech

to defend
He
mined
raises
"
them.
whose power was founded upon truth

to protect
and sustains
them with the mountain

it
on his
finger,
" deter-
and he
while the people
with their flocks and herds find shelter beneath.

is
The
him
Indra
induced to own the supreme power of Narayana in
Krishna.
Indra then does homage to him, and says that he

will bestow
upon him the royal baptism, by emptying
on his head certain golden vases

milk.
rite.
filled
with divine
This he accomplishes according to the proper
Flowers
fall
from heaven, ambrosia drops from
the clouds, and heavenly music
is
ceremony
tells
is
performed.
Indra
also heard as the
him
that after
the two rainy months his adoration as Govinda shall
commence.
He recommends him
to slay the tyrant
124
Kansa, and says that an emanation of himself, Arjouna,
accompany Krishna, and that as he, Indra, lives

Krishna, so shall Arjouna live in him.
The pastoral folk do honour to Krishna, and inquire
shall
in
who he
smiles
man
now
really
is
that he wields such power.
upon them, and

cease to believe
replies, " I
me
influenced by fear.
my
existence,
you
shall
seem
deity,
If there is
will teach
Again Krishna
with garlands
of
is
it is
only your kins-
such as I seem to your
know me when you
you a
to
Time
am
Krishna
me
in
you, and then
to
it
see
souls,
any mystery
as I
am!
If
well for you."
described as attired in yellow,
flowers.
love with him, and follow
The shepherdesses fall

him about, imitating him
in
in
dances, &c, their eyes tender as those of the black

antelope.
Altogether the sylvan delights of Krishna
and the "Gopis" lead up to the "pastorals" ami

" china shepherdesses " of modern Europe.
Meanwhile Kansa has become aware of Krishna's

He
existence and miracles, and designs his death.
has killed a fierce bull, really an incarnate demon,
which Kansa has sent against him, and afterwards a
Kansa now orders that the goatherds

to Mathura to pay the annual
and Bala-Bama proceed;
Krishna
Thither
savage horse.
shall
be
tribute.
summoned
and together they enter the city, and pass along the
Being clad in rustic attire, they demand
royal street.
from a dealer and as he abuses
vestments
rich
some
;
them grossly, they knock him down, and march
off
"
125
They enter a flowerand the flowerseller's shop, and request a garland

seller is so
much impressed with them that he
with the
coveted garments.
immediately presents them with garlands, and Govinda

informs him that great wealth shall come to him.
They proceed on
Krishna says
fume.
carrying vases of per-
is
"
her,
to
with eyes like the lotus, for

these perfumes
"
employed
fumes
"
"
as I
and presently meet a
their way,
hunch-backed woman, who
am
Do you
Amiable hunch-back,
whom
do you destine
know me,"
not
she says,
in supplying the king with per-
Krishna asks her to give them some cosmetics in
harmony with the colour

from the provinces, he
sion.
and
" wrestlers "
says,
The hunch-back expresses

says,
"
Take
We
of their bodies.
are
by profes-
delight with Krishna,
marvellous perfume, which
this
is
worthy of a king."
Then Krishna
her back, and she
lightly touches
finds herself upright.

"
charming friend
"
she
cries,
thee everywhere that thou goest."
overcome with love
And
me
she
follow
is
quite
for Krishna.
However, he and
her,
" let
his brother gaily take leave
and march into the palace.
of
There they desire to
be shown a mighty bow, the drawing of which
is
to
be one of the feats of strength at a forthcoming tour-
nament
or competition of deeds of arms.
Krishna takes
it,
breaks
it
in sunder with a terrible
126
sound, and then
lie
and Bala-Kama disappear from the
view of the attendants
Kansa
He, however, proceeds to
troubled.
hall
of the palace.
informed of this prodigy, and he
is
which has been prepared
for
visit
is
much
the great
the approaching
spectacle.
This
described as situated in the interior of the
is
It contains reserved places for the chiefs of
palace.
the various
corporations
building
praised,
is
its
elegance
the
of the
columns and
graceful
commodious approaches
and
cornices,
and
with
between
the
balconies and terraces, &c.
The king orders

and
draperies.
it
hung with
to be
Large vases
filled
garlands, flags,
with drinks are
to
be placed here and there, golden jugs with acidulated

liquors,
and
eatables.
octagonal in
This theatre
shape, with
eight
with paintings and with alcoves, &c.

interior
is
is
described as
staircases,
;
decorated
and the whole
resplendent with golden columns, gorgeous
with gold, superb
chairs,
divans
woven
to represent trees, flowers, &c.
glittering
carpets,
Eefreshment-
rooms are provided, with golden vases of drinks and

The ladies have " boxes " with light
basins of fruit.
gratings of sugar-cane in front of them.
have separate places assigned

magnificent fabrics.
to
The courtesans
them, ornamented with
127
CHAPTER XXV.
The King Kansa, on
upon
his place
is
the clay of the spectacle, takes
with
his throne
all
due ceremony.
He
described as dressed in two pieces of white, with
The wrestlers come
white turban and gems.
into the
arena with floating vestments, accompanied by strains
Then Krishna and Bala-llama enter
of music.
by the orders
of
Kansa, a
deciding, however, to kill
He
Kansa.
is let
and
loose
him
as being an accomplice
and his brother accordingly smite the
elephant to death
a theatre
elephant
But Krishna merely plays with him,
upon them.
of
fierce
Krishna remarking that
killing in
brutal.
is
The two brothers then overthrow Kansa's wrestlers

and when the music of the theatre ceases, heavenly
music is heard. The finest diamond in Kansa's diadem
ominously
Kansa
falls.
gives
After the defeat of the wrestlers,
orders
for
Krishna then springs

ing
him
soldiers
attack the two.
to
to the side of
Kansa, and, hurl-
The lamentations
into the arena, kills him.
of his wives resound
but the people in general appear
to sympathise with Krishna.
He
explains that he
is
touched by the women's lamentations, and that Kansa

shall
have befitting burial, but that
it
was necessary
that he should be killed on account of his wickedness.
And he
common
then proceeds to moralise on death as the

lot
of all
who
are clothed
in a
perishable
128
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST; OR.
body.
"
Kansa has ceased to

was prepared by
his destiny
He
birth."
himself
world
and that he
" free as
country,
victim of Time, and
says that he does not want the throne for
Kansa
that he immolated
live,
his deeds in a preceding
return
will
for the
the
to
good of the
the
of
life
a bird."
However, Krishna and Bala-Rama do not return

to
the pastoral
life
having
but,
set
up a king
contained in the
sixty-four
parts
of the
Veda," one of the later of the sacred
And
ledge."
"
"
Books
is
Dhanourof
as their preceptor's son has died,
promises to revive him.
of
This
Mathura, they go to study the art of war.
Know-
Krishna
Proceeding to the abode of
new
the king of death, he endows this son with a
body, and restores him to his father.
When
Krishna and Bala-Bama return
to
Mathura,
The
the whole population issues forth to greet them.
chiefs of the corporations of the divers orders in the

state,
the ministers, priests, and old and young,
with
all
flags,
garlands,
the instruments of a fete
&c, and chants and benedictions are
heard everywhere.
brothers, Piama
world
come
day, with music,
" Behold,"
they cry,
"
and Govinda, whose glory
peace reigns in your country,
those noble
fills
all
the
sons of Yadu."
Then, in the mansion of their father Vasudeva, they

give themselves
waters,
up
to pleasure in gardens,
and by cool
adorned with the crimson, blue, and
white
lotus, &c.
But Djarasandha, king
of
Magadha, puts
his
army

in
motion against Mathura,
been married to Kansa
129
two daughters had
for his
and many other kings are
with him.
allied
Krishna and Bala-Eama miraculously overcome the

invading armies, and a triumphant entry into Madura,
amidst the euthusiasm of the people,

After
people,
They
Bala-Eama returns
this
whom
amongst
rejoice to see
he
ensue
becomes
to
is
again described.
the pastoral
visit
he has passed his boyhood.
him, and in the festivities which

decidedly
good
over
inebriated
liquor.
It
would certainly seem
" Institutes
ascribed to between the
As
the
"
Great
Harivansa,
to
it
should be introduced.
strange,
is
of
a divine
influence
is
it
more
incarnation
In the archaic Vedas, on the
find that
when
the juice of the sacred
moon-plant (soma) was discovered

it
if
B.C.
concluding
the
Brahminical
display
modern, that the inebriety
ing qualities
Manu," generally
Bharata," including
seems
we
of
and tenth centuries
iifth
with equal distinctness,
other hand,
indulge freely in
latter,
These are distinctly reprobated
intoxicating drinks.
Brahminical
both Krishna and
that
Bala-Eama, but especially the
in the
an indication of the
to be
antiquity of this Harivansa
to possess intoxicat-
became venerated
as divine.
It
was
found to impart a sensation of joy which seemed to

elevate above this
it
mundane
life
must be heavenly, and they
so they conceived that
offered
it
to the deities,
in solemn sacrifice, with the rice cake.

I
130
No
reprobation
drunkenness.
him
is
expressed in Genesis
It is his
son,
who
an intoxicated condition, who
in
Noah's
ix. of
accidentally beholds
cursed and
is
punished.
King Djarasandlia has

and
divinity,
Krishna
might
the
inquires
what
to
is
be
of
his
" for
done,
Narayana, ancient source of the world,
is
creator
from
lied
In a council of chieftains he admits
Krishna.
of
beings,
all
without
end,
beginning,
or
middle."
advises peace, but another says, "
One king
this fear
know
that Krishna
is
the Eternal,
to deliver this world, an avatar of Vishnu,
Why
born
but
I also
know that we die when our time comes till then

This divine Vishnu
we are assured against harm.
;
himself
is
subject to Fate."
Eventually
Mathura
these
inimical
monarchs
march on
and Krishna, who has meanwhile been con-
secrated king with great ceremonies and rejoicings in
heaven and earth, announces that they are too powerful.
Apparently
it is
Dwaraka, on the coast
on the advantages
his assembly
finally
destined that he should found

of Gujerat.
He
of its
expatiates to
site
and he
conducts the Yadavas, his people, thither in
grand procession.
Djarasandlia and his ally, the Kala-Yavana king,
advance with
numerous
armies,
the
latter
having
under his standard a crowd of barbarians from the

mountains.
Krishna returns
to
Mathura and shows

himself to the Black Yavana,
chases him.
Krishna
The enchanted monarch, who
disappears in the cave.

lies
who
131
therein, has attached to
him the
spell of causing
by fire the destruction of any one who touches him.

The Yavana enters, finds him sleeping, kicks him, and
is forthwith consumed by flames.
The sleeper awakes, and inquires of Krishna who
he
is.
Krishna replies that he
is
the son of Vasudeva,
and that he (the slumbering monarch) had
fallen to
sleep in a former age of the world's history.
The awakened
Irving's
story
like
one,
who
has
Americans have cast
the hero of Washington
King George, &c,
off
astonished at the changed aspect of
men with
courage,
while
years
for
slept
lessened stature,
and he
affairs.
is
the
much
He
sees
finds that patience,
and other virtues are much enfeebled in the

Krishna now attacks
world's present (the black) age.
and destroys the
make surveys
army, and then proceeds to
hostile
for his
new town, having
offered
up the
usual prayer after sunrise.
By
the power of his thought he
karman, the All-Architect, and
must be the
finest in
according to rules,
places for the
fices,
and
its
the world
summons Yisvahim that the city
its
architecture
temples properly provided with
Brahmins and
for the
tells
assistants at the sacri-
maintenance of the holy
fire,
&c.
The ocean obeys his demand to cede a large domain.

Then magnificent houses, gates, and triumphal arches
arise,
with ramparts and towers.
Elegant pavilions.
132
and delicious gardens, and thousands

houses
with
constructed,
decorated
of
with
stones,
and refreshed by the sea-breezes.
Regent
of the
Winds
In this Sanctuary
same majesty
Then Krishna
of the
the
as
Yadus
deities
her
falls
brother
who
centre of
are enthroned with
in
And
heaven.
of state for
high priests, &c.
affairs,
and elopes with Euk-
in love
vanquishing, but sparing
zuini,
precious
brings a divine Hall from heaven.
Krishna establishes corporations, ministers

military and civil
are
Then the
of Justice, placed in the
Dwaraha, the princes

the
streets
had
at
followed
her
intercession,
He now
them.
solemnly espouses her, and finds great happiness in

her love
and they had ten sons and one daughter.
As has been
observed,
the
ancient
Indo-Aryans
conceived that deity, incarnate in the world, should

fulfil to
the utmost the obligation inherent upon every
Buddhism encouraged the
one to beget children.

bate
life
the Erahminical Institutes of
The
culcated.
Manu, matrimony
and he weds the sixteen thousand
secondary spouses, by
Old
whom
Testament
he has thousands of sons.

(Kings
xi.)
the
Solomon's espousing seven hundred wives

itself
to be
in respect to his
who
"
in-
Krishna marries seven other
ordain only one wife.
seem in
is
Institutes, save in exceptional instances,
principal wives
In our
celi-
but in these books, sacred to Krishna, as in
fact
does
mentioned as reprehensible
having
"
loved
many
of
not
only
strange women,"
turned away his heart after other gods," so that

" his heart
was not perfect with the Lord
was the heart
of
David
his
133
God, as
his father."
Yet the Lord had appeared unto him twice (Ki igs
This prototypical form of Christianity, i.e. of
xi. 2).
deliverance from evil and guidance into bliss, through
faith in the
Divine incarnate upon earth, naturally
The unfettered imagination

But it
of early civilisation was permitted full play.
must be remembered that our Song of Solomon has to
appears in archaic form.
be interpreted mystically, else
its
exoteric
aspect
mere love-song, and a similar

ment has been bestowed upon Krishna's amours.
is
treat-
certainly that of a
The
general conception seems to have been that, in imagining in the flesh the Supreme and Universal Soul, which
sustains all being, animate or inanimate,
which rule ourselves, should have no
mere numbers,
significance.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Thus Krishna became
city
he remained as
its
settled in
prince
till
Dwaraka,
his
in
which
death, and the
destruction of all the race of the Yadus, to which he
And
belonged, under the fated influence of a curse.
the city
itself
to the present
was overwhelmed by the ocean

day a temple
of
but
great sanctity bears
asserted testimony to the city's existence

of Gujerat.
on the shores
134
It
is
he has become settled here that Krishna
after
"
appears upon the scene in the

after vainly striving
Great Bharata," and
act as mediator
to
between the
contending hosts, aids by his presence and advice his
Pandu
friends the
princes.
been surmised that he was a prince
It has
who
supported the Brahmins, that they afterwards bestowed
upon him
up
as
divinity on that account, and set
his
an object
for popular adoration.
But the oppos-
ing warriors equally respect the Brahmins

religious crime
who
those
and their
seems to be their contending against
are aided
by Krishna.
on the side
religious heroes
who
him
of
There are great
the wicked princes,
them because they hold it to be their

duty, and there are also Brahmins with them.
And
altogether the perusal of the poem does not seem to
The war appears,
support this view of its purport.
fight for
in fact, to be the
of the
contending
mere
basis of a magnificent allegory
human
incarnated in Krishna,
the true
He
is
way
emotions, in which Narayana,

is
declared throughout to be
to happiness here
and
hereafter.
repeatedly addressed as the Soul of Nature,
the Supreme Intelligence, the Great All, clothed in
mortal personifications.
tualises.
And
the Harivansa also spiri-
It is said therein that
Eukmini and Krishna's
other wives are mere manifestations of this Being, the
nature of whose immensity

spirit).
his wife
Vishnu
(i.e.
is
at the
Shiva and
is
Vishnu
(the all-pervading
same time Iswara and
the " glorious
Uma
").
"
also
There
135
no difference between Eudra (Shiva as the destroyer)

and Vishnu. The powerful Narayana is the author and
is
substance of
birth to
all
He, with Iswara, has given
beings.
to the ancient universal soul."
Brahma,
As has been observed, it is the continual effort of these

works to show that all these modes of addressing the
Divine, as Shiva or Vishnu, or as their wives, Lakshmi
the goddess of good fortune, or as Uma, Parvati or
Dourga, the bride of Shiva, who is also adored as the
and
terrible Kali,
as the divine
and beneficent Virgin,
that all these forms of adoration are in reality only
expressions of the one Spirit.
Originally they
may
have been conceived as powers of the unseen world

But undoubtedly
of actual polytheism.
in systems
in this Indo- Aryan sacred literature, from the period
when
many
the Vedas (Books of Knowledge) were compiled,

centuries
continued
B.C.,
these divinities are
only
veneration
in
be
to
adopted or
associated
in
Even the 16,000 wives of Krishna are

who is at the same time one
divine unity.
regarded as forms of One,
and
several,
who
is
wife or energy not only of Vishnu
Brahma
One, who
but of Shiva, and also of

all
the deities are
to everlasting,
"
To-day,"
Cesava
"
is
still
who
it is
is
for these three

is
and
from everlasting
all-pervading and infinite.
said, " for the salvation of the world,
manifested at Mathura."
As a meat patty
is
the unctuous dripping,
throughout impregnated with

so
is
the
world everywhere
penetrated with the presence of Vishnu."
136
"
The sages who know the Books
aware that he
to
is
who have
destroy those
of
Knowledge
are
His ordinary course
the Sacrifice.
is
and
rejected penitence
complacently abided in ill-doing."
great
thee,
whose
force
incline before
whose firmness
is infinite,
First of beings, Master
be moved.
is
not to
and Victim
of the
thou art the offering of the piety of the
Sacrifice,
world, and the companion

soler,
" I
Kashyapa, says,
saint,
who triumphs
of
destiny
Divine
Thou
over death.
art the
con-
soma
(intoxicating juice corresponding to the wine) of the

sacrifice,
from
all
art the
brilliant
in
thy
efface
my
sins,
ill,
enemy
own
of every fault
light.
me
Preserve
god of gods,
thou who
committed in
secret, or in
thought, the beginning and end of every sacrifice, pastor
Thou
of pastors.
art All."
Again Narada invokes him
way
of the just,
the power to
you who are the
as, "
be ever favourable to me.
be exempt from being reborn in the

future existences
may
I still
flesh.
In
Brahma, creative agent
trate before Bhagavat, calls

ness,
supreme
arrested
his
the
verity,
created
my
of
the
of the worlds, pros-
him the abode
where the law
of happi-
of regeneration
is
who have taken refuge in him.

deities, he says, only know him not in
those
for
Even we,
bliss,
all
be a divine being."
In the Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Book

Blessed),
me
may
Grant
ever your abode, and that I
visit
but in the external form which he has
by means
of his Illusion
(Maya).
The
first
137
Incarnation was the soul of the Universe (Purusha),

that
is,
the
Supreme Essence,
Hari by the
called
Brahma imposed upon
thinking being.
first
himself great
he might create the worlds
austerities in order that
and then Bhagavat was born as the Son of Justice

"
(Dharma).
of the
tree
Adoration," he says,
who
world,
" to
Bhagavat, the
divided his proper root into
three trunks, forming himself, Shiva and Vishnu."

"
He
becomes disengaged from attachment
world wdio
"
w ho
T
is
who
nimity, and
who bestows due

regards
who
and chastity
attention on
charitable
his
no real existence, a reflex
duty,
devotion,
When,
my
his-
continues in the practice of kindness
calm,
master
after
penitence,
numbers
which has
whom
the Being,
of
By
nature
of
himself.
of
personality,
beholds exempt from real attributes.
spirit.
the
with perfect equa-
creatures
all
The sage perceives within
in
to
Bhagavat,
says
faith,"
exercised in the practice of intense devotion
is
towards me,
tories,
endowed with
he
persistence
disappears
existences, in
in
this
world or in that of Brahma, he becomes indifferent to

personality, devoid of egotism, he
votion to
me, and who knows the
goodness, obtains
nature.
That
that which
state
absolute deliverance
aside all doubts
state
of
is
who
of
de-
truth, thanks to
my
is
full
constitutes
his
happiness which
found in
my
is
bosom.
is
no more return.
called
Casting
he speedily comes, here below,
from which there
proper
to that
Be chaste
13S
and pure, lead a
Books of
of penitence, read the
life
Knowledge, and adore the Universal Soul."

"
Meditate on the smile, so noble, of Hari, which
can abate the ocean of
tears,
which overwhelm, in
their profound sorrows, all the worlds."

" I
bosom of all beings,

The man who cannot recognise me
reside perpetually in the
whose soul
I am.
has but the false image of piety.

"Till man, indeed, actually goes to abide in hell,
He
he desires not to abandon his body.
becomes
attached to his goods, becomes culpable and violent,
and
Despair and death come to him,
finally degraded.
and enclose him in a body destined
Then he has
of hell.
in
to
way
of
sinners
long and terrible darkness, tormented by hunger
and
he reaches the abode
fire, till
His limbs are enveloped
him.
torn from
him
said in the Bhagavata,
This
is
known
hell
'
of hell
flames,
in
of
upon
his flesh
the dogs and vultures of hell devour
his entrails before his face.
Monarch
of the
Then come the pains
Death (Yama).
Vie
the sufferings
to
follow the
for the
men
Even
in this world,
exclaim,
sufferings
of
'
This
hell
is
are
it
is
heaven
not un-
here, but in hell itself shall the fruits of faults
gathered.
Having traversed
in the infernal regions,

to this world.
to re-enter the
He
all
the places of pain
he shall be purified and return
again has to become a germ, and
world helpless and ignorant."
Those who worship the Supreme Being under the

material form of Brahma,
may
arrive at his heaven.
139
But those who take refuge in the Being who dwells

in the hearts of all, who is First of all, moveable and
immoveable in
Scriptures
reme
Bhagavat, son
soul,
who
this universe,
and knowledge
of
the Parent of the
is
Vasudeva, who
those
may
sup-
is
cease from the
migrations of their individual souls, and come to him.

"
who
Vowing
it is said, "
Take refuge with him,"
time immortality and death.
is
at the
same
devotion
ex-
clusively for Bhagavat, happiness will be with thee."
In
finishing
an
address
to
Bhagavat
mother,
his
says
"
By
continuing in the
and which you can
way which
easily
who
word, which those love
Knowledge.
me
will
come
Preserve with faith

possess the Books of
It will bring thee to
Those who do not know
have indicated,
you
follow,
speedily to supreme perfection.
my
me, who
fall into
am
Safety.
death."
The mother then deserted her abode, became an

ascetic, practised severe mortifications,
fixed only
on the son of Vasudeva,
the possession of the

the
final
deliverance.
Supreme
till
with her heart

she arrived at
Spirit Bhagavat,
who
is
Eelease from transmigrations
upon earth and punishments in hell, and an eternal

abode above even the heaven of the powers of the
elements, &c,
is
promised to those who, in faithful

"
blessed," manifested
woman
has been supposed
and exclusive devotion, adore the

in Krishna.
Chivalrous devotion to
to have emanated from the Christianity of the valiant
4o
warriors of Northern Europe.
But M. Leveque ad-
duces quotations from the Harivansa to show that the

adoration of the fair sex, in terms of humble devotion,
is
As in a
handsome Pradyoumna takes
found in the more ancient Aryan poetry.
modern romance, the

in his the hand of the
o-litterino;
" Celestial beauty,"
hopes,
why
Do
charming
he says,
feels
that
" object of the
its
trembles.
it
most tender
do you hide your countenance, brilliant as
the stars of night

silence
beautiful Prabhavati with
He
ornaments.
why do you maintain
not be envious of
my
this cruel
beholding your
adorable being, disdain not your
face.
Accept the homage which he has rendered to

You have no cause for
his liberty.
resigning
you by
fear; submissive and respectful I address to you my
slave.
incomparable one,
prayer.
me know
let
that I
have touched your heart."
M. Leveque remarks that gallantry of

was unknown to the Greeks and Romans.
have passed from India
to
to
kind
this
It appears
the romances of the
Breton cycle, and thence to modern times.

Ptacine Achilles addresses himself to
So in
Iphigenia
mon bonheur
ne depend que de vous,

vous destine un epoux
Venez y recevoir uu coeur qui vous adore."
" Princesse
Votre pere a
Iii
regard to the story from which this illustration
of ancient
his
l'autel
work
gallantry has been taken,
entitled
"
Les Mythes
et
M. Leveque,
les
in
Legendes de
l'lnde et la Perse, dans Aristophane, Platon, Aristote,

Virgile,
Eabelais,
"
Dante,
Ovide, Tite-Live,
La
Perrault,
Comment
se fait-il
Boccace,
Arioste,
(p.
6S),
meme
scene
Fontaine," inquires
que nous trouvous
la
141
La
dans VHistoire de Pradyoumna et dans
le
Old.
surprenante quelle ne
le
parait de
chose est nioins
Corneille a puisse dans la
prime abord.
Guillem de Castro,
piece
de
Guillem de Castro peut avoir en
et
connaissance de la le'gende ou de la piece sanscrite par
Les contes de l'lnde ont penetre
des intermediaires.
en Espagne, com me on
Jean Manuel,
intitule
le
le voit
par
le livre
Livre de Patronio
du Prince
et
du comte
Lucanor"
In the
late
Tom
Eobinson's play of
heroine buckles the sword around the
when
hero
" Caste,"
waist
the
of the
This was forestalled
ordered to the wars.
so,
long ago as to appear in this ancient Sanskrit story
of
Pradyoumna.
"
'
'
arm
Noble
hero,'
thyself.
exclaims
his beautiful Prabhavati,
Live for thy children, thy wife, and
thy venerable parent.'
She took the sword, raised

in the
hands
be victorious.'
The
her eyes to heaven, and firmly placed

of
Pradyoumna,
'
Go,' she said,
'
it
hero, transported with joy, grasped the

his faithful beloved one
had presented
to
sword which
him."
142
CHAPTER XXVII.
The
allegorical character of the " Great
continued throughout.
yan's
"
Bharata
" epic is
A curious suggestiveness of Bun-
Pilgrim's Progress " appears in the conclusion
The
of the lives of the five princes.
Battle," is established
eldest, "
Firm
But he and
on the throne.
in
his
brothers, disconsolate at the death of Krishna, and realising
the vanity of
rest.
and
human
hopes, aspire only to the heavenly
The king assigns the throne

his
brothers,
special friend of
suggest
the
to his
He
nephew.
Bhinia the Terrible, Arjouna the
Krishna, and the two
who
heroes
and Pollux, with the
Castor
classical
Princess Krishna or Draupadi, take their departure
from Hastinapura, their

the deep regret of
upon
capital, the
all its
on
pilgrimage
their
courtiers follow
them
inhabitants.
for
foot.
some
modern Delhi, to
They set forth
The
distance.
The princes
and princess then wander on through many
They come
to the site
the sea coast,
and
citizens
countries.
the old city of Krishna, on
of
now washed
over by the waves.
Then
they turned towards the north, to reach Indra's heaven
on Mount Meru, yearning
for
union with the Infinite
bent on abandonment of worldly things.
transla-
poem was given

by Mr. E. B. Cowell, in the Westminster Review of
tion in verse of this portion of the
October 1848, from which

extracted
the following
lines
are
'
143
With souls well disciplined

They reached the northern region, and beheld with heaven'
aspiring hearts
Beyond
The mighty mountain Himavat.
its
lofty
peak they
passed
Towards the sea of sand, and saw

Of mountains. As with eager
at last the
rocky Meru, king
steps they hastened on, their
souls intent
On union with
And,
the Eternal, Draupadi lost hold of her high hope,
faltering, fell
Then the
upon the
four princes
earth."
fall,
one by oue, and
"
way
to worldly thoughts
Firm
in
on their
Battle" ascribes their inability to continue
having distracted their souls
and the king continues on his way alone but a dog

has come with them from the city, and he still follows
;
" Suddenly, with a cry that rang through heaven and earth,
Indra came riding on his chariot, and he cried to the king,
Ascend
Then, indeed, did the Lord of Justice look back to his fallen
'
brothers,
And
'
Let
thus unto Indra he spoke, with a sorrowful heart

my brothers, who yonder lie fallen, go with me ;
Not even
into thy
heaven would
enter,
if
they were not
there.
And yon
fair-faced
daughter of a king, Draupadi, the All-
deserving,
India, approve my prayer.'

Let her too enter with us
they are
Indra. In heaven thou shalt find thy brothers
already there before thee,
son of
There are they all, with Draupadi. Weep not, then,
!
Bharata.
Thither are they entered, prince, having thrown away their

mortal weeds.
But thou alone shalt enter, still wearing thy body of flesh.
14+
Indra and what of this dog ? It hath faithfully

me through
go with me into heaven, for my soul is full of com-
The King.
followed
Let
it
passion.
me, and the height
Indra. Immortality and friendship with

of joy
and
felicity
All these hast thou reached to-day
leave then the dog behind
thee.
The King. The good
may
an
oft act
but never a part
evil part,
like this.
Away, then, with
that felicity
whose price
to
is
abandon the
faithful.
My
heaven hath no place for dogs they steal away our

on earth.
Leave, then, thy dog behind thee, nor think in thy heart that
Indra.
offerings
it is cruel.
To abandon the
King.
Tlie
faithful and devoted is an endless

murder of a Brahman.
come weal or woe, will I abandon yon faithful
crime, like the
Never
therefore,
dog.
Yon
poor creature, in fear and

to save
ot,
it
distress,
my
hath trusted in
power
therefore, for e'en life itself,
will I
break
my
plighted
word.
To
oppress the suppliant, to kill a wife, to spoil a Brahman, and

to betray one's friends
These are the four great crimes

count equal unto them."
"
Firm
in
Battle
"
thus
and
to forsake a
continues
in
dependant I
and he
is
tried, for
heaven
rewarded for his constancy by finding that
the animal
disguise.
grand,
his
chivalric refusal to desert the faithful dog for
was
When
really
Yama, monarch
of
death, in
he reaches Indra's heaven he
is
again
instead of seeing there his brothers, he only
meets the princes against
whom
he had been fighting
And
the great war.
in
145
learning that his brothers are
in hell, he resolves to abide there with
them rather
than remain in heaven without them.
But
this
is
mock
scene of heaven, and was in-
tended merely to try his endurance again and constancy of affection, and at length the real heaven
revealed.
is
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The
biblical foundation
scriptions of the contest
eousness and
evil, in
Milton's magnificent de-
for
between the powers
of right-
the " Paradise Lost," appears to
be the text in Eevelation
7 and an allusion in
xii.
the book of Daniel.

It is difficult
tion
suggested
to conceive that the texts in Eevela-
the
between the beings

found in the
"
elaborate
of light
Puranas
"
or "
accounts
of
wars
the
and darkness which are

Ancient P>ooks." Taking
these accounts in conjunction with the whole context
the
of
Indo-Aryan system as
promulgated
Vedas, legal treatises, later scriptures, &c,
it
in
the
seems
almost impossible to deny that they are equally indi-
genous with these " Books of Knowledge

1
Mr. Edwin Arnold has,
Messrs. Triibner
&
in
his "
" (the
Vedas)
Indian Poetry," published by
Co. in 1SS1, given a version of this portion of the
Mahabharata.
146
And,
themselves.
of
been remarked, the battalions
as has
dense clouds, which at the commencement of the
rainy season seem to march upwards in gloomy array,
moon
beams by
or star
atmosphere
serene
flashes of lightning
And an
thunder.
have
night,
of
filled
Then come the
months.
for
clouds, weird in aspect, black
by vivid
The rays
of the idea.
seem naturally suggestive

the sun, and
and awful, accompanied
and tremendous peals
of
invasion of the spirits of good by
the evil seems an obvious idealisation of the aspect of

nature.
It
said
is
Divine,"
"
in
The Eevelation
7-9: "And
xii.
there
of
John the
St.
was war
in
heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon
and the dragon fought and

not
was
neither
And
heaven.
serpent,
place
his angels
In the
and Satan, which deceiveth
were cast out with him."

"
it
Ancient Book of the Blessed

is
divine
"
(Bhagavata
related that the Asuras (corresponding
murder," invade the
whom
any more in
he was cast out into the earth, and
to demons), " beings full of folly
the
found
and prevailed
the great dragon was cast out, that old
called the devil,
the whole world
Purana)
there
his angels,
deities.
beings,
who
they address as
"
seek
and
terrible
refuge
flaming weapons, &c.
and loving
demon
in
defeats
Narayana,
Supreme Being, Nature,
and the universe, from which he

promises them succour.
pride,
is
distinct."
Spirit,
He
terrific
battle ensues, with
The Asuras
see the inutility of

their efforts, but
though born amongst
their chief, "
by
this race, characterised
evil passion,
has learnt to
So the
adore and feel solely dependent on Bhagavat.
And
divine beings even cannot prevail against him.
have destroyed Indra, the regent of the
he would
elements,
of
is
if
he had not been protected by the cuirass
Supreme Universal Soul."

Indra praises the Asura
having escaped from
as
" It
and renounced his nature as a demon.
illusion
147
a marvel," he says, " that a heart such as
which passion
is
his, of
the nature, should become so firmly
who is all-goodness."
The Asura increases in
attached to the blessed Vasudeva,
The
bulk
fight,
till
however, proceeds.
he occupies
all
space and swallows Indra,
emerges by the force of his
own
devotion,
the Asura's head with his thunderbolt.

signifies that the
mass seems
to
stormy clouds advance
who
and cuts
off
This clearly
till
one black
overshadow the whole world before they
They
break in the monsoon.

lightning-flash.
Then
Indra's
are rent in the
welcome
rainfall
first
de-
scends upon the parched earth.
An
elaborately
fanciful
attack of the Asuras
account
is
given of the
they advance in their ranks to
the sound of conch shells, tambourines, kettle-drums,
And
the devas
assume warrior forms to encounter them.
Chariots
&c, with great variety

are
of weapons.
urged against chariots, cavalry against cavalry,
infantry against infantry.
There are warriors upon
elephants, camels, asses, antelopes, rhinoceroses, bulls,
148
herons,
vultures,
&c.
umbrellas of
Standards,
&c.
honour, and elaborately adorned fans are mentioned.
The combatants
resplendent
are
in
and
cuirasses
sparkling ornaments, and their weapons glitter in the
Their mantles
sunbeams.
float
They
in the wind.
have swords, sabres, crescent-shaped arrows, burning
The
and arrows shot through tubes.
demons hurl a whole mountain on the deities, with
The divine personages
its savage beasts, reptiles, &c.
projectiles,
were altogether becoming worsted in the encounter,
when Indra thought on Bhagavat,
He
universe.
assistance.
Bhagavat
is
seen in the ordinary
He
has
many
cluding
the
strikes
Bali,
Indra,
chief of
the
cry out
" like
with
his
be
him from the view
of
chariot.
demon army for

the deities, who
merchants whose vessel
and the
thunderbolts,
Asuras, from his
of arrows -from the
in the midst of the ocean."
are irresistible,
may
representations of him.
arms, which wield eight weapons, in-
But the showers
then described as he
Hindu
discus.
a time conceal
the
of
creator
came, as he had promised, to their
wrecked
is
But the arrows
of
Hari
divinities are victorious.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Horace Hayman Wilson, Boden
in Oxford between the years
Professor of Sanscrit
832-1 860,
observes,
in the Introduction to his translation of the
Vishnu
149
Purana, that the Purana and epic-poem systems were

" extensively,
perhaps universally established in India
The Hercules
time of the Greek invasion.
at the
of
the Greek writers was undoubtedly the Bala-Rama of the
Hindus
and
of
and their notices
the kingdom
evidence
country, are
Mathura on the Jumna,
of
and the Pandsean
of the Suraseni
of the
prior
currency of the
traditions
which constitute the argument of the Maha-
bharata.
These are constantly repeated in the Puranas,
Pandava and Yadava races, to Krishna and
relating to the
contemporary heroes, and to the dynasties of the
his
solar
and lunar kings."
cosmogony
of the
and that these
He
may
Puranas
last
says that the " theogony and
be traced to the Vedas,
appear occasionally to allude to
the incarnations of Vishnu."
He
observes that there
is
a general agreement in
the Puranas' scheme of primary creation, taken from
Sankhya
the
In
philosophy.
them appears pan-
theism, represented as God, manifested in Vishnu or

Siva.
"
He
finds a parallel in the Platonic Christians-
Epiphanius (adv. Manichreos) and Eusebius (Hist.
Evang.) accuse Scythianus of having imported from

India,
in
the second century, books on magic, and
heretical notions leading to Manichceism

at the
of the
same period that Ammonius
New
this heresy
and
Platonists at Alexandria.
The
was that true philosophy derived
from the Eastern nations

of
God and
the universe
it
was
instituted the sect

basis of
its origin
his doctrine of the identity

is
that of the Vedas and
ISO
Puranas
and the practices he enjoined,
their object,
Puranas under the name
of the
disciples
and
were taught
contemplation
immortal
as well as
were precisely those described in several
bodily
that in this
spirit, so
communion with
the
the
of
Yoga
(union).
His
extenuate by mortification
to
upon the
restraints
they might enjoy
life
Supreme Being, and ascend
death to the Universal Parent" (Mosheim,
v.
i.
after
p. 173).
But Professor Wilson also wrote that " the importathe loan
tion was not perhaps wholly unrequited
;
may
"
not
have
been
left
He
unpaid."
says
that
Anquetil de Perron has given, in the introduction
to his translation of the Oupnekhat, several
Synesius, a bishop of the beginning of the

tury,
which may serve as
hymns and
hymns by
fifth
many
parallels to
of
cen-
the
prayers addressed to Vishnu in the Vishnu
Purana."
Professor Wilson remarks that "the present popular
forms assumed their actual state under Sankara Acharya,

a great Saiva reformer,
who probably
eighth or ninth century
a.d.,
flourished in the
and that the Puranas
previously existed in more ancient form."
Indian tradition assigns Sankara Acharya to the

second century
B.C.
evident that his

those
ancient
Whatever may be the
conceptions
Indo- Aryan
entitled the "
Spirit,"
in
date, it is
sequence with
books whose antiquity
admitted, rather than with our
poem
are
own
Atma-Bodha,"
is
His
Knowledge of
Scriptures.
or "
seems precisely in accordance with their ideas

of the attainment of tranquillity,
151
and overcoming of
passion, as the prelude to final emancipation; also of the
unreality of the world, and the error of supposing the

individual soul to be truly
Brahma,
as I am,
itself,
but that in realising
knowledge, &c. &c.
is
" it is irrational
Indeed Professor Wilson says that
to dispute the antiquity or authenticity of the greater
portion of the contents of the Puranas, in the face of
abundant, positive, and circumstantial evidence of the

prevalence
of
the
doctrines
which they teach, the
currency of legends which they narrate, and the integrity of the institutions
which they
describe, at least
in the third century before the Christian era."

"
But the
traditions,
day
origin
and development
of their doctrines,
and institutions were not the work
and the testimony which establishes
tence in the third century
much more remote
B.C.,
antiquity,
carries it
that
surpassed by any of the prevailing
is
of
their exis-
back
to a
probably not
fictions, institutions,
or beliefs of the ancient world."

"
The metaphysical annihilation
of the universe,
by
the release of the spirit from bodily existence, offers

analogies to doctrines
and practices taught by Pytha-
goras and Plato, and by the Platonic
Christians of
later days."
He
commencement of the recorded regal

India at 2600 B.C., i.e. 252 years before
places the
dynasties of
the date ascribed to the Flood in Archbishop Usher's
Chronology, which has been adopted in the Church of
152
England.
He assigns the
eastern confines of the Punjab
as the " earliest seat of the Hindus."
He
thinks that no date can be conjectured for the
Vishnu Purana from

bharata epic
is
to both Buddhists
But the Maha-
contents.
its
mentioned in
it,
and allusions are made
and Jains (who possess analogous
opinions).
He
places
its
As has
composition at 1045 A.D.
been observed, however,
it
appears in his opinion to
be irrational to dispute the pre-Christian antiquity of

the doctrines, legends, and institutions described in
He
it.
them to the period of the Greek invasion,

considering them likely to have been then established
refers
in growth of antiquity.
The Vishnu Purana

Pervading One, from
is
(i.e.,
the Ancient
vish, to
pervade),
styled the Preserver, the Ancient
server, to
Book
of the
as
Vishnu
or,
Book
of the Pre-
quote from Professor Wilson's translation,
commences with the usual mystic syllable Om or Aum

" Aum, glory to Vasudeva
May that Vishnu, who
is
the existent imperishable Brahma,
who
is
vation,
spirit
who
and destruction
intellect,
who
is
Iswara
the cause of creation, preser-
is
who
is
the parent of nature,
and the other ingredients
of the
universe,
be to us the bestower of understanding, wealth, and

final
emancipation.
Glory to the Supreme Vishnu
the cause of the creation, existence, and end of this
world
of the
who
is
world
the root of the world, and
who
exists
who
consists
everywhere, and in
whom

things here exist
all
He
deva.
and who
is
thence
then existed in the forms

"
Soul and Time."
named Vasuof
Universal
There was neither day nor night,
The
nor sky, nor any other thing, save only One.
Brahma, the Supreme
Supreme
Euler Hari,
spirit.
resting
of
his
153
own
Soul,
Supreme
the
will entered into matter
compounded
upon the waters, became
vast egg,
of the elements,
and
and
Then
his abode.
in
the form of Brahma, he engaged in the creation of the
Vishnu,
universe.
with immeasurable goodness and
power, preserves created

ages,
things
through
successive
Then
the close of a world-period (Kalpa).
till
the same mighty deity Janarddana {i.e. the object

adoration to mankind) assumes the awful form
Kuclra, devours all things,
mighty serpent (Eternity) amidst the deep,

awakes
the
and again,
after a season,
author of
he
of
Brahma, Vishnu,
Hail to
final liberation
Thou
Thou
Thou
him
From
personified Earth (Prithivi) apostrophises

"
who
thee,
thee have I proceeded.
"
till
Brahma, becomes
Siva, as he creates, preserves, or destroys."
The
thus
as
his
Thus the one only God
creation.
Janarddana takes the designation
and
of
and converts the world into
Then the Supreme reposes upon
one vast ocean.
of
art all creatures
Those who are desirous
of
worship thee as the Supreme Brahma.
art
my
art
sacrifice,
creator,
and
and the
art the oblation
liy
to
thee for refuge
sinless lord of
sacrifice
"
!
Created beings, although they
are destroyed (in
154
their
yet,
individual forms) at the periods of dissolution,
being affected by the good or evil acts of former
existences, they are never
When Brahma
quences.
exempted from
their conse-
creates the world anew, they
are the progeny of his will, in the fourfold condition

of deities (devas),
The demons
men, animals, or inanimate
(Asuras)
Brahma's thigh.
of
castes
are
in
things.
from
darkness
Then, besides the devas, there are
heavenly minstrels and

limbs
born
are
nymphs, centaurs with the
and human bodies, &c.
horses
The four
born from his mouth, breast, thighs, and
At
feet respectively.
these abide in righteous-
first
ness and perfect faith, and Hari dwells in their sanctified
Then through darkness and
minds.
As
the seeds of iniquity.
become
afflicted
arise,
come
sin gains strength, mortals
with pain, and they construct places
of refuge, protected
cities
desire
by
and from
or water.
trees
their
Villages and
manual labour come the
seventeen useful kinds of grain.

"
The
sun,
and cease
moon, and planets
to be
but those
who
shall repeatedly be
internally repeat the
know
mystic
adoration
decay.
For those who neglect their duties, who revile
of
the divinity shall never
the Books of Knowledge, and obstruct religious
rites,
the places assigned after death are the terrible regions

of darkness, of
Sri,
deep gloom, of
fear,
and of great
bride of Vishnu, mother of the
world,
terror.
is
thus
exalted and brought into the unity of one all-pervad-
ing
spirit,
here regarded under the double aspect of

As he
masculine and feminine.
Vishnu
she.
she
is
meaning, she
is
He
prudence.
she
and
who
space.
Govinda
is
one with
the goddess of
vine,
Kesava
Sri
is
who
all
is
Govinda
that
love,
is
Hari
is
Sri
and Lakshmi,
is all
that
termed female
seems
is
sacri-
the sun,
is
the heavens
widely extended
and lord
to
is
of
is
his
gentle
called male,
there
is
all,
as
is
the
the creeping
round which she
tree
is
polity,
devotion.
is
He
it.
all things, is
is
the ocean,
and Vishnu the
pleasure.
they.
of
She, the mother of the world,
lamp.
He
Lakshmi (her name

Lakshmi
good fortune) its shore.
is
the light, and Hari,
all
donation.
his radiance the goddess.
Vishnu,
all-pervading so
righteousness, she
is
sacrificial
is
is
speech.
Hari the support
Sri is the earth,

fice,
is
155
clings.
spouse,
is
Lakshmi
is
nothing else than
be the classic Ceres, as she appears
under her more comprehensive character when supposed to be identical with Rhea, Tellus, Cybele, Bona
Dea, &c.
of
is
Identified with Lakshmi, she has the aspect
Venus, even
said that
rising, like
her,
from the ocean.
when Vishnu was Krishna she became
carnate as his wife, Rukmini.
It
in-

156
CHAPTER XXX.
In
illustration of constancy of faith
the following story
is
given
The son of a daitya
on the Preserver
(the daityas are a demoniacal
order of beings, corresponding with the Asuras) be-
comes devoted
from
his
to Vishnu,
father
and endures much contumely
on account of his
He is overwhelmed with
faithful to Janarddana.
but remains unhurt,
remaining
still
rocks,
thoughts never swerve
for his
from the Preserver, and the recollection of the deity
armour of
He
cast into flames, but
is
his
it
merely occasions the reflection that the dead are
proof.
born again, that pain
is
is
necessary, that only a fool
fond of his body, composed of
flesh, blood,
He
&c.
(Prahlada) then preaches to the daityas, and says,

this ocean of the world, in this sea of
Vishnu
We
your only hope.
is
embodied
is
eternal
birth, youth,
let
wisdom.
race,
the
embodied
"In
sorrows,
are children
spirit
and decay are pro-
Even
perties of the body, not of the soul.
hood
many
is
soul acquire
in child-
discriminative
Let us lay aside the angry passions of our
and so
strive that
we
obtain that perfect, pure,
and eternal happiness which

power of the elements,
firmities of
human
or
nature.
shall
their
be
deities,
beyond the
or
the
in-
In truth I say unto you,
that you will have no satisfaction in various revolutions
through this treacherous world, but that you
shall obtain eternal
calm by propitiating the Preserver

whose adoration
on Cesava.
heart rest
things of
you
perfect
is
Precious
shall gather, be assured,
of the tree
Love
will be assiduously cherished
by
wise in the knowledge that Hari
The daitya
palace
casts his son
but he
falls,
the fruit which
is
from the exhaustless store
wisdom.
of true
Let the whole
peace.
Wealth, pleasure, virtue are
moment.
little
for all
all
is all
those
lap,
creatures
who
are
things."
from the summit
of the
cherishing Hari in his heart, and
Earth, the nurse of all creatures, received
on her
157
him gently
thus entirely devoted to Kesava the pro-
And
tector of the world.
The
with Vishnu.
so Prahlada
becomes as one
Preserver, in his yellow robe
and
splendour, appears to him, and the prince
glittering
"
prays to him.
" through
which
faith in thee
In
I
never
all
the thousand births," he asks,
may be doomed to pass, may my

know decay." But Vishnu replies
that through his faith he shall obtain liberation.
Analogous traditions certainly seem to have descended to the author of this book and to Dante.
elaborate
which
enumeration of various hells
is
given,
An
in
certain tortures are assigned to certain crimes.
There are hells

flame.
There
of red-hot iron, of salt,

is
and
of great
a hell of heated caldrons, another
where heads are inverted, another where the con-
demned
feed on worms, another with wells of blood.
Besides
hells
for the
great offences of murder and
the like, a hell with leaves of sword-blades

served for
those
who wantonly
cut
down
is
re-
trees.
CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST; OR.
158
liell
where the
with pincers
flesh is tortured
who break
to those
ascribed
is
the vows of their Order.
The inhabitants of the infernal regions, as they

move with their heads inverted, see the divine beings
in heaven, who look down upon the sufferings of hell.
Besides the illustration of this in the parable of Dives
and Lazarus, the writings

Church, Tertullian
year 207
a.d.,
of the
Carthage,
of
Father of the Christian
who wrote about
the
give a very distinct view of his pos-
but indubitably cruel-seeming ideas upon
sibly just
Certainly
the topic.
absolutely analogous to this
it is
Inclo- Aryan conception.
In his essay against stage-plays, &c, he writes
and Donaldson's
translated in Eoberts
Christian Library ")

"
But what a
now
spectacle
is
the rising saints
What
What
with
the
its
theme
spectacle
kingdom
New
then
my
sight gives
admiration
all
me
joy
ex-
glory
Yes,
judgment
when
many
What my
What
which rouses me
to
by
the
products,
How
derision
of
the just
of
derision,
its
upon the eye

!
highly
that
Jerusalem
consumed in one great flame

bursts
now
that day unlooked-for
of their
hoary with age, and
shall be
excites
the
all,
What
What the
!
that last day of
everlasting issues
nations,
world,
sights
the
the city,
and there are other
Ante-Nicene
fast-approaching
now owned by
altation of the angelic hosts
thereafter
that
triumphant one
(as
advent of the Lord,

exalted,
"
vast a
there
Which
exultation
;;

as I see so
many
monarchs, whose reception
illustrious
heavens was publicly announced, groaning
the
into
now
in the lowest darkness with great
and
those, too,
who
tian name, in fires
the days of
more
their
followers of Christ
Jove himself
bore witness of their exaltation
governors of provinces, too,
in
159
who
fierce
What
than those with which,
they raged against the
pride,
the very philosophers in
persecuted the Chris-
men
world's wise
who taught
fact,
besides,
their fol-
God had no concern in aught that is suband who were wont to assure them that either
lowers that
lunary,
they had no souls, or that they would never return to

the bodies which at death they had
left,
now
covered
with shame before the poor deluded ones, as one
consumes them
Poets
trembling, not
also,
fire
before
the judgment-seat of Minos or lihadamanthus, but of

the unexpected Christ
I shall have a better oppor-
tunity, then, of hearing the tragedians, louder voiced
in
own calamity
their
much more
dissolute
in
the
looking upon the charioteer,

of
fire
witnessing
of
viewing the play-actors,
of
dissolving
the
gymnasia, but tossing in the
flame
of
glowing in his chariot
all
wrestlers,
not
in
fiery billows, unless
their
even
then I shall not care to attend on such ministers of
my
sin in
eager wish rather to
on those whose fury vented

'
This
'
harlot's
shall
son,
say
that
and devil-possessed
'
this
fix a
itself
is
against the Lord.
that
Sabbath-breaker,
!
This
is
gaze insatiable
carpenter's
that
or
Samaritan
He whom you
pur-
160
chased from Judas
with reed and

upon, to
This
is
that
it
fist,
This is He whom you struck

whom you contemptuously spat
whom you gave gall and vinegar to drink

He whom His disciples secretly stole away,
mi^ht be said He had risen again, or the
!
gardener abstracted, that his lettuces might come to
What
quaestor
or priest, in his munificence, will bestow on
you the
no harm from the crowds
of visitants
favour of seeing and exulting in such things as these
And
faith
are
yet,
in
even now, we, in a measure, have them by

the picturings
of
imagination.
But what
the things which eye has not seen, and ear has
not heard, and
which have not so much as dimly
dawned upon the human heart
Whatever they
they are nobler, I believe, than
are,
the circus, theatre
and amphitheatre, and every race-course."

Tertullian,
in
these
expressions, leads
ideas of those English Puritans
the door of a theatre as an
seems more savage,
or, it
may
believe in eternal punishment,
who have
entrance to
up
to the
considered
hell.
He
be urged by those
who
more
than
strictly just
the Indo-Aryan, as he appears to leave no hope for

the condemned.
161
CHAPTER XXXI.
.
The stages of existence

Book of the Preserver,"
fish, birds,
ated
or
to consist of inanimate things,
animals, men, holy men, deities, and liber-
Through these
spirits.
hell
are declared, in this " Ancient
must proceed
obtain this end, reliance on Krishna
expiatory acts, such as
religious
dressing his thoughts to
quickly cleansed
worldly sorrows
and
is
his worshipper,
of heaven as an
in
of all
him
to the
final
than
By
austerity.
ad-
man becomes
of
dispersed by meditation on Hari
even looking upon the enjoyment
heaven
from thence to earth

is
To
far better
is
The whole heap
guilt.
impediment
of
emancipation.
Xarayana, a
"
to real happiness, obtains

"
emancipation.
summit
in heaven
states, beings
final
till
if
Of what avail
it
is
ascent
is
necessary to return
But meditation on Vasudeva

The man who thinks
the seed of eternal freedom.
of the Preserver
day and night goes not
death, for his sins are all atoned.
the mind, hell gives
heaven,
and
polar star)
is
vice,
it
hell.
pain
to
hell
Heaven
hence virtue
Above Dhruva
after
delights
is
(the
the region of saints, above again
called
fixed
is
the
abode of Sanandana, and the other pure minds, sons

of
Brahma.
There are habitations of deities which
cannot be consumed by
fire.
But above
all
is
the
sphere of Truth, whose inhabitants will never again
know
death.
162
It
may
be asserted that
an incarnate deity
from the teachings
doctrine
of
who
acquired
in
it
Apostles
the
of
metempsychosis
the
Pythagoras,
these ideas of faith in
all
heaven and hell are derived
of
related,
is
Egypt
and that the
was
learnt
from
however, to have himself
or the East.
may
It
be con-
ceived that the astronomical notions with which they

are
adopted from the Greeks, after
conjoined were
Alexander's invasion.
But, as has been observed, the
sequence of ideas from the Vedas, through the philosophical books, law treatises,
&c, seems so
and these points which bear Christian
or
evident,
Greek
simili-
tudes are intermingled with such a mass of matter,
which appears exclusively indigenous, that
it
contrary to reason not to allow the growth
seems
of the
whole system in Bharata, or Ancient India, from
mote antiquity.
exuberant region of the earth
whole
of
it,
re-
The phenomena of Nature in that

offer suggestions for the
from a commencement in adoration of the
Sun and Regents
of the Elements.
If
admitted to
have been thus apprehended in proto-typical or archaic

form in the East, the
full
development
the complete apprehension of religion,
have been reserved
for the
of science,
may
and
be held to
western side of our hemi-
sphere.
Professor
Weber remarks
that " several
hymns
of
speculative purport, in the last book of the songs of
the Rig Veda, testify to a great depth and concentration
of reflection
upon the fundamental causes
of

things
163
necessarily implying a long period of philo-
sophical research in a preceding age.
This
is
borne
by the old renown of Indian wisdom, by the

reports of the companions of Alexander as to the
out
Indian gymnosophists," &c.
Even
in this
Vedic period discussions were held
upon such a topic

tion of matter or
latter,"
of
advanced thought as the assump-
spirit
for
the
cause.
first
"
The
says Professor Weber, " became gradually the
orthodox one, and
is therefore the one most frequently,

and indeed almost exclusively, represented in the
Brahmanas or essays explaining the sacrificial and
devotional
hymns and
rites,
with philosophical specula-
tions," &c.
He
remarks that the word buddha, awakened or
enlightened, was originally a
name
of
honour given
to all sages.
Naturally in that region which, for eight months in

the year, enjoys uninterrupted brilliance and beauty
of
starlit
logical
is
or
moonlit nights, astronomy commenced
and continued
with,
and
to
be combined with, the theo-
described as
drawn by seven
gorised as poetical metres.
Sun
The chariot
scientific systems.
darts like
horses,
of the
which are
Sun
alle-
It is said that the glorious
an arrow on his southern course, attended
by the constellations
of the Zodiac.
" While the Sun shines in one continent at mid-day,

in the opposite continents
1
it
will be midnight."
"Vishnu Purana," translated by H. H. Wilson,
p.
218.
164
"
There
in truth neither rising nor setting of the
is
Sun, for he
is
and
presence
his
mencement
always
and these terms merely imply
In the com-
disappearance.
his
of his northern
course the
Sun
passes to
Capricornus, thence to Aquarius, thence to Pisces, going

successively from one sign of the Zodiac to another.
After he has passed through these the Sun attains his

equinoctial
movement
(the vernal equinox),
makes the day and night

polar star
is
when he
equal duration.
The
the centre of the Zodiacal wheel."

to
It is difficult
as well
ideas,
of
conceive that these astronomical

Christian doctrines, should
certain
as
have been inserted in the sacred books

who, in modern times, have been so
Even
their religions.
if
of
a people
self-satisfied
with
Christian morality could have
been introduced into their Scriptures, with a holier
view
of the
Incarnation than their own, they would
scarcely have
the
inserted a foreign system of dividing
constellations
must be assigned
Sun
is
and
light is his
said to
festation of
in
the
Sun's path.
Their ideas
to the evolution of antiquity.
The
be a principal part of the Preserver,
immutable essence
which
is
the active mani-
excited by the mystic syllable
The Equinoxes occur at spring and autumn

the Sun enters the signs of Aries and Libra.
When the Sun enters Capricorn (the winter solstice), his
northern progress commences, and his southern when he
Liberality, it is
enters Cancer (the summer solstice).
Aum.
when
said, at the
Equinoxes,
is
advantageous to the donor.

In
"
the
enumeration
Book
Ancient
is
made
of
the
Preserver "
165
an
of the earlier Indian Scriptures.
These comprise the four Books of Knowledge (Veda-),

six Angas, or subsidiary portions of the
Vedas
which
contain rules for reciting the prayers, with accents and

tones to be observed
Then
orders on ritual, and on grammar.
there are Glossarial comments, the rules of metre,
astronomy, theology,
logic,
the institutes of law, medical
and that of archery;
science,
also there are treatises
on the arts of music and dancing, and on the science

of government.
Death
said to
is
have power over
from the duties prescribed
but the wor-
all
He who
shippers of the Preserver.
never deviates
for his class,
who regards
who takes
with equal indifference friend or enemy,

nothing that
is
not his own, and injures no being,
to be regarded as the
Janarddana occupies not

another's
injures
prosperity.
him, for Hari
is
worshipper of the Preserver
is
all
who
thoughts
his
He who
injures
beings
envies
living beings
dwelling with
their wives for the sake of progeny, tenderness towards

all creatures, patience,
humility, truth, purity, content-
ment, decency, adornment, gentleness of speech, friend-
and freedom from
liness,
envy and
repining, from
avarice and from detraction, these are the duties of
every condition of
"
those
wise
who
man
life.
will never engage in a dispute
are his superiors or inferiors
and marriage are only
to be
with
controversy
permitted between equals."
66
"A
man
considerate
thought, and
will always
which
speech, that
is
cultivate in act,
good for living
beings both in this world and the next."
In such sentences as these which have been quoted

the Christian spirit certainly seems present, while the
incarnation of the Almighty
some
with
variation
is
continually recounted
epithet
of
"
The divine Pre-
server himself, the root of the vast universal tree, in-
scrutable
by the understandings
Brahma and
adored by
demons,
of all deities,
sages and men, past, present, or to
come
He who
is
who
is
the divine beings,
all
without beginning, middle, or end, descended into the
womb
At
of
Devaki, and was born as her son Yasudeva.
his birth the
splendour,
pelled,
this "
that
"
all
world was relieved from
and planets shone
the sun, moon,
of calamitous
fear
iniquity
all
with
unclouded
portents
and universal happiness prevailed."
Ancient Book
When
of
the Preserver "
it
was
dis-
Again, in
is
declared,
the practices taught by the Yedas and
the Institutes of law shall almost have ceased, and the

close of the
Black Age shall be near, a portion
of that
own spiritual nature

in the character of Brahma, who is the Beginning
and the End, and who comprehends all things, shall
divine Being,
who
exists of his
descend upon earth.
He
will be born as
an eminent
Brahman, Kalki, endowed with superhuman
By
his irresistible
might he will destroy
persons and thieves, and

to iniquity.
He
all
all
faculties.
the impure
whose minds are devoted
will then re-establish righteousness

upon
and the minds
earth,
of those
who
live
167
at the
end of the Black Age shall be awakened, and shall be

as pellucid as crystal.
by
of
The men who
are thus changed
virtue of that peculiar time, shall be as the seeds
human
beings,
and
which
shall give birth to a race
Age of Purity. This age

when the Sun and the Moon, and the
shall follow the laws of the
shall
return
lunar asterism Tishya, and the planet Jupiter, are in
The Black Age
one mansion.
menced
soon
so
Preserver had
with
as
(i.e.
And
the
the
com-
world
of the
incarnation
departed.
brethren
his
the
the
of
eternal
son of Justice,
with
princes
whom
Krishna had sided in the war), abdicated the sovereignty.
In this
is
"
Ancient Book of the Preserver
"
an account
given of the birth of Krishna, virtually similar to
that
The
which has been quoted from the Hari-vansa.
tyrant Kansa, in order to compass the infant Krishna's

death, orders
"
Let therefore active search be made
whatever young children there
for
and
let
every boy in
whom
may
be upon earth,
there are signs of unusual
vigour be slain without remorse."
The
father of Krishna goes to Nanda, with
whom
"
The yearly
tribute has been paid to the king,
and men
of property
should not tarry near the court,
when
the child has been deposited, and says
that
brought them there
Nanda, and
"
set off to
has been
the business
transacted
up,
your own pastures."
Accordingly Nanda and the other cowherds, their
168
goods being placed in their waggons, and their taxes
having been paid to the king, returned to their
vil-
lage."
The
story of the childhood
is
in this book, given in
similar form to the narrative in the Hari-vansa
abandonment
also the
of Mathura,
and
and construction
of
Dwaraka.
A
"A
curious instance of a false Krishna
related
is
people, fancies himself the Vasudeva,
upon
He
earth.
discus cuts
him
who had descended
sends to Krishna to do him homage.
But Krishna comes, destroys
and with
his army,
The head
to pieces.
his
who
king
of a
continues to believe in him, by Krishna's power

shot into his
own
The
habitants.
as
blazing
work.
with the radiance of
which
it
evidently typifies
It
India
is
city to the astonishment of the in-
discus of Krishna,
returns to his hand, after
which
ioo
is
described
suns,
has accomplished
always
sure
its
the power of the Sun,
very suggestive of
these
ideas.
It is destined that all the race of Krishna, the
Yadus,
in
shall be
for
him
the
is
When
exterminated.
end, the
descended.
in heaven.
deities
approaches
send to Krishna to say to
His work
&c,
is
let
since
he
accomplished in the destruc-
them behold
their
monarch
Krishna replies that the burdens
earth are. not removed until the
When
the time
more than a century has elapsed
that
tion of demons,
"
Vasudeva, called Paundraka, flattered by ignorant
of the
Yadus are destroyed.
have restored the land of Dwaraka to the

ocean,
and annihilated the race of Yadu,
to the
mansions
now
are
seen
Yadus
the
all
I will
proceed
Terrible portents
Immortals."
of the
169
go to a
fete,
become
drunk, fight and destroy one another, amid superThe spirit of Bala-Eama issues
natural occurrences.
from
his
mouth
(Eternity) and
in
form
the
serpent
great
of
departs into the ocean, celestial
hymns
accompanying the proceeding.

Beholding the departure of the
spirit of
Krishna says to the one Yadu remaining
Bala-Eama,
"
This must
be related by you to Vasudeva and Ugrasena
I shall
engage in religious meditation and quit this body
the
sea will inundate the town.

"
Then the divine Govinda, having concentrated
himself that supreme spirit which

deva,
was
with
identified
all
in
one with Ar asu-
is
beings."
"He
sat in
thought resting his foot upon his knee."

"
Then came Jara"
(old age or decay), "
who mistook
the foot for part of a deer, and lodged his arrow in
the sole."
Discovering what he has done, he demands forgiveness,
and the Blessed One
the least.
replies, "
Fear not thou in
my
favour, to heaven,
Go, hunter, through
the abode of the deities."
Then a
peared, and the hunter ascended in

"
self
Then the
illustrious Krishna,
with his own pure,
celestial car ap-
it.
having united him-
spiritual, inexhaustible, incon-
ceivable, unborn, uudecaying, imperishable,,
versal spirit,
which
is
and uni-
one with Vasudeva, abandoned
i;o
his mortal
body and the condition of the threefold quali-
he became Nirgiina, devoid of
ties,
all qualities."
The Prince Arjouna found Krishna's body and performed obsequial rites.
His eight queens embraced
the body and then entered the funeral
fire.
Arjouna then conducts the thousands of the other

wives of Krishna, and the other
women from Dwaraka
and on the same day that Hari departed from the

earth,
Age
it
said that the powerful, dark-bodied Black
is
The ocean submerged Dwaraka, ex-
descended.
cept the dwelling of the deity of the race of Yadu.
was not able

"
There
present
to
Cesava
constantly
Whoever
day.
visits
abides,
even
the
in
that holy shrine, the
place where Krishna pursued his
from
It
wash that temple away.
sports, is liberated
all his sins."
CHAPTER XXXII.
Various prophecies are uttered as to the Black Age in
which we are supposed to be.
Caste shall no longer
prevail,
money
shall be the
master of men, and
shall think themselves equal to Brahmins.
be eaten without ablutions,
women
shall
Food
become
all
shall
fickle,
princes plunder their subjects, the lowest class will
seek a subsistence by begging, and, assuming the out-
ward marks
of religious mendicants, these will
become
the impure followers of impious and heretical doctrines,
171
horrible penances shall be enjoined, and life be shortened.
Vishnu, the lord of
of
shall not be adored.
all,
Creator and Lord
sacrifice,
Then
shall
the rainfall
become scanty, and confusion reign in families.

At the end of a thousand periods of four Ages, a
"
one hundred years.
total dearth shall occur for
The
eternal Vishnu then assumes the character of Eudra,
the Destroyer, and descends to reunite all his creatures
suns.
He
Eternity.
becomes the scorching breath of the serpent

The three spheres become like a frying-
pan amidst
tion,
solar rays dilate to seven
The seven
with himself.
Darkness ensues, and
flames.
upon the ocean
Creator, sleeps
glorified
by the
saints in
Hari, the
in the form of
heaven
till
crea-
all
Then
animate or inanimate, perishes.
Brahma,
he again wakes
to re-create the universe.

It is again said in this
deva means that
all
book that
benefits
is
the term Vasu-
beings abide in that Supreme
Being, and that he abides in

the Lord Vasudeva
Assuming
world.
"
all
beings."
"
Hence
the Creator and Preserver of the
at will
various forms, he bestows
upon the whole world, which was
He is known by holy study and devout

He may first be contemplated under his
work.
his
meditation.
manifested
forms, but at length he can be realised as the supreme
and universal
Spirit," " the glorious being,
without be-
ginning or end,
who
became many
who, although pure, became as
pure,
by appearing
destroys
in
all sin
many and
who, though one,

if
various shapes."
im-
172
May
"
unborn,
that
Hari, whose form
eternal
manifold, and whose essence
is
bestow upon
mankind
ture
and
state
which knows neither birth nor decay."
spirit,
is
composed of both na-
all
that blessed
Again, in this book are allusions to Buddhists or

Jains.
Vishnu
is
supposed to descend as Buddha, in
order to entice certain demons from the truth

devotions are
offered
supposed to be
efficacious,
He
up by the wicked.
for
due
even when
described as ap-
is
proaching certain heretical ascetics as a naked mendicant,
with his head shaven and carrying a bunch of
peacocks' feathers.
truth
He
maintains to them the equal
of contradictory
These
tenets.
preached, in their turn, became teachers

ciples again taught,
till
the
to
whom
and
he
their dis-
Vedas became abandoned.
Then the Deluder put on garments of a red colour,

assumed a benevolent aspect, and not only converted
the Daityas to Jaina and Buddha heresies, but prevailed
upon
others,
who
deserted the doctrines and
observances inculcated in
the
spoke evil of the sacred books
some
treated sacrifices
and devotional ceremonies with scorn

"
niated the Brahmins.

" that lead to
is
others calum-
precepts," they
cried,
the injury of animal life (as in sacrifices)
are highly reprehensible

into flame
The
Some
three Vedas.
"
" to
say that casting butter
productive of reward
is
childishness," &c.
The Daityas having thus abandoned the armour of

religion are defeated by
the
Devas
(deities).
"
Men,
indeed, fall into hell from only conversing with those

who
173
unprofitably assume the twisted hair and shaven
crown."
As has been
to suggest the
tury
of or before the fourth cen-
Ashoka
after the days of
third century
as
Buddhism
rather than the form which
B.C.,
assumed
It
observed, this sort of description seems
appears to have
it
or Priyadasi, in the
B.C.
seems absolutely necessary that we should accept
fact
the gradual
apprehension in India in long
time amongst
periods of
ethnological
cousins, of
taining to our
own
the
many
Indo-Aryan
race,
ideas
spiritual
our
apper-
This would seem
religious culture.
calculated to enlarge not to destroy our Christian faith.
And
the gradual apprehension of these ideas, in long
periods of time,
modern science
in accordance
is
with the views of
in regard to the world's historv.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Bhagavata Purana,
or " Ancient
Book
of the
Blessed One," was translated into French, under the

auspices
of
the French Government, by
Burnouf, about the year
1840.
In this
M. Eugene
book the
warrior aspect of Krishna appears to be less regarded
than in the
character,
as
"
Great Bharata
the
Asylum
1
"
of
poem.
all
See Appendix IV.
His beneficent
humanity, as the

174
means
from
of release
pain,
all
ward prominently rather than
He
is
seems
put
to be
princely
his
for-
aspect.
essentially identified with Purusha, the Soul of
the universe, or
The
man
soul collectively.
ideas centered about his personality
seem
cer-
tainly to find their prototypes, or antecedent ideas, in
the following
also
hymn from
the Eig Veda.
hymn
This
seems to shadow forth in prophetical, or proto-
typical
It is
leading
the
strain,
religion.
published in volume
searches
of
the
Christian
vii.,
page 251, of "Asiatic Ee-
"
"The embodied
1000
ideas
quoted as translated by Coleridge, and
1000
eyes,
which hath
Spirit,
feet,
stands in the
while he totally pervades the earth.

this universe,
and
all
1000
heads,
human
breast,
That being
that has been or will be
that which grows by nourishment, and he
therefore,
Such
immortality.
tributor of
he
is
is
he
is
is
the dis-
his greatness, and,
the most excellent embodied spirit
is
him
the elements of the universe are one portion of
and three portions
of
him
are immortality in heaven.
That threefold being rose above (this world), and the

single portion of him remained in this universe, which
consists of
what
does,
and what does not
reward of good and bad actions)

the universe.
From him sprung
power), from which the
first
taste (the
again he pervaded
Viraj
man was
male
(the
produced
and
he being successively reproduced, peopled the earth.
From
that
single
portion,
surnamed
the
universal
175
sacrifice,
was the holy oblation of butter and curds
produced
and
this
frame
did
all
universal
sacrifice
wild
cattle,
From
domestic, which are governed by instinct.
were produced the strains
of
or
that
the
Eig and Saman (Vedas), from him the sacred metres

sprung
from him did
Yajur
the
from him were produced
all
(Veda) proceed
horses and all beasts that
of teeth
from him sprung cows from
him proceed goats and sheep.
Him the gods, the
derni-gods named Sad'hya, and the holy sages, im-
have two rows
molated on the sacred
solemn act
grass,
of religion.
Into
they divide this being
whom
mouth became
his thigh
a priest, his
and they performed a
how many
portions did
they immolated
arm was made
His
a soldier,
was transformed into an husbandman, from

man.
The moon was pro-
his feet sprang the servile
duced from his mind
the sun sprung from his eye
and breath proceeded from
air
from his mouth.
and
his ear,
In that solemn
sacrifice,
fire
rose
which the
gods performed with him as a victim, spring was the

butter,
summer
tion.
Seven wera the moats (surrounding the
thrice seven
fice
the fuel, and sultry weather the obla-
were the logs of holy fuel
at
which the gods performed, immolating
(Purusha
sacrifice the
universal soul)
as
the
victim.
altar),
that sacrithis being
By
that
gods worshipped this victim.
primeval duties
Such were
and thus did they attain heaven,
where former gods and mighty demi-gods abide."

This mystic
illustration
must surely mean
that
176
spirit
ing
can only become realised in the
and
The
self-sacrifice.
flesh
by
suffer-
passive
active 'soul of
nature can solely exist, in the body, by means of that
pain which, in a greater or less degree, accompanies

all
earthly
all
human
and alternates
life,
became manifested
some extent with
to
But from
happiness.
man.
to deliver
Bhagavat
pain,
this
The Bhagavata
Purana, or Ancient Book of the Blessed or Holy One,
commences with
"
let
Aum,
adoration to Bhagavat, son of Vasudeva
us meditate on the Being, from which
derived
is
He
the conservation and destruction of this universe.

is
united to
all things,
yet remains distinct from them,
own
powerful, resplendent in his
brilliance
from his intelligence the Veda,

singer.
Behold a book
in
is
known, which
revealed of
can confer
for the
which
Supreme Law, disengaged from

the essence
all
who drew
inspired
first
displayed the
is
which
illusion, in
which ought
that
be
to
happiness, and cause
the
three sorts of sorrow to disappear."
Like the
"
Great Bharata Epic," this book
the form of dialogue
sustained in
is
declare to us," say certain
who has become
versed in
whose incarnation had

and happiness of
to us the
of
for
creatures.
most excellent
Hari (Vishnu, &c),
sages
it,
its
or
it.
"
sup-
is
posed to have been delivered by word of mouth
and
Deign
to
hermits, to one
" the
history of
him
design the protection
We have
faith.
Belate
histories of the incarnations
of the sovereign
lord,
who
of
"

his
own
power (Maya)
appearance
fallacious
Master
spirit
himself to those sports of
free will delivers
his illusive
Yoga
the
of
to
in
which he assumes the
Now
uniting of
(the
Supreme
the
man.
of
177
that Krishna,
the individual
has entered into his
spirit),
proper substance, in what asylum has Justice taken

?
refuge
It does not
seem
to be intended
tion in Krishna should not be
the actuality of the flesh
man, while he was in

Universe.
but that he appeared to be
Almighty Power
reality
The Docetes,
that the incarna-
considered real as to
of
the
in the early Christian Church,
educated in the Platonic doctrines, conceived that an
emanation of the Deity assumed the form and appearance of mortality, and that Christ was really a phan-
Amongst
tom.
the Indian divines, the incarnations of
Deity seem to have been regarded as true in respect to

substance, but they are considered as disports of Deity.
Krishna
is
the manifestation of the Bhagavat, the
Blessed or Divine One
who
is
object
"
to be
of
adored,
attention,
In his compassion
but through him
who
it is
Bhagavat
ought to be the exclusive
meditation, praise, and respect

for the virtuous of
mankind, who
give hearing to the narration of his actions, Krishna,
whose history equally purines him who

and him who repeats
their hearts,
once
it,
and chases away
the evil thoughts
listens to
it
descends to the depths of

all
have
evil desires.
lost
their
When
empire, the
constant worship of Bhagavat produces an unflagging
178
devotion to the god of
excellent
Then the
glory.
heart braves the attacks of Desire, Greed, and

vices born of Passion
and
bosom
reposes in the
And
of Goodness.
which has thus found repose in devoting

worship
bonds
of the Blessed
of
man
to the
One, after having sundered the
of Truth,
which
the Blessed
is
in-
One
All doubts are dissipated, the works of the
are brought to nothing, for then he beholds within
himself the Sovereign Lord.
why
the heart
itself
attachment to the world, arrives at the
ward knowledge
himself.
the
all
and tranquillity
of Darkness,
Behold therein the reason
the inspired singers, with hearts full of joy, in-
cessantly
vow
to Bhagavat, the son of
Vasudeva, that
devotion which brings repose to the soul."
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
The
aspects in which the adoration of Krishna, under
his various
immortal and mortal epithets, appear
in
the "Great Bharata" epic and in the "Ancient Book

of
the Blessed," afford a parallel to the high and low
doctrines of the
Church
the divine manifestation
of England.
is
the
in both there are ceremonial
way
In both faith in
of happiness,
observances
and
but in the
Poems, as in High Churchism, the ceremonial seems

be more closely associated with
In
to
faith.
reading this Bhagavata Purana,
the
sermons

and
179
tracts of Evangelical Protestantism are continually
Of course the
suggested.
local colouring differs with
climate and
outer aspect of
human
but the essentials of the doctrines seem
life
animal,
vegetable,
and
be the same.
to
As has been
Holy One.
possessing
most
word Bhagavata
observed, the
As, however,
fortune,
it
the term
fully to render
Blessed seems
Bhaga means
it.
wealthy master, an apportioner of food

sense the expression would
seem
ancient "
"
and in that
bring us to the
to
conceivable that
One,"
written, as
if
about the
Purana
in the complete sense of
belonging to ancient times.

this "
perhaps
a liberal or
conception of Christ as the Bread of Life, &c.
seems to mean
signifies
seems primarily to mean
Indeed,
almost in-
it is
Ancient Book of the Blessed
has been
supposed
possible, in
twelfth century of our era, can have been
other than a re-editing of the old stories of the incarnations.
In
fact, this
seems
to
have been admitted
Burnouf and Professor H. H. Wilson, the

acknowledged
students of the Puranas.
great and
It
by M.
E.
may, however, have been heightened

ing
to
as
to the
implicit faith
and
be bestowed upon Krishna,
his manifestations.
cal doctrines,
i.e.
all
propounded
by
devotion
Bhaga vat, in
all
So in Christendom the evangeli-
which may be supposed
preached by
in its colour-
absolute
the apostles,
their
more
appear
to
less
immediate
have been
earnestly
successors.
Evangelicalism became speedily overlaid in the Church
1S0
with ceremonial and priestly assumptions.
This in-
tense fervour of Indo-Aryan faith in manifested Deity,

as superior to all " works,"
however
late it
may be
placed, seems to have preceded the Protestant
ment
Europe
of
just
as
move-
the previous adoration of
Har.i-Krishna, as the Herakles of Megasthenes, prece'ded
the manifestation of Christ Himself in Judaea.
Both equally seem prototypes or previous conceptions.

It is said of
conserves
Bhagavat
them by the
"
Creator of the worlds,"
he
aid of his quality of goodness
loving to assume, in the sports of his incarnations, the
Then
forms of a deity, a man, or an animal.

enumerated, in the
"
Book
are
of the Blessed," his principal
births
To
1st.
create the universe, he took the form of
Purusha, composed of Intelligence and other principles

(soul of the universe,
or man-type, as has
been ob-
served).
2d.
Then he became the Boar
to
raise the
earth
from the abyss.

3d.
4th.
5 th.
He became the Instructor of the Deities (Devas).

He manifested himself as Nara and Narayana.
He became Kapila (to reveal the system of
philosophy, afterwards
adopted in
both
Krishnaism
and Buddhism).
6th.
He came
to
communicate knowledge
to
many
sages.
7th.
He
reigned over a former Age, peopled by
divine beincrs.
He showed
8th.
all
the just way, revered by
men
181
of
the " orders."
He made
9th.
the most excellent herbage to grow
Holy
at the solicitation of
10th.
from the
He became
flood,
which had been

ith.
place,
When
Sages.
fish, to
save the seventh
and recover the Books

carried,
by a demon,
Knowledge
into the depths.
a great churning of
by the divine
of
Manu
the ocean took
beings, to obtain the drink of im-
mortality, he sustained a
mountain on
his
back as a
tortoise.
1
2th and 13th.
ceive the demons,
He became
an enchantress, to de-
and enable the
deities to secure for
themselves the drink of immortality.

1
4th.
He became
of a race of
5 th.
the man-lion, to destroy the chief
demoniacal beings.
He became
a dwarf, to deceive the
who allowed him
Bali,
to claim as his
could cover in three steps.
own
all
demon
that he
In his strides he com-
passed heaven and earth.

1
6th.
Observing that the kings were tyrannising
over the Brahmins, he purged, twenty-one times, the

earth of the warrior caste.
17th.
Seeing that
men had
insufficient intelligence,
he divided the tree of the Vedas (as Vyasa, reputed

author, also, of the " Great Bharata
1
bride
").
As Eama, he invaded Ceylon to recover his

Sita, and destroy the demon Eavanna, who had
8th.
become obnoxious
to
<
ods and men.
82
19th and 20th. Born as Krishna and Bala Rama, to

relieve the earth of the
1 st.
At
burden which oppressed
it.
length, in the course of the Black Age,
in design of deceiving enemies of the divine beings,

is
said that he will be born under the
name
when
2 2d. Then, towards the end of this Age,

will
it
Buddha.
of
kings
have become no more than brigands, the Master
of the
World
But the
adding
"
will be born
reciter
of
under the name
Poem
the
is
Treasure of Goodness, are innumerable
Manu. and
of
patriarchs
as
Krishna alone
Deities,
brilliant
but really only manifestations
portions of Hari himself.

entirely.
as
Oh, wise Brahmins, the incarnations of Hari,
Manus, sons
splendour,
of Kalki.
represented
is
in
divers
of
Bhagavat
So the wise, directing their intelligence ex-
clusively towards the son of Vasudeva, sovereign of the
worlds, thus deliver themselves from the terrible law of
regeneration
the being re-born in the flesh).
(i.e.
CHAPTER XXXV.
In the most ancient
Piig
Veda, appears a
of the
hymn
Books of Knowledge, the

in
which Vishnu, regarded
as the Sun, performs the three strides of the fifteenth
incarnation, related in the last chapter.
This
"
has
been
Sanskrit Texts."
translated
by Dr.
Muir,
in
his

"
Vishnu strode over
he planted his step
this (universe)
183
in three places
(the world or his step was) enve-
loped in his dust.

"
Vishnu, the unconquerable preserver, strode three
steps, bearing
"
from thence fixed observances.
Behold the acts
of
Vishnu, through which this
fitting (or intimate) friend of
Indra perceived religious
ceremonies.
" Sages constantly behold that highest position of
Vishnu, like an eye fixed in the sky."
The three
steps have been surmised to have signified
sunrise, mid-day,
and sunset; but before the time
of
the Bhagavata the idea had evidently become further

allegorised.
The
is
incarnation, declared to be yet to
last
of
suggestive
John
in his
"
the
appearing
Eevelation
"
of
come,
Him whom
St.
saw on the white horse
out of whose mouth went a sharp sword to smite the

nations.
This incarnation
Jayadeva
is
thus described, in the ode of
who has been supposed
to
have written
about the twelfth century of our era

"
For the destruction of
all
the impure, thou drawest
thy cimeter like a blazing comet (how tremendous).

Cesava, assuming the body of Kalki
be victorious,
Heri, lord of the Universe."
This final incarnation has also been thus versified

"
When Kalki mounts his milk-white steed,

Heaven, earth, and all will then recede."
"
84
In this
"
Ancient Book of the Blessed One," as in
the other works
of
incarnation in Ivalki
is
future
similar character, this
associated with descriptions of
disorders of various kinds, prevailing before his coming.
These are certainly very analogous to those foretold in
New
the
Testament, as about to happen before the
Second Coming of
Christ.
The one before the

Bhagavat, that
these incarnations of
of
introduced as
is
The author
written.
tically
last
Buddha,
of
if
prophe-
ascribed the work
to
Vyasa, who belonged to the epoch of Krishna, at
1300
about
scholars, or
Indians
either
the,
B.C.,
3000
according
B.C.,
themselves.
to
views
introduction
This
shows an interpolation, or
of
Buddha
probably assigns
it
book, at least, to a later date than
as has
European
of
according to the notions of the
500
B.C.
But,
been remarked, Professor Wilson, and others,
have ascribed
it,
period as the
12 th century.
in its present form, to so
have agreed with them
recent a
Some learned Hindus

though, in India, the work is
generally believed to have been inspired in the remote

past.
Considering the prominent
Buddhism,
in
the time of Ashoka,
Buddhist Council,
Patna, and the
position
B.C.
number
occupied
who assembled
by
a
258, at Fatal iputra, the modern

of monastic establishments, in
which the Buddhistic canons of scripture were studied

in the Age of the Chinese pilgrims, about the 4th
and 6th century,
A.D., it is
again difficult to conceive

that a writer,
1500
years after
its
rise,
-i.e.
185
in about
the 10th or 12 th centuries of our era, could treat

as something
It is
more reasonable
mi"ht have occurred

observing the
ascetics
it
still in the future.
rise
to suppose that such
to
of Buddhistic
an idea
on
author
Brahminical
teaching.
He saw
promulgating principles opposed to the Brah-
minical views, and reprobated them accordingly.
was assigning
his rescript of old legends,
He
with height-
ened Krishnaism for doctrine, to the holy sage Vyasa,
He wished to check these rising

days.
and had perhaps found that Buddha had been
asserted to be an incarnation of Vishnu or Bhagavat.
of ancient
errors,
He
therefore stated, prophetically, as
that
it
was merely an incarnation
deceiving the enemies
if
from Vyasa,
to effect benefit
of the good.
If
by
he had lived
when Buddhism, for some 1200 or 1500

had been extensively triumphant throughout the
land, he must, surely, have indicated its system more
Indeed, at the time when Amara-Sinha
distinctly.
at a period
years,
compiled the oldest Sanskrit dictionary, which has

descended to us, attempts seem to have been made to
reconcile Krishnaism
With regard
and Buddhism.
to the date of this dictionary-compiler,
various periods, from
have been assigned
56
B.C.
to him.
to
At
1050
all
a.d.,
seem
to
events, the ideas
prevailing at any epoch between these limits
must be
reasonably supposed to have had influence upon the
views which a Brahminical writer, at the later date,
86
He may
would have taken of Buddhism.
have
dis-
approved of them, but he must surely have recognised

their
and combated them more
existence,
he introduced them at
if
This
all.
definitely,
not a mere
is
sketchy author, hurrying over his delineations.
CHAPTEE XXXVI.
M. Leveque observes on page 95
of his work,
has been quoted, that the orphic theology

It has
origin.
two characteristic
1.
Zeus
All things are contained in the body of Zeus.
Now
is
the universal soul.
the fragments in which these two conceptions
merely a free translation of the
Vision of Markandeya,"
bharata.
related
as
the last
produced
he
all
is
the
He
things.
chief of all beings.
which move
is
Maha-
the first-born
There
is
is
There
all things.
the male, he
he
has
also the
but one royal body, in
After that Zeus has absorbed
beings into himself he again brings
by
ineffable deed returns
exhibits
is
but one master, one God,

is
all
M. Leveque
He
the head and the middle.
immortal nymph.
in
Zeus, lord of the thunder-bolt,

is
Indian
features.
2.
are displayed, are

"
is of
which
them
the
them
forth,
and
to the light.
Indian doctrine of the
This has been narrated in Chapter XVIII.
of this book.
187
metempsychosis in juxtaposition with that of Plato, as
expounded
He
in the Phcedo, &c.
remarks that the theory of the transmigration
upon two
rests
principles
the one metaphysical, the
other moral.
Souls are eternal, as motive forces
1.
are born from the dead, the dead from

2.
for
and recompensed
vices
principle
its
by transmigration
realised
is
for
virtues.
;
mines the corporal form with which
is
the consequence of the pre-existence
and transmigrations
really
sires
to
this
doctrine, are
to unconscious reminiscences of the de-
owing
mental and bodily characteristics,
influences,
and deeds
tastes, habits,
"
of the soul.
idiosyncrasies, according
and
life deter-
will be united
life.
Reminiscence
Our
it
This
the con-
for
duct which has characterised a soul in one
in another
living
the living.
demands that the soul should be punished
Justice
its
the
Not only
is
this
of previous existences.
Indian doctrine to be found in
the writings of the Platonic school,

isted in those
denounced by
numerous
it
distinctly ex-
sects of Christians
which are
the orthodox Irenssus and others in their
writings against heresies.
There
the
is
certainly nothing
wellbeing
teaches that
indifferent,
life
and in
of
every
act
must have
life
to
immoral or contrary to
humanity in
of
our
doctrine
lives,
good,
which
evil,
or
its
necessary sequences in this
come.
Every wrongful deed will
88
eventually react upon the doer
and punishment,
consequences of the nature of punishment,

in this
escaped
will inevitably arrive hereafter.
life,
Buddha
in the
ranean, the
East,
Pythagoras on the Mediter-
Brahmins and
have taught or held
Many
if
of
this doctrine
races
uncivilised
sects
early Christians
as a spiritual fact.
appear to have entertained
crude ideas concerning some sort of analogous
The ancient Germans, Druids, &c, seem

entertained
it
Josephus informs
and, as
We
a tenet of the Pharisees.

doctrine in Christianity
but Christianity
hell, if
belief.
have
to
us, it
have abandoned
be abandoning the conception of
it
was
as a
now seems
Certainly, in so-called Christian nations,
been shown in Chapter
pears, with
numbers are
fact,
a " Materialist
a pupil, in the ancient
Moon
the " Eising of the
In
V.,
of
contest between
the
may
Thought, which
Aristotelian, extends
"
Hindu drama
Awakened
to
not of heaven.
lapsing into Agnosticism or positive Materialism.

lias
or
As
apof
Intellect."
the two
schools
of
be classed as the Platonist and
backwards
far
beyond the periods
of the Greek supremacy.
Gautauma Buddha narrated
past existences.
Pytha-
goras affirmed that he had been present at the siege

of Troy.
slain
He
asserted that he
by Menelaus.
He
also
had been Euphorbus,
claimed to have been
^Ethalides, son of Mercury.
In the Mahabharata, the Deity of Deities said to

Arjouna, " In
former existence
thou wast Nara,

companion
of
Narayana (Krishna)."
189
Ovid has said in
the Metamorphoses
"
genus attonitum, gelida formidine mortis
Quid Styga, quid tenebras et nomina vana timetis

Materiem vatum, falsique pericula nmndi 1
Corpora sive rogus flamma, seu tabe vetustas
Abstulerit, mala posse pati non ulla putetis.
Morte carent aninue, semperque priore relicta
Sede, novis domibus vivunt habitantque receptee."
-(xv.
race terrified
Styx, the darkness
by cold death, why do ye dread the

and pains of an imaginary world,
vain names and fictions of the poets
suffer
no further
leave their
Your body,
decay can destroy, can
of the pyre or
which the flame
153.)
Souls are immortal, and they
ill.
abodes only to live in others.
first
This certainly agrees with the Mahabharata, in which

said that the soul
it is
It is eternal, ancient.
The sages have
It
not born, neither does
it
die.
not slain with the body.
is
said that the bodies of mortals are as
houses; they are

is
is
destroyed by time, only the
soul
eternal.
M. Leveque
writes of the Pythagorean and Orphic
verses that
"Les vers dores ont

goricien.
lis
composes par un Fytha-
&e"
contiennent
des
idees
empruntes au
En
voici
t'eleves
dans
Brahminism, au Bouddhism, au Mazdeism.
deux examples."
1.
"Si ayant
quitte*
ton
corps,
tu
9o
Tether
l'abri
libre,
du
pas
le
somrueil
sur
examine
trois
fois
des actes de ta journee.
Par ou
ai-je
peche
chacun
qu'ai
Ke-
quel devoir ai-je neglige d'acconiplir.
fait?
je
yeux
tes
d'avoir
appesantis avant
prends ainsi tous
apres
actes l'un
les
l'autre
puis,
tu as fait quelque chose de honteux, gourniande
si
toi-meme
si
ne seras plus un mortel."
" N'accueille
2.
un dieu
tu seras irnmortel, tu seras
trepas, tu
quelque chose de bon, rejouis toi
"
toi,
(Vers
dores 40-44).
This last precept, he says,

deism, in
which the
to rest, to
examine the
He
continues,
les
borrowed from Maz-
acts of the day.
"Aux
Orphiques dont
is
faithful are enjoined, in retiring
Pythagoriciens se rattachent
la theologie est d'origine indienne."
The recognised antiquity
of the
most ancient Indian
and Persian Scriptures negatives the assertion that

in Greece, in comparatively modern times, these ideas
had
It
their birth.
was not claimed that Pythagoras
taught, but that he learnt in or from the East.
The doctrine
"
of faith in the " Blessed One," in this
Ancient Book,"
is
entirely connected with this belief
in the transmigration of souls.
But Bhagavat, incar-
nate in Krishna, saves not only from recurring
ills
in
transmigrations but from immense periods of torments

in hell.
And by
faith in
him not merely an absorption
of self in the divine soul of the universe
cated
In
seems incul-
but an actual consciousness of eternal
constancy of devotion to the Blessed or
bliss.
Holy One,
forms, but especially
as manifested in multitudinous
Krishna,
in
happiness
as
191
well
as
rest
be
to
is
found.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The
named Narada appears
divine personage
Mercury.
to that of the classic
He
saints
instructed
him
in
the
He
Brahma.
of
he had served certain
Yogins, or saints united to Bhagavat,
be prototypes of our evangelical
one of the ten
is
Lords of Creation (Prajapatis), sons

relates that, in a previous birth,
to hold,
somewhat analogous
in the Indian Olympus, a position
"
who appear
pure
glory
to
These
converted."
Hari.
of
They informed him that works were the cause

return to this world
destroy
directed
their
but that works could themselves
influence,
towards
of
the
if
only they were
Supreme Being.
deliver themselves to works, solely in
entirely
When men
the
of
spirit
submission to Bhagavat, they repeat the names and

attributes of Krishna,
and meditate on him
saying,
" Adoration to thee, Bhagavat, son of Vasucleva.
who
sacrifice, to this
is
a prayer, this
"
He
thus addresses his devotion to the male of the

incorporeal one, whose spiritual form
man
possesses the true knowledge."
Adoration to Krishna, son of Vasudeva, cherished
child of Devaki, to Govinda, the
young shepherd
of
O
192
Vasudeva,
Such
is
He was
Nanda.
Pastor
the
for the
born
wife
the
of
of
happiness of this universe."
the constant style of invocation or praise
addressed to this incarnation of the divine in this
work
of doubtful
sequence of
the
which certainly seems
commencement
to
many
which appeared
ideas
the
before
turies
age
be
cen-
the
Christian
city of
Dwarka,
of
era.
When
Krishna returns
forth to
thou
who
Lord, before the

art
who
lotus
We
prostrate
of thy feet
worshipped by Brahma, by the chiefs
of the divinities,
those
the inhabitants came
all
Joyfully they cry, "
meet him.
ourselves,
own
to his
on the sea coast of Gujerat,
who
world the asylum of
art in this
supreme happiness
desire the
thou who
causest the universe to exist, grant to us existence
thou
in
who
mother, father, spouse, friend
art for us
your absence each instant
seems
ages
to
your
faithful servants."
The
again described in the usual fashion,
city is
as
ornamented with woods, gardens, orchards, groves.
At
the gates and in the streets, arches of triumph had
been erected
enlivened
it,
flags
and
perfumed waters.
it
and standards
He
is
greeted with flowers, fruits,
roasted grain, baskets of fruits

at the
of various colours
was sprinkled throughout with

and provisions
doors of houses, the general uprising of the
people from couches, chairs, or repasts.

of
set forth
Brahmins brings
offerings
of
procession
good augury, with
193
sacred prayers from the Vedas, and accompanied by

elephants, instruments of music, &c.
With them come on

lery,
and troops of
they
chariots, that
Krishna, hundreds of dancing
actors, dancers, singers
repeating the history and marvels of
behold
in jewel-
of men who
and panegyrists,
recite the sacred histories, genealogists
is
may
girls, brilliant
him whose
glory
excelling.
Bhagavat, seeing his relations and servants, salutes
He
them, bowing, smiling, &c.
embraces some and
takes the hands of others, and he distributes valuable
As he advances up
presents.
women
the royal street, the
ascend to the housetops, and would apparently
have overwhelmed him with showers of flowers but

for the fans
is brilliant
He
and white umbrella held over him.
in yellow garments, with garlands of
land flowers (which
may
wood-
be as large and gorgeous in
colour in India as our choicest products of the conservatory).
He
prostrates himself before the seven wives
of his father, Vasudeva, of
was the
chief.
Then he entered
16,000 pavilions
its
whom
for his
his mother, Devaki,

his
wives,
own
who
palace, with
eagerly em-
brace their husband, shedding tears of joy.

"
So Bhagavat descended into the world of
men
under the veil of the illusion which he wields, and

delivered himself to pleasure amidst his
numbers of
incomparable spouses like a simple mortal."
Even
Shiva,
it
is
said,
the
enemy
of
love,
would
have forgotten himself amidst Krishna's spouses. Their
194
charms, however, could not really affect the soul of
him whom men believed
to
have been a mere mortal,
The Supreme
slave to passions like themselves.
even in the bosom

qualities.
of Nature, is
Spirit,
not enchained by
its
Intelligence reposes in the various envelopes
But the
without being attached to them.
of the soul
wives, deceived, ignorant of the real grandeur of their
husband, thought him enslaved by their charms.
Brahma
that
tions
"
is
it is to.
" to
represented as instructing his son, Narada,
Bhagavat that we must address our adora-
Narayana the Vedas are
When," says Brahma,
" I
really addressed."
was born from the lotus
(which came from the navel
of
Narayana), I found
only the members of the Soul of the Universe for

sacrifice
the
prayers,
(Purusha = Naray ana).

fice
in
honour
the utensils were
Then
had himself become the sacrifice.

lords of creation,
"
of
him
celebrated the sacri-
of Purusha, the Sovereign
Brahma, addressing Narada,
all
Lord,
who
Then," continues
thy nine brothers, the
celebrated the sacrifice of Purusha
considered under his forms visible and invisible.
And
divine beings, saints and men, addressed their sacrifices

to
him who pervades
the universe."
195
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
This
"
ancient book of the blessed or holy one," like
the other Puranas,
is
alleged to have been indited in
order to set the truths of religion before the masses.
As
Sanscrit, the language in
become
which
it
is
mencement
it
have been composed

buted to
it.
com-
and was only understood by
of our era,
the learned classes,
had
written,
corrupted into various dialects after the
seems curious that this should
in Sanscrit at the late date attri-
M. Eugene Burnouf,
translator of the
Bhagavata Purana, seems to have agreed with H. H.
Wilson in attributing
it
the thirteenth century
But
certainly
it
is
to
Vopadeva, a grammarian of
a.d.,
difficult
resident at Dowlutabad.
to conceive
how he can
have made the slight allusions to Buddhism which the
book contains without pursuing the topic

wrote
it
at this period.
further,
he
if
As has been shown from
the
Chinese Pilgrims, corroborated by recent archaeological

explorations,
&c, what may be styled multitudes
of
Buddhist monasteries had been established in India

before this epoch.
and
its
Buddhism had become
systematised,
canons of scripture, defined in general councils,
were elaborately studied in these monasteries.

allusions
period
in
the
Puranas
when Buddhism was
The
undoubtedly suggest the

first
making
its
appear-
ance in a form of asceticism differing from that of the
196
Brahminical
sects, or in
a rejection of the Brahminical
caste system.
Considering the invasion of Alexander, the subsequent

establishments of the Greeks in the North-West, and
Mohammedan
the
it
certainly seems
inroads of the eleventh century
more reasonable
a.d.,
to suppose that the
poems and Puranas, in forms approximating to

their present, were composed between the tenth and
epic
fourth centuries
B.C.
rather than the fourth and tenth
Supposing the Greek and Scythic in-
centuries a.d.
vasions of the North-West before the time of Christ

to
have been
ignored,
surely
general contents of
cient Books,"
Priyadasi
the
must have been mentioned

Buddhism, also Vicramaditya and
edicts
of
the
in connection with
The
the Bhagavata and Vishnu "Anhis exploits.
suggest their composition at a period
preceding the invasion of Alexander the Great, and

before the extensive promulgation of
Asoka
But
Buddhism under
or Priyadasi, about the third century B.C.

let
us admit these books to have been re-edited,
or compiled, or altogether composed at a period corre-
sponding to our Mediaeval Ages.
Even then
those vast
storehouses of legends, myths founded on observations

of the
heavens,
would seem
to
moral and didactic discourses, &c,
have required two or three thousand
years for their development, judging from the develop-
ments which have taken place in our own culture.

Portions of them might seem to have been adopted
from our
New
Testament.
But these portions are

intertwined
with such a mass
of
matter distinctly
The doctrine
Indian or old Bharatan.
197
of the Incar-
nation seems to be so elaborately conceived, in progress

of
growth
modern
It is
to
be traced from the oldest to the most
of the existing sacred literature in the Sanscrit.
accompanied by such an enormous accumulation
of astronomical
allusions,
to the origin of things,
sun-myths, speculations as
and metaphysical and moral
reflections, that it is difficult to
of the doctrine
imagine that the aspect
which resembles the Christian idea
is
an interpolation.
If
we
consider the elaboration of the system with
'which these incarnation ideas are connected, and the

association of the whole with astronomical observations,
and conceptions suggested by the sunshine and rainy

seasons, &c, the remote antiquity seems demonstrated.
Taking the ramifications
of
the idea and exuberant
fancies into consideration, together with the

literary evidence, it
mass
of
seems absolutely certain that they
exhibit the legitimate growth of spiritual ideas.
The
Vedas afford us earliest existing exposition of these ideas.
But the ideas themselves must have been gradually

evolved before the poet was inspired to chant them.
198
OR,
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Horace Hayman Wilson
observes
that
the
chief
dramatis personam of the Indian epics are impersonations of gods, demi-gods,
and
celestial spirits,
the ritual appears to be that
and that
"
of the Vedas.
The
Puranas repeat the theoretical cosmogony of the two

great poems, they expand and systematise the chronological computations,
and connected
fictions
"
and
Ancient
devoted
and they give a more
representation
the
to
adoration
to veneration.
his
more
seem
twelve
Krishna or in some of
up Shiva
Of these eighteen
historical traditions."
Books,"
of
deity
particularly
manifested
as the trinity of
Vishnu, and Shiva, and indeed
all
the deities, are con-
tinually asserted to be only forms of the one

Spirit,
amount
the
to
difference
between the
no more than the
in
The others hold

Brahma,
forms.
But
definite
mythological
the
of
sects
diversities
Supreme
appears to
between the
"reat branches of the Christian Church.
Evangelical Protestantism asserts that the Church

of
Rome
it
permits images of the Virgin to be
does not do proper honour to the Son while
litanies to be
hymned
to her.
set
The Church
up and
of
Rome
has held those to be outside the pale of salvation
who
have denied the viceregency on earth of the supposed

successors to St. Peter in the possession of the keys
of heaven.
Certainly these are differences equal to

those which are maintained
by the Hindu
199
And
sects.
there appears to be no evidence of their waging such
sanguinary wars over their tenets as have agitated
Christendom.
The Puranas
are
by him
said
400,000
in the aggregate,
These do not appear to be

extend to
they
all
have contained,
to
or 1,600,000 lines.
great
is
New
stupendous) in comparison with the
even
(or
Testament
Their numerous legends seem to de-
of Christianity.
mand
But
forthcoming now.
which
length
slolcas,
long periods for their evolution.
The
epics
counting
and
current
actual,
seem
"
These they
legends.
position, are attributed to
fervent
Supreme
Ancient Books
be re-
to
to
ad-apted
But although mighty powers, and the
Brahminism.
most exalted
"
Spirit,
desire
urge the
to
Brahmins, the
adoration
of
the
on earth in Krishna, seems to have
been the most absorbing motive of the authors. Then

there are other books called Upa-Puranas, and later
works in pursuance
same
of the
topic.
While the All-pervading or Preserving

more
the
especially to be
deity,
Lingam
contemplated as
(a point),
which
is
Shiva,
the
Ascetic;
is
is
adored in the
a dome-shaped
Creative Power, or of the Universe.
sented as
Spirit
worshipped in the incarnations,
emblem
Shiva
is
of
repre-
and in the performance of
severe penances and mortifications of the flesh, the
Hindu votary
divine example.
of
Shiva
seems
only to
follow
his
200
It appears
be evident, although these Puranas
to
Buddha as a deceptive incarnation of Vishnu,

Buddha came to be regarded under a very similar
describe
that
aspect
Krishna.
to
Buddhism
systems
out
arose
In
fact,
the
of
both Krishnaism and

ancient
philosophical
but the former became venerated in Brah-
minism and amongst the military

north-west of India.
monastic and
aristocracy of the
In the case
celibate
of
the latter the
was enjoined, and
life
taught to be of no religious consequence.
caste
seems to
It
have arisen amongst the more peaceful populations of

the east of Hindustan.
have been assigned
Various dates
Buddha, or Sakya Muni
(i.e.
to
Gautauma
Gautauma
the Enlight-
ened, or the Ascetic of the Eace of Sakya).
range from
ship
assigns
Weber
as
370
These
European scholar-
2422 to B.C. 546.

him to the latter
B.C.
period.
Professor
states the possibility of his having died so late

B.C.
On
the other hand, doubts have been
His story
raised as to whether he ever existed.
nected with superhuman
events.
his birthplace to Kapila-vastu,
name
i.e.
is
con-
Tradition ascribes
the abode of Kapila.
Maya-devi
(the divine
Maya),
and as his miraculous birth occurs at a place
named
As
his mother's
after
the
is
founder of a philosophical
system,
these
considerations, conjoined with his father's nomenclature

of " clean-food,"
and other points in
raised suspicions that he
is
his
history,
have
but the embodiment of a
school of religious thought.
These have been put

M. Senart
forward by
in
"
work on Buddhism.
the " Divine Song " of
his
Krishna, in his expositions in
the
201
Great Bharata," seems equally connected with
In
Kapila.
fact, it
appears that in the period
Amara-Sinha was compiled
Sanscrit dictionary of
the court of Vicramaditya, Krishna
come
equally
at
and Buddha had
he regarded as forms of the One
to
Supreme Being.
when the
Sir
William Jones, writing towards
the close of the last century, has recorded his observation in the " Asiatic Eesearches," that " in the principal
Sanscrit dictionary, compiled about two thousand years

ago, Krishna,
Vasudeva, Govinda, and other names of
God
the Shepherd
Narayan
are
are
intermixed with epithets of
or the Divine Spirit."
upon debatable ground
Again, however,
as to
whether
we
this Ar icra-
maditya, emperor of India, lived at the time of the
commencement
to date
of the era
from his
(Samvat), which
is
supposed
some subsequent epoch.
reign, or at
This Samvat, the era of northern India, commences

B.C.
But Vicramaditya and Amara-Sinha, the
56.
author
of
the
" principal
Sanscrit
together enveloped in doubt by our
Dictionary,"
are
modern Anglo-
Indian chronologists.
It
appears, at
all
events,
to
be evident that the
system delivered under the name of Krishna, and that

attributed to
Buddha, both
of
which present many
points of close contact with Christianity, are develop-
ments
in
somewhat
different directions
expounded under the name
of Kapila,
of the ideas
which name
202
appertains to an age centuries
An
B.C.
undoubtedly pre-Christian religion
name
the
of Kapila,
exposition of
associated with
himself elevated to
of the
and regarded as an incarnation
rank,
divine
who became
is
Preserver.
As
in the Institutes of
about the same period,
Manu, usually
it is
attributed to
taught in Kapila's system
that the soul transmigrates into semi-divine, human,

or animal bodies, according to
By
of All,
end
it
may
achieve reunion with the Divine Spirit
To
this
off its desire of individuality.
It
from which
must throw
it
originally proceeded.
taught that sentient soul experiences pain, arising
from decay and death, until

sonality.
separation
or union,
its
per-
By
of
the soul from the corporeal frame at
the
individual
the Supreme Soul.
by concentrating
whom
be relieved of
it
attainment of perfect knowledge, the
length becomes complete.
on
deeds and desires.
the study and practice of the highest philosophy
the soul
is
its
In Yoga,
Man's liberation
his attention
reliance
is
to
i.e.
in junction
becomes united with
soul
is
to be obtained
on Iswara, who
is
God,
be obtained by knowledge.
This comes in meditation, and the highest happiness

is
to be secured in this
By
union with the Supreme
delivering the body to a
life
Spirit.
of asceticism
and
entire abnegation of self, in constant consideration
of
Nature (both of the material and immaterial universe)

in God, the bliss of union with
The systems
of
God
is
to be attained.
both Krishna and Buddha, in holding

forth the perfections of Krishna or
Buddha
203
for imita-
tion, and in affording these material persons as objects

of devotion by faith, seem to have been a natural
They
sequence to the more abstruse philosophies.
God upon earth in

human perfection in the
offered a tangible manifestation of
the
and
first case,
of highest
second, to enable the
While
in
universe enters the

rather a man,
who
attained complete
or
soul to grasp the divine idea.
divine
Krishna the actual
human
flesh,
spirit
Buddha seems
of
the
to be
in successive transmigrations has
enlightenment and become divine
In Krishnaism release
equivalent to the divine.
from earthly woes appears to be achieved essentially
by
Buddhism seems
faith.
to
teach reliance upon
continued good works, or abnegations of self-indulgence,
and increase
of
ideas are interchanged in the
two
CHAPTER
In
vol.
i.
tion from
It
religions.
XL.
" Asiatic Researches," the following inscrip-
Buddha-Gaya
Charles Wilkins towards

tury.
But again the
knowledge in study.
seems distinctly
is
given,
as
to
cen-
show an intermingling
Buddhist and Krishnaist ideas
of
"In the midst of a wild and dreadful

in ^
by
translated
the close of the last
forest, flourish-
with trees of sweet-scented flowers, and abounding
204
in fruits
and
human
tute of
with lions and
roots, infested
tigers, desti-
and frequented by the Munis
society,
Buddha, the author of happiness, and
(saints), resided
The
a portion of Narayana.
Lord of Hari-sa, the possessor
who
deity Hari,
of
is
the
appeared in this
all,
ocean of natural beings at the close of the Dwaipara
and beginning of the Kali Age.
He who
present and
contemplated, the
everlastingly
to
be
Omni-
is
Supreme Being, the Eternal One, the Divinity, worthy

adored by the most praiseworthy of mankind,
to be
appeared here with a portion of his
Once upon a time the

amongst men, coming
nature.
Amara, renowned
illustrious
here,
divine
discovered the place of
the Supreme Being, Buddha, in the great forest.
wise
Amara endeavoured
to
render the god
The
Buddha
propitious by superior service, and he remained in the
twelve years, feeding upon roots
forest for the space of
and
fruits,
and sleeping upon the bare earth
and he
performed the vow of a Muni, and was without transgression.

for he
He
performed acts of severe mortification,
was a man
One night he had
sionate heart.
a voice, saying,
'
Name
with due reverence replied,
and then grant

in the
me
night,
a vision,
and heard
whatever boon thou wantest.'
Amara Deva having heard
dream
with a compas-
of infinite resolution,
this,
'
was astonished, and
First give
He
such a boon.'
and the voice
there be an apparition in
the Kali
me
a visitation
had another
said,
Yug
'
How
can
(Black Age)
The same reward may be obtained from the
sight of

an image
may
as
derived from
be
visitation of a deity.'
Having heard
image of the Supreme
Spirit,
he worshipped
incense,
of that
Vishnu,
it
the
this
Buddha,
to
205
immediate
he caused an
be made, and
according to the law, with perfumes,
and he thus glorified the name

Supreme Being, the incarnation of a portion of
and the
'
like
Reverence be unto thee in the form of Buddha,
reverence be unto the Lord of the Earth, reverence be
unto thee, an incarnation of the Deity and the Eternal
God
Beverence be unto thee,
One.
form of
in the
the god of mercy, the dispeller of pain and trouble,

the Lord of all things, the Deity
who overcomest the
sins of the Black Age, the Guardian of the Universe,
emblem of mercy towards those who serve thee.

Thou
Aum, the possessor of all things in vital form
Thou
art
Lord
of
Mahesa
Vishnu,
and
art Brahma,
the
the Universe
things,
whole
Thou
art,
under the proper form
And
thus I adore thee
bestower of salvation
faculties
reverence be unto the
and Hrishikesa, the ruler
Damodara, show
Tliou art he who resteth upon

favour.
milky ocean, and who lieth upon the
art
of the
Beverence be unto thee (Kesava), the de-
stroyer of the evil spirit Kasi
Thou
of all
moveable and immoveable, the possessor of the
me
the face of the
serpent Sesha.
Trivikrama (who at three strides encompassed
the earth)
I adore thee,
who
art celebrated
by a
thou>-
sand names, and under various forms, in- the shape of
Buddha, the god of mercy

high
God
'
Be
propitious,
most
Having thus worshipped the guardian of
2o6
mankind, he became
He
like one of the just.
joyfully
caused a holy temple to be built of a wonderful con-
and therein were
struction,
Vishnu, and in like manner

of
the
fathers of
of
by the name
him who
of
The
formed here
is
is
renowned and
The
Buddha-Gaya.
ceremony
shall perform the
Sraddha (funereal ceremony) at

salvation.
up the divine foot of

Brahma and the rest
This place
divinities.
celebrated
set
is
fore-
the
of
this place shall obtain
great virtue of the Sraddha to be perto be
found in the book called Vayu
Furana, an epitome of which hath by
me
been en-
graved upon stone.

"
Vicramaditya was certainly a king renowned in the
world.
So in his court there were nine learned men,
celebrated under
nine jewels
the epithet of the Navaratnani, or
one of
whom was Amaradeva, who was

man of great genius and
the king's chief counsellor, a
profound learning, and the greatest favourite

prince.
He
it
certainly
temple which destroyeth
was who
sin, in
holy
a place called
Jam-
budwipa, where, the mind being steady,

wishes, and in a place where
it
of his
the
built
may
it
obtains
its
obtain salvation,
and enjoyment, even in the country of

the province of Kikata, where the place
and
Bharata
reputation,
of
Buddha,
purifier
of
the sinful,
is
renowned.
crime of an hundredfold shall undoubtedly be expiated
from a sight thereof, of a thousandfold from a touch

But where is the use of saying so much of
thereof.
the great virtues
of
this
place
even the hosts of
207
heaven worship with joyful service both day and night.

That it may he known to learned men that he verily
upon a
erected the house of Buddha, I have recorded
the
stone the authority of
place, as
self-evident
testimony, on Friday, the fourth day of the

in the
month
of
Madhu, when
in the year of the era of
sion of Ganisa,
and
ditya 1005,
a.d.
i.e.
new moon,
man-
in the seventh or
Vicrama-
949."
This inscription would seem to indicate that at

events in
this
part
merged in Buddha.
India Krishna
of
The Supreme
had
Spirit
all
become
which had
been specially venerated under the form of Krishna,

came to be adored in the Enlightened (Buddha). He
(the Enlightened)
became regarded
and Mahesa (Shiva),
i.e.
as
Brahma, Vishnu,
Now
as the Indian Trinity.
it must be remembered that Buddhism was not a mere

It was a great systematised
contention against caste.
organisation of
monastic institutions, for the worship
of the Enlightened
and the study
of the
voluminous
Scriptures which had been pronounced orthodox in
This
Buddhistic councils before the time of Christ.

inscription displays the superstitions
fostered in the religion.
which had been
been represented as
It has
an atheistic system; and doubtless atheism, nihilism,

or agnosticism are in
those
who
are born
it
as in Christianity
and baptized in
(i.e.
the Nirvana, or extinction of the soul, seems to
the abandonment of
1
all
desires
among
Christianity).
But
mean
and the obtaining of
See Appendix V.
208
perfect
calm
Supreme
not
Spirit
Here
the
through the Enlightened One.
the
are
nothingness in
absolute
of
words
last
of
the
great
Chinese
Buddhist Pilgrim, Hiouen Thsang, of the seventh century, as quoted
from a German
from Professor
Work ship."
may
gained by good works
May
Midler's " Chips
"I desire," said the Chinese
" that
Pilgrim before his death,
Max
whatever merits
fall
be born with them again in the heaven of the
blessed, be admitted to the family of Mi-le,
the
have
upon other people.
Buddha
of the future,
When
affection.
who
kindness and
upon
earth, to pass
I descend again
through other forms of existence, I

birth, to fulfil
my duties
last at the highest
This adds the
desire, at
every
new
towards Buddha, and arrive at
and most perfect
Roman
and serve
is full of
intelligence."
Catholic doctrine of works of
supererogation, in which the good works of the saints

in excess of those required for their
imputed
to others, to the
Rome.
We
find in
monks with conventual

the adoration of
relics,
exist-
Buddhism and the Church
the former, as in the latter,

dress
and shaven crown, nuns,
the use of bells and rosaries, a
high Pontiff corresponding to

choirs, &c. &c.
salvation are
numerous similitudes
ing between the practices of

of
own
Prom what
the
Pope, altars and
Protestants consider the
erroneous adoration of Christ in Romanism, mingled
with vows to the Blessed Virgin and saints, and the

obedience to a celibate priesthood, emerged the Protestant faith, in which reliance only on Jesus was incul-

Buddhism,
cated.
Ash oka, seems
after the time of
have widely abrogated the Brahminical system

sacrificial
209
or sacramental ordinances,
to
of caste,
&c, and substi-
tuted for faith in Krishna the belief in Buddha.
celibate monastic order took the place of the heredi-
tary Brahminical priesthood to a great extent.
Strict
morality appears to have been required in Buddhism,
and the practices

from
those
of asceticism
Brahminism
of
virtual effect.
It
superstitions.
it
to
have
differed,
kind, though not
would seem probable that the
gion became in some

the one hand,
in
seem
way
effete in India.
in
reli-
Perhaps, on
was gradually overlaid with too many
On
the other hand,
it
may have become
too lax in the estimation of certain zealous religionists

of
deep and earnest convictions.
At
all events,
between
about the twelfth and fifteenth centuries of our era arose

a great revival of the adoration of the
in Krishna.
Supreme
Spirit
Kabir, Eamanuja, and Chaitanya appear,
in the Indian religion, as curious forerunners of the
Protestant opponents of the Papacy in Europe.
Here
the change was effected in return from the worship

of
with Mariolatry, &c, to what
Christ as overlaid
seems
to
have been
the adoration of
its
the
pristine simplicity.
In India,
Supreme and Universal
Spirit
This
was similarly brought back from Buddhism.
seems to have become a system of most ritualistic
character, strikingly analogous to that of the
Church,
as
has
been
observed.
These
Eoman
reformers
desired to return to a pure and simple religion of the
2io
heart
of
faith in
Krishna as the incarnation
of the
Supreme, to he worshipped on earth to secure the
But Brahminism
changes.
It is a
these faiths.
is
And
point.
all
really independent of all
system of hereditary
which the Vedas are the
of
tity,
bliss
Brahminism had existed through
hereafter.
of
class sanc-
great, holy, rallying
the system of incarnations
is
considered
divine as connected with the revelation of religion in
these " Books of Knowledge."
After this reformation, from the twelfth to the

superstitions
teenth centuries A.D.,
seem
to
have overspread the Indian
and
ritual
fif-
again
faiths, just as
the
Protestantism of the Church of England has witnessed

a revival of the
it
would seem
last.
Never, of course, entirely extinct,
that, in
all
religions, the
tendency to
ceremonial worship, and to venerate tangible images,
may
be repressed for a time, but that
bias in
shown
humanity
to resort to
to
it
is
a natural
This
is
especially
These Indian reformers
in our Old Testament.
might have appeared
it.
have been led to their ideas by
our great European movement, but the periods of their

careers can be accurately estimated.
They seem
dis-
preceded Luther, Calvin, and John
tinctly
to
have
Knox.
In
vol. xvi. of " Asiatic
Researches," Professor
H. H. Wilson has left an essay on the various sects of

the Hindus.
Before showing
efforts at establishing a sort of
an
illustration of Buddhistic
next chapter.
from
this
essay the
Protestantism in India,
worship
is
given in the
CHAPTER
Tn volume
XLI.
xvi. of " Asiatic Researches," Professor
H. Wilson gives an
The following
tracts.
H.
Buddhist
extract, in illustration of
from iSTepaulese
ritual,
211
rite
is
directed to be performed on the eighth lunar day of
each half month

fasting
it
upon which day,
was made sacred
The
in the
and oblations were enjoined.
rite
to
Vedas
also,
In the Puranas
Vishnu.
seems analogous
to
" confession " in
the
Christian Church.
The worshipper, accompanied by
his wife
and family,
presents water and flowers, incense, lights, and rice to
He then says
with my head declined,
Tathagata Sakya Sinha (Buddha).

" I
ever offer
to the
all,
all-wise,
Whatever
and
of the
Sakya Sinha (the Lion
the ruler of
the
salutation
Remover
the saints, the

I adore
my
holy Benefactor of the world
fool that
to the
of
Race of Sakia),
asylum of clemency,
comprehensive Enlightened.
may have been committed by

I
Lord
of the Black Age.
of the
propitious, the
lotus-eyed,
sin
ills
me, child
am, whether originating in natural
weakness, or done in conscious wickedness, I confess

all,
thus standing in the presence of the lords of the
fear,
my hands, afflicted with sorrow and

and prostrating myself repeatedly before them.
May
the holy sages conceive the past as the past, and
world, joining
then the evil I have done shall never be repeated."
212
Then the
disciple, before his spiritual adviser (Guru),
places his right knee on the ground and continues

" I,
my
such an one, having uttered
confession, take
refuge with the Enlightened from this time forward,

until
the ferment of ignorance shall have subsided,
my
for he is
Of
protector, the lord of exalted glory.
an imperishable and irresumable form, merciful, omni-
and
scient, all-seeing,
I do
free
from the dread of
replies, "
To
men."
this in the presence of
Well done, well done,
my
son
Then the worshipper takes
Niryatana."
prehensive
flowers, rice,
'
place,
know-
Enlightened,' replete with divine
faults.
To him, gem
and
the Lord, the com-
is
Supreme, the Curber
ledge, the
human
consecrated place
Guru
perform the
and water, places them on a consecrated

says, " This
all terrors.
this the
of the wild steeds of
of the
'
Enlightened,' I
address the rites performed in this consecrated place."
He
then makes offerings, a portion of ground having
been marked
namah
off as consecrated,
to the
gem
laden with the burden

Spirit, the
and exclaims
of the Enlightened,
of
"
Om,
whose heart
is
compassion, the Supreme
universal Intellect, the triple essence, the
endurer of
all
ills
for the benefit of existing beings,
accept this offering, savoury and fragrant, and confirm
me and
wisdom."
all
men
to
Then the
the supreme, all-comprehending

devas,
planets, spirits of the earth,
of lakes, villages,
cross-roads meet,
demons, regents of the
&c, are invoked
spirits
and deserted temples, existing where
and
in cemeteries,
&c,
all are
invited

to receive the lights, incense,
and
act of worship
Indra, Agni,
progenitors
drink,
eat,
propitious.
food,
213
and render the
Yama, the
mankind, &c, are prayed to accept,
of
and render the act propitious.
In
fact,
Buddhism has continued to be a highly ritualistic

religion.
While its ceremonials have been considered
Eoman
analogous to those of the
which have been revived
rites
for
the
drama
Laureate's
pronounced similar
Church, the classical
London theatre
Cup " have been
in
of the "
to Chinese Buddhistic ceremonies.
Images, the adoration of
relics,
the celibacy of monks,
vestments, incense, the chanting of religious services
by
choirs,
right
and
left
of
the altars, and various
instruments of music employed, with the institution of

a high pontiff in Thibet
to
certainly these all combine
impart an outer aspect to the religion absolutely
analogous to that of the Church of Borne.
Altogether our mediaeval days are suggested,

various orders of
England
alms.
for
monks and begging
the Buddhist
monk
when
friars existed in
usually lives
upon
In India, as in England, these orders seem to
have been abolished or become extinct in about the

fifteenth
century of our
era.
exist of their being extirpated

in
occasional
instances.
No
evidence seems to
by war, except, perhaps,
As has been shown,
the
dramas exhibit them co-existing with the Brahmins

without any apparent antagonism to suggest
or
persecution such
1
as
the hierarchy of
See Appendix III.
civil
war,
Borne has
214
inflicted.
of
It
faith in
would seem that there was a great revival

the Supreme as manifested in the Pastor
Reformers arose who preached zealously the
Krishna.
adoration only of Vishnu, the pervading Spirit or Preserver.

"
The
followers of Ra-
chief religious tenet of the
manuja, who arose in the twelfth century," says H. H.

Wilson,
" is that
Vishnu
cause and creator of
is
Brahme, before
He and
all.
worlds,
all
the universe are
one, but, in opposition to old philosophies, they
that the Deity
is
Him
as
fold
form,
viz.,
and
the
cause,
deny
void of form or quality, and regard
endowed with
all
good
Supreme
the
gross
and of two-
qualities,
Paramatma, or
Spirit,
the
universe
Creation originated with Vishnu,
who was
one,
or
matter.
He
alone.
willed to become embodied as visible and ethereal light,
and became manifest

having created
Narayana, after
in the elements.
men and
animals, through the subordi-
nate angels which he willed into existence,
mained the supreme authority

assumed
still
re-
He
has
of the universe.
at different times particular forms
and appear-
ances for the benefit of his creatures, of which four

are especially to be revered, viz.,
Vasudeva
worshipped
in
or Krishna,
He
Balarama, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha.
is
to be
temples with offerings of flowers, per-
fumes, &c, and prayers to be repeated with the aid of

the rosary.
And
Union with the Divine
is
to be sought.
perpetual residence in Vishnu's heaven, in con-
dition of pure ecstasy
and eternal
rapture,
is
the goal."
CHAPTER
It
"
may have been
Ancient
&c.,
215
XLII.
the re-writing or re-editing of the
Books,"
Vishnu
Bhagavata
and
Puranas,
which occasioned a wider dissemination of these

As has been observed, it
conceptions of the Divine.
seems impossible that they can have originated at this

Probably philosophisings had abrogated the
epoch.
fervour
the
of
Buddhistic
perhaps, become
than zealous
system
is
The monks had,
faith.
as idlers rather
generally regarded
religionists.
An
aversion to the celibate
likely to have arisen
and the devotion
the all-pervading spirit in Vishnu infected

the ardour of a
fresh impulse.
men
to
with
Monastic establish-
ments, however, remained in the revived Hinduism,
with their superiors, monks, attendants, and scholars,

their chapels
and accommodation
for
travellers,
&c,
but not, apparently, established upon so extensive a

Professor Wilson (who had an
Buddhism.
scale as in
actual acquaintance with India) mentions from thirty

to
forty
monks
in
monastery,
whereas
Hiouen
Thsang has informed us that there were often 1000

The
or more in a single Buddhistic establishment.
ideas promulgated in the " Ancient
Books
" at this revi-
val do not appear, during the period of the Buddhist
supremacy, to have actually sunk into abeyance, but

to have continuously existed side by side with the
religion of
Buddha.
They seem
to
have continued
2l6
in their stages of successive
growth, from
time
the
when they emerged,
as the natural sequence of certain
doctrines, from the
Vedas
at
iooo
B.C.
or
1500
B.C.
There seems to be much religious fervour in both the
Puranas and the Buddhistic books

latter are
still
and while the
revered in Nepaul, China, Tibet, Bur-
mah, Siam, &c, the former have made the more lasting
impression in India.
War may
in places have overthrown the Buddhists,
but in general Brahmins and Buddhists seem to have
wordy warfare, but no more
co-existed with, possibly,
recourse to bloodshed than exists amongst Romanists
and Protestants in England
was one
of
weaver.
He
twelve
the
in the present day.
disciples
He
of a
of
the
the
Pandits.
related to have been born of the virgin
widow
Brahmin, having been in the world, according to
his followers, from

is
Eamanand
of
attacked the whole system of idolatrous
worship, and ridiculed the learning

is
Ivabir
said to have
1149
a.d.
to
1449
a.d.
And
he
vindicated his doctrine by miracles,
having been thrown into flames without harm, &c.
Outward
signs of religion, according to him, were of
no importance, and attention was

paid to the inward man.
was largely expressed

his death
in
especially
to
be
The worship of his followers

chanting hymns, and after
he was claimed as a saint by both Hindus
and Mohammedans.
Chaitanya was born
in
1485
a.d.,
and became
regarded as an incarnation of Krishna or Bhagavat.

At the age
of twenty-four
shook
the obligations
off
commenced preaching between Mathura
of society, and
and Jaganath
lie
217
after a course of asceticism
and
beheld
beatific visions of Krishna, Eaddha, his shepherdess

He disappeared
love, and the other shepherdesses.
about
a.d.
Although admitting other incarna-
1527.
tions, he held that the principal, the actual, sensible

manifestation of the Supreme Spirit was as Krishna.
But when
identified with the
possessed
real
attributes,
Supreme
in
Krishna
Spirit,
opposition
old
the
to
philosophising belief in the negative properties of God.
The whole moral code of his sect is comprised in the

word Bhahti, a term which signifies an union of
implicit
Caste
with incessant devotion.
faith
of
is
no account in these systems of intense devotion to

Krishna, though Brahmins always seem to have been
held in respect, even under Buddhism, as Mr. Pdrys
Davids has shown
The higher form

is
a tender
nature
the
as
in his
the
is
shepherdesses
religion.
H. H. Wilson,
of this Bhakti, says
for
affection
highest
work on that
love
of
such
(Gopis)
the
parents
for
towards
same
children
their
attachment
passionate
felt
of the
divinity,
their
as
the
beloved
Krishna.
In Chaitanya's system, homage was to be performed

in Krishna's temples twice daily
sacrifice
and dancing
to
but the ritual and
were only repetitions of his name.

in his
honour were allowed.
be practised every eleventh day.
Singing
Fasting
is
Anger, avarice,
2i8
and
are
lust
to
be
were married
and
suppressed,
The
spiritual teacher venerated.
Guru
the
or
teachers, as a rule,
but there have been amongst them
hermits or begging ascetics.
The adoration
of
Radhu, bride of Krishna, seems to
have been introduced at

as the incarnate will
the Mother of the Universe.
fessor
is
regarded
and she
is
styled
She appears
to
corre-
deity,
spond with Durga or Parvati.
who worship
She
this period.
of the
Besides numerous sects
Krishna, others are enumerated by Pro-
Wilson who adore the Supreme Spirit in Shiva,
who seems to be a manifestation of deity in a superhuman rather than human form, though there are
also incarnations
of him.
The
bull
which seems
connect him with Osiris and the Apis of Egypt

associated
with
his
worship, and
placed
before
to
is
his
shrines.
CHAPTEE
It must be
XLIII.
remembered that Buddha- Gay a, the
centre of Buddhist history,
is
situated at about
chief
450
miles distance from Mathura or Muttra, the centre of

the legendary lore of Krishna.
valent to the
As each
distance
between
This
is
about equi-
Eome and
Geneva.
of these centres has been surrounded
by a
nourishing and extensive region of cultivated territorv,

there
is
ample space
west
of
have
arisen.
Brahma, and the pro-
system of Brahminism, with the legal
of the
Institutes of
religions to
of the Divine as
The adoration
mulgation
two
for
219
Manu, seem
appertain to the north-
to
Mathura, while the adoration of Mahadeva or
Shiva was probably more prevalent in the district

Shiva became regarded as Rudra, then
about Bahar.
as forming part of a trinity with

It
would seem that
became
these
mass
of
Brahma and Vishnu.

stories
round two persons
centred
with
amongst
At Mathura,
centres.
respective
and legends
associated
warlike and aristocratic race, deity was regarded as
manifested in the brilliant Prince Krishna.

of Bahar,
district
where the
adoration of
In the
Mahadeva
seems to have encouraged excess of asceticism, and to
upon
considerations
have laid
little
connected
with religion, a prince also became
shipped.
But
stress
it
caste
was a prince who abandoned
as
worhis
rank and wandered forth in poverty and self-abnegation.
The soul
incarnate
in previous
sake of mankind.
Buddha
of each
are
held to have been often
terrestrial
While
different,
is
existences
their lives
many
as
for
the
Krishna and
similar stories are
con-
nected with them in the histories of their previous

incarnations.
It
has been asserted that Shivaism as
well as Krishnaism merely succeeded Buddhism.
But
the evidence seems to demonstrate that Buddhism arose

out of Brahminism and Shivaism.
This
is
shown by
the Buddhist legends containing frequent allusions to
22o
Tndra and other personifications
of the
Hindu Pantheon,
including Rudra or Shiva.
The doctrine
of previous incarnations of the
Supreme
Spirit is not inconsistent with the Christianity revealed
mony
is
New
Old and
to us in our
To
Testaments.
this testi-
afforded by the statements in both concerning
Return will be made to
Melchizedek.
this
topic in
a subsequent chapter.
Gautauma Buddha
or
Sakya Muni seems invariably
to be represented as a successor of previous
The
institution of celibate
been due to him.
Buddhas.
monks and nuns may have
would certainly seem that the
It
conception of a Buddha, the Enlightened, in India,
may have
arisen out of the worship of Shiva (the aus-
picious one) as the ascetic, in
manifestation he
Some
his
is
eighteen " Ancient Boohs " advocate
of the
all
declare the real unity of
though adored under
different forms, the differ-
supremacy; but as
deity,
which incarnation or
often represented.
ences are not more important than those which divide
The universality
Christian sects.
sonification
of self-sacrifice
seem
to
the sake of
for
of
and universal love and
be essential points
deity,
its
per-
humanity, the necessity
of
charity,
Christianity,
have been leading doctrines of the
allied
these
which
religions
of
our race, prototypes seemingly in the ancient civilisations of our
own
religion.
M. Emile Burnouf,
observes
(p.
4) that "
in his " Science des Religions,"
il
est certain
que
les
dieux ont etc
en
egalaient
des egards, nous
qui, a Lien
adores, par des peuples
La lecture des
8.)
commence a s'eclaircir,
"
(P.
civilisation."
livres Indiens et l'histoire qui
221
de la propagation des idees indiennes prouvent que ni

la
philosophic antique, ni les lettres grecques, ni les
croyances
si
Ton ne remonte vers l'ancien
Or, l'lnde est la contree religieuse par excel-
Orient.
lence
on n'y pent pas separer
sacres, ni la philosophic des

(P.
"Tandis que
183.)
la literature des rites
dogmes
suivies,
sans
parti
effet
aucune
faits constates
nient
se
afhrment leur
scientifiques, pour-
d'avance,
pris
pensee de decouvrir les
l'homme d etude
religieux."
les religions
propre originality les recherches
en
peuvent etre
ou modernes ne
anciennes
suffisamment comprises,
lois
demande a
et
avec
seule
la
de la nature, font que

lui
meme
s'il
n'y a eu
Les
filiation reelle entre les religions.
sont aujourd'hui
d'accord
entre
si
nombreux
eux que toute
illusion
les
a cette
Non seulment
formes du culte ne sont originales chez aucune
non seulement
telle-
Les religions
egard est scientifiquement impossible.

out procedes les unes des autres.
et
les
d'elles,
symboles ont passes des unes aux
autres et l'appareil exterieur dont elles se sont servies

s'est
transmis a travers les
alterations superficielles
tique ou,
si
siecles,
ne subissant que des
mais encore
la doctrine
Ton veut, metaphysique, qui
ces voiles, ce
mys-
se cache sous
que nous pouvons appeler l'&ement divin
des religions, est demeure

les plus anciens
le
meme
depuis les temps
jusqu'a nos jours, animant tour a tour
222
ces figures symboliques, ces rites et ces formules qui
en sont l'element sensible."
GHArTEE
The
XLIV.
other great Indian epic, the Eamayana,
rich in descriptions
of cultivation of the various aesthetics of
Gentleman s Magazine of October

observes, in
commenting upon
Creeds," that "
also
is
which indicate elaborate systems
we hear
"
In the
life.
880, Sylvanus Urban
Cradleland of Arts and
of watering the roads, of public
gardens, curtained screens, folding doors, golden statues
and inlaid floors of music, palaces, terraces, ramparts,

and warlike instruments which slay an hundred men
;
all sorts of
inventions indeed, which are supposed to
What, however,
be altogether modern discoveries.
from
is
that
literary
standpoint
modern poetry
celebration
is
even
is
more remarkable,
anticipated by the constant
Eamayana)
throughout the epic (the
the grandeur and beauties
of nature, especial
of
praise
being bestowed upon the charms of forests and flowers.
What
then became of this taste
remarkable in European
subject of
bility to
Nothing
literature, or
is
more
has furnished
more frequent comment, than the insensithe beauties of landscape which seems to
have prevailed until times altogether recent."

This poetical history of Eama,
who
is
held to have

been an
Divine than Krishna,
earlier incarnation of the
has been ascribed by
223
its translator,
Mr.
Griffiths,
Head
of the College of Benares, to about the twelfth century

B.C.,
with the exception of certain possible interpola-
tions,
which do not
tion contained in
affect the
illustrations
of civilisa-
it.
Certainly the people of ancient India possessed a

spiritual
culture
philosophy,
in
literature,
science before the epoch of Pythagoras,
century
That philosopher
B.C.
is
art,
and
the sixth
viz.,
related to have been
educated in Eastern knowledge, and the whole tradition
and teaching points not merely
of his life
Babylon having been

to his
his
to
Almcc Matres in
Egypt
or
science, but
having been fostered by the learning
of
the
great realms further to the east.
Undoubtedly since the epochs

so slightly affected the pictures
of life that the description
of
these epics there
But the
have been changes in India.
of
alterations
have
general aspect
of its
the daughters of Zion
1623 might apply to Hindu women in

the streets of the commercial Bombay in the present
Still as they walk do they " make a tinkling
day.
in Isaiah
iii.
with their
upon
their
ornaments
feet,"
with the bunches of silver bells
i.e.,
anklets.
(as the
Their bracelets
New
which have been translated
as
chains and mufflers),
their headbands, earrings, nose-jewels

fine linen, hoods,
and
and spangled
Version renders the words
veils,
the figures of the wealthier
all
these
their mantles,
still
Hindu women
appear on
in forms
224
apparently corresponding closely to
the
fashions
of
the days of Isaiah, amongst our English feminine modes.
And
their
inward
true
outward signs
of
their
are
aspects
manner
of
life-
pictures of old civilisation, therefore,

in these ancient
to
have been of rapid growth.

or others,
and British would,
The
which we behold
If
it
in
Of course a few
been imitated.
their
poems cannot be reasonably supposed
Babylonians. Greeks,
Portuguese
of
spirituality.
borrowed from
would seem that

their
of the
turn,
have
natives have
adopted our costume, language, and customs
but as
a people the inhabitants of British India remain unaffected
by our settlements
in the country.
overcome the land in war, but not conquered

Indeed,
or spiritually.
we
are
no sympathy with the mass of
still
its
We
it
have
socially
strangers there, in
inhabitants.
And
there appears to be no evidence of our being nearer
the winning of the people to our religion and our
manner
of
life,
though a few more Hindus may be
seen in London, studying our legal system, &c, and

doubtless the efforts of our missionaries have
some impression
made
in Hindustan.
At about the epoch of the Bamayana epic, some

300 to 1000 or more years B.C., appertains the earliest
This
Indian code of laws, the Institutes of Mann.
is
still
held to be an authority in our Anglo-Indian
courts of law
when
The word Manu

man,
to think
adjudicating upon
is
and
Hindu
matters.
derived from the Sanskrit verb

it is
considered by the Hindus to
"

represent the
whom
grand existing man-type, to
first
these laws were delivered
225
by the Divine.
Like the laws of Moses, these Institutes contain
and
rules for moral as well as legal obligations,
man
the duty of
And
bour.
Deity
faced
is
:
"
Divine as well as to his neigh-
Supreme
the spiritual conception of one
The laws
distinctly set forth.
Manu
upon one
sages
to the
are thus pre-
reclined, with his attention fixed
sat
Supreme God, when the divine
object, the
approached him, and, after mutual salutations
in due form, delivered the following address
sovereign
us of
apprize
to
ruler,
'
:
must be followed by
four
several
in
classes
their
the
first
ceremonies of this
laws
For
degrees.
the
all
thou,
only amongst mortals, knowest
the Lord, and thou

sense,
Deign,
sacred
the
in their order, as they
true
for
principle,
and
the
prescribed
Book
supernatural
universal,
of
Knowledge.'
After prescribing the laws in questions of inheritance,
merchandise,
contracts,
wrongs,
assigning penalties for criminal
laws
hells.
proceed
to
describe
transmigrations
of
the
soul
and
&c,
transgressions, these
penalties
They even lay down the
&c.
purgatorial
in
rule as to the future
in
accordance with
its
deeds.
Chapter
"
it
On
is
xii.
of the
Institutes
of
Manu
transmigration and final beatitude."

said that " action
poreal, bears
good or
either
evil fruit
is
In
headed
ver. 3
mental, verbal, or coras itself
is
good or
P
evil,
226
and from the actions
men
of
proceed
various
their
transmigrations, in the highest, the middle, and the
lowest degree."
And
punishment
as to the purgatorial liells of
declared
By
"
committed
the vital souls of those
the body which has been reduced
sins in
to ashes, another
it is
men who have
body composed of nerves with
five
sensations, in order to be susceptible of torment, shall
assumed
certainly be
new body
that
sentence
Yama
of
They
after death.
shall feel in
the pangs inflicted in each case by the

deity
(the
taint
may
having been removed, the soul
and the
reach the
pure elements, &c.
five
"
The three
tendency to
Goodness
sion.
true
Passion
In
goodness
can
will return
Each
the rational soul are a
of
passion,
to
knowledge.
an emotion
is
attain
to
may
the
those
is
gross
of
desire or aver-
endowed with
of
deities
(devas
cherish ambitious passions
of
men
those
involved in
descend to the state of beasts."
of these has
dark quality
to darkness.
souls
state
who
the state
and
Darkness
the transmigrations,
shining beings)
darkness
qualities
goodness,
is
ignorance.
may even
a threefold division, and the
bring the individual
the condition of minerals, vegetables, worms,

to
having
the dead),
of
endured torments according to his sentence
down
fish,
to
&c,
elephants and lions, &c, or to contemptible bar-
barians in the middle division

birds,
and bloodthirsty savages
or to dancers, singers,
in the highest division
227
entered by the souls of those imbued
of the states
with the quality of darkness.
From
the lowest division of the passionate quality,
boxers and wrestlers, cudgel-players, actors, gamesters,
&c, may result; kings, domestic

troversialists,
&c, are
priests, warriors, con-
allotted to the
while the condition of heavenly

attained by the highest of those
middle division
nymphs may even be

who have the quality
of passion.
Hermits, Brahmins, demi-gods, genii of the signs
and lunar mansions, are the lowest
states reserved for
those distinguished* by the quality of goodness.
Sacri-
holy sages, deities of the lower heavens, regents
ficers,
the sun and
of stars not in the paths of
from the middle divisions

with four faces,
endowed
in
while even to be Brahmas
creators
genius of virtue, &c,
of
may
the highest
moon come
worlds under him, the
be the destiny of those
degree with the quality of
goodness.
priest
come
who has drunk
and eaters
of
raw
More than once

have agonising
terrible deaths.
may
be-
an insect or fly feeding on ordure.
Those who do injury

cats
spirituous liquor
man
shall
it
to sentient beings
is
be born
said that the wicked shall
births, lives afflicted

"
may
flesh.
With whatever
perform in this
life
with diseases, and
disposition of
any
mind
act, religious
or
moral, in a future body endued with the same quality

shall he receive his retribution."
Hells are described
22S
for the
wicked as in the Puranas, which
horrors of Dante, except that the agony
forestall the
hopeless-
of
ness was not considered to appertain to the just punish-
ments
Aryan Deity.
old
of the
utter darkness, with
of
forests
On
burning sands, &c.
the
There are hells of
sword
leaves,
other hand
"
with
Studying
and comprehending the Veda, practising pious austerities, acquiring divine knowledge of law and philosophy,
command
avoiding
all
over the organs of sense and action,
injury to sentient creatures, and showing-
reverence to a natural or spiritual father,
which ensure
chief branches of duty
In this
life,
these are the
final happiness."
indeed, as well as the next, the study of
the Veda, to acquire a knowledge of God,
most
efficacious of
is
held the
duties in procuring felicity to
man.
For in the knowledge and adoration of one God, which

the
Veda
teaches, all the rules of good conduct, before
mentioned in order
"
comprised."
Veda
is of
(i.e.
in these Institutes), are fully
The ceremonial duty prescribed by the
two kinds,
one connected with
and causing prosperity on

from
it
and procuring
this
world
earth, the other abstracted
bliss
in heaven."
"
He who
frequently performs interested rites obtains an equal

station with the regents of the lower
who
heaven
but he
frequently performs disinterested acts of religion
becomes
for ever
exempt from a body composed of the

Equally perceiving the Supreme Soul
five elements."
"
in all beings,
and
sacrifices his
own
all
beings in the Supreme Soul, he
spirit
by
fixing
it
on the
spirit of

God, and approaches the nature
who
shines of his
In
this
own
in
these Institutes, the
what has been
of
Pantheon are declared
Hindu
called the
from or
to be only emanations
One Supreme
expressions of the
divinity
effulgence."
and other texts
numerous gods
of that sole
229
sacred scriptures, the Vedas
or
And
Spirit.
the
Books of Knowledge,
and works founded upon them, are repeatedly held up

"To patriarchs, to deities, and to manto veneration
:
kind the scripture

"
is
an eye giving constant
light."
Nor could the Veda Shastra have been made by
human
"
faculties."
All systems which are repugnant
shall
Veda must have been composed by mortals and

soon perish their modern date proves them vain
and
false."
to the
He
"
duties, religious
logic,
civil,
who can
system of
reason by rules of
agreeable to the Veda, on the general heads of
that system
every
alone comprehends the
and
as revealed
Brahmin,
with
nature, both visible
Divine Spirit
for
by the holy
fixed
and
sages."
attention,
invisible, as
give his heart to iniquity."
Let
all
existing in the
when he contemplates
less (universe existing in the
"
consider
the bound-
Divine Spirit) he cannot

" It is
He
Supreme
(the
beings in
Omnipresent Intelligence) who, pervading all

elemental forms, causes them, by the gradations
five
of birth, growth,
and
dissolution, to revolve
in this
world until they deserve beatitude."
on the evidence of
which have been quoted out of many to
It must, at all events, be evident,
a few texts
22,o
the
same
effect,
word
scripture as the
India at about
that
500
great
was paid
to
Our Aryan cousins
in
veneration
of God.
certainly regarded their Bible
B.C.
with reverence ecpial to that which Protestants have
bestowed upon the
Christian
have been urged that
this
Scriptures.
might
veneration for the written
word was suggested by the Jewish devotion

sacred writings.
It
to their
But the systematic reverence
for the
Books of Knowledge (Vedas) seems too deeply implanted
now
the
in
borrowed
Indo-Aryan mind to be a merely
idea, considering the religious
conservatism
displayed by them.
CHAPTEK XLV.
Arrian
era,
in his " Indica," of the second century of our
observes that " none of the Indian kings ever lead
an army out of India
to
attempt the conquest of any
other country, lest they should be

injustice,"
though
it
has
rarely
Christian monarchs.
no monuments
praise.
deemed guilty
of
which certainly seems a Christian sentiment,
He
been acted upon by so-called
He
says that the Indians allow
to their dead, but
have odes in their
thinks the Indian cities too numerous to
be reckoned, stating that those which are situated near

the sea or upon any river are constructed of wood,
because no buildings of brick would long withstand
"

the violence
of
and the overflow of the
the rains
But the
rivers.
seated on any
cities
231
eminence are
He
frequently built with brick and mortar.
states
that Megasthenes assures us that the capital Palimbothra (Pataliputra, argued to be the modern Patna
by General Cunningham
of
in his
"Ancient Geography
confluence of the rivers
situated at the
India"),
Erannoboas and Ganges, measured in length ten miles,
two
in breadth
miles, that
with 570 towers and

free,
being neither
any others
64
was surrounded by a
it
wide and deep moat, and that

gates.
slaves
walls were adorned
its
"All the Indians are

nor
themselves
suffering
to be slaves in their country."
Arrian then bears testimony to the civilised nature

of the
warfare waged in old India, by saying that in
the event of intestine
war
it
is
deemed a heinous
crime either to seize the husbandmen or to spoil the

harvest.
He
says that the
who
soldiers
during the
time of war were obliged to serve their country, in

"
peace lived merrily and pleasantly.
much
stipend allowed
sufficient to
them
They had
as
from the public as was
maintain them with their dependants."
Here then we
find the archaic
"
standing army
duly supported at the public expense, with this difference, that instead of being
composed
the general body of the public, as in

it
was drawn from a
warfare.
In
maintenance
fact,
of
caste
modern England,
devoted from birth to
Arrian shows elsewhere the
caste,
from
of volunteers
and observes
that
strict
only
the
232
Sophists could exercise what employments they pleased.

to continue in the
The remainder had

they were
But
born.
their
which
craft in
religion,
as
forth
set
amongst the Institutes of Manu, taught them that in

another birth they might enter a higher or lower caste,
according to their
They might
temporary
this
or
also
life
or aspirations in the present
But even then they would return
hell.
some other world, unless
perfection,
and
life.
be exalted to heaven or debased to
faith,
to
in absolute purity,
union with the Supreme Spirit
had been obtained.
He
remarks that the
lives of the Sophists in general
were not easy but vastly laborious.
He
beasts
speaks of the hunting of elephants and wild
and the taming
of
elephants.
myself have seen an elephant

whilst others danced to his music.
upon
his forelegs,
other elephants
He
tells
us
and one was
He
says,
beat upon a cymbal
Two cymbals hung
tied to his
trunk
moved around him and danced

that
the
" I
foot-soldiers
were
the
justly."
usually
same length as
bowmen
the ground
upon
the bearer, and that it was placed
The arrows
and drawn with their left foot upon it.
;
that their
bow was
of the
were shot with such force that no shield or breastplate

They wore swords of great
could withstand them.
breadth, &c. &c.
whole picture seems to present a

race highly civilised according to our modern ideas in
Their long-bows
civil government, arts, and arms.
Altogether the
233
our British yeoman's famous yew-tree bow, six
recall
length
feet in
cubits long,
We
shafts."
of white
while the arrows, described as three
seem the forerunners
of our old " cloth-yard
are informed that the people
cotton reaching to the middle
wore
of
shirts
the leg,
with veils which covered the head, and shoes of white

curiously
leather,
The
soles.
earrings,
stitched,
had
umbrellas
The
richer rode
asses
upon elephants
employed.
being also
were employed
over
carried
Beards were dyed white, black,
high
adorned with ivory
richer persons were
and
having
sometimes
them.
red, purple, or green.

;
horses, camels,
and
Both bricks and wood
Alexander had
for the walls of towns.
been informed that the country beyond the Hyphasis
were good husbandmen
was
rich, that the inhabitants
and
also excellent soldiers, that
they were governed
by the nobility and lived peaceably, their rulers imposing nothing harsh or unjust upon them.
Megasthenes, Greek ambassador in India in about

the third century
in addition to his descriptions
B.C.,
of the civilisation,
has afforded us direct extraneous
evidence upon the antiquity of Krishna (Strabo xv.

3).
He
states that the inhabitants
Hindustan are addicted

Heracles, as
it
of
the plains of
to the worship of Hercules (or
should be written,
'Hpa.K\ea).
He
thinks that this Heracles had, in ancient times, con-
quered
India.
But Arrian
informs us (Arrian,
(second
Ind. Hist. chap,
Indians say that the Heracles
who had
century
viii.)
a.d.)
that the
penetrated so
-34
was a native
far
Saraseni,
of their
Arrian further
country.
was particularly worshipped by the
he
that
states
who have two
great cities belonging to them,
Methoras and Clisoboras, and that the navigable
viz.,
Iobares passes through their territories.
There appears to be no doubt that the Methoras

Mathura, or Muttra, on the Jumna, related
refers to
to
have been the birthplace of Krishna, and where his
adoration was especially established.
Arrian continues
"
This Herakles, as Megasthenes
and the Indians themselves assure
asserts
the same habits with the
many
Theban Hercules.
us,
used
He
took
number of sons, though

but one daughter, whom he named Pandcea.
Other
Indians tell this story of Hercules, namely, that when
wives, and begot a great
had travelled through
lie
merchants at
and bring
this
to
day
this the
women were
Is
buy up
sea,
it
such as the
at a great price
he commanded pearls to be
His daughter ruled over his realm
for.
till
the earth, and purged
in India
And
us.
searched
not
all
he found a pearl in the
of every vice,
marriageable at seven, the
in
men
forty."
the
Krishna
of
period
corresponding with
mediaeval Europe one and the same with the Herakles
mentioned by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador in

India, as adored in the region of
turies B.C.
It
seems to be
constantly called Hari in the
and Mathura
is
still
so,
"
Mathura three cenbecause Krishna
Great Bharata
traditionally
assigned
"
is
poem,
for
his

And
birthplace.
is difficult to say what other

Hindu Pantheon can have been
it
divine being in the

indicated.
235
In some points, indeed, Krishna's brother,
Bala-Eama, appears rather to afford attributes akin to

the Greek Heracles
In
with Krishna.
by
but Bala-Eama
is
mystically one
the analogy seems completed
fact,
Iphiclus, the twin brother of Hercules.
with which Hercules
weapons
represented
is
is
The club
amongst the
of Krishna.
CHAPTEE XLVI.
Just
Eoman
as the first
Catholic missionaries in the
East saw in the Buddhist ritual suggestions of their
own, so the early
American
Spanish invaders of the Central
civilisations
they conceived
to
seem
to
have observed what
have been a wicked imitation
their Christian rites at
of
the instigation of the devil.
Instead, however, of the Mexicans acknowledging one
human-divine
human
sacrifice for
sacrifices
mankind, they offered many
with great solemnity to the Deity.
The sun was adored by them with magnificent ceremonial and implicit reverence and ideas seem to have
;
existed
concerning
regents
of
the
elements, corre-
sponding to those of the Vedic religion.

expiatory
sacrifice
they
continued,
abandoned in India in what we
But
as
an
what had been
call the
Vedic period,
236
human
actual
This was, at
sacrifice.
OR,
equi-
all events,
valent to the idea of vicarious satisfaction, the doctrine

of Christianity,
man
Deity as
though only one human
of
sacrifice
proclaimed to be sufficient for
is
time.
The Gauls
human
victims.
are also related to have
In
fact, it
all
immolated
seems to have been a
fre-
quent conception that the Divine wrath was to be

appeased by the sufferings of some sort of
"
scape-
This was a natural prototype of the Divine
goat."
and universal Victim.

In the ancient American civilisations appear very
curious
analogies
to
Christian
beliefs,
Krishnaism and Buddhism of India.
also
to
been
has
It
the
considered that the apostolic preaching not only ex-
tended to India, but even reached America.
If the
apostles or their disciples can be conceived to
travelled thus far, the Divine blessing
may
have
be held to
have especially accompanied their work and rapidly
The human
accomplished conversion.
ever,
seem
to
render
it
sacrifices,
how-
apparent that the converts
rapidly forgot the apostolic lessons.

" It
"
is
remarkable
says
fact,"
History of the Conquest of Peru,"
not
most
of
rude
the
may have been

superstition,
of
one Great
in
other
had attained
Spirit, the
immaterial in His
own
disfigured
the
childish
sublime conception
Creator of the Universe,

nature,
if
vast
their creeds
respects by a
to the
in his
many
" that
inhabiting
tribes
American continent, however
Prescott
was not
to
who
be dis-

honoured by an attempt
at visible representation,
who, pervading
was not
all space,
and
to be circumscribed
They admitted the
within the walls of a temple.
and connected with

They
the resurrection of the body.
existence of the soul

this a belief in
237
hereafter,
assigned two distinct places for the residence of the
good and
the wicked,
of
centre
the
in
fixed
of
the
the
supposed to pass a luxurious

ease,
which comprehended
life
their
The wicked were
by ages
wearisome labour.
a belief in
these ideas
bearing
name
the
attempt to
of
an
tranquillity
of
notions
highest
and
of
They associated with
evil
Cupay,
propitiate by
which they
The good were
to expiate their crimes
happiness.
of
of
latter
earth.
principle
whom
sacrifices,
they
or
spirit,
did
not
and who seems
have been only a shadowy personification of sin

It
little influence upon their conduct.
to
that exercised
this belief in the resurrection of the
was
body which
them to preserve the body with so much soliciby a simple process, not of the elaborate
embalming of the Egyptians, but by exposing it to
the cold, dry, highly rarefied atmosphere of the moun-
led
tude
tains."
The Peruvians adored the Supreme Being under

The first
the names of Pachacamac and Viracocha.
of these
signifies
.the universe.
the
Foam
He who
sustains or gives life to
The second has been thought
to
mean
of the sea, suggesting a foreign origin.
Only one temple has been dedicated
to this being,
233
to
which numerous pilgrimages were made by the
Indians from remote parts.
The sun was the
representation
chief
of
Deity.
In honour of the sun were consecrated temples in

every
with numerous altars smoking with burnt-
city,
The moon, the
offerings.
ning, also
had
shrines
their
stars,
and
thunder and
deities
of
ments, mountains, rivers, &c, were invoked.

thing
had
seems
to
who
"
its
mother,
or
spiritual
light-
the
ele-
Every-
essence,
which
correspond to the notions of the Hindus,
assigned to each deity a wife or energy.
The
ritual
of
the
Incas involved a
routine
of
observances as complex and elaborate as ever distin-
guished that of any nation whether Pagan or Christian.
The
sacrifice
with the Peruvians consisted of animals,
grain, flowers,
human
and sweet-scented gums, sometimes of
beings, on
which occasions a child or beautiful
maiden was usually selected."

" In the distribution of bread and wine at the high
festival the
orthodox Spaniards,
who
first
came
into
the country, saw a striking resemblance to the Chris-
communion, and
tian
also in the practice of confession
"
The good fathers were fond of tracing such coincidences, which they considered as the
and penance."
contrivance of Satan,
his
victims
Christianity."
who
thus endeavoured to delude
by counterfeiting the blessed

" Others, in
rites
of
a different vein, imagined
that
they saw in such analogies the evidence that
some
of the primitive teachers of Christianity, perhaps

an apostle himself, had paid a
to these distant
visit
and scattered over them the seeds of
regions,
239
religious
truth."
In
with
similitude
Virgins
the
of
Sun,
their own nuns, they found

who were to be buried alive
caught in the offence of intrigue.
if
The Peruvians were divided

seems to associate their
civilisation
into
castes,
which
with that of India
and they were acquainted with husbandry,
like the
Hindus.
The Mexicans had the
terrible
Huitzilopotchli
a sort of Mars,
of
whose
human hecatombs
"
logy,"
the
far
more
" altars
at
He was
the head of their deities, under the Supreme.
smoked with the blood
in every city of the empire."
interesting personage in their
mytho-
continues Prescott, " was Quetzalcoatl, god of
who, during his residence on
air,
earth, instructed
the natives in the use of metals, in agriculture, and

in the arts of government."
He was
doubtless one of
those benefactors of their species, observes Prescott,
who have been deified by the gratitude of

Under him there were halcyon days, when
"
teemed with
fruits
culture.
He was
principal
deity
and
flowers, without the pain of
compelled
to
posterity.
the earth
abandon
by the wrath
the
country.
of
the
On
the
Mexican Gulf he took leave of his

promising that he and his descendants
would revisit them hereafter." Then, "entering his
shores of
the
followers,
wizard
skiff,
made
of serpents' skins,
he embarked on
240
He
the great ocean for the fabled land of Tlapallan.
was
said to
have been
dark
skin, long
in
tall
stature, with a white
and a flowing beard."
hair,
Mexicans looked confidently
return
the
to
"
of
The
this
benevolent deity."
The Mexicans held that there were three
states
in
The wicked, which were the greater part

of mankind, would have to expiate their sins in a
place of everlasting darkness.
Others, who had died
the future.
of certain diseases, were to have a negative existence
The highest
indolent contentment.
of
who
fell in
the
presence
class,
heroes
battle or in sacrifice, passed at once into

of
the
sun,
whom
they accompanied
with songs and choral dances in his bright progress

After some years their spirits
through the heavens.
animate the clouds and singing birds of beau-
went
to
tiful
plumage, and to revel amidst the rich blossoms
and odours
An
"
of the gardens of Paradise.
may
extraordinary coincidence
Christian
rites
in
children.
The
lips
the
ceremony
and bosom
of
be traced with
naming
their
the infant
were
of
sprinkled with water, and the Lord was implored to
permit the holy drops to wash away the sin that was
given
it
before the foundation of the world, so that
the child might be born anew."
"We
tian
are reminded," remarks Prescott, "of Chris-
morals in more than one
which they used regular forms."

out,
Lord, for ever
"
"
of their prayers, in
"
Wilt Thou blot us
Impart unto
us, out of
Thy

great mercy, the gifts which
receive through our
all
own
we
worthy
to
Keep peace with

God, who sees, will
"
merits."
bear injuries with humility.
are not
241
avenge you."
The most
Prescott,
who
is
striking
in
parallel
looks too curiously on a
" are
Scripture,
woman commits
says
"he
adultery
"
with his eyes."

he adds,
with
the remarkable declaration that
These pure and elevated maxims,"

mixed with others of a puerile or even
brutal character."
Numerous
who superintended
priests
education be-
sides filling the sacerdotal office, choirs, oral traditions,
the ordinances of confession and absolution, hierogly-
phic paintings in the temples, continue the
presented to the Catholic Church.
The
affinities
priests
were
married, but they lived in the stern severity of conventual discipline, suggestive of the asceticism enjoined
to
Brahmins, who were
the
monks, ordered
and once
like
the Buddhist
at night, they attended at prayers.
dured frequent
in
not,
Thrice during the day,
to celibacy.
vigils, fastings,
They en-
penances, flagellations
which blood was drawn, and piercing the body with

Ablutions were ordained as
the thorns of the aloe.

in
India.
legal
was a
There
Priestly absolution
punishment of
priestesses, to
was entrusted.
of
parochial
clergy.
in place of the
offences, suggesting our mediaeval
privilege of sanctuary
were
sort
was even received

and
whom
The
benefit of clergy.
the
There
education of the girls
boys were drilled in monastic
242
dowed with
some
of
The temples were en-
and great decorum.
discipline
There were religious processions,
lands.
which were bright and cheerful
fetes, in
which
garlands were carried and offerings of fruits were made.
The temples seem
to
have assumed a form suggestive
of our old pictures of the
an ascent wound
old
Temple
were
this
images, and altars " with

in the
of Babel, in
which
upwards, encircling the tower to the
On
summit.
flat
Tower
may
of Vesta," or, it
Aryan and modern
the
sanctuaries
with
inextinguishable as those
fires
be added, upon the
They had
Parsi altars.
calen-
dars of their sacred days.
Altogether there appear to be suggestions of both
Brahminism and
The human
Christianity.
sacrifices
are in accord with those practised, probably, in very
ancient times in India, and amongst the ruder Aryans

of
Europe
the spread of Christianity and the sub-
till
stitution of the belief in the
One Human and Divine
Sacrifice.
It
must be remembered that the
posed to
bliss.
sacrificed
were sup-
obtain immediate entrance upon the realms
of
For some time before the sacrifice the victim

to live in the most indulgent luxury,
was permitted
and perhaps a consciousness
of the dignity of the des-
tiny consoled for the deprivation of
life.
AccordinQ- to Prescott, the Mexicans seem to have
fastened
In
avidity.
deemer
upon
is
this
horrible rite
with
extraordinary
Christianity the flesh of the sacrificed
figuratively eaten in
commemoration.
Ee-
They

actually fed
mony, not
of
upon
in
their victims as a part of the cere-
any barbarous
fashion, but in the course
He
an elaborate and delicious banquet.
human
sacrifices
243
says that
were adopted by the Azteks early in
the fourteenth century of our era, about two hundred
They even
years before their conquest.
many
children.
for a
sacrificed as
as
20,000 victims in a year men, women, and

They are described as luxuriantly treated
time
and, as has been observed, this death, like
the Christian martyrdom, opened Paradise.
much
Perhaps the Mexicans would have been as

horrified at being informed of the burnings
land for refusing to receive
Church,
as
and tortures
and the martyrdoms in our own
of the Inquisition,
ourselves
at
all
the
discovering
dogmas
their
of
the
religious
bloodshed.
The inhabitants
of India
and China, Brahmins and
Buddhists, seem to have been far superior in toleration,
and what we now consider the Christian quality

Europe,
of gentleness, to the inhabitants of
few centuries, and
may have
There
lowers of
the
to those of the old "
been
local
Prayerful and
till
the last
New
"World."
wars between the

the
Enlightened
fol-
but
there seems to be no evidence of any general persecution,
and the principles and
edicts
of both religions
enjoin respect for the religious professions of others.
Only in the worship
of the
benign Dourga or Parvati,
under the destroying aspect of Kali, does bloodshedding
seem
to
be offered to Deity.
As has been shown by
244
may have
Dr. Hunter in his work on Orissa, there
been religious suicides at Jacjanatha as there are in

Ganges, but the religion of
the
world
"
the " Lord of the
absolutely forbids any shedding of blood before
him.
CHAPTEE
serpent
typifies
XLVII.
Time with the Azteks, which
cor-
responds with the Hindu serpent of Eternity.
venerated a goddess,
whom
they called
" who had bequeathed

women as the tribute of
"
They
Our Lady
and Mother,"
the sufferings of
childbirth to
death,
sin
came
by
whom
She was usually represented
into the world."
with a serpent near her, and her name (Cioacoatl)

signified
the
"
serpent-woman."
was the
It
good
deity, mentioned in the last chapter (Quetzalcoatl),
had established
of
ecclesiastical
confession and penance, &c, and
nated knowledge
cording to
Prescott.
of
of
who had
antiquaries
of
Mexico,
says
him
him a
the orthodox have identified
with the Apostle Thomas
others have seen in
Even the
type of the Founder of Christianity.
was found on the temples

tians
dissemi-
the Trinity and Incarnation, ac-
the curious
Some
who
communities, the rules
of
Anahuac
cross
and the Chris-
were astonished at beholding in the religious
service an
image
of the tutelary deity,
compounded
of
245
maize mixed with blood, distributed amongst the people.
As they
ate
it,
they exhibited signs of humiliation
and sorrow, and declared that
it
was the
flesh of the
Deity.
Prescott remarks that Mr. Stephens considered that
the celebrated Cozumel cross, which claims the credit

of having
been originally worshipped by the natives
themselves, was a
mere Spanish
but that the
cross,
existence of the worship does not depend
spurious monuments.
an object
of
"
The existence
worship in the
upon such
of the
New World
cross as
rests
on the
unequivocal testimony of the Spanish discoverers themselves."
In the word from which Mexico
is
analogy with Christianity appears.
which
is
derived, another
The word from
derived the epithet anointed,
is
thought to
be nearly identical with Mesi or Mexi, which was the
name
of the chief
who was
said to
have led the Azteks
on the plains of Anahuac.
The
tradition of the
Americans.
Deluge existed amongst the old
Coxcox and
his wife survived the general
destruction of beings, and are depicted in a boat float-
ing at the foot of a mountain, with a dove holding in

his
mouth the hieroglyphic emblem
one account the boat
vulture
is
is
described as
of languages.
filled
In
with animals.
sent forth to look for the land, but does
not return.
The
a twig in his
mouth.
little
humming-bird comes back with
Between Vera Cruz and the
capital,
says Prescott,
246
stands the venerable relic called the Temple of Cholula.

It
a pyramidal mound, built or rather cased with
is
The popular
by
tradition of the natives
a family of giants
and designed
dation,
180
of nearly
unburnt brick, rising to the height
is
that
who had escaped
it
feet.
was erected
the great inun-
to raise the building to the clouds
but the gods, offended with their presumption, sent

fires
to
from heaven on the pyramid, and compelled them
abandon the attempt.
partial coincidence
of
Prescott observes that the
legend with the
this
Hebrew
account of the Tower of Babel, received also by other

nations of the East, cannot be denied.
sufficient evidence for
There seems
these
ancient
American
supposing that
had
civilisations
from or been in communication with Asia.
emanated
It does
not appear to have been asserted that they can have
come from the Eoman Empire,

European civilisation westwards.
Prescott observes
that
or
any previous
the coincidences are suffi-
ciently strong to authorise a belief that the civilisation

of
Anahuac was
are such
as
in
some degree influenced by that
of
And, secondly, that the discrepancies
Eastern Asia.
to
carry back the communication to a
very remote period, so that a peculiar and indigenous

civilisation
in
his
"
had time
Manual
of
to
the
grow.
Dr. Zerffi observes,
Historical
Development of
Art," that there are analogies between East
which
chance.
are
too
striking
to
be
attributed
and West
to
mere
CHAPTER
In more or
XLVIII.
less spiritual or material
forms the Divine
seems to have been worshipped as present to

the
human form throughout
man
in
the great old civilisations.
Noble prototypes of the Revelation in Judaea seem
to
The termination of the allegories
have been afforded.

of the "
247
Great Bharata
"
poem, in the illustration of the
unsatisfactory nature of all earthly aspirations even
when crowned with success, seems in perfect conFrom the

sonance with much of Christian teaching.
period of this poem in the classical Sanscrit, the march
of spiritual
thought
may
be reviewed nearer to
its
apparent starting-point.
In the
of the
"
Aitareya Aranyaca
addenda
to the
hymns
"
or " Forest " portion
of the " Praise " Veda, so
called because intended to be studied
the forest,
we have an
sented to
us.
solemn
and
He
religious
priests
are
is
ceremony
at
present.
his
which both divine beings
The
whole
assemblage,
sudden appearance,
faints,
revived at the intercession of Brahma, and in-
structed in holy science.

in the climate of
India,
It
must be remembered that
amid the bounty of nature
the plantains, roots, hot peppers, &c, hermit
be
in
descends in Mahidasa during a
alarmed or astounded at
but
by hermits
incarnation of Narayana pre-
easily
sustained.
The meditative
life
pursued under most favourable conditions.
life
in
could
has been
243
In the Yajurveda, according to Colebrooke's translation, in vol.
"Asiatic Researches,"
of
vii.
Varuna (Eegent
the offspring of
proached his father, saying,
Bhrigu,
Ocean), ap-
of the
Venerable
'
"
make
(father),
Varuna replied, That whence

that
by which they live when
all beings are produced,
born, that towards which they tend, and that into
known
me
to
which they
He
Brahme.'
do thou seek
pass,
meditated
'
in
that
(for),
Brahme.'
is
devout contemplation, and having
thought profoundly, he recognised food (or body) to

Then,
be Brahme for all, when born, live by food.
;
having deeply meditated, he discovered breath (or

to be
Brahme
for all
life)
these beings are indeed produced
when born they live by breath. Then he

for all these beings
intellect to be Brahme
from breath
discovered
are produced
from
they live by
intellect,
intellect, &e.
Then he thought deeply, and knew Ananda (felicity)

for all these things are produced from
to be Brahme
;
pleasure
when born they
wards happiness, they pass

In the Yajur Veda,
cause)
the sun
"
also,
so
joy, they
by
tend
to-
into felicity."
is air,
Fire
so
is
is
that (original
moon
the
such,
that pure Brahme, and those waters, and that
too, is
Lord
is that,
live
of
creatures.
Moments (and
other measures of
time) proceeded from the effulgent person,
can apprehend
(as
an object
around, or in the midst.

oreat there
is
no image
various holy strains.
whom
of perception)
Of him whose glory

he
it is
Even he
who
is
is
none
above,
is
so
celebrated in
the god
who
per-

vades
is
produced
became
by
he
is
womb, he who
;
he, severally
all
beings
body composed
the first-born
is
who
will be
all
per-
nothing was born, and
who
himself the Lord of creatures, with
of) sixteen
members, being delighted
the moon, and
fire).
oblations but to
him who made the
who
he
is
who
produced the three luminaries (the sun,
creation,
earth,
it
born, and he
and universally with
whom
He, prior to
sons.
(a
regions
all
in the
249
To what God should we
fixed the solar orb
and
offer
sky and solid
fluid
celestial abode,
and
who formed drops (of rain) in the atmosphere ? To

what God should we offer oblations but to him whom
heaven and earth mentally contemplate, while they are
strengthened and embellished by offerings, and illumi-
nated by the sun risen above them
views that mysterious (being), in
The wise man
whom
the universe
perpetually exists, resting on that sole support.
him
this (world) is absorbed,
creatures he
is
it
issues
In
;
in
twined and wove, with various forms

Let the wise
of existence.
from him
man who
is
conversant
with the import of revelation promptly celebrate that
immortal being, the mysterious, existing, and various

abode
he who knows
its
three states
(its
creation,
continuance, and destruction), which are involved in
mystery,
whom
is
father of the father.
That (Brahme), in
the gods attain immortality, while they abide in
the third (or celestial) region,
is
our venerable parent,
and the providence which governs
all
worlds
know-
ing the elements, discovering the worlds, recognising
250
regions and quarters (to be him), and worshipping
all
(speech or revelation
who
the first-born, the votary-
is)
pervades the animating spirit of solemn sacrifice by
means of
and sky
(his
own)
Recognising heaven, earth,
soul.
be the same), he views that being
(to
becomes that
and
being,
completing the broad web of the solemn

Colebrooke observes,
"
he
with him on
identified
is
sacrifice."
The Aswa-medha and Purus-
hamed'ha, celebrated in the manner directed in this

Veda, are not really
the
first
sacrifices of horses
of these ceremonies
609 animals
kinds, wild
and domestic, including
reptiles, are
made
posts,
fast,
and the wild
and men.
In
of prescribed
birds,
fish,
and
the tame ones to twenty-one
in the intervals
between the
pillars.
After certain prayers have been recited the victims are

let loose
without injury.
In the other, 185
men
of
various specified tribes, characters, and professions are
bound
to eleven posts,
and
after the
the allegorical immolation of

cited, these
human
hymn
concerning
Narayana has been
re-
victims are liberated unhurt, and
oblations of butter are
made
to the sacrificial fire."
251
CHAPTER XLIX.
Colebrooke "remarks that
principal
" the practice of
reading the
modes tends to preCopies prepared for such modes of
Vedas
in superstitious
serve the text.
recital are dispersed
throughout India.
Interpolations
and forgeries have become impracticable since
The explanatory
was introduced.
this usage
table of contents,
belonging to the several Vedas, also tends to ensure

the purity of the text, since the subject and length of
each passage are therein specified.

is
itself
from alteration by more than one
secured
exposition of
grounded opinion
is
it
It is a received
meaning.
its
The index again

and well-
of the learned in India that
no book
altogether safe from changes and interpolations till

has been commented. When once a gloss has been
published
perpetual commentary
general,
can
no fabrication
explains
succeed,
because
the
notices every passage and, in
every
word.
Commentaries
exist
whose genuineness is secured by a crowd of annotators,

whose works expound every passage in the original
gloss, and whose annotations are again interpreted by
others.
The Nirukta, with
its
copious commentaries
on the obsolete words and passages of Scripture, further

authenticates the accuracy of the text.
The grammar
of the Sanscrit language contained rules applicable
the anomalies of the ancient dialect.
works
illustrate
to
Philosophical
and support every position advanced in
252
them by ample quotations from the Vedas. Numerous

collections of aphorisms by ancient authors on religious ceremonies contain, in every line, references to
Eituals are extant, not only
passages of the Vedas.

for
ceremonies which are constantly observed, but for
others which are rarely practised, and even for such as
have been long disused.
In
the passages taken
all,
from the Vedas agree with the text of the general
The Indian
compilation.
to the Vedas. especially
frequently refer
legislators
on those points
of
law which
concern religion.
So writers on ethics draw
tions from them.
In astronomy, so
to
illustra-
far as it relates
the calendar, in medicine, in the writings of the
Vedas
the
heretical
sects,
numerous
citations, in
appear,
still
in
fact,
in
thousands of volumes, dispersed
through Hindustan and the Deccan."

In the
first
of the four, the
Eig Veda or
" Praise
Book of Knowledge," Agni, the Fire of the Altar, as

personified,
is
said to
Patriarch Angiras
first
self-existent
sacrificer,
who
have been born as the Saint or
Man.
is
Manu,
also as
to
He
arouse the
reception of the offerings.
He
is
guardian of the domestic hearth.
who
is
deities
to
young and
He
is
the
material
fire
in actual fact
S.
due
wise, the
the purifier,
spiritually to protect his votaries, just
from numerous
M.
or the personified,
constantly styled the
is
as
the
warms, comforts, and defends
ills.
A. Langlois,
who has been mentioned
as the
translator of the Harivansa, or history of the family

hymns
of Hari Krishna, has also translated the
They
Eig Yeda.
volumes
Weber
of
253
of the
the greater part of four octavo
fill
And
about 500 pages each.
as Professor
has remarked, the songs dedicated to Agni are
They seem
the most numerous therein.
to
suggest
an archaic or prototypical Christianity, in which a

humanity,
is
acquisition
of
mediatorial divine being, present with
besought to protect and aid in
the
which may be
material blessings,
the prayers in our psalms.
spiritualised
like
He is the light of the

man for communicathe universe.
And he
world, realised and possessed by

tion with the great light of
not only
of that
is
light,
but he seems to
It is not
but
too superstitious, but
hymn
it
is
urged and repeated with
of Indian religious zeal,
the fervour
after
which
is
appear, which would
certainly have been considered most holy
Hebrew
if
Scriptures.
which may be
certainly in earnest.
hymn expressions
prototypical of Christ
our
the
merely once incidentally or accidentally that
this idea appears,
In
be, in
the omnipotent light.
accretion of ideas, held to be
and
essentially
they had been found amongst

It is altogether very difficult
to conceive that this fervent, beautiful,
and apparently
pure adoration of Agni can have had no
effect upon the

Western Aryan world, with which we know that there
was much commercial intercourse by
mencement
of our era.
And what
Schliemann has exhumed from

ground of what he held
to
be the
at least the
do we find
fifty
feet
site of
comDr.
below the
ancient Troy,
254
number
be
of relics
marked with the old
fire
This suastika (or in Greek ev
suastika.
cross, the
it
with you) assumes the shape of a sort of
well
Maltese cross (amongst numerous cruciform
and
Let
ecrri,
it is
common symbol
figures),
Com-
in ancient India.
bined with the whole evidence of the question,
it
may
be assumed as an historical fact that the religion of

the Agni (or
Holy
Fire
upon
earth)
Hence has come the
assertion of
in existence
Indo- Aryan altars

the light of the
This
John.
ideas, or
of our era.
M. Emile Burnouf
his " Sciences des Eeligions," that the
St.
was
Minor long before the beginning
in Asia
Agni-deva
is
connected with the Agnus-Dci,
New
Jerusalem in the Revelation of
may have come
by word-derivation.
through interchange of
It is curious that
in his " Industrial Arts of India," Sir George
gives
in
of the
when,
Birdwood
an illustration of Agni, he appears to be de-
picted as riding on
which
a ram,
also
seems to be
connected with Buddha the Enlightened.
We
become familiar with the Lamb, as expressed

John
29, and associated with Isaiah liii. 7.
have
in
St.
It is
i.
perhaps safer to suppose that the similarity existing

in sound
between the Sanscrit Agni and the Latin
Agnus
merely accidental.
is
But there are indubi-
tably links between the sacrifice on the cross of the
Agnus Dei and the symbolism

curious that
Vedas the
the latter
sacrificer,
the sacrificed.
is
of the Agni.
constantly styled
and that he
The symbol
of
also
It is
in
the
seems to become
the Agni, in the form

of a cross,
in
the
of
In
platform.
hole
had marks
down
nailing
its
which
of
nails in
woodwork
constitute a firm
centre was a hollow to signify the
the
churning-stick
engender the divine spark.

called, in the
to represent the
it
to
255
was inserted
This newly born
Veda, the Child of Force.
The
and the two pieces
out of which the
engendered by
is
is
officiating
priest is styled his Father,

fire
fire
to
of
wood,
are
friction,
addressed as the two mothers of the infant.
CHAPTEE
As
of
L.
the sacrificial books of these Vedas adapt

the
hymnal portion
ceremonials, the
portion
in
hymns
of the " Praise "
Veda
much
to their
that book form the
main
existence of the ancient devotional
out-
of
pourings of our Indo-European or Aryan race.
Though
the material blessings seem to be more frequently the

object of the devout prayers than spiritual satisfyings,
still
the aspiration of heavenly happiness does appear.
With
this is associated the
(devas)
in
merging
of all the deities
one Supreme Spirit of the universe, as
inculcated in the later religious books.
remembered that many
And
are for temporal benefits.
Testament
objects for
It
must be
of the prayers in our Liturgy
certainly in the
Old
temporal advantages are prominently the
which devotion
is
paid to the Almighty.
256
The hymns
of
the " Praise
Veda "
which ideas
in
emblematical or prototypical of Christianity especially

appear are those addressed to this Divine Fire of the
The
Altar.
first
hymn
in the collection
from M. Langlois' translation.
H. H. Wilson
Professor
Hymns
will be
is
subjoined
translated by
found in Appendix
VI.:
Agni.
Je chante Agni, le dieu, pretre et pontife, le magnifique

(Agni) heraut du sacrifice.
2. Qu'Agni, digne d'etre chante par les Richis, anciens et nou1.
veaux, rassemble ici les dieux.

3. Que par Agni (l'homnie) obtient une fortune sans cessey
croissante (une fortune) glorieuse, et soutenue par une nombreusej
liguee.
4.
Agni, l'offrande pure tu enveloppes de toute part, s'eleve
jusqu'aux dieux.
5.
Qu'avec
sacrificateur,
si
les autres dieux vienne vers nous Agni, le dieu

qui jouit a la sagesse des ceuvres, la verite et l'eclatj
varie de la gloire.
6.
Agni,
toi
qui portes
le"
nom
dAngiras, bien que tu feras a

1
ton serviteur (par le fruit de sa reconnaissance), tourner a son

avantage.
7.
Agni, cliaque jour, soir et matin nous venous vers toi, ap-j
rhommage de notre priere.
(A toi), gardien brillant de nos offrandes, splendeur du
portant
8.
k toi qui grandis au sein du foyer que tu habites.

Viens a nous, Agni, avec la bonte qu'un pere a pour son
sacrifice
9.
enfant
sois
notre ami, notre bienfaiteur.
the collection commences, so
As
hymn
1
to this
Holy Fire
it
concludes with a
or Light.
Here appears the incarnation as Angiras, first of

the same derivation as Agni, from Ag, to shine.
is of
sages.
The name
A
1.
Dans
la
257
Agni.
Agni, maltre genereux, tu te mules a tout ce qui existe.

demeure de i'offiande tu allumes tes feux. Apporte nous
la ricbesse.
Venez, rassemblez vous pour vous entendre. Que vos ames

comprennent. C'est en unissant que les antiques devas ont
obtenu leur part (de l'immortalite).
3. Les (mortels) ici assembles n'ont qu'une priere, un vceu, une
pensee, une anie.
J'offre dans ce sacrifice votre priere et votre
bolocauste presented par une intention commune.
2.
se
4.
Que vos
volontes et vos coeurs soient d'aceord, que vos ames
s'entendent, et le bonheur est a vous.
hymn
In the following
the incarnation idea seems
again distinctly apparent
A
Section
r.
1,
Agni.
Lecture
2,
Hymn
12.
Agni, tu as ete l'antique Richi Angiras, dieu, tu es l'heureux
ami des autres
dieux.
Agni, tu es pour nous un defenseur prudent et un pere ;

a toi nous devons la victoire, nous sommes ta famille. En toi
10.
sont les pieux par centaines, par milliers, (Dieu) invincible, tu

es la force des beros et le gardien des sacrifices.
11. Agni, alors que tu pris une forme bumaine, pour le bien
de l'humanite, les devas te donnerent comme general a, Nalioucha.
Quand le fils de notre (premier) pere naquit, ce sont eux aussi qui
commander aux enl'ants de Manou.

nous avons commis une faute, si nous avons
marcbe loin de toi, pardonne nous. Tu es un parent, un pere,
choisirent Ila pour
16.
Agni,
si
un defenseur
prevovant.
En
faveur des mortels qui offrent le
soma tu apparais pour accomplir
le sacrifice.
Agni, toi qui fus Angiras, (dieu), saint, viens en ces lieux
avec ces sentiments qu'avaient autrefois Manou, Angiras, Yayati
17.
et les anciens.
Agni
is
addressed
as
Djatavedas (him in
whom
253
wisdom
is
He
inborn).
is
said to be honoured, the
divine messenger, our refuge, the friend of men.
He
styled the treasure of light, the master of the prayer,
is
the author of the

priest, a divine
sacrifice,
the wise and victorious high
being in the midst of mortals, priest of
humanity, a friend amongst the pious, to be honoured
hymn and
in
and
sacrifice,
He
sacrifice.
is
said to save
by the
wonderful king of nations, and
to be the
supreme sustainer of the world.
A
Section
1.
II nait
Agni.
Lecture
2,
i,
Hymn
7.
sous la forme de Manou, le premier des pontife?,
Agni, sacrificateur de l'ordre des Ouvidjs (a family of saints), oui,

sacrificateur d'un ordre qui nous appartient (i.e., which is in our
nature).
Agissant partout avec empressement, il est pour celui
aime comme un seigneur opulent.

Pontife invincible, il
au foyer du sacrifice ou il s'entoure d'un cordon (lumineux) au foyer du sacrifice.
6. (Dieu) universel, immense, infatigable, et protecteur, il tient
qu'il
s'assoit
(tous les biens) dans sa
main
droite.
Le fortune Agni, place dans sa demeure humaine, est au

milieu des sacrifices comme un monarque desirable; il est au
milieu des sacrifices comme un monarque cheri. Anie de tous
7.
les etres,
meme
connaissant la nature entiere, sacrificateur digne lui
des sacrifices.
Section 2, Lecture
I.
2,
Hymn
5.
Le Dieu, en prenant une forme apparente,
se distingue par
lumineuse, qu'il doit a la Force, dont il est ne.
produit il est fortifie" par la priere, et les voix du sacri-
sa substance
Une
fois
fice, le
soutiennent et l'accompagnent.
Hymn
9.
1.
Priez le
plein de sollicitude,
il
il
vient,
il
(nous) en tend,
s'avance rapidement.
Pour
il
s'avance,
lui sont les

benedictions, pour lui les offrandes.
de la
force,
II est le
259
maitre d'abondance,
de la splendeur.
3. II nous donne
d'uu nourisson.
un
secours infaillible,
il
nous airae de l'amour
Agni.
Section 7, Lecture 8,
Hymn
3.
Agni, (surnomme) Djatavedas, ne une premiere fois dans le

ciel, une seconde fois dans (l'air) qui nous environne, une troisieme au milieu des ondes, d'ou il encliante les mortels. L'homme
pieux allume ses feux perpetuels et le chante.
Agni, nous savons que tu es triple, et place en trois
2.
1.
demeures.
Nous savons
que tu
aussi
liabites
en beaucoup de
lieux.
5. Pere de la ricbesse, gardien de 1' opulence, roi magnifique,
enfant de la Force, depositaire de nos prieres, il conserve les
tresors de Soma (the intoxicating juice of the moon-plant, offered
a sacrifice
as
TAurore.
or
sacrament),
il
s'allume et resplendit devant
Agni, toujours jeune.
Agni.
Section 8, Lecture
1,
Hymn
1.
ne le grand sacrificateur il soutient tout.

Les pretres par leur saintes pratiques, ont fait et arnene,
parmi les enfants de Manou, cet adorable et fortune sacrificateur,
quivient a nous pour diriger nos ceremonies, cet bote des mortels
qui purifie (la terre) et porte nos bolocaustes.
5. Les insenses ont amene le (dieu) sense, le vainqueur des
mondes, le maitre qui soutient le sage, et brise les vi lies (celestes).
lis ont etabli (dans le sacrifice) l'enfant (de l'Arani) pour Stre
1.
11 est
2.
un
un
ricbe tresor
d'hymnes
et
coursier aux poils dores.
He
is
de prieres (ils l'ont lance^)

veut le bien de la terre.
:
comme
II
said to be above us in one of his forms, here
below in another, and in a third in the luminous star.

Generous and brilliant, by his rays he kills the demons.
260
He
He
the only refuge.
is
name
is
represented under one
dead in the Arani, and reviving to
as
means
of the rubbing together of the
wood
and he returns
to life
both Master and
Way
He
is
is
black, white,
and
life
by
two pieces
of
with each new
sacrifice.
His way
of the People.
Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva
red.
are represented as red, black, and white respectively.

Straight
father
is
(i.e.
born amongst the
deities,
abounding in
ocean), Mitra
is
surnamed the Lord
He
He
and presiding over speech.

tures,
him
He
His cuirasse defends humanity.
car.
His
his advance, grand, brilliant, glorious.
the sacrificing priest) has given
cattle.
(who seems
a golden
the
first-
of Increase,
opens to us great pasis
Varuna
(lord of the
have become the Persian
to
Mithras, incarnation or embodiment of the sun).
the antique Agni,
is
Agni.
Section 3, Lecture
1.
Voici le
(Agni).
moment
Apporte
He,
son of heaven and son of earth.
1,
Hymn
d'agiter (l'Arani), le
la reine
23.
moment
du people (lArani,
the
d'enfanter
wood
of the
sacred fig-tree or banian).

2. Le (dieu) qui possede tons les biens est dans les deux pieces
de TAraui
il est comme l'embryon au sein de la mere.
Cet
Agni que chaque jour les enf'ants de Manou, en s'eveillant, doivent honorer avec l'hymne et l'holocauste.
3. (Pretre) intelligent, pouse(la piece superieure) dans la piece
interieure
et qu'a l'instant (lArani) fecondee enfante (le dieu)
qui reniplit tons les vceux. (Cependant) reue sur une poignee
:
(de feuilles) l'etincelle rougeatre a brille, et le

earth) a
4.
paru sur
fils d'lla,
(the
le foyer.
Agni, possesseur de tous
les biens,
nous
te placons sur
PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH AND CULTURE,

]e sein
d'lla,
trone de terre, pour te
sur ton
261
charger de nos
holocaustes.
5.
Prltres pieux, travaillez
a,
produire
veridique, immortel et charmant.
(le
dieu) sage, prudent,
Enfantez Agni,
le
heraut dn
premier des etres adorables.
sacrifice, le
So the
priest, in the sacrifice of the
Mass, in his
prayer of consecration, brings Christ into the elements
on the
7.
II
according to the Church of Eome.
altar,
Agni
est
ne
ses feux. s'animent
est chante par les poetes
sacrifice ce (dieu) adorable,
et
les
fort, sage, bienveillant.
devas out etablis pour
le
qui connait tout, et qui porte l'holo-
causte.
10.
Voila
berceau (yoni), ou, dans
le
brilles apres ta naissance.
placer,
pour
te
Reconnais
le
moment
le,
favorable, tu
Agni,
montrer sensible a nos vceux.
et viens t'y
Les immortels ont
enfante un mortel invincible, iin sauveur, vigoureux, redoutable.
It is said that,
under the name
becomes the great Pastor

happiness
of
the
world.
he
of
Vishnu, Agni
then born for the
is
Adorable author of
life,
guardian of the seasons, he triumphs over the demons.
He
reigns in heaven
and on the
earth,
known
as its
pastor.
CHAPTER
Colebrooke
observes, in his article on the
vol. viii. of " Asiatic
"
LI.
Researches
Vedas
in
"
:
In the last part of the Niructa (of Yaska), which
entirely relates to the deities,
it is
twice asserted that
26 2
there are but three gods
and many passages in the
Vedas support that these intend but one

and
elements
the
sonifying
deity, per-
and peopling
planets,
heaven and the world below with various orders of
He
beings."
quotes from the Niructa, which appears,
many
without doubt, to have been composed

as follows
B.C.,
"
The
only three, whose places are earth,
deities are
the intermediate region, and heaven,
They
and the Sun.
names
of the mysterious
the
Om
syllable
(Paramesthi),
it
Earth,
severally of bhur, bhuvah,
(deity)
them
of
every
intends
and
and Prajapati, the Lord of
him who dwells
appertains to (Brahme)
god, to
viz., Fire,
are pronounced to be (the deities)
swar, called the Vyahritis

creatures, is
centuries
The
collectively.
deity
belongs
it
in the
to
supreme abode
the vast
to
(Deva)
soul.
Other
one,
(Adhyatma) the superintending
deities belonging to those several regions are portions

of
the (three) gods
for
they are variously named or
described on account of their different
but (in fact) there
soul
Sage
of all
the
which
is
beings
only one deity, the Great Soul
is
He
(Mahamatma).
occupations
is
called the Sun, for he
that
(and)
is
declared
is
the
by the
what moves, and of that

The wise call fire, Indra, Mitra,
soul of (jagat)
"
fixed."
and Varuna, &c."
The Gayatri,
faith, is subjoined,
is
Brahminical confession of
or sacred
regarded as the
with
its
emblem
context, in
which the sun
of the divine.

"
This
new and
playful sun
mind
my
this
as a fond
splendid,
excellent praise of thee,
(Pnshan),
by
gratified
man
is
by us
offered
speech
Be
thee.
approach this crawling
seeks a
to
263
May
woman.
that sun
into all
worlds
the adorable light of the
Divine
(Fushan) who contemplates and looks

be our protector.
" Let us meditate
Rider (Savitri)
of food,
we
may
solicit
who should
on
guide our
it
Desirous
intellects.
the gift of the splendid sun (Savitri),
Venerable men,
be studiously worshipped.
guided by the understanding,
salute the
divine sun
with oblations and praise."
translation
" I
Colebrooke's
according to
Speech declares,
literal
range with the Eudras, the Vasus,
the Adityas, and the Visvadevas.
uphold both the
sun and the ocean (Mitra and Varuna), the firmament

I
and both the Aswins (sunbeams).
(the
and
foes)
(of
support the moon (soma), destroyer
sun entitled) Twashtri (divine carpenter), Pushan or
(Indra) and
fire,
Bhaga
(food-giver).
votary
who performs
satisfies
conferer
first
of
grant wealth to
sacrifices,
the
honest
oblations,
offers
and
am
the queen, the
of wealth, the possessor of
knowledge, and
(the
Me, who
deities).
such as merit worship, the gods render uni-
versally
present
beings.
He who
who
knows me
sees,
pronounce.
everywhere,
or
not, is lost
Even
pervader
of
food through me, as he
eats
breathes,
and
who
hears through
hear, then, the
declare this
self,
faith
which
all
who
me, yet
which
is
wor-
264
I make strong whom I

For
holy and wise.
Brahma,
him
make
I
choose
of
foe
Kudra I bend the bow, to slay the demon
Brahma for the people I make war (on their foes),
shipped by gods and men.

;
and
pervade the heaven and earth.
bore the
father on the head of this (universal mind)

origin
is
in the midst of the ocean
and
and therefore do
1 pervade all beings, and touch this heaven with
Originating
form.
I
of
the
Veda
it
only,
worlds,' thus
light,
said
is
He
"Originally this universe was
nothing
He
inactive).
(or
active
else
whatsoever
thought,
'
existed,
create
will
created these various worlds
water,
That 'water'
mortal (beings) and the waters.
the (region) above the heaven which heaven up-
holds
the atmosphere comprises
and the
mortal,
thought,
'
These
region
below
an egg
nostrils
gated."
fire
from the
proceeded.
is
He
Then he drew from the
waters,
worlds.
He
of that being, so contemplated, the
speech
waters.
the
create
are
and framed an embodied being.

and
the earth
light,
is
will
indeed
guardians of worlds.'
as
above this heaven, beyond this earth and what

In the Aitareya Aranya
the great one, that am I."
indeed soul
is
my
beings, I pass like the breeze
all
am
is
my
mouth speech
The
viewed him
mouth opened
issued
nostrils spread
breath passed; from breath
air
from
from the
was propa-
CHAPTER
Haei
or
Krishna
is
LI I.
apparently the Heracles of the
whose adoration seems
Kaseni,
265
to
have been intro-
duced into Etruria in about the twelfth century
e.g.
Mrs. Hamilton Gray observes, in her work on Etruria,
was the first of the

To him were anciently
In Tyre he was styled
that Hercules, the deified man,

series of forty- five Hercules.
erected altars, but no images.
Melek-karta, the king of the

represented with four wings
hand, and a club in the other.

"
city.
His image became
and he held a bow
in
one
Mrs. Gray remarks that
he was worshipped in Tartary as the introducer of
agriculture,
No
and that he was one
of the gods of India."
image was so common as his upon the Etrus-
can terra-cotta or bronzes.
He
became, in Etruscan
mythology, the husband of Minerva, thus constituting

the union of wisdom and strength.
who may have been

deity
terrible
offered.
made
of
the
of
or Kali
liudra
of
To Saturn,
or Time,
equivalent to the destroying and
Mexicans,
the Hindus,
and
human
to
Shiva,
as
victims were
These were afterwards replaced by figures

clay.
Altogether
it
seems reasonable
to
suppose that the great populous territories of Asia

sent forth their superfluous populations in emigrations
which extended eastwards into Central America, and

westwards to the Italian peninsula, and that this
accounts
for
the
affinities.
LanrmaGre and
religion
266
accompanied
alike
Amongst
them.
ancient
these
people in Hari-Krishna, Heracles or Quetzalcoatl was
benefit
humanity,
of
for the
idea of the Divine incarnate
the
presented
that
suffering
our
sufferings
The way was thus prepared

the development of Christianity and the general
might be
for
alleviated.
knowledge of our advanced
civilisation
the
of
last
three centuries.
The
cross
seems
demonstrate the connection
to
between the three great cultured centres

world,
viz.,
of the ancient
the tropical and subtropical Asia, Central
In
America, and the shores of the Mediterranean.

the
The
lire.
cross,
Old America, and in

beneath the
site
of
the Agni in both.
custom of maintaining the
the
three prevailed
perpetual
which has been found
Troy,
is
probably the symbol of
most ancient books
Indo- Aryan ancestors are

of
devotion to the
It is the sign of
benign and mediatorial personification

in the
in
excavations
Dr. Schliemann's
of Deity,
of our race.
now
Our
hymned
collateral
allowed by the science
the age to have had a language more regular and
perfect than the

literature
habits of
Surely
is
life
Greek or Latin.
gradually
being
Their voluminous
revealed
to
us,
with
akin to those of our actual ancestors.
we may be permitted
to
recognise
in
their
faiths prototypes of Christian doctrines, the truths of

all
time, without indignity to our religion.
sacred
fire
of the
Vedas Krishna
1
is
See Appendix VII.
With
the
associated as being

on earth Supreme Being, Agni of the
atmosphere, Narayana,
As has been
who moves upon the waters.

name of Krishna
into
prominence since the
greater
fourteenth century of our era.
to
who seems
to
But Krishna
is
dis-
have become the Hercules
Language and mythology will be found
West.
of the
Indra of the
observed, the actual
may have come

tinctly Hari,
altar,
267
be in evident accordance between ancient India
Phoebus
and the settlements on the Mediterranean.
Apollo would seem to have been derived from Vishnu,
whom
considered as the Sun, or Surya,
wood
represents in the plates of
his "
Sir G. Bird-
Industrial Arts
drawn by a horse with seven

story of Apollo, exiled from
materialistic
The
heads.
heaven and employed as one of the shepherds of
Admetus, seems suggested in a Vedic hymn which
of India " in a chariot
has been quoted, in which Vishnu as Agni becomes

the Great Pastor, born for the happiness of the
world.
vation
Parts of his history certainly suggest a deri-
from
Hari-Krishna
serpent
same legends which appertain
the
;
as,
Python, and his
shepherds
when
to
for instance, the destruction of the
employment amongst the
incarnate upon earth.
In Heracles
the same story appeared under another form.
His
mother was mortal, but he claimed the chief of the

He had a twin
Olympian deities as his father.
brother,
as
Iphiclus,
has
been
observed,
Krishna was accompanied by Bala-Eama.

1
See Appendix VIII.
just
as
Hercules
2 6S
was adored
as
model
spending his whole
and
to
of piety
the benefit
in
life
after his painful death, his
have been carried
to
and
virtue,
as
of humanity
immortal
heaven in a
The
self is
said
chariot, saluted
stories related concerning
by peals
of thunder.
him
seem suggestive, not
also
and
of
those actually nar-
rated of Krishna, but of those from which these latter
were derived.
CHAPTER
In
introduction
his
the East," Professor
to Vol.
Max
LIIL
I.
of " Sacred
Miiller observes
that " it
been stated that the religious notion of sin

altogether in the
hymns
Books
of the Pag- Veda.
gradual growth of the conception of guilt
is
of
has
wanting
Yet the
is
one of
the most interesting lessons which certain passages in
the ancient
hymns
teach us."
Also he remarks that
" it
has been asserted that
Eig Veda Agni, fire, was adored essentially as

earthly sacrificial fire, and net as an elemental force.
in the
How
greatly such an assertion has to be qualified
may
be seen from a more careful translation of the Vedic
hymns."
volume he gives translations of treatises

connected with the Vedas, and styled Upanishads.
These are considered by the Hindus to be revealed
In
this

and there appears
scriptures,
no doubt
be
to
269
that
those which are quoted must be assigned to a period

earlier
than the time of Plato in the West.
The
have
been
appellation
Upanishad
is
considered
to
derived from a root signifying to destroy, as these

writings are intended
to
destroy passion and ignor-
ance.
In the Khandogya Upanishad

universe has
Deity
is
He
truth.
path of the deities
That
for its life.
the Universal
is
is
said, " All this
is
it
Supreme Deity
the
"
Soul."
Those who proceed on that path do not return

life of
man."
The
the path that leads to Brahma.
In this book allusion
made
is
to the
the
to
contest between the divine beings and demons, which

is
so evidently the foundation of the Christian legend

"
which Milton has adopted in the
The
eye, the ear, speech, mind,
the five
men
of
its
"
circumference and the earth
heaven
lid
above.
things are within
all
it is
said that water
effect.
fire,
to the
it."
was the
sou,
it
sons.
are
That chest
The Supreme Being
&c, are the
be
The chest which has the sky
does not decay, for the cpuarters

its
Paradise Lost."
air are said to
Brahma, who are the door-keepers
of the heaven-world.
for
and
is
for
its
its
bottom,
sides,
a treasury,
and
and
In the Aitareya Aranyaka

root-cause, the world the
is
the father, and earth,
Whatever there
belongs to the father also.
is
belonging
Whatever
belongs to the father belongs to the son.
In the Kanshitaki Upanishad the
spirit is described
270
as going after death to heaven,
where
Ageless, and the tree which showers
There
soma-juice, &c.
is
is
OR,
the river called
down
the sacred
Un-
also the palace styled
conquerable, and the hall of Brahma,
named Egoism.
Herein are the throne Perception, the couch Endless

Splendour, &c.
Five hundred celestial
with
ointments,
garlands,
nymphs come
and
and adorn the soul entering heaven with the
adornment of Brahma.
The soul arrives at the lake
perfumes,
garments
fruits,
Ara, and crosses
who come
Then he
alone,
to
it
it
by the mind alone
while those
without knowing the truth are drowned.
crosses also the river Ageless
and there shakes
off his
by the mind
good and
deeds.
evil
His beloved relatives obtain the good, and his unbeloved relatives the
as a
man, driving
evil,
And
which he has done.
in a chariot,
might look at the two
wheels without being touched by them, thus will he

look at day and night, thus at good and evil deeds,
and
at all pairs
He
such as heat and cold, &c.
reaches
throne,
him, and he thinks, as he approaches the

" I
am Brahma."
Verses of the Vedas are
the feet of that throne, and the throne itself

ledge.
Brahma
shall answer, "

It
ap-
Brahma
proaches the hall of Egoism, and the glory of
says to him, "
That which
has beeu remarked
is
Who am
know-
is
"
and he
true."
that
the
doctrine
of
the
metempsychosis does not appear in the actual hymns

of the
Vedas
but in this literature associated with
the Vedas, and also
esteemed as revealed from the

Almighty, we find
for instance,
said,
Three
it.
to
have transgressed and
again as birds, trees, herbs,
been born
re-birth in animal or vegetable
life,
to
Manu
instead of
to be the consequence of very dark or debased

It
branches
the
of
charity are the
The
Khandogya
declared in the
is
three
law.
have
and serpents.
has been shown, the Institutes of
As
people are
of
classes
271
declare
human,
life.
that there are

study,
Sacrifice,
and
first.
offering of the sacred
of clarified butter to the holy
soma
juice, the libation
fire these are the sacri-
with the self-sacrifice of the desires of

The Books of Knowledge are lauded as
fices enjoined,
the
flesh.
nectar,
and hymns
as
spiritual
Worshippers
food.
Agni slowly when
are said to approach
his
name does
not stand at the beginning of the hymn.
the
once
(where Agni's
written
is
it
hymn)
;
name appears
But here
early in
the worshipper obtains his proper food at
he strikes down evil at once.
Five Upanishads are combined in one, called the
Atharva
shiras.
resting, as
Two
of
these are
especially inte-
displaying the continued effort of the old
Bharatau divines to set forth the unity of deity under
The sectaries of the two

principal forms of deity, Vishnu and Shiva, have been
but really they seem to have
styled antagonistic
the apparent polytheism.
been constantly endeavouring, or at all events their

teachers have endeavoured, to demonstrate that the
two are
one.
Here, side by side in one collection,
272
Rudra
Narayan and
the
are
distinctly
deities,
otherwise called Vishnu and
affirm
Upanishads,
(Shiva)
which
equality
this
Shiva
They again appear
their absolute unity.
two
the
of
in
fact,
as links
in
the chain of connection between the Yedas and the

incarnation
Almighty
the
of
in
accounts
of
Krishna.
They are taken from Professor Max Midler's
"
the
Sacred Books of the East."
The Nardyana
Upanishad.
The primeval male Narayana loves the beings

From Narayana were produced
that he has created.
"
the vital breath, the mind, the senses and their organs,
ether,
fire,
air,
water,
and
From Narayana
earth.
were produced Brahma, Eudra, the Prajapatis

"
archs virtually),
the
twelve suns
"
(?
through the twelve signs of the Zodiac),
passage
the
"
the Eudras
and from Narayana were produced the

By Narayana are
all sacred learning.
and Vasavas
Vedas and
things created, preserved, and destroyed, and again
all
Thus
produced.
Brahma, and
is
yana
is all
out
He
all Eishis.
Narayana
Eudra,
is
is
Kala
" (time), "
maculate.
Narayana
first said,
Narayana
He
the
is
is
is
all
Nara-
and im-
one God, and there
certainly Vishnu.
Let
is
Aum
then nama, and afterwards Nardyanaya.
one syllable,
is
unnamable
incomprehensible,
not a second.
is
and
that was or shall be, without parts, with-
passion,
Aum
Narayana
above or below, external or internal
that
be
" (Patri-
live
nama
syllables
is
thus
two
Aum
syllables,
and
Nardyanaya

nama
273
the eight-syllabled invocation from the re-
is
which are obtained long
petition of
wealth, and
life,
progeny, and finally immortality, by participating in
The
the bliss ineffable of God.
syllable
Aum
posed of the letters A, U, and M, and he
is
who
com-
repeats
these letters thus joined together shall be delivered
from
the
Aum
Nardyanaya nama
miseries
transitory
of
ascend
nature
nature
is
Vaiknntha, he
to
(heaven).
the son of Devaki " (Krishna).
Madhusudana
is
in all things, the
for
"
Of divine
"
Of divine
Narayana, who dwelleth
uncaused cause of
Aum, He who
Parabrahm.
of
"
Vaikuntha
to
all
that exists,
committed during the day shall be remitted

all
and
become equal
and
thorough knowledge
shall obtain
TJie
The
deities
the
and there
first
is
five
if
great
by a
observance of the Vedas,
with Karayana."
Rudra Upanishad.
proceeded
and
in the
and
to that acquired
identification
Eudra, and inquired,
am
be forgiven to him
lesser ones, shall
all
his virtue shall
and he
if
nocturnal sin shall be destroyed
mid-day, seated opposite the sun, the
sins,
" I
is
meditates on this portion
the Atharvashiras at night, the sins which he has
morning,
at
which
invocation
whoever repeats, he shall ascend

shall
Hence
existence.
that
is
"
to
Who
the
celestial
sole essence
not anything which
I
is
abode of
"
He replied,
am and shall be,
art thou
distinct
from me."
Having thus spoken he disappeared, and then an unseen

s
274
am
heard saying, " I
voice ivas
he who causeth transi-
I am Brahm
I
am the east and the west, the north and the south
I am space and vacuum ; I am masculine, feminine,
and neuter I am Savitri, the Gayatri, and all sacred
I am the most ancient,
verse
I am the three fires
and yet endureth
toriness,
for ever
most
the
mightiest
am
and the mystic
venerable,
and
space
all
am
the
imperishable and mys-
am
my
pervaded by
is
and
splendour of the four Vedas,
the
syllable
but the revealer of mysteries
terious,
is,
most
the
excellent,
all
essence."
that
This
heard, the deities meditated on Eudra, though unseen,
and
with
then
" Praise
Maheswara
under
who
all
"
hands
uplifted
be unto thee,
(that
is,
who
who
thus
manifested
hast
these different forms)
adored
him
Brahma, Vishnu, and
art
"
;
thyself
praise be unto thee
thee
Uma, Ganesha, and Skanda praise be unto

praise be to thee
who art Indra and Agni
who
art
to
art
planets
Yama
the earth, the sky, and heaven
who
thee
;
art
who
praise be to thee
(king of hell),
who
art
Time, Death, and
and the future
that
the sole and universal essence
thee,
praise be
art immortal, the past, the
present,
is,
sun and moon, the stars and
the
Eudra and Ishana,
praise be to thee
Maheswara,
who
art
all
praise be to
O Mahadeva,
Lord, for thou art Parabrahm, the one and only God."
The Eev. K. M. Banerjea,
in his " Occasional Papers
on Missionary Subjects," observes that

1
See Appendix IX.
"
The funda-

mental principles
275
Christian doctrine in relation to
of
the salvation of the world find a remarkable counter-
Hinduism
part in the Veclic principles of primitive

relation to the destruction of sin,
of the sinner
of
by the
who had
and the redemption
efficacy of sacrifice, itself a figure
Lord and Saviour
Prajapati, the
in
the creation,
of
given Himself up as an offering for that
He
purpose."
holds that
the meaning of Prajapati,
"
an appellative variously described as a Purusha begotten in the beginning, as Viswakarma, the Creator
of
all,
singularly coincides with the meaning of the
name and
He
the historical reality Jesus Christ."
offices of
remarks that
three ways
" sacrifice
path
the right
Eik, Yajus, and
Saman
and that
according to the
has been held in the
(Vedas), to be the good ferry-
we may
ing-boat or raft by which

"
offered
escape from sin,"
the idea of a sacrifice of a
Divine Person
is
not found merely in a single isolated passage, in which

case
it
might have
various passages
been explained away, but
in the different
He
pression in different ways."
Vedas
quotes
it
in
finds ex-
an obscure
Veda which Yaska, the author of

" Viswakarma had, in a
the Nirukta, thus expounds
passage in the Eig
universal
sacrifice,
offered
Brihadaranyaka
sacrifice
Prajapati
Upanishad
(Asvamedha)
himself,
observes that
or
as
the
creatures,
all
eventually offered himself also

:
if
"
;
" Priests
it
and
then
and then from the

solemnise the
were an offering of
universal
Prajapati or Purusha
Godhead."
is
He
spoken of as
276
Atmada
is
of
(giver
immortality
"
;
self),
whose shadow, whose death
that Prajapati not only
means the
lord of creatures, but also "the supporter, feeder, and

deliverer of his creatures
in the
and that the name Jesus,
Hebrew, means the same."
CHAPTEE
The
LIV.
writings of the Fathers of the Church testify very
completely to the extensive prevalence of the doctrine

of the
metempsychosis, for they frequently allude to
and condemn
it
as a heresy.
The
ancient Aryan doctrine appear
to
who
sects
held this
have asserted them-
selves to be true followers of Christ with ardour equal
though the doctrine of the
to that of their opponents,
resurrection of the actual
body
for
reward or punish-
ment became the acknowledged doctrine of the Church.

Origen, however, who flourished in the 3d century A.D.,
avowed
distinctly his acquiescence with this doctrine
of the transmigration of souls.
He
is
esteemed, in a
general way, as an orthodox Father of the Church,

his admirable defence of Christianity having probably
condoned his heterodoxy upon
ments of
his
belief
certainly
this point.
seem
to
The
state-
reveal
ideas
approximating to those of the Buddhists in the East
and Platonists in the West.

In the preface to Pioberts and Donaldson's transla-
:;
277
tion of Origen in the " Ante-Nicene Christian Library,"

it is
"
said
Origen's work,
'
De
Principiis/ exposed
him
to
more
animadversion in the ancient Church than any other.

The points in which he had plainly departed from the
orthodox faith were the four
"
state,
That the souls of men had existed in a previous

and that their imprisonment in material bodies was
st.
which they had then committed.

" 2nd. That the human soul of Christ had also previously existed and been united to the Divine nature
before that incarnation of the Son of God which is
punishment
for sins
related in the Gospels.

" 3rd.
That our material bodies shall be transformed
into absolutely ethereal ones at the resurrection.

" 4th.
That
all
men, and even
devils, shall
be finally
restored through the mediation of Christ."
The Eev. Messrs.

"
lloberts
and Donaldson continue
There seems no adequate reason to doubt his sub-
stantial orthodoxy,
though the bent of
his
mind and
the nature of his studies led him to indulge in
vain and
ever,
unauthorised speculations."
many
Origen, how-
quotes scriptural authority for his contentions
and he was undoubtedly a man of learning and talent.

Of course he was intrinsically not less qualified to comprehend the truth of Christian doctrine than the zealous
Tertullian,
whose anticipations
of
satisfaction
in
be-
holding the torments of the condemned players, &c,
have been quoted.
278
How
"
could his soul or
John the
referring to
images," inquires Origen,
its
Baptist, " be
formed along with
womb, was
John leaping
in his mother's
body who, while lying

filled with the Holy Ghost
his
I allude to
womb, and exulting because of the voice

the salutation of Mary which had come to the ears
in his mother's
of
of his
How
mother Elizabeth.
could his soul and
its
images be formed along with his body who, before he

Some,
was created, is said to be known to God ?
perhaps,
Holy
may
think that
God
fills
individuals with His
and bestows upon them
Spirit,
sanctification, not
on grounds of justice and according to their

but undeservedly.
declaration,
God
'
forbid
with God
'
Is
Or
And how
there
this,
For such
shall
we
God
'
there respect of persons
Is
is
that
escape
unrighteousness with
'
deserts,
who
the defence of those
maintain that souls come into existence with bodies.
Those who have been made the sons of God or

children of the resurrection who have abandoned the
darkness and loved the light

of peace
and
who have become
sons
who, mortifying their members upon earth,
rising above not only their corporeal nature, but
even the uncertain and

itself,
fragile
movements
these have united themselves
made
altogether spiritual, that
spirit
with Him."
they
of the soul
to the Lord,
may
being
be for ever one
This certainly resembles closely the doctrine of the
Bhagavata Purana, &c.

Origen thinks that
human
souls cannot fall so as to
PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH' AND CULTURE.

become animals.
demons, and the
"
Angels may sink
may
latter
rise to
holds those to be wrong
He
be
men
be
to
men
279
or
or angels."
who have quoted
the
speaking of Balaam's ass in proof of the soul which

inhabited
He
it
having been human.
writes that " the necessity of logical reasoning
compels us to understand that rational creatures were

created at the beginning, but that material substance
was separated from them only in thought or underan

they never were without it
standing, and that
incorporeal
life
being a prerogative of the Trinity alone
but that when
blessed beings,
it
the
soul
becomes the servant of
shines in the splendour of celestial
body such
bodies, with the clothing of a spiritual
as
adorns the angels of God, or sons of the resurrection."
The
soul
order,
may
be dragged
"moulded
down
into the crasser
to beings of a lower
and more
In rising to
ditions of a body."
obtain an immortal and incorruptible body.

in
progress from
swallowed up
in
material nature.
solid con-
the divine,
At
the
more refined
the
gradual disappearance
may
length,
death
bodies,
But rational natures, with
it
of
is
the
free will,
movement through the act

These movements may again
of the Lord Himself.
be attended by variety and diversity of bodies, by
may
again be subjected to
which the world

there
may
is
always adorned.
He
holds that
be worlds not exactly similar to our own.
Theophilus of Antioch, bishop in
a.d.
168, exhibits
acquaintance with this doctrine of the metempsychosis.
28o
In book
so
much
iii.
chap.
vii.
"
he says,
And
Plato,
who spoke
the unity of Gocl and of the soul of man,
of
asserting that the soul
is
immortal,
afterwards found,
is
inconsistently with himself, to maintain that
some souls
pass into other men, and that others take their depar-
And
ture into irrational animals."
Pythagoras,
in the last quarter of
must
that " our bodies

fess the
power
of
"
found venting
strongly reprobates
Irenoeus
Lyons
too, is
Him
he observes that
similar nonsense."
He
also.
it
(Bishop of
the second century) says
con-
rise again in the flesh to
that raises
them from the dead."
In his Book against Heresies, he observes that some

heretics declare themselves similar to Jesus, maintain-
ing " that things are evil and good simply in virtue
of
human
that by
opinion.
means
They deem
it
of transmigration
necessary, therefore,
from body to body,
souls should have experience of every kind of life as
well as every kind of action (unless indeed by a single

incarnation one should be able to prevent any need
for
and some one thing being wanting
others),
their deliverance, they should be compelled once

to
become
incarnate.
They quote
this
text,
thou art with thy adversary in the way, give

gence that thou mayest be delivered from him,
give thee
thee to the
up
'
for
more
While
all dili-
lest
he
to the judge, and the judge surrender
officer,
and he cast thee into prison.
Verily
I say unto you, thou shalt not go out thence until thou
pay the very
last farthing.'
The adversary
lent to the devil, an angel in the world
is
equiva-
who may
shut

up
souls in another
may
Souls
body.
281
be saved by
participating in all actions in one incarnation
or
by
passing from body to body, at length accomplish what
They
requisite.
is
mystery
We
taught them.
by means
hand down the things which
that they requested to
He
Jesus spoke in
that
declare
His disciples and apostles privately, and
to
faith
of
are
saved, indeed (they say),
and love
but
all
other things,
while in their nature indifferent, are reckoned by the

opinion of
men
some good and some
evil,
there being
nothing really evil by nature."
Now
of
this
demonstrates that there were followers
what they asserted
held views absolutely

of the "
to
in
be Christian doctrine,
with those
correspondence
Divine Song," &c. of the Indian
who
epic.
And
their assertion that Christ spoke in a mystery to his

disciples about these matters, certainly is corroborated
by no word
doctrine
of
His having been recorded against this
which must have certainly been
prevalent to suggest His reprobation

of
if
He
sufficiently
disapproved
it.
As
his
own
opinion,
gives each soul
when
the
He had
its
number
own
upon)
enrolled for
again, having their
souls
and
had pleased God.
And
special character.
(fixed
predetermined in His
who have been
declares that "
Ireneeus
own
their
own
completed, which
own
counsel, all those
(eternal) shall rise
and having
spirits,
Those, on
therefore
is
life
bodies,
God
the
in
also their
which
other hand,
they
who
282
away
are
worthy of punishment,
too,
having their own souls and their own bodies, in
shall go
into
it
they,
which they stood apart from the grace of God.
They
from marrying and giving in marriage
shall cease
number
so
mankind, according
to the fore-
ordination of God, being completed,
may
fully realise
the scheme formed of the Father."
St.
that the
have taught
out form,
that,
was
it
of
if
not entirely a spiritual body with-
at
all
events spiritualised
But Irenseus seems
resurrection.
actual material resurrection
mummies,
citated
for
tion of the
conjunction with
judgment
Irenseus
is
This
evil.
in
existed,
the
that the body would be resus-
the soul's residence,
practice in
the
prototype in Egypt.
its
The idea must undoubtedly have

of
in
have held the
to
good or
for
doctrine seems to have had
making
Paul seems to
we
if
consider this
the Egyptian concep-
of the soul, &c.
undoubtedly one of the greatest links
between Christ upon earth and the Church founded

on His
life
and doctrine.
It
is
Irenseus
who
first
quotes the four Gospels by the names of the authors

to
whom
they have since been attributed.
personally acquainted with Polycarp,
conversation with
St.
who
He was
related his
John the Apostle and
who had
seen the Lord.
" related
their sayings,
others
Irenseus says that Polycarp
and what he had heard con-
cerning the Lord, both concerning His miracles and
His doctrine."
Irenseus, therefore, ought to be reliable authority
283
but as the Church accepts his testimony iu respect to

the doctrine of Christ on the strength of this acquaint-
ance with Polycarp, &c,
it
certainly ought equally to
and period
receive his account of the lifetime
He
death of Christ.
is
of the
very strangely at variance
The
with our accepted traditions upon those points.

account given
by Irenseus
of
the
duration
of
the
preaching of our Lord shows that the account which
we now
accept was by no means universally estab-
In
lished in his time.
early
Church,
St.
great pillar
fact, this
Irenseus,
Christian
of
the
Father of the
second century, held that Christ had continued to

preach
till
till
comparatively advanced period of
long after the age at which
alleged that
of
He
we have
quitted the earth.
Irenseus with St.
life,
doctrinally
The acquaintance
John the Apostle, through only
one intervening person,
St. Polycarp,
ought,
might
it
be supposed, to have rendered the Church more dis-
posed to take his words into earnest consideration.

It
"
must be observed, however, that Keim,
in
Jesus of Nazara," argues that the John with
his
whom
Polycarp was personally acquainted was the Presbyter

of
Asia Minor, not the Apostle.
Irenseus
seems to have absolutely believed that

beloved Apostle of the Lord.
it
himself
was the
2S 4
CHAPTER
xxii., sections
In chapter
tion
the works
of
of
LV.
4, 5,
St.
and
6, of
the transla-
by the Revs. A.
Irenaeus
W. H. Eambaut, in Roberts and DonaldChristian Library," Irenoeus reAnte-Nicene

son's
counts various miracles as we have received them.
He relates how Jesus had made the water wine, conRoberts and
"
versed with the Samaritan woman, cured the paralytic

at
the pool, fed the multitude with five loaves, and
He
Lazarus from the dead.
raised
coming
Christ's
to
Bethany
also alludes to
six days before the Pass-
over, then to His proceeding to Jerusalem, eating the

He then
Passover, and suffering on the next day.
account of the preaching
gives the
to
"
which allusion has been made
Being thirty years old when
and then possessing the

to
Jerusalem so that
ledged by
thing
all as
describe
Him
master,
Fur
therefore,
He
also
master, not despising nor
humanity
which
not setting
He had
He came
be properly acknow-
He
as
did not seem one
those
man only in
He appeared
also
our Lord,
to be baptized,
age of a master,
another,
as being
what He was that
He came
He might
a master.
He was
while
full
life of
in the last chapter.
possessed
affirm
who
appearance; but
to be.
the
Being a
age
of
evading any condition
aside
in
appointed for the
Himself that
human
race,
a
of
law
but
sanctifying every age by that period corresponding to

it
which belonged
For
to Himself.
He came
285
to save
all,
I say, who,
of Himself
all through means
infants and
through Him, are born again to God
He therefore
children, boys, youths, and old men.
through every age, becoming an
passed
infants, a
who
to
them an example
mission
being, at the
for
sanctifying those
thus
for children,
child
are of this age
infant
same
time,
of piety, righteousness,
made
and sub-
a youth for youths, becoming an example to
youths, and thus sanctifying
likewise was
He
might be
perfect
of
So
for the Lord.
men, that
old
for
master for
setting forth
respects the
them
man
an old
all,
He
not merely
as
the truth, but also as
regards age, sanctifying at the same time the aged
example
and becoming an
also,
Then, at
last,
He came
to
on to death
them
likewise.
itself,
that
might be the first-born from the dead, that in

things
He might
They, however
(i.e.
all,
and going before
all.
the heretics), tbat they might
establish their false opinions regarding that
written,
'
He
is
preached for one year only, and
then suffered in the twelfth month.
They
are forgetful to their
own
(In speaking
disadvantage,
destroying His whole work, and robbing
age which
able than
which
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,'
maintain that
thus)
all
have the pre-eminence, the Prince
of Life, existing before

"
He
is
any other
during which
Him
of
that
both more necessary and more honour;
also, as
that
more advanced
a teacher,
He
age, I
mean,
excelled all others.
286
For how could

teach
He
have had disciples
And how
could
He
if
did not
He
For when He
He
have taught unless
had reached the age of a master ?

came to be baptized, He had not yet completed His
thirtieth year, but
was beginning
years of age (for thus Luke,

years,
had expressed
it,
ning to be thirty years
baptism
'),
'
be about thirty
to
who had mentioned His
Now
Jesus, as
it
were, begin-
when He came to receive

to these men He preached
old,
and according
only one year, reckoning from His baptism

ing His thirtieth year
a young man, and
advanced
Now
He
complet-
suffered, being in fact still
who had by no means
attained to
age.
that the
stage of early life embraces thirty
first
years, and that this extends onwards to the fortieth year,
every one will admit
year a
man
but from the fortieth and
fiftieth
begins to decline towards old age, which
our Lord possessed while
He
still
fulfilled
the office
of a teacher, even as the Gospel and all the elders

those who were conversant in Asia with
testify
;
John the
disciple of the
Lord (affirming) that John
them that information. And that He

conveyed
remained among them up to the time of Trajan.
Some of them, moreover, saw not only John but the
other apostles also, and heard the very same account
to
from them, and bear testimony

of
the statement.
believe
Whom,
then,
whether such men as
who never saw
as
to
(the validity)
should
we
rather
these, or Ptolemseus,
the apostles, and
who
never, even in

dreams, attained
his
apostle
But,
the
to
besides
this,
trace
slightest
an
of
who
very Jews
those
2S7
then disputed with the Lord Jesus Christ have most

For when the Lord
clearly indicated the same thing.
said to them, "
My
day
Your
and he saw
father
Abraham
and was
it
rejoiced to see
answered
glad," they
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou
Abraham ? " Now such language is fittingly
applied to one who is already past the age of forty,
Him,
"
seen
without having as yet reached his
only thirty years old

"
Thou
But
to
one
who
would unquestionably be
it
art not yet forty
Him
wished to convict
year, yet is
fiftieth
not far from this latter period.
For those who
years old."
of falsehood
is
said,
would certainly
not extend the number of His years far beyond the

age
which
He had
saw
they
they
but
attained,
mentioned a period near His real age.
Whether
the
public
they had truly ascertained this out of

register,
simply made
or
from which they observed that
He
years old,
years of age.
certainly
For
it
He was
was not one

is
conjecture,
about forty
of only thirty
altogether unreasonable to
suppose that they were mistaken by twenty years
when they wished

times of Abraham.
expressed
and
to
prove
Him
younger than the
For what they saw that they also
He whom
they
beheld was
not
flesh
and
being
fifty
mere phantasm, but an actual being

He did not then want much
blood.
of
years old, and, in accordance with that
fact,
of
they said
288
to
viii.
Thou
"
Him,
art not yet fifty years old
and hast Thou seen Abraham
57),
therefore, preach only for one year, nor
in
month
twelfth
the
year
the
of
included between the thirtieth and
never be regarded as one year."

ceeds
woman
the
"
by the issue
afflicted
from
arguments
Eoberts
of
say,
may
blood was a type of
From
folly of heretical
with
Messrs.
respect
to
this
Harvey
here perceive the un-
satisfactory character of tradition
concerned.
the
that
idea
of Irenseus," that "
assertion
remarks that the reader
is
years can
and numbers, &c.
letters
and Donaldson
" extraordinary
fiftieth
period
Irenseus then pro-
and against the
suffering ./Eon,"
John
(St.
He did not,
did He suffer
for the
an heretical
against
argue
to
"
reasonings
where a mere
founded
fact
upon the
evangelical history, as well as from a preponderance

of
external
testimony,
is
it
Lord's ministry extended but
yet here Irenaeus states that
most certain that our

little
it
over three years
included more than
ten years, and appeals to a tradition derived, so he

says,
from those who had conversed with an apostle."
Paley observes in his

chap,
ix.,
when he comes
now opens upon
us
full
"
Evidences of Christianity,"
to Irenseus
and
clear.
"
The evidence
In his youth he
had been a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple

In the time in which he lived he was disof John.
tant not
much more than
tion of the
Gospels
a century from the publica-
in his instruction,
only by one
step separated from the persons of the apostles
289
the testimony which this writer affords to the historical
New
hooks of the
to the titles
Testament, to their authority and
which they
bear, is
express, positive,
Yet we have utterly ignored
exclusive."
and
his statements
as to the duration of Christ's ministry.
CHAPTER
LVI.
East and West had been long in communication

The early Christians
eighteen hundred years ago.
of
eminence did not neglect to study the spiritual
tone of the age in East as well as West.
were impressed with the merits

religion
is
That they
the Brahminical
of
evidenced by the following quotation from
the " Recognitions
" of
the
Roman
Clement, chap. xx.
(taken also from the Rev. Messrs. Roberts and Donaldson, " Ante-Nicene
likewise,
Christian Library
")
"
There
are
amongst the Bactrians in the Indian country,
immense multitudes
of
Brahmans, who also themselves,
from the tradition of their ancestors and peaceful cus-
toms and laws, neither commit murder nor adultery,

nor worship
animal food
idols,
;
are
nor have the practice of eating
never drunk, never do
maliciously, but always fear God.
And
anything
these things,
indeed, they do, though the rest of the Indians
commit
both murders and adulteries, and worship
and are
idols,
drunken, and practise other wickednesses of this

T
sort."
290
Hippolytus
Brahmans
the
also,
the disciple of Ifenaeus, alludes to

their philosophical
to
He
content, their temperance.
and affirm that God
spise death,
who triumphs
captive
their
light,
is
which
and that he
holds
all
men
goes to God.
In the
is
over sensuality
pursuits,
states that they de-
written
"
Miscellanies " of Clement of Alexandria

"
Numa,
Pythagorean, and aided by the precepts of

prohibited from
it
the king of the Romans, was a
making an image
of
God
Moses,
human
in
form, as the best of kings could not be comprehended
but by the mind alone.

in antiquity
over
the
among
nations.
First in its ranks
Thus philosophy
flourished
the barbarians, shedding
Afterwards
it
came
its light
Greece.
to
were the prophets of the Egyptians,
and the Chaldeans
among
the Assyrians,
and the
Druids amongst the Gauls, and the Samanreans amongst

the Bactrians, and the philosophers of the Celts
the
Magi
of the
Persians
who
and
foretold the Saviour's
birth,
and came into the land
of
star.
The Indian gymnosophists
are also in the number,
Judea guided by a
and the other barbarian philosophers.

there are two classes, some of
and others Brahmans.
who
And
them
And
of these
called Sarmanse,
those of the Sarmanse
are called Hylobii neither inhabit cities nor have
roofs over them, but are clothed in the bark of trees,
feed on nuts, and drink water in their hands.

those called Eucratides in the present day, they
not marriage nor begetting of children.
Like
know
Some,
too,
'

of the Indians
obey the precepts of Buddha (Bovrra),
whom, on account
have raised
"
Buddha and
"
remarks that in the " Clementines
Lillie,
Early Buddhism,"
we have
of his extraordinary sagacity, they
to divine honours."
Mr. Arthur
in
his
work on
a theory about Christ
which
quite
is
mysticism of esoteric Vedism and Buddhism.

is said, "
291
the
Christ,
it
has changed His forms and names from the be-
ginning of the world, and so reappeared again and again
world" (Boman Clement, Homilies, chap. 20).
in the
He
also quotes
St.
Augustine, in reference to the
connection between Buddhism and Christianity,

that saint says, " For the thing itself which
called the Christian religion really
ancients, nor
human
to the
in the flesh, from
race until the time that Christ
whence the true
had previously existed began

and
was known
when
now
was wanting at any time from the be-
ginning of the
came
is
religion
to be called
'
which
Christian
this in our clay is the Christian religion, not as
having been wanting in former times, but as having in

later times received this
The
earliest
name"
(Opera, vol.
links in the chain of connection
i.
p.
12).
between the
Indian Scriptures and the later books narrat-
ing the incarnation of Krishna, seem too succinct to
have been mended by any interpolation from a foreign

source.
1
of
If
we
accept the theory of Clement, Krishna,
See Appendix X.
" Buddha and Early Buddhism," by Arthur
Lucknow.
Messrs. Trtibner
&
Co.
Lillie, late
Regiment
292
Buddha, and previous incarnations were manifestations,

suggestions, or prototypes of Christ, with distinct fore-
shadowings of His
and
life
the
of
Eoman
Catholic
doctrine of the immaculate conception of His mother.
The name
of the father of Krishna, as
shown
the mother, also
is
She
divine.
is
in a
Devaki,
previous chapter, has a divine significance.
held to have been
an incarnation of Aditi, who, in the Yedic hymns,

seems identified with the sky, or equivalent to heaven
and
earth,
of Mitra,
account
distinct
Varuna, and other
is
together
and yet
divinities.
She
is
mother
Indeed a mystic
given of the parents, in which they appear
as
incarnations
father, is related to
The idea
or Puranas.
In the
chieftains,
of
deities.
Vasudeva, the
have been born exempt from
who
sin.
from a virgin does not appear to
of birth
have been attributed
cipal
from them.
"
to
Krishna in the Mahabharata
Great Bharata," one of the prinfights
against Krishna's friends,
has been thus miraculously brought into the world.
While
of
virginity has also been assigned to the
Buddha, whose name
is
mother
Maya, curiously coinciding
with Maria, in the "Ancient Book of the Blessed,"
Bhagavat
by
is
said to manifest everything in the world
his association with
personified, or art,
Maya.
(This signifies illusion
from md, which
Maya
Dourga, who
signifies "
measure
"
;
mdtri, "mother.")
is
sometimes identified with
the goddess
is,
under one aspect, as has
1
been shown, the divine virgin Kumari, and she
is
represented, like all the divine beings of the Pantheon,

1
Hence Cape Comorin.

as being a manifestation of the
Mr.
universe.
Lillie observes
Supreme
of
293
Spirit of the
Queen Maya
that
it
has been debated whether she was a virgin at the time
Buddha's
of
and
birth,
she
that, as
without doubt
is
Virgo of the sky, he thinks the question must be
answered in the
" Before
" the
affirmative.
Buddha's
birth,"
Mr.
in
unusual
The king
about to occur.
is
words,
Lillie's
something
queen receives a presentiment that
releases
and gives bountiful presents around
prisoners,
many
;
and
banners, scents, flowers, and parasols are provided in
profusion in the upper rooms of the palace, whither

the
Queen betakes
Lillie
observes
god-man
that
known
is
and the symbol
of
She
herself.
by
guarded
jealously
on a couch
women."
Mr.
shown that the solar

the Eig Veda as Marttanda,
he has
in
lies
innumerable
Marttanda
"
is
the elephant."
In the Chinese and Burmese versions Maya dreams

that Buddha conies down in the form of an elephant.
So in spring, when appeared the constellation Visakha
(April-May), the Bodhisatwa, under the appearance of
young white elephant, entered the right side of his

mother, and she, by means of a dream, was conscious of
a
the fact.
In the garden of her royal father, beneath a
beautiful palasa tree (ficus rdigiosa) the infant
The branches
was born.
down
to salute,
of the
tree,
overshadow the queen.
Buddha
having
"
No
bent
sooner
has the infant touched the earth than a large white

1
"
Buddha and Early Buddhism,"
p.
70.
294
He
springs up.
lotus
upon
sits
it,
and gazes upon
the four cardinal points with the glance of Purusha."
am
" I
my
in
have come
equal.
old age.
"
none
is
my
conquer death, sickness, and
to
have come
he exclaims
last birth,"
subdue the
to
spirit
of evil,
and give peace and joy to the souls tormented in the

These words roll forth with mighty
fire of hell."
through
sound
Then
worlds.
the
all
strains
music are heard, flowers and perfumes
celestial
of
fall
skies, brilliant lights illumine all the worlds,
from the
the blind receive
&c. &c, while the sick are healed,
sight, the hungry are fed, the prisoners released, &c.
&c, and the torments

cease.
Mr.
Lillie
has ably adduced the points of similarity
between the religions
of
remarks that Professor

that
there
Woden
is
but
He
Buddha and Woden.
Max
Miiller ridicules the idea
any connection between Buddha and

on
that,
archaeologist, Professor
view.
those in the hell Avitchi
of
the
hand,
other
great
the
Holmboe, takes up the opposite
He comments upon
resemblance
the
of
the
relic mounds, the symbolism, and mythological conceptions of Northern India and Northern Europe.
The warlike
of Krislmaism,
spirit
precepts
peaceful
of
Northern Europeans
is
Buddhism,
but
the
rather than the
pervade
the
old
Scandinavian Balder
gentle and benignant, and seems to be homogeneous

1
Lillie's "
Buddha and Early Buddhism,"

2
See Appendix XI.
p.
75.

with the divine
men who
what has been termed the
appear in the Old and in
New
man
have
of
The Hiawatha
World.
same character
of the lied Indians presents the
traces of a similar ideal
295
a beneficent
and
superhuman
Southern
amongst the
been discovered
Africans.
Mr.
ritual,
of
Lillie
many
has given
extracts from Buddhist
which demonstrate undeniably that the hopes
conscious
bliss
heaven,
in
and the
an
belief in
actual God, have been great features in that
religion,
it.
As has
Buddha Gaya,
although agnosticism has also existed in
been shown
in
the inscription from
Buddha became associated with Krishna as the

Supreme Being manifested to mankind in many
forms.
Mr. Lillie adduces the inscriptions of Asoka
or Piyadasi, of the third century
B.C.,
and much other

an
clear evidence of the ancient Buddhistic faith in
actual
God and
in a future
life.
The following quotations

his "
" I
differ
Buddha and Early Buddhism
"
:
pray with every variety of prayer for those who
me in creed, that they,

may with me attain unto
with
example,
Delhi
"
are from page 61, &c. of
following after
my
eternal salvation."'
Pillar, Edict vi. (Prinsep).
All the heroism that Piyadasi, the beloved of the
gods, has exhibited
glory brings
is
in
view
little profit, but,
a loss of virtue.
To
toil
of another
life.
Earthly
on the contrary, produces

for
heaven
is
difficult
to
296
peasant and to prince, unless by a supreme
up
gives
"
Rock, Edict No.
all."
May
and happiness in
end
erected for consolation, advantage,
world and the next, and thus
this
time this stupa, will allow
of
King Asoka's
again
ambition
be
this
declare
who
not less
dominion
of
propitiator
believe in God,
is
by
(belief)
declare
obtain
Edict,
"
this
inestimable
moment and
the royal born
may
conversion
increaseth,
Oh
strive
ye
First Separate
treasure."
of
of
Piyadasi
The
the past
have departed under
How
by the conversion of
religion
the
be increased
lowly born
if
Through
religion
thus
by how much (more) through the convic-
the
high
religion increase
God
to
Dhauli (Prinsep).
the same ardent hopes.
tion
and
of obedi-
unto you ye shall not find
Thus spake King Devanampiya
present
the
who
For equal
the
is
prince
the worthy object
such a means of propitiating Heaven.

to
life) is
so
Confess
Heaven.
of
(Isanameva manyata manam)
ence
people to
ideas about God.
longing after the things (of this
disobedience,
laborious
my
Second Separate Edict (Burnouf).
gain heaven."
"Much
" This stiipa (religious
and the next."
mound) has been
would
lie
they (my loving subjects) obtain happiness
in this world
to the
effort
(Burnout).
vii.
born and
their
conversion
Among whomsoever
resteth, verily this is religion."
the
shall
name
of

Thus spake Devanampiya Piyadasi
"
from
to
hour
this very
be preached.
ances, that
297
Wherefore
have caused religious discourses
have appointed religious observ-
mankind, having listened thereto, shall be
brought to follow in the right path, and give glory to

Edict No.
God."
"
vii.
(Prinsep).
In like manner, turning his mind to law in an
establishment of learned men, he called together the
Buddhist priests of Eastern Kalinga, who were settled

there under the ancient kings
...
all
equipages
...
act of
he gives to God."
translation of a defaced inscription on the
devotion
Prinsep'
Khandagiri
Rode, erected by the grandson of Asoka.
By love alone can we conquer wrath, by God alone

The whole world dreads violence.
can we conquer evil.
All men tremble in the presence of death. Do to others
"
that which ye would have

" Kill
"
not
them do
to you.
cause no death.
Say no harsh words
to
thy neighbour.
He
will
reply to thee in the same tone.
"I am injured and provoked.

and plundered
have been beaten
They who speak thus
will never cease
to hate.
"
is
That which can cause hate to cease in the world
not hate, but the absence of hate.

"
The awakened man goes not on revenge, but
rewards with kindness the very being
who
has injured
him, as the sandal tree scents the axe of the
who
fells it,"
woodman
298
CHAPTER
LVII.
The Portuguese found Christians on the Malabar coast

when they arrived in India in the sixteenth century.
But they appear
tarians than to
to
have been more akin
members
They were followers
modern Uni-
to
of our " orthodox " Churches.
of Nestorius,
who was degraded
from the position of Patriarch, and eventually, under
Upper Egypt,
in the
They obeyed the Patriarch
of the
the stigma of heresy, buried in

fifth
century a.d.
In the beginning of the six-
Nestorian sect in Syria.
teenth century they had a hundred churches in the

countries subject to the Travancore and Cochin Rajahs.
And
in
at the time
vol.
vii.
when the account
numbered about 150,000.
Thome
tians
of
them was written
"Asiatic Researches" (a.d.
Christians, Nestorians, Syrians or
by the Portuguese.
named Nazaranee
1790), they
They were
By
St.
Malabar Chris-
the Hindus they were
They have
Surianee Mapila.
or
styled
been supposed to have arrived during the persecution

of the Nestorians
under Theodosius in the
They used the Syrian

sacred
century.
them observed a similar mode

the Brahmins but they seem mainly to have
rites.
of life to
Many
fifth
or Chaldean language in their
of
followed trade or husbandry, and they wore swords and

targets.
They
rejected the Divine nature of Christ
the Virgin
Mary only
and called
the mother of Christ and not of

They
God.
also maintained that the
299
Holy Ghost pro-
ceeded only from the Father, not from the Father and
They allowed no images
Son.
held
three
Orders
sacraments
They
only the cross.
baptism,
the eucharist,
and
and they would not admit the doctrines
They conceived
transubstantiation or purgatory.
saints
were kept, neither in heaven nor
third,
place, till the
were permitted
day
of
that
but in a
hell,
judgment.
Their priests
to marry, at least once.
Their Sunday
of
lasted from the Saturday evening vespers
till
the
first
matins of Sunday, and after sunrise they might work

again.
The Portuguese endeavoured to convert them to

Romanism, and many, in appearance, became united
with the Roman Church. But thirty-two churches,
called Schismatic Syrians, still remained.
The old St.
Thome
Christians considered themselves as under the
Rajahs of the different
districts in
which they
seems evident, at
all events,
that
It
it
lived.
was not from
these Malabar Christians that the doctrine of the In-
carnation in Krishnaism was derived, in those points
which
in
it
presents
analogies
to
our
Christian
doctrine.
A
lias
curious story exists in the Mahabharata, which
no actual resemblance
cross,
but
it
to that of the death
It is related in explanation
of the reason
the king of death, had been

incarnate
on the
presents a strange suggestiveness of
upon the
earth.
it.
why Yama,
compelled to become
3oo
"
There was an illustrious Brahmin, named Man-
who was
davya,
with
mained
in
the
and
arms elevated
a tree, with his
enchained
the
in
in his
This great ascetic re-
truth.
at the foot of
air,
He was immoveable
duties.
all religious
of penitence
life
and acquainted
of constancy,
full
vow
of
Some
silence.
robbers came with a great booty, and being pursued

closely
by the
they concealed their booty in
police,
When
the ascetic's hermitage.
the troops in pursuit
man
arrived, they proceeded to interrogate the
rich
They inquired what road the thieves
in penitence.'
had taken
'
but he would not answer a single word,
Then the
good or bad.
police,
having searched the
hermitage, found the brigands hidden there, and their
The anchorite, suspected
booty.
in
the
before
being concerned
raised
it
rest,
conveyed
The
and condemned to death.
him upon a stake, and after they had
king,
soldiers fixed
to
of
the robbery, was bound with the
up, they collected the booty,
The
the palace.
just
time upon the stake,
and returned
man remained
still
preserving the
for
a long-
breath of
His misfortune caused the saints and anchorites
life.
who were deeply
to
assemble from
at
beholding this most worthy
stake,
formed
all
parts,
afflicted
man affixed to the

By night, trans-
tormented by such torture.

to
Brahmin.
birds,
They
they flew together to the impaled

said that they desired to learn
what
crime had brought him to the frightful punishment of

the stake.
He
replied,
'
I will
go to the king of the

dead to become informed of this crime,
not;
it is
upon
me.'
he,
no
other, that inflicts
many
"After
for I
301
know
it
chastisement
this
days the soldiers announced to the
king what had occurred, and the monarch proceeded

deliberate with
to
demand pardon
upon the
his ministers,
of
stake.
most
most
this
'
excellent
and then came to
beseech
you
to
saints,'
said
the
of
man
virtuous
fixed
me,
pardon
king,
'
for
offence which I have committed towards thee,
this
in ignorance
and
folly
have no animosity towards,
me.'
At
the
him, and
these words the anchorite pardoned
had the saint lowered, and would have
king
pulled out the terrible stake, but as

extricated,
he had
cut
it
At
off.
could not be
it
the same instant as
the stake was severed, the hermit uttered his last sigh.
He had
worlds,
conquered by this torturing

i.e.,
heaven, earth, and
He
earnestly covet.
worlds under the
celebrated
is
name
hell,
trial
throughout
Animandavya.
of
the
palace
the
to
of
so
the
This Brah-
man, who in his inner soul beheld the universal

then descended
the
all
which others
Yama.
soul,
He saw
king of the dead seated on his throne, and he
addressed to
him
these words
1 committed, for the
such a recompense
truth, for
tence."
Let
you are aware
Yama
of
fruit
replied,
"
of
"
What
evil
deed have
which I have merited
me
forthwith
the power of
When
young
know
my
child
the
peni-
you
3 o2
a needle pierce the tail of a grasshopper
made
punishment was
"
You have
woman.
the
fruits
of
is
Animandavya,
this limit in the
works
"
your
for
and in conse-
born as man, the son of a slave
shall be
There
"
!
heavy punishment
inflicted
replied
slight fault,"
quence you
in consequence of this action
till
world for receiving

fourteen they
the age of
shall not be accounted as sin, but after that period

evil shall be
accounted sin whenever worked."
Brahman's forgiveness
him
this cruel death,
of those
and
who had
In the
inflicted
upon
in his descent to hell after-
wards, there seems to appear not a similitude, perhaps,
but a suggestiveness of incidents attending the crucifixion

7,
is
and in
amongst the robbers,
his silence
recalled to
mind
was afflicted, yet He

was numbered with the
"
He was
Isa.
liii.
oppressed, and
He
He
opened not His mouth."
"
But the story
transgressors."
bears strong signs of Indian originality in respect to
the ascetic's vow, and the idea of the incarnation of
Yama.
It
seems to
testify to the
ancient appreciation of
the Christian precepts of patience, long-suffering, and

forgiveness,
and the King of death
the saint.
The name Animandavya
had been impaled.
is
conquered by
signifies that
he

CHAPTEE
The
303
LVITI.
Bible appears clearly to allow that a more ex-
pansive view of the dealings of the Divine with the
human
should be adopted than
teachings of the Church.
In
is
often set forth in the
it
are only related, at
Almighty with the patriarchs

But it shows, in the account of
length, the dealings of the

of the
Hebrew
race.
Melchizedek, king of Salem, that truth was on the

earth (Gen. xiv.
vii.
3,
The Epistle
18).
demonstrates that those
unto
the
tinually."
verities
have been within the cognisance
to
Melchizedek.
the Hebrews,
accept the Bible
must acknowledge the
as inspired revelation
of religion
to
who
He
Son
is
said to have been
God,
of
Here, then,
is
and
"
made
abideth a priest
of
like
con-
a centre of what must be
admitted by Biblical Christians to have contained true

religion in ancient days.
Apart from the apparent birth

faiths
on the ground
of the eastern
of India itself
if it
Aryan
should be
held that in Palestine only was true religion revealed,

in Palestine in the
20th century
B.C.,
Archbishop Usher's chronology, was a

eousness."
He
is
"
according to
king of right-
also styled a " king of peace "
without father, without mother, without descent

ing neither beginning of days nor end of
vii. 3).
He was
life
the "priest of the most high
hav-
(Heb.
God;"
3 o4
and Jesus
is
said to have been "
made an High
Triest
for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
According to the orthodox chronology of Archbishop
Abraham is assigned to 1950 B.C. While

Abraham and his descendants were wandering about
Usher,
till
they became temporarily settled in Egypt, whence
they emerged after some two hundred
years,
there
was, according to the Bible, a high priest of righteous-
and king of Salem (stated by orthodox comWhen the Jews took
ness
mentators to be Jerusalem).
possession of that city,
we
are not informed of the
existence there of this high priest, or of any descendant
But
of his, spiritual or other.
may
in the
meantime
it
be reasonably asserted, on the authority of the
Bible, to those
by
whom
may
Divine inspiration
be
denied to the further East, that the knowledge of the

truth
may have been
him.
The expressions concerning him
disseminated eastwards from
Hebrews
in
are such as are applied to Christ Himself, and would
be held, according to the Eastern- Aryan conceptions,
He
to
indicate a previous incarnation.
as
personally blessing Abraham, and
bread
and wine
(Gen.
xiv.
8).
is
described
bringing forth
He
has
neither
beginning nor end according to the Epistle to the
Hebrews.
reasonable explanation would be that
he was regarded as the Almighty on earth
can be but One without beginning or end.

distinctly described as personally present.
for there
He
is
In him the
Bible itself seems to afford an indication of a source

whence revelation
in Palestine
of the truth could
1900
have been given
the benefit of the ancient
B.C. for
world, to be again revealed there for our

Christ, "
by
305
made an High
own
times
Priest for ever after His
order."
The word Salem appears
be Sanscrit, derived
to
from Saileya, mountainous or rocky
Founded
That the
on a rock.
Bible,
and
especially with the Israelites
by the texts in
ciently proved
mencing with,
(Hebrew
It
is
"Who
righteousness)
raised
though dealing
their origin, contains
idea of righteousness in the
this
equivalent to
East, seems
Isa.
xli.
suffi-
2-4, com-
up the righteous man
from the East."
held in our Biblical chronology to have been
about the year 1706
B.C.
that "all the souls of the
house of Jacob which came into Egypt were threeIt is held to have
score and ten" (Gen. xlvi. 27).
been in the year 1491
B.C.
that "all the hosts of the
Lord went out from the land of Egypt " (Ex. xii. 4 1 ).
These consisted of " about 600,000 on foot that were
"
men, besides children."
them by day in a pillar

way and by night in
;
During
light."
Hebrews
revelation
Moses
till
we
the Lord went before
of a cloud, to lead
a pillar of
this period
in Egypt,
"
And
fire,
to
them the
them
give
which was passed by the
are not informed of
any
special
the angel of the Lord appeared unto
in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush,"
and
"
God
said unto Moses,
you
"
(Ex.
iii.)
From
7"
am
me unto
when Mel-
hath sent
the time, therefore,
306
clrizedelc,
" priest
Abraham,
in about the year 19 13
lation
Moses,
to
of
most high
the
B.C., till
some 400 years
this period vast civilisations
God,"
blessed
this reve-
During
elapsed.
were nourishing in
arts,
laws, commerce, and appreciation of the moralities of

On the great Chinese and Indian rivers, as well
life.
as
on the Euphrates and on the shores
of the
Mediter-
ranean, millions of people were spending their lives in
a manner more approximate to our
own modern
life
apparently than ever that of the Jews has been in
The remote antiquity
Palestine.
doctrine thus seems to be
incarnation
of the
suggested in the case of
Melchizedek, as well as in the appearances of the
Almighty upon
He
ment.
is
earth, as recorded
mentioned
in the garden in the cool
He
talked with
iii.
8 as
(Hebrew wind)
Abraham
Old Testa-
in the
in Gen.
(Gen. xvii.
day."
He
men
then
(Gen.
The Almighty also wrestled with Jacob,

when He saw that He prevailed not against
1,2).
xviii.
him,
walking
of the
3).
appeared unto him in the form of three
and
"
"
touched the hollow of his thigh, and the
He
hollow
of
Jacob's
wrestled with
system
recorded
seems
thigh
Him"
to
was out
(Gen. xxxii.
have
appearances.
been
of
24-32).
deduced
The favour
joint
as
But no
from
of the
he
these
Almighty
was thereby held merely to have been assured to the

But in the acknowledged commerchosen prophet.
Eastern and Western Asia,
between
intercourse
cial
some knowledge
of the
Aryan doctrine
of the incar-

nations must have passed.
At
all
307
events this inter-
course was flourishing in the epoch of Solomon, about
1000
B.C.,
according to orthodox chronology.
Western world
will not
have rightly apprehended divine

Melchizedek
may
our
truth, the mysterious
be held to have disseminated, in
ancient days, the doctrine

Christianity.
If
admit that the Eastern can
realised
subsequently in
APPENDIX.
Mr H.
S.
Ashbee,
of Tanjore,
in a description of a visit to the Library
published in the French "Livre" in 1881,
states that it contains 18,000 manuscripts, of
are written upon palm leaves.
which 8000
This library, which also
possesses a fine collection of European books, was founded

at the
end of the sixteenth century, when Tanjore was
under the government of the Telugu Naiks, who came

The
from Vijayanaga, and deposed the Chola princes.
manuscripts are written in the Telugu character but in
the Sanscrit language, and also
days
in the
idioms of later
and works on architecture and kindred topics are
mingled with the religious writings which constitute the

" Les livres
greater portion. Mr. Ashbee informs us that
imprimes sont ranges sur des rayons

peenne, tandis que
les
a la
maniere Euro-
manuscrits, soigneusement enveloppes
dans des morceaux de soie ou coton, sont tenus dans des

armoires." For the inditing of these Mr. Ashbee tells us
that " on n'emploie ni plumes ni encre.
de
fer suffit.
Un
simple stylet
Prennant la palme, longue de plusieurs pieds,
APPENDIX.
3io
dans
main gauche, on
la
un charactere excessivement
stylet
Pour
trace rapidement dessus avec
ressortir
faire
les
petit,
on frotte
lettres
mais
net.
tres
d'un
feuille
la
le
liquide noir, on lave aussitot la feuille et les lettres restent
noires
comme
si elles
avaient
ecrites avec
etc"
Pour
Pupitres et tables sont inconnus.

a terre, assis on couche.
les
"...
aucun bibliographe ne
tions, encore plus
on
se tient
Rome
s'est
une
vitesse
eton-
livres oil sont
en grande partie de-
celebres,
de l'Egypte, de l'Assyrie, de
tinople, de la Grece et de
et
facility
manque pas de
"II ne nous
decrites les bibliotheques

truites,
une plume.
Bien qu'elles n'aient aucun appui
mains ecrivent avec une
nantes
ecrire
la
Judee, de Constan-
mais, autant que je sache,
occupe specialement des
importantes de
l'liide,
collec-
qui nous restent
heureusement aujourd'hui."
Mr. Aslibee further observes that
versally admitted,
it is
now
almost uni-
by those who have deeply studied the
and
subject, that our religion, arts
sciences,
have come,
not from Egypt, as was formerly supposed, but from India
through Greece, the
first
inhabitants of which were Indian
refugees, Buddhists,
and
others, exiled
religion.
He
on account of their
concludes his article by expressing his regret
that the greater
part of the
literature
of the
Hindus,
Buddhists and Jains, remains, and will probably long

main, a dead
vation, that
letter.
He quotes Professor Max Midler's
re-
obser-
modern history would be incomplete without
that
of the moyen dge, and that this would be incomplete without
the history of Greece and Rome.

the world must be studied in the
Aryan humanity, preserved
So the entire history of

first
in the
chapter of the
Vedic
literature.
life
of
Many
APPENDIX.
311
noble translations have certainly been
made
in
French and
English by the admirable industry of the Sanscrit scholars

of our day, as has been
shown
in this book.
tion of the so-called heathen religions of our

in the East seems to have been
says,
What
of India
riches are
made; but
fair exposi-
Aryan cousins
as Mr.
Ashbee
concealed in the great libraries
still
II.
The Mahabharata commences,
as quoted in chapter
and to the goddess Sarasvati (divine wisdom).
commences
Froissart
"
To thentent
that
of arms, done
of featis
Sir
his Chronicles in not dissimilar
the honorable
ii.
Nara and Narayana,
of this book, with an adjuration to
John
terms
and noble aventures
and achyued by ye warres of
Frace and Inglande, shulde notably be inregistered, and
put in perpetuall memory, whereby the prewe and hardy
may have example

I,
to encourage
them
in theyr well doyng,
Syr John Froissart, wyll treat and recorde an hystory
of great louage
and preyse
Sauyour of
the worlde,
all
thynges, that
He
standyng that
that
whoso
pleasure,
wyll gyue
may
but or I begyn, I require the
who
of nothyng created all
me
suche grace and vnder-
cotinue and perseuer in suche wyse,
this proces redeth or hereth,
may
take pastance,
and ensample."
" Fyrst
by the grace of God and of the blessed Virgyn,
Lady Saynt Mary, from whom
all
comfort and consolation

APPENDIX.
312
procedeth, I wyll take
my foundation
out of y c true cronicles,
sometime copyled by the right reverend,

Maister John
discrete,
sometyme chanon
Bele,
la
and sage
in Saint
Lam-
Lord Berner's Translation.
bartis," &c. &c.
III.
The Buddhist temple

London
in the
Japanese
village,
on view in
in 1885, affords a striking instance of the similarity
between the
Boman and Buddhist
decoration.
The
burning before
altar,
it,
with
&c,
is
forms of ecclesiastical
its super-altar,
candles,
almost identical with a
lamps
Boman
Catholic altar, making allowances for the general differences
between Europe and Japan.
Instead of the
crucifixion,
Buddha, under a canopy, occupies the place above the
altar.
Instead of the stations of the cross, Buddha, in some of the
forms which he has assumed during his transmigrations,

seen in the images ranged along the super-altar.
not crucified in the flesh for humanity, he

often sacrificed his
The red garb of the
body
is
for the welfare of
priest
is
is
Although
related to have
human
beings.
certainly again in accordance
with the vesture of the priests of the Bomish Church.

In the old religion of Japan, called the Sin-Sin (faith in
gods), the
Supreme Deity was held
to be too great to be
addressed in prayer, save through the mediation of the
Mikado, the Son of Heaven, or of inferior spirits called

Kami, of which 492 were born spirits, and 2640 were
canonised mortals.
For these Kami temples were especially
APPENDIX.
Japanese dwellings had invariably a
erected.
oratory,
313
in
which prayers
were
offered
kind of
morning and
even in a
IV.
In the " Annual Eegister" of 1S03,
from " Mr. Percival's Account
an extract
p. 93, is
" of the
Island of Ceylon.
After descriptions of the Buddhistic religion there prevailing, &c.
&c, he says
Adam's Peak,
or
"
from the summit of

that
it,
Adam
took his
moment
is still
this
last
called Hannoralleel,
It is
mountain, as tradition reports,
view of Paradise before he quitted
The spot on which
never to return.
the
The mountain
one of the highest in Ceylon.
is
his foot stood at
supposed to be found in an impression
on the summit of the mountain resembling the print of a

man's
foot,
but more than double the ordinary
taking this farewell view, the father of
size.
mankind
is
After
said to
have gone over to the continent of India, which was at that

time joined to the island; but no sooner had he passed
Adam's Bridge than the sea closed behind him and cut off
all
This tradition, from whatever source
hopes of return.
was
earliest notions
that
it
originally derived, seems to be interwoven with their
it
of religion, and
it
is difficult
to conceive
can have been engrafted on them without forming
an original
part.
inquire of black
tradition of
have frequently had the curiosity to
men
Adam.
of different castes
concerning this
All of them, with every appearance of
APPENDIX.
314
belief,
of
assured
me
that
was
it
really true
and
in support
produced a variety of testimonies, old sayings, and
it
among them.
prophecies, which have for ages been current
which
This mountain,
residence of
Adam,
is
looked
is
upon
the
as
original
held in great veneration not only by
the natives of Ceylon, but also by a variety of persons of
and persuasions throughout
different castes
they
make
The Koman
pilgrimages
to
which
of the
year.
own
it,
Catholic priests have also taken advantage of
forward the propagation of
the current superstitions to

their
seasons
certain
at
Most
India.
of these have particular places of worship on
tenets."
V.
Mr. R. Mitra,
in
his
work on Buddha
Gtaya, gives ex-
pression to doubts concerning the authenticity of this inscription,
with
its
mingling of Krishnaistic and Buddhistic
One argument urged
ideas.
the age at which
Gaya
say
sarily to
abode
it
is
dated
as being in a forest.
of
Bahar
is
But
but merely
this,
its
that
it
it
appertaining to
describes
Buddha
does not appear neces-
that
Buddha took up
There are certainly wild forests
in a forest.
district
against
his
in the
but doubtless the temple would have
been erected in the open and cultivated country for the

Another
convenience and consolation of worshippers.
argument
is
that
mingling
the
Buddhistic conceptions
is
unnatural.
of
Brahminical
But
and
in the illustra-
APPENDIX.
tration in this
will be
work of Buddhistic
seen that there
is
315
Nepaul,
in
ritual
it
association of the
similar
Brahrainical conceptions of deity with Buddhism.
VI
Specimen Verses of the Hymns of the Eig-Veda,
Translated from the Original Sanscrit by H.
H. Wilson, M.A., F.R.S., &c.
First Ashtdka, First
1.
Hasten hither,
Adhydya,
Silkla II.
friends, offering praises
sit
down and
sing repeatedly the praises of Indra.

2.
When
the libation
is
Indra, the discomfiter of
poured
many
forth, respectively praise
enemies, the lord of
many
blessings.
3.
May
may he
he be to us for the attainment of our objects
be to us for the acquirement of riches
to us for the acquisition of
knowledge
may he
may he come
be
to us
with food.
4.
Sing to that Indra, whose enemies in combats await
not his coursers harnessed in his

5.
These pure soma
juices,
car.
mixed with
curds, are
poured
out for the satisfaction of the drinker of the libations.
Anuvdka
1.
III, Sukta
I.
Indra, bring for our protection riches, most abundant,
enjoyable, the source of victory, the humbler of our foes.

2.
By which we may
repel our enemies, whether (en-
APPENDIX.
316
countering them) hand to hand, or on horseback, ever

protected by thee.
Defended by
3.
Aveapon, wherewith
nents.
The
7.
thee,
Indra,
we may
we
a ponderous
posses
entirely conquer our oppo-
belly of Indra,
which quaffs the soma juice abun-
dantly, swells like the ocean.
Verily the words of Indra to his worshipper are true,
8.
manifold, cow-conferring, and to be held in honour; (they

are) like a
branch (loaded with) ripe
First Ashtdka, Second
(fruit).
Adhydya, Sukla
III.
To Agni.
Lord of sustenance, assume thy vestments
1.
and
offer this
our
(of light),
sacrifice.
(Propitiated) by brilliant strains, do thou, ever youth-
2.
Agni, selected by us, become our ministrant priest
ful
(invested) with a radiance.
Thou, Agni, art verily as a loving father to a son, as
3.
a kinsman to a kinsman, as a friend to a friend.

10.
this
Agni, son of strength, (accept) this
our praise, with
all
thy
fires,
sacrifice,
and
and grant us (abundant)
food.
Fourth Adhydya, Siikta V.

1.
Ushas, daughter of heaven (the personified dawn or
Aurora),
dawn upon
us with riches
ditfuser of light,
dawn
upon us with abundant food; bountiful goddess, dawn

upon us with wealth (of cattle).
APPENDIX.
2.
Abounding with
horses,
317
abounding with kine, be-
stowers of every sort of wealth, (the divinities of morning)

are possessed of
much
that
is
necessary for the habitations
of men.
3.
she
The
dawn
divine Uslias has dwelt (in heaven of old)

to-day, the excitress of chariots,
nessed at her coming, as those
who
may
which are har-
are desirous of wealth
(send ships) to sea.
Fourth Adhydya, Sukta V.

1.
of)
The amplitude of Indra was vaster than the (space

heaven earth was not comparable to him in bulk
;
formidable and most mighty, he has been ever the

(of the
enemies
of)
those
men (who worship him)
whets his thunderbolt for sharpness as a bull

2.
afflicter
;
he
(his horns).
The firmament-abiding Indra grasps the widespread
waters with his comprehensive faculties, as the ocean

ceives the rivers)
he rushes (impetuous) as a
bull,
(re-
to
drink of the soma juice; he, the warrior, ever covets praise
for his prowess.
3.
Thou, Indra, hast not (struck) the cloud for (thine
own) enjoyment
of great wealth
others
all
cedence of
6.
in
all
thou rulest over those who are possessed

that divinity
strength
is
known by
us to surpass
the haughty (Indra) takes pre-
gods, on account of his exploits.
Ambitious of renown, destroying the well-built dwell-
ings of the Asuras, expanding like the earth, and setting
the (heavenly) luminaries free from concealment, he, the
performer of good deeds, enables the waters to flow for the

benefit of his worshippers.
APPENDIX.
3iS
Professor H. H. Wilson observes, in a note, that the sun

and the constellations were obscured by the same cloud
which detained the aggregated waters.

Sulda VI.
...
His (India's) adorers, bearing oblations, are
2.
thronging around (him), as (merchants) covetous of gain
crowd the ocean
(in vessels)
with a
hymn
solemn
sacrifice, as
3.
He
is
women
(climb) a mountain.
quick in action and mighty
destructive prowess shine in

of a
mountain
Ascend quickly
on a voyage.
to the powerful Indra, the protector of the
(afar),
manly
his faultless
and
peak
(conflict) like the
with which, clothed in iron (armour),
he, the suppressor of the malignant,
when
exhilarated (by
the soma juice), cast the wily Sushua into prison and into
bonds.
SUKTA
To Agni, in
the
II.
form of Vaiswdnara (from
viswa,
all,
and
nam, a man).
1.
Whatever other
fires
ramifications, Agni, of thee
immortal in thee
may
be,
they are but
but they
all
rejoice,
there
;
being
thou Vaiswanara art the navel of man,
and supportest them like a deep-planted column.

2. Agni, the head of heaven, the navel of earth, became
the ruler over both earth and heaven
all
dered thee, Vaiswdnara, in the form of
the gods engenlight,
from the
venerable sage.
3.
Treasures were deposited in the Agni, like the per-
A PPENDIX.
manent rays
all
(of light) in the sun
319
thou art the sovereign of
the treasures that exist in the mountains, in the herbs,
amongst men.
in the waters, or
4.
Heaven and earth expanded,
The experienced
and copious
vigorous,
5.
as
it
were, for their son.
sacrificer recites, like a bard,
many
ancient
praises addressed to the graceful-moving, truly
and
all-guiding Vaiswanara.
Vaiswanara,
Avho
knowest
that are
all
monarch of Manu-descended men
art the
thy
born,
magnitude has exceeded that of the spacious heaven
thou
thou hast
re-
gained for the gods in battle the wealth (carried off by the
Asuras).
6.
men
whom
extol the greatness of that showerer of rain
celebrate as the slayer of Vritra
nara, slew the stealer (of the waters)
the Agni, Vaiswa-
and sent them down
(upon earth) and clove the (obstructing) cloud.

7.
Vaiswanara by
his
magnitude
is all
men, and
is
to be
worshipped as the diffuser of manifold light in offerings of

nutritious viands.
Agni, the speaker of truth, praises with
many commendations
Purunitha, the son of S'atavani.
Seventh Adhydya, Sukta II.
To Agni.
1.
Two
periods
white, or night
and each,
Hari
Agni
2.
is
is
of different
and day) revolve
complexions (black and

for their
own
purposes,
in succession, severally nourishes a son
in one
the receiver of oblations, in the other the brilliant

beheld.
The
vigilant
and youthful Ten beget, through the
APPENDIX.
320
wind, this embryo Agni, inherent
(to all beings), sharp-
visaged, universally renowned, shining
among men
him
they conduct (to every dwelling).
They contemplate
3.
three places of his birth, one in the
one in the heaven, one in the firmament
ocean,
and
dividing the seasons of the year, for the benefit of earthly

creatures
he formed,
in
regular succession, the
eastern
quarter.
Which of you discerns the hidden Agni 1

many mothers by oblations the germ
4.
begets
a son, he
of
(waters), he issues
from the ocean
recipient of oblations.
many
mighty and wise, the
Like the sun, he stretches forth his arms, and the
7.
formidable Agni, decorating both heaven and earth (with

brightness) labours (in his duties)
he draws up from every-
thing the essential (moisture), and clothes (the earth) with
new vestments
(derived) from his maternal (rains).
Sukta IV.
May our sin, Agni, be repented

may our sin be repented of
1.
us
2.
and
7.
send
We
for riches
may
thou, whose countenance
off
our adversaries, as
may
Do
Avelfare
if
in
our sin be repented
is
of.
turned to
all sides,
ship (to the opposite
of.
thou convey us in a ship across the
may
good roads,
fields, for
our sin be repented
Do
shore)
8.
worship thee for pleasant
of; manifest riches to
our sin be repented of
sea, for
our
APPENDIX.
SAMa
Second Ashtdka, First Adhydya,
I.
To Vayu (Wind).
i.
Let thy swift coursers, Vayu, bring thee quickly hither,
that thou mayest be the
first
to drink
gods) to drink of the soma libation.
and sincere
discriminating,
Come with thy
mind.
be presented to thee
the
May
first (of
the
our upraised,
(praise) be acceptable to
thy
steed-yoked car for (the libation) to
come, Vayu, (for granting) the objects
of our worship.
2.
thee,
May the exhilarating

Vayu, being
fitly
drops (of the libation) exhilarate
prepared, doing their
office,
adminis-
tered opportunely, rendered efficacious by (our) praises, and
flowing (in due season)
for
which purpose thy docile and
active steeds, the ISTiyuts, attending- (thy presence, bring
thee) to the sacrificial hall to accept the offering

sacrifice
in
which
the
pious
represent
(priests)
to the
their
desire.
3.
Vayu yokes
to his car his
(yokes) his purple steeds
Vayu
two red horses; Vayu

two unwearied
(yokes) his
(coursers) to his car to bear their burden, for
they to bear the burden.

(sacrificer), as
a gallant (awakens) his sleeping mistress
summon heaven and

the dawn (to receive)
6.
These soma
by the
most able are
Arouse, Vayu, the intelligent
earth
thy
juices,
priests, are
light
up the dawn ;
sacrificial food.
poured out in our
light
up
rites
and borne
prepared for you both (Indra and Vayu).
APPENDIX.
322
The pure
soma
juices
juices,
were passed through the oblique
the
filter;
intended for you both, pass through the woolly
fleece.
First Ashtdka, Fifth
Adhydya,
SuJcta VII.
To the Maruts (Winds collectively).

i.
company
Offer earnest praise to the
the senders of rain and
of the Maruts,
ripeners of fruit, deserving of
adoration.
2.
They were born handsome and vigorous from the
sky, the sons of Rudra, the conquerors of their foes, pure
from
and purifying
sin,
(all),
radiant as suns, powerful as
evil spirits, diffusers of rain drops,

4.
They
and of
fearful forms.
decorate their persons with various ornaments
they have placed, for elegance, brilliant (garlands) on their

breasts
lances are borne
them and
their
from the sky.

6.
own
upon
their shoulders,
The munificent Maruts
as priests at sacrifices
scatter the nutritious waters
the clarified butter
forth a horse, they bring forth for

cloud,
7.
and milk
it,
its
as
grooms lead
rain the fleet-moving
thundering and exhausted.
Vast, possessed of knowledge, bright shining, like
mountains in
stability,
and quick
down
the forests
elephants, break
into your
8.
and with
strength they have been born leaders
in motion,
you, like
when you put vigour
ruddy (mares).
The most wise Maruts roar
like lions
are graceful as the spotted deer;
the all-knowing
they come with their
APPENDIX.
323
antelopes and their arms (to defend the sacrificer) against

interruption.
Augmentors of
11.
they drive with golden wheels
rain,
the clouds asunder, as elephants (in a herd break
the trees in their way).
Grant
15.
terity,
us,
down
Marats, durable riches, attended by posto our enemies.
and mortifying
Second Ashidlca, Fifth Adhydya, Sulda XII.

1.
Some
creature of
little
venom, some creature of great
venom, or some venomous aquatic
me
reptiles,
have anointed
with their poison.
(The antidote) coming
2.
(to the bitten person) destroys
the unseen (venomous creatures)
them) by
its
odour
The cows had
4.
Heaven
destroys
.
senses of
men were
creatures) anointed
at
me
(serpents)
Soma, your brother
(it
pulverises them.
in their stalls, the wild beasts
the unseen (venomous
when
(with their venom).

6.
down
it
(to their lairs), the
had retreated
rest,
lain
departing,
being ground,
is
your father
Aditi, your sister
Earth, your mother

;
unseen, all-seeing,
own holes), enjoy (your own) good pleasure.

move with their) shoulders, those (who
(who
7. Those
those who sting with sharp fangs,
bodies,
move with their)
abide (in your
those
who
unseen
8.
The
are virulently venomous,
Depart together
and
sun
all-seeing
the unseen, driving

all evil spirits.
away
.
far
from
what do ye
here,
ye
us.
rises in the east, the destroyer of

all
the unseen (venomous creatures)
APPENDIX.
3 24
I deposit
10.
the poison in the solar orb, like a leather
bottle in the house of a vendor of spirits
verily that
adorable (sun) never dies, nor (through his favour): shall
we
die (of the
venom)
for
though afar
off,
his coursers, he will overtake (the poison).
yet
The
antidotes converted thee (poison) to ambrosia.
we
die
verily do not perish, nor
venom; they
influence of the
shall
science of
.
the thrice-seven sparks (of Agni) consume the
May
12.
drawn by
although afar
for,
off,
coursers, will overtake the poison.
the sun, drawn by his
The
science of anti-
dotes has converted thee, poison, to ambrosia.

and nine
13. I recite the names of ninety
the
(rivers),
destroyers of poison.
14.
May
the thrice-seven pea-hens, the seven sister rivers,
carry off (0 body) thy poison, as maidens with pitchers

carry
away water.
May
15.
venom
insignificant
the
(poison)
with a stone, so
if
mungoose
(carry
thy
off)
not, I will crush the vile (creature)
may
the poison depart (from
my
body)
and go to distant regions.
command (of Agastya), thus

spake the mungoose The venom of the scorpion is innocuous scorpion, thy venom is innocuous.
Hastening forth at the
16.
Sixth Adhydya, Sukta VI.

1.
Address worshippers, after the manner of Angiras,
new (hymn)
to that Indra,
whose withering
(energies)
were developed of old; who, in the exhilaration of the

soma, forced open the obstructed and solid clouds.
APPENDIX.
As
7.
325
same
a virtuous (maiden), growing old in the
dwelling with her parents (claims from them her support),

so
it,
come
I to thee for
bring
it
wealth
make
it
conspicuous, measure
grant (a sufficient) portion for
(hither),
my
bodily sustenance, (such as that) wherewith thou honourest

(thy worshippers.)
Salda IX.
We
1.
bring to thee, Indra,
desiring food brings his
when
waggon
(sacrificial)
;
food, as one
regard us benevolently,
glorifying thee, rendering (thee) illustrious
praise,
and
soliciting such guides as
thou art to
by
Indra, the slayer of Vritra, the destroyer of
7.
(our)
felicity.
cities,
He engenmay he fulfil
has scattered the black-sprung servile (hosts).
dered the earth and the waters for
Manu
the entire prayer of the sacrificer.
Vigour has been perpetually imparted to Indra by
8.
his worshippers (with oblations), for the sake of obtaining
rain
for
which purpose they have placed the thunderbolt
in his hands, wherewith, having slain the Dasyus, he has
destroyed their iron

9.
cities.
That opulent donation which proceeds, Indra, from
thee, assuredly bestows
(which he desires)
thou,
who
upon him who
grant
(it)
praises thee the
to (us) thy adorers
boon
do not
art the object of adoration, disregard our prayers;
so that, blessed with
thee at this sacrifice.
worthy descendants, we may
glorify
;
;
APPENDIX.
326
Seventh Adhydya, Sitlda V.

i.
with the ladle (of speech), these
I present continually,
oblation-dropping
hymns
May Mitra,
to the royal Adityas.
Aryaman, Bhaga, the multi-present Bhaga, the multi-present

Varuna, the powerful Ansa, hear
4.
The
moveable or immoveable
the provident in acts
of veracity
5.
us.
divine Adityas are the upholders (of
May
the protectors of the universe
the collectors of rain
the possessors
the acquitters of our debts.
be conscious, Adityas, of this your protection,
the cause of happiness (and security) in danger
may
Mitra, and Varuna,
I,
May
Aditi, the
and
free
my
mother of royal
and may we,
Aryaman,
path).
sons, place us
beyond
may Aryaman lead us by

blessed with many descendants
the malice (of our enemies)
easy paths
through your guidance, escape
the sins which are like pitfalls (in

7.
all things),
from harm, attain the great happiness of Mitra
and Varuna.
8.
and
They uphold the
three worlds, the three heavens
in their sacrifices three ceremonies (are comprised)
by truth (Adityas) has your great might (been produced),

such as
9.
is
The
brilliant,
most
excellent
Adityas,
purified
close their eyelids,
Aryaman, Mitra, and Varuna.
decorated
with
golden
ornaments,
by showers, who never slumber nor
who
are unassailable
and praised by
many, uphold the three bright heavenly regions

sake of the upright man.
for the
APPENDIX.
327
Anuvdka IV., Sukta
I.
To Eudra.
1.
Father of the Maruts,
may thy
felicity
extend to us
exclude us not from the sight of the sun, (grant that) our
valiant (descendants)
may be
2.
may overcome
multiplied, Eudra,
(foes),
and that we
(our) progeny.
by the sanatory vegetables which are
Nourished
may
bestowed by thee,
mine enemies,
by
my
I live a
exceeding
hundred winters
sin,
and
my
extirpate
manifold
in-
firmities.
3.
Thou, Eudra, art the chiefest of beings in glory
thou, wielder of the thunderbolt, art the mightiest of the
mighty
do thou waft us in safety over (the ocean) of sin
repel all the assaults of iniquity.

4.
Let us not provoke
perfect) adorations
worthy
praise,
thee,
Eudra, to wrath by our (im-
nor, showerer (of benefits),
by our un-
nor by our invocation (of other deities)
invigorate our sons
by thy medicinal
plants, for I hear that
thou art a chief physician among physicians.
Sukta
13.
II.
They, the Eudras, (equipped) with melodious (lutes)
and decorated with purple ornaments, exult in the dwelling of the waters
vigour, they are
forms.
and scattering the clouds with rapid
endowed with
delightful
and beautiful
APPENDIX.
328
SUKTA
To Apain-napat (son of
III.
the trees, or fuel, the
progeny
of the rains).
...
4.
The young and modest
upon the
(waters) wait
youth, assiduous in bathing him, and he, although unfed with
yet cleansed with clarified butter, shines with bright
fuel,
rajs amidst the waters, that abundance
(may be)
to us.
Three divine females present food to that uninjurable
5.
formed in the waters they spread abroad,
divinity, as if
and he drinks the ambrosia of the first-created (element).

6. In him is the birth of the horse, of him is (the origin
of) the
world
do thou, grandson of the (waters), protect
the pious worshippers from the malevolence of the oppressors
those
who
who
give no offerings, those
truths, attain not the inconceivable deity,
in the
immature or the perfect waters.
The grandson
9.
ment above
spread around,
of the waters has ascended the firma-
(the region) of the tortuously
arrayed in lightning
practise un-
whether abiding
moving
(clouds),
the broad and golden-coloured (rivers)
bearing
(to. all
quarters)
his
exceeding
glory.
SUKTA
VII.
To the Asicins (the pervaders or sunbeams

they
make
restore an aged
who went
in one
hymn
the lame to walk and the blind to see, and
man
to sea in
to
youth
and they save Bhujyu,
an hundred-oared
vessel).
APPENDIX.
Descend, As wins, like falling stones, for the purpose
1.
(of
329
destroying our foes)
hasten to the presence of the
wealth-possessing (worshippers), like

like
vultures to
two Brahmans repeating hymns, (be present)

and come
sacrifice,
welcomed by many
people.
Bear us across (the sea of
4.
at the
messengers in the land,
(royal)
like
a tree
life),
like
two
vessels, or
(over difficult places) like the poles of a car, the axles, the
two wheels).
spokes, the fellies (of
warding
off injury to
Be
like
two dogs,
our persons, and like two coats of
from decay.
mail, defend us
Suhta X.
...
May no
2.
kite,
no
armed with arrows, reach

Bird,
3.
who
eagle, kill thee
may no
archer,
thee.
ominous of good fortune, the proclaimer
art
of good work, cry from the south of our dwellings.
Third Ashtaka, First Adhyaya, Suhta VIII.
...
2.
Agni, born of
three are
sacrifice,
thy viands,
three thine abiding places, three the tongues satisfying (the
gods)
three verily are thy forms, acceptable to the deities,
and with them, never heedless

to our praises.
4.
sun
The divine Agni

is
(of
our wishes), be propitious
is
the guide of devout men, as the
the regulator of the seasons
may
he, the observer
of truth, the slayer of Vritra, the ancient, the omniscient,
convey his adorer
(safe)
over
all difficulties.
APPENDIX.
33o
Sukta XIII.
i.
who
Agni,
art omniscient,
and the discriminator
acts),
thou art the son of heaven or the son of earth
thou,
who
art intelligent,
(of
do
worship severally the gods on
this occasion.
5.
Agni, son of strength, Jatadevas
the eternal, tra-
versing the inhabited regions with thy protection, thou

art kindled in the dwelling of the waters.
Sukta XVII.
1.
This, the apparatus of attrition,
3.
Let the intelligent
Avith the face
is
showerer (of benefits) Agni

lid,
whose
When
it
may
generate the
then the bright blazing son
light dissipates the darkness,
Avood of attrition.
6.
upwards, the upper (with the surface down-
wards), so that, quickly impregnated,
of
ready.
priest place the lower of the sticks
is
born of the
they rub (the sticks) with their arms, the
radiant Agni bursts
forth
from the Avood
like
a fleet
shines, intelligent, SAvift
moving,
courser.
7.
As soon as
skilled in rites,
born,
Agni
whom
the gods have held as the bearer of
oblations at sacrifices, adorable and all-knowing.

1
He
in
whom
wis lorn
is
inborn.
APPENDIX.
Adhyaya II,
331
Svlcia VII.
To Indra.
...
As the
6.
rivers pursue their course, the waters rush
to the ocean like the drivers of cars (to a goal)
Indra (hastens) from his dwelling
(in the
so the vast
firmament) when
the humble soma libation propitiates him.
SuJcta Fill.
...
1 1.
Come
to us, Sakra,
whether from afar or nigh
whatever, Indra, wielder of the thunderbolt, be thy region,
come from thence
hither.
Adhyaya III, SuJda VII.

1.
2.
Come, Indra, with thy exulting, peacock-haired steeds.

The fracturer of the cloud, the sender of the waters,
the demolisher of
cities,
India, the destroyer of powerful
enemies, has mounted his chariot to urge his horses to our

presence.
It
should be observed that the
hymns of the Vedas

Aryan race on the
invariably suggest the origin of the

river plains of
to
north-west of the
the
made
Hindu Kush.
Allusions are
to spotted deer, antelopes, peacocks, &c.
trample
ocean,
Hindustan or the Panjab, not in the region
down
the woods.
rainy season, &c.
Allusions are
Elephants
made
to
the
not to the necessary camel of
APPENDIX.
332
the Bactrian
This poiut has been put forward in
district.
the author's " Cradleland of Arts and Creeds," chap,
xii.,
Earlier forms of language doubtless preceded
the
&c.
Vedic Sanscrit, and travelled westward before the Yedas
had assumed
their present aspect.
show that the Dasyus
(p.
of gods or
The "black sprung
sense of robbers.
is
nothing to
325) were a conquered indigenous
The word means enemies
race.
There
men
in the
servile hosts"
were
probably to the south of the Panjab.
Fourth Ashtaka, Fourth Adhyaya, Sulda VII.
To MlTRA AND VARUNA.

i.
Guardians of water, observers of truth, you ascend
your car in the highest heaven
and Varuna,
him whom you, Mitra

down the sweet (shower)
to
protect, the rain sends
from the sky.

2.
Imperial rulers of this world, you shine, Mitra and
Varuna, at this
of
sacrifice,
you the wealth
(that
the beholders of heaven

is) rain,
and immortality,
we ask
for
your
forms traverse earth and heaven.
Sulla IX.
The wise apply
their
minds; they perform sacred
rites for the propitiation of
the intelligent, great, adorable
1.
Savitri
priests
he alone, knowing their functions, directs

verily great
is
the praise of the divine Savitri.
the
APPENDIX.
The wise
2.
Savitri
333
comprehends
he has engendered what
good
is
all
forms
for biped
(in himself)
and quadruped
the adorable Savitri has illumined the heaven, and shines

in sequence to the passage of the
Thou
5.
Dawn.
alone rulest over (the actions of) living beings
thou art Pushan, divine (Savitri) by thy movements

art
whole world
over the
sovereign
Syavaswa
thou
offers
praise, Savitri, to thee.
Fourth Ashtaha, Seventh Adhydya, Sukta IV.
...
my
life;
sword.
18.
Make me happy, Indra;
10.
his
is
manifestation
many
like
prototype, has
form
as that
edge of an iron
assumed various forms,
which (he adopts)
Indra, multiform
by
treasure from Divodasa.

I
have
received
we have accepted
earth.
War-drum,
fill
this
ten
horses, ten
purses,
ample food, and ten lumps of gold from Divodasa.

29.
for his
his illusions, proceeds
Prastoka has given to thy worshipper, Indra, ten
purses of gold, and ten horses, and
23.
the
worshippers), for the horses yoked to his car
are a thousand.
22.
intellect
Indra, the
and such
(to his
my
sharpen
.
be pleased to prolong
clothes,
.
with your sound both heaven and
APPENDIX.
334
Fifth Ashtaka, Sixth Adhyaya, Sukta VI.
This Saraswati, firm as a city made of iron, flows
i.
rapidly with
might
(all)
sustaining water, sweeping
away
in its
other waters, as a charioteer (clears the road).
all
Auspicious Saraswati, for thee Vasishtha has set open
6.
the two doors (the east and west)
complexioned (goddess), be magnified
who
thee
glorifies
of sacrifice
;
white-
bestow food on him
and do you (gods) cherish us with
blessings.
Bulla
...
5.
Resplendent Vishnu,
knowing the
thy name.
ful,
XL
I,
the master of the offering,
objects that are to be
I,
who am
known,
feeble, praise thee
glorify to-day
who
art power-
dwelling in a remote region of this world.
Sixth Ashtaka, First Adhyaya, Sukta V.
To Indra.
...
7.
May
this soma, invested (with milk),
approach
thee, observant Indra, like a bride (clad in white apparel).
Sukta Fill.
.
14.
Praise them, praise the Maruts, for
pendent) upon those agitators (of
all things), as
we
are (de-
a menial
is
APPENDIX.
upon
his lord
335
therefore are their donations (characterised)
by munificence.
Sukta Fill.
...
Whatever medicaments there may be
25.
in the
Sindha, in the Asikari, in the oceans, in the mountains,
Maruts,
who
Eig-Veda, Vol.
III., p.
sacrifice
and Allusion
Being
still
in the germ, I
hawk
the archer Krisanu),
on
exultation,
have known
his descent
Then the
archer,
to the
the births
of iron
came forth with speed.
when
the
hawk screamed with
from heaven, the guardians of

carried
away by
it.
Krisanu, pursuing with the speed of
thought, and stringing his bow, let
As
all
hundred bodies
soma perceived that the soma was
the
to Iron.
confined me, but as a

(?
175 of Translation by H. H. Wil-
of these divinities in their order, a
3.
Appearance of the Doctrine of Transmigration
son.
1.
by
are all gratified
fly
an arrow against
Unity of the Deities in Agni
(p.
it.
236), Sukta
III.
1.
when
Thou, Agni, art born Varuna, thou becomest Mitra

kindled
in thee, son of strength, art all the
gods
thou art Indra, son of strength, to the mortal that presents

oblations.
Thou
art
Aryaman
in relation to maidens.
APPENDIX.
336
5.
thy
When
For thy glory the winds sweep the firmament.

birth,
Rudra,
and wonderful, the middle
beautiful
is
step of Vishnu has been placed, so that thou cherishest the
mysterious
11.
name
Agni,
of the waters.
youngest of the gods, verily thou bearest
thine adorer safe beyond
all calamities.
VII.
In the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal" for

1877, an account
is
given of a discovery of a burial ground,
with crosses, by Mr.
W.
King, Deputy Superintendent of
the Geological Survey of India.
He
describes
them
being in the midst of forest and scrub jungle, near

gasset in the Nizam's dominions, on the right
Godaveri.
He
monoliths, one
number
height,
states that
still
One
with an unbroken arm
of the crosses
seem to resemble our Christian

and the
was 13
article the crosses
crosses.
The arms
The tombs
are
crosses altogether look perfectly
adapted for erection in our burial grounds or old

ways.
feet in
of 3 feet 8 inches in length.
In the diagrams which accompany his
bank of the
he found four large cruciform
standing upright and perfect, near a
of stone tombs.
near the summit
as
Mun-
are constructed of
worked
cross-
stones,
and
contain coffin-like cavities, which suggest the embalming

of bodies.
They number about 150; and the
four crosses
APPENDIX.
357
do not appear to have any special connection with indiviMr. King states that he thinks them predual tombs.
Of course the hypothesis,
historic.
as he observes,
entertained that they are Christian, though

to
it
may
be
difficult
is
conceive that an old Christian burial-place can have
The
been formed so far inland.
general style of the tombs
and of the crosses seems not to have suggested Christian
work
to
him
altogether, though the latter certaiidy have
the aspect of Gothic crosses in the diagrams.
The
sur-
rounding natives called the place the Village of Demons,
and
its
history appears to be quite enveloped in mystery.
VIII.
Professor Curtius, in his " History of Greece," observes
that " In the entire religious
epoch
is
more
of Apollo.
clearly
life
of the
marked than the
It resembles a
first
appearance
second day of creation in the
history of their spiritual development.
towns, from which a rich treasure of
down
Greeks no great
In
all
the Greek
myths has been handed
to us, there attaches itself to his blessed arrival a
lofty revolution
development of
of the social order of things, a higher

life.
The roads
are levelled, the quarters
of the towns are marked out, the castles are encircled with
walls, things sacred are separated from things profane.
The sound
of song
and stringed instruments
approach nearer to the gods.
is
heard,
men
Zeus speaks to them through
APPENDIX.
338
his prophets
and
guilt,
even the guilt of blood, no longer
rests inexpiable, like a leaden weight,
longer drags
on
Rather as the laurel cleanses the sultry
crowned god
purifies Orestes
restores to
him
Erinnys
broken
is
reign of grace,
is
hither side only
from
serenity of soul
;
ill-fated
man
no
from generation to generation.
as a curse,
itself,
air,
so the laurel-
his stains of blood,
and
the dread power of the
and a world of higher harmony, a

This Apollo the Greeks of the
founded."
knew
as
one
who had come
to
them from
abroad, and his chief sanctuaries they only regarded as

the terminating points of the path along which he had
entered anions; them.
IX.
The antiquity
of the idea that the
Supreme
Spirit
may
be present on earth as Hari-Krishna, or any other maniHe may, at the same time, be in
festation, seems evident.
himself
all
the divine beings, and
in the universe.
divine
in the non-sensual
is
all
It is a spiritual
that which
is
spiritual
pantheism in which the
human.
The remnants
of the
Orphic hymns which have descended to us bear testimony

to this.
vi. p.
M. De la Barre (in Mem. de l'Acad. des Ins., torn

makes observations upon these which seem to
2S)
display the exact affinity of the ancient religions of Greece
with that
set forth in the
and "Ancient Books."
Indian " Great Bharata
"
poem
He was apparently quite unac-
APPENDIX.
339
quainted with the spiritual pantheism of our cousins in the
and only perceives contradictions and absurdities
East,
the Orphic
He remarks
system.
infiniment
est
desavantageux
"Mais l'examen
puisqu'il
melange monstrueux d'idees philosophiques qui

pas
et qui n'ont
plus de
commune, qui ne
religion
rapport entre
laisse
leur
un
de^couvre
in
se croisent,
qu'avec la
elles
pas de s'y trouver partout.
C'est la en effet qu'Hercule est tout a la fois le premier
des etres qui a paru, ne de lui
et celui aussi
troubloient
dont
la
le
meme
production de la
et
autour de sa tete l'Amour et la nuit,
terre, celui qui porte
bras delivra la terre des scelerats" qui

publique.
tranquility
[Hari, or
seems evidently repeated in this conception.]

encore que, suivant je ne sais qu elles
ide^es,
monde
la
entier,
kernel sont
ques
les
c'est
comme
la
mer
II
lui
me
se plait
les
la terre,
et
que suivant
les forets,
a faire peur,
nymphes.
C'est
Pan
mer, et
est
le
la
le
feu
Grec-
les idoes
qui se cache dans

a s'entretenir avec
Jupiter est represente
1'auteur de la nature, celui qui a produit la terre,
et tout ce
commencement
on
un dieu qui court
danser avec
ici
le
membres
les
antres, qui
l'echo, a
dont
ciel,
Krishna,
que
les
et la fin
cieux enserrent
il
est, dit on, le
de toutes choses, et tout de suite
donne pour femme Junon considered comme
Pair.
paroit d'ailleurs assez plaisant de voit que Atrea soit
dans un hymne
fille
de Protogone
et
mere de
ciel,
hymne le ciel soit son pere."

The Orphic hymns seem to be acknowledged
et
que
dans un autre
uncertain origin and remote antiquity
to be of
and they are only
found scattered amongst the writings of philosophers and
APPENDIX.
340
historians.
Certainly the cosmogony expounded in them
seems in absolute accord with
that
developed in
We
Bharatan or ancient Indian books.
the
find the universe
created by one Supreme, Self-existent Being.
We
have the
primeval egg which opens into two halves, and forms
heaven and earth, &c. &c.
X.
According
Koran," an
" Preliminary
the
to
heretical
Shiites seems to
Discourse
to
Sale's
amongst the Mohammedan
sect
have maintained doctrines quite identical
"They unanimously held a metempcall al Holul. or the descent of God

meaning thereby that God is present in
with the Indo-Aryan.

sychosis
and what they
on His creatures
every place, and speaks with every tongue, and appears in
some individual person, and hence some

their
Imams
to be prophets,
and
of
them
asserted
at length gods.
The
Nosairians and Ishakians taught that spiritual substances
appear in grosser bodies
and that the angels and the
devil have appeared in this manner.
They
also assert
God hath appeared in the form of certain men ; and

since, after Mohammed, there hath been no man more
that
excellent than Ali, and, after him, his sons have excelled
all
other men, that
God hath appeared
in their
form,
spoken with their tongue, and made use of their hands

for
which reason, say they, we attribute divinity to them.
APPENDIX.
34i
to support these blasphemies they tell several miracu-
And
moving the gates of Khaibar,

which they urge as a plain proof that he was endued with
a particle of divinity and with sovereign power, and that
lous things of Ali, as his
God
he was the person in whose form
whose hands
He
created
commands; and
He
published His
was
in being before the creation of
so impious a
Ali.
in
therefore they say he
heaven and earth.
manner do they seem
by applying them
These extravagant fancies of the
making
In
to wrest those things
in Scripture of Christ
which are said
appeared, with
and with whose tongue
all things,
Shiites,
to
however,
Imams partake of the Divine nature, and

some of these Imams in laying claim thereto,
their
the impiety of
are so far from being peculiar to this sect, that most of the
other
Mohammedan sects are tainted with the same madmany found among them, and among the
ness, there being

Sufis especially,
and who
who'pretend to be nearly related to Heaven,
boast of strange revelations before the credulous
people."
Professor
Weber
observes that the
Samkhyayoga system
upon the
of Indian philosophy had an important influence
growth of the
Sfifi
philosophy.
So that
it
appears that
the Indo- Aryan religious conceptions had obtained a foot-
And
ing in Arabia.
most prevalent
to
the Sabian religion, which was the
faith of the
Arabs before Mohammed, seems
have been connected with the ancient Vedic system of
the Indo-Aryans.
"They do not only believe one God," says Sale, "but

many strong arguments for this unity, though they
produce
APPENDIX.
342
pay an adoration to the
also
and
stars, or the angels
intelli-
gences which they suppose reside in them, and govern the
world under the Supreme Deity.
They endeavour
the souls of wicked

ages,
men will
be punished for nine thousand
They
but will afterwards be received to mercy.
obliged to pray three times a day

or less before sunrise, ordering
the sun
rises, finish
prostrations
to per-
and believe
fect themselves in the four intellectual virtues,
it
the
so that they
may, just as
eight adorations, each containing three
the second prayer they end at noon,
are
half an hour
first,
when
the sun begins to decline, in saying which they perform

five
such adorations as the former; and the same they do
the third time, ending just as the sun sets.

three times a year
days,
and the
the
first
last seven.
They
fast
time thirty days, the next nine
They offer many sacrifices, but

them all. They abstain from
eat no part of them, burning

beans, garlic,
and some other pulse and vegetables.
Besides
the book of Psalms, the only true Scripture they read, they
have other books which they esteem equally sacred,

cularly one in the Chaldee tongue
of Seth,
monly
and
call
is
full of
which they
of St.
John
the Baptist, whose
disciples also they pretend to be, using a
which
"
is
The
chiefly in
the greatest
mark they bear
parti-
the book
Travellers com-
moral discourses.
them Christians
call
kind of baptism,
of Christianity."
idolatry of the Arabs, then, as Sabians, consisted
worshipping the fixed stars and planets, and the
angels and their images, which they honoured as inferior

deites,
and whose intercession they begged
ators with God."
as their medi-
APPENDIX.
"Manah was
343
the object of worship of the tribes of
and Khazaah, who dwell between Mecca and

Medina. This idol was a large stone, demolished by one
Saad in the eighth year of the Hegira (A.D. 630), a year
Ilodhail
The name seems derived
so fatal to the idols of Arabia.
from mana,
to
flow,
from the flowing of the blood of the
victims sacrificed to the deity."

tive of the
"
Some
Its
sound seems sugges-
Aryan manu.
of the
pagan Arabs believed neither a creation
past nor a resurrection to come, attributing the origin of
things
to
nature,
and
believed a metempsychosis.
vicinity
dissolution
their
to
Some
age.
The Persians had, by
and frequent intercourse with the Arabians,
duced the Magian religion among some of their
their
intro-
tribes.
made a very great progress among

Christianity had
this nation before Mohammed."
" Mohammed taught that God had the goodness to reinform and re-admonish mankind by several prophets, of
likewise
whom Moses and
Jesus were the most distinguished
the appearance of himself,
who
is
their seal,
till
no other being
to be expected after him."
Mohammed,
then, like the Christian Church, ignored
the possibility of divine knowledge amongst the millions

of the
Eastern
civilisations,
aud contemned the Aryan
conception of the Incarnation, which seems to have invaded
Arabia from both East and West.
He fell back upon what

God in heaven com-
seems to be the Mosaic doctrine of
municating personally His will to His chosen prophet on

earth.
APPENDIX.
344
XL
The
life
and attributes of Krishna, regarded under
his
warlike aspect, certainly present well-defined aspects of
being the originals of those of the Odin of ancient Ger-
many.
Odin
is
related to have effected great changes in
government, manners, and religion.
Colonel Vans
Kennedy
observes that divine honours were paid to him, and that

in the midst of dangers the invoking of the
was an unfailing
Asiatic rites
resource.
and ceremonies,
performed miracles.
formed into a
body was
He
fish,
said to
is
name
of Odin
have instituted
said to
to
have taught magic and
He would
sometimes appear trans-
bird, or serpent.
have been burnt.
After his death his

Sacrifices of captives
taken in war were instituted in his honour.
According to the Edda of Northern Europe, one supreme
God
created heaven and earth.
mystic cow appears in
the account of the creation, which suggests ancient Indo-
Aryan
legends.
PRINTED BY BALI.ANTVNE, HANSON AND

EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
CO.
Demy
8vo, pp. xx-420, cloth, price
7s.
6a.
CRADLELAND OF ARTS AND CREEDS;

OR,
NEW UNDER THE
NOTHING
By CHARLES
J.
SUN.
STONE.
Globe, June 4, 1880. "Mr. Stone has brought very wide reading to enforce his argument that the cradle of modern civilisation lies
far beyond Egypt and the adjacent countries. He claims for Hindustan
this high honour."
Gentleman's Magazine, October
1880.
"In
his
singularly
on the Cradleland of Arts and Creeds,'

Mr. C. J. Stone supplies an account of the Ramayana, the earliest of
Modern poetry is anticipated throughout the
Indian romances.
epic by the constant celebration of the grandeur and beauties of
able
and scholarly
treatise
'
nature."
Morning Post, May
19.
"He has sought out
1880.
all
the points
of interest in the doctrines of Buddha and of the Brahmins ... he

seizes and turns to his purpose any salient point which has existed in
any theory of worship in any place at any time."
Guardian, November 10, isso. "Mr. Stone's aim is to

that India was not only the cradleland of religion but of art.
book is worth reading."
.
Sunday Times, April 11, 1880. "Readers will

new, many old legends and myths put
facts that are
attractive form,
and a marvellous amount
discover
show
.
His
many
in a novel
of thought, erudition,
and
and
poetry."
Daily News,
December
11,
1880.
"He
writes in a clear
and
readable style."
Examiner. August 14, 1880. "His chief faults are an excess of

enthusiasm, pardonable enough in view of the magnitude and interest
of his subject."
Westminster Review. July isso. "In the 'Cradleland of Arts

and Creeds/ Mr. Charles Stone derives the civilisation of Egypt from
the East, makes India the original seat of the Aryan race, discovers
there a Trinity in Unity, and finds a Christian cultus and Christian
speculation."
Graphic, April 17, 1880. " He has the merit of bringing Indian
culture before us in a form which to many will be new and attractive."
European Mail, Augusti9. 1880. "This volume shows considerable erudition on the part of the author, who possesses many qualifications for treating his subject, having been a resident in the East.
This interesting work traces the germs of all existing arts and creeds to
India."
.
Glasgow News. July

extremely interesting.
new fact is brought before
remote antiquity."
.
"It is very well written and

Dip where we may into the volume, some
us, or some fresh light shed upon periods of
22. isso.
Notes and Queries, July
16, 1881.
"His book
is
really a store-
house of miscellaneous information, as well as a challenge to thinkers,

on points of interest in the Vedic, Buddhistic, and other systems of
Eastern philosophy, art and science, which are attracting so much
attention in the present day."
The Queen, September
4,
18S0. "This
is
in several respects a
curious book."
South London Press, June
isso. "Nothing is so striking

of Elephanta are the most
celebrated, and exhibit a mixture of Egyptian and classic elements
in the place of the high altar is a colossai three-headed bust, rising from
the columns and decorations are much decayed
floor to roof
in the case of Elora a solid mountain has been hewn out.
The evidences of a grand civilisation are numerous and astounding. ... In
mythology the old Hindus seem to have preceded all the world. The
is in a solid and, at the same time, essentially popular form.
book
As a picture, necessarily drawn partly from imagination, of ancient
Hindu civilisation, it stands alone, as far as we remember, for the
extent of its plan and the amount of its information, and it can scarcely
fail to be read without profit by priest or layman.
The fact that
India, in spite of 800 years of foreign domination, still retains forms of
Aryan civilisation, is quoted as strong evidence of its having been
native to the soil
that this cradleland of humanity should, after
the lapse of so many centuries, have become an integral portion of the
British Empire, invests Mr. Stone's book with extraordinary interest
for Englishmen."
in India as her temples
12,
and caves
those
LONDON TRUBNER
:
&
CO.,
LUDGATE
HILL.
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n^gy^-^^, |?T- ->.,-~-~~~- --- |V> r7S^JU^

CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST.

" "We should

cheered by the words of that pious philosopher

when he boldly declares that there is no religion which

ought to be honoured. And in acting thus a man

PiyudatVs Rock Inscriptions.

CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST;

PROTOTYPES OF OUR FAITH

F.E.S.L., F.R. Hist.

AUTHOR OF "CRADLE-LAND OF ARTS AND CREEDS."

BALLANTYNE, HANSON ANI> CO.

Hiouen Thsang's description of Buddhist monasand of the towns, &c.

The "Great Supporter" (Mahabharata epic)

The incarnation of the "All-Pervading" in

Spell upon the Princess Krishna on account

Krishna's wives Association

Chivalrous devotion to woman shown in the anearth

parallel with the Platonic Christians

on the Puranas, and

Story of constancy of faith in the " Indian

Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Book of the

M. Leveque on the Orphic theology

of the "Blessed One,"

Chapter XXXIX. Corroboration of the developments of both

Inscription from Buddha-Gaya with mingling of

the Universe in India.

as applicable to Hindu women in the present day

Colebrooke on the integrity of the Vedas

Divine in Melchizedek in the Bible.

Ashbee in description of the Library of Tan-

invocation of the Mahabharata as compared with

Froissart's introduction to his History.

Buddhist temple in the Japanese village on view in

CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST.

in the world's ancient

faiths to the religion revealed to us in Judrea.

prototypes of our most sacred doctrines and ordinances

of the religions of ancient

one hand, and Etruria, &c. on the other.

science acknowledges the doctrines of Buddhism, the

have been promul-

period in the East about coeval with that in which

Constantine professed and established

revealed to us curious and interesting pictures in the

accounts of the travels of the Chinese Buddhist Pilgrims.

the material world

and seventh centuries of our

and India, in the

distinctly displayed to us at about

CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CHRIST;

Fah Hian, show religious and

His narrative has been translated by the Eev.

Professor of Chinese in University College, London.

describes monasteries which appear to

present absolute similarities to those of the Church

both in general aspect and interior regula-

that all the resident priests have

in reciting their scriptures, or remaining in pro-

provided without stint or reserve.

Strangers are hospitably received

their feet washed.