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Kshatriya father and a Brahman mother would seem to be an invention. There is, again, the peculiar way in which Krishna is also made a relation of the Pândavas and Kauravas, which is very mysterious. There is, moreover, a difficulty about Krishna's raj, which is put, in the Mahâ bharata, at Dwârakâ, in Guzerat, 700 miles to the south of the site of the great war, and the capital of the Pândavas. Yet between these distant places communications are kept up between him and the great chiefs of the Mahâbhârata. The destruction of Dwâraka, too, after the war, with nearly all the Yâdavas, and the death of Krishna himself by a passing hunter, are equally strange.

29. Is it not more than probable that Krishna is an altogether imaginary person, introduced to give a new doctrine gleaned from the Christian story, as to the means of union with the divine? It is difficult to hide the suspicion that the very names, Krishna, Vasudeva (the divine Vasu), Devakî (the divine lady), and Yadu, may have been suggested by the names in the Christians' account of Christ, the tribe of Yadavas being further suitable as a shepherd tribe, though ennobled, according to Hindu ideas, by the mythical descent. from higher castes. These words are not mentioned as adaptations, but only as suggested. Krishna, meaning dark or black, may not have been an altogether uncommon name: there are still tribes in India who call their children by names indicating personal peculiarities: the Rishi Vyâsa, the composer, or compiler, of the Mahâbhârata, was also called Krishna-Dwaipâyana (the Island-born Krishna)—there may have been many Krishnas; but if the name here was suggested by the name Christ, there is a difference of only one letter. Vasu, again, contains the same sounds inverted as Yoseph, or Yusaph. Devaki I have already explained; and Yadu is a singular echo of Yahudah. It may be merely a coincidence that the different names thus echo one another ; but if so, it is a very curious coincidence, and is not noticed here for the first time.

30. It should, further, not be overlooked that Krishna is the younger brother of Bala-Râma, who sometimes shares with himself the honour of being the eighth and last past avatar of Vishnu in the Hindu Pantheon. Why should such a discrepancy, or at any rate peculiarity, anywhere occur in Hindu mythology? The sixth and seventh avatars of Vishnu are both Râmas. The sixth avatar is Parasu-Râma, Rôma with the axe, the great hero of the Brahmans against the Kshatriyas. The seventh avatar is Râma-Chandra, the glorious Râma, the great hero of the Kshatriyas against

the southern aborigines. The eighth avatar is sometimes also a Râma, Bala-Râma, the strong Râma, or, as he is also called, Râma-Halâyudha, Râma with the plough. May this last not originally have been the great hero of agriculture and peace that followed the long days of war? In any case, Krishna follows him in birth, though in most legends he is placed alone as the eighth avatar of Vishnu. Is not this very suggestive of the comparatively late advent of Krishna on the tablets of Hindu mythology, though it is confessedly difficult, so far, to define chronologically the exact periods to which these legends refer? Krishna seems to have supplanted BalaRâma as the eighth avatar. It is also significant, that the next avatar is Buddha, who must have received this rank long after the expulsion of Buddhism as a schism from India-a consummation which is generally placed at about the eighth century of the Christian era; and that the last avatar is yet. to come-that of Kalki-who is to be the destroyer of the wicked, and the liberator of the world. Whence can this idea have arisen but in the wake of revelation?

The CHAIRMAN (Mr. D. Howard, V.P.C.S.).-We have to thank Mr. Collins for a very interesting and valuable paper. The study of these ancient religions is undoubtedly one of great interest, and it is also one which now-a-days is being carried on with great vigour, although very often with a strange forgetfulness of elementary teachings as to the proper methods of investigation. You can only obtain sound inductions by duly ascertaining facts; and yet there are many who write and speak as if the Light of Asia were the safest authority for the history of Buddha, or other equally untrustworthy guides were the best verification for the sun myths with which they deal. It is invaluable when those who have opportunities of really studying the philosophy of different nations, whether in India or elsewhere, give us the benefit of their researches.*

* BUDDHISM AND THE VEDA.-Sir Monier Monier Williams, Boden Pro/fessor of Sanscrit in Oxford University, speaking lately at Oxford, urged that Christians had no reason to shrink from a comparison with other religious systems. He said:"To translate the Veda or the Koran into other languages the Hindoos and the Mohammedans consider simply desecration. It is the sound and intonation of the Sacred Sanscrit and of the sacred Arabic, which is of primary importance and primary efficacy; the sense is merely secondary. Millions and millions who know nothing of Sanscrit are obliged to hear and repeat the Veda in Sanscrit, and million's who are wholly ignorant of Arabic are obliged to hear and repeat the Koran in Arabic. Think of what would happen if no Christian in any part of the world were allowed to hear, read, or repeat his Bible except in Hebrew, or Greek!" Further, he found “ no such revelation of our nature and needs in

In the paper we have just heard, Mr. Collins has given us a history of the Krishna myth, which is of exceeding value. He holds that this Krishna myth in all probability took its rise from evident and flagrant imitations of the Gospel histories; and on this point it is very interesting to study the Apocryphal Gospels to see how in them the incongruities and extravagances of thought, which cling to the supernatural, attach themselves like a parasite, even around the history of our Lord Himself. It is to the accurate and minute verification of these early writings and their meanings that we must look for any information as to the real rise of religious thought among the different nations of the earth. And there is another point, that it is not sufficient for us to read the translations, however accurate, of these early writings; we ought to be able, more or less, to throw ourselves into the habit of mind and thought of the people themselves. It is not enough to read the Vedas or any other of those ancient writings; we must read them, as far as possible, as the original writers, as well as those for whom they wrote, understood them. I do not say it is easy to do this; but this, I think, is the only method by which our researches can have any real value. It is difficult for us even to throw ourselves into the feelings of the writers of the Old Testament, and it must necessarily be more difficult for us to form other than a vague idea of the mind of Homer, or the actual facts about which he wrote; when we go back to the most distant ages and the habits of thought most distant from our own, it becomes more difficult still; and we are exceedingly apt to read what was then written in a sense that would profoundly amaze the authors of the books themselves. I trust that after the Honorary Secretary has read some communications that have been received, those present who have studied these subjects, will give us the benefit of their experience.

Captain FRANCIS PETRIE, F.G.S. (Hon. Sec.).-The following communications have been received :

the Veda as in the Bible. Again, Sanctify this life and all its trials, says our \Bible; Get rid of the troubles of life, says the Veda. Sanctify the body, says our Bible; Get rid of the body, says the Veda. Sanctify your daily work, says our Bible; Get rid of all action, says the Veda. Rest not on any merits of your own, says our Bible; Rest on your own merits alone, says the Veda. Get rid of sin, says our Bible; Get rid of misery, says the Veda. Moreover, the historical element is wholly wanting both in the Veda and the Koran. Then note one other very remarkable feature. Progressive development marks our Bible. The light of Revelation is gradually unfolded till the perfect illumination of the Epistles and the Revelation of St. John is reached. The very reverse is the case in the Veda and the Koran. In these the earliest utterances contain the greatest light, the later become darker and darker." After a life-long study of the religious books of the Hindoos, Professor Monier Williams said he felt compelled to express publicly his opinion of them. "They begin with much promise amid scintillations of truth and light and occasional sublime thoughts from the source of all truth and light, but end in sad corruptions and lamentable impurities.”—ED,

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"7, Norham Gardens, Oxford,

"DEAR CAPTAIN PETRIE,

"March 20, 1887.

The subject

"I have read Mr. Collins' paper with much interest. is extremely difficult, and the literature connected with it very large. I cannot enter into details. I can only say that, looking at the question from a purely historical point of view, I see no channel through which the Krishna story could have influenced Christianity, nor vice versa. The points of similarity are, no doubt, puzzling at first sight; the points of difference, however, are far more numerous. We must wait and be satisfied that we cannot make out everything. The chief point is a critical study of the original documents. What is the date of the Syriac document called 'The Teaching of the Apostles?'

"The name Yezcus was invented, I believe, by Jacolliot, and is a mere corruption of Yadu. I answered Jacolliot once (Selected Essays II., p. 422; also Introduction to the Science of Religion, p. 24), but these books hardly deserve notice. Yours sincerely,

The Cambridge Professor of Sanscrit, writes :—

"F. MAX MÜLLER.”

Cambridge, March 15. "MY DEAR SIR,-I thank you for sending me the copy of the Rev. R. Collins' interesting paper. I am sorry that I cannot come up to London next week to attend the Meeting.

"I may perhaps mention that it seems to me not unlikely that the name Jezeus, referred to in p. 174, may be a corruption of the Sanskrit word I'sa, 'Lord.' I'sa properly belongs as a title to Siva; but it is sometimes used of Krishna (or Vishnu), as e.g. in the Vishnu Purána (Wilson, Hall's ed., vol. v. p. 43). I'sas would be the nominative. It is a mere casual coincidence, if this is the name meant.

"I remain, yours sincerely,

"E. B. CowELL."

Dr. Leitner, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Punjab, writes:

"Krishna is a half-historical character, and the coincidences of his life and that of Christ are too vague to justify the least connexion with, much less the derivation of any of the Krishna myths from, the narrative regarding Christ, or vice versa."

Dr. Edersheim writes:

"8, Bradmore Road, Oxford, March 20. "DEAR SIR,-I am greatly obliged by the courteous invitation of the Council to be present at the reading of the paper, of which you have been so good as to send me a proof. I much regret that a literary engagement prevents my coming to town on Monday. I should have much liked to express my sincere appreciation of the paper, and my entire concurrence in the views of its able and learned writer. If my opinion is worth anything on these subjects, I can only state that, so far as my reading has gone, it has led me to precisely similar conclusions, and it confirms those advocated in the paper to be read before the Institute.

"Believe me, yours with much regard,
"ALFRED EDERSHEIM.”

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Professor Douglas writes:

"DEAR SIR,

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"King's College, March 21.

Living out of London as I do, besides having my hands very full of work, I find it difficult to attend evening meetings; and as the subject for discussion this evening is not one to which I have paid more than passing attention, I fear that I should not be able to throw much light upon it. But this much I may say, that nothing is so deluding as Oriental chronology, and before it would be possible to assert that the myths relating to the births of Krishna and Buddha were current prior to our era, it will be necessary to go far more critically into earlier chronology than as yet we have been able to do. Confucius may be added to the list of those sages who are said to have been born in caves, and whose births were announced by heavenly portents. But so far as he is concerned, I have no hesitation in assigning the origin of the myth to a date after Christ.

"Faithfully yours,

"ROBERT K. DOUGLAS."

Professor Terrien de Lacouperie, Ph.D. Litt.D., writes :—

"62, Chesilton-road, Fulham, S.W., London,

"March 21.

"DEAR CAPTAIN PETRIE, "I lecture this afternoon at the Royal Asiatic Society, and I am afraid for this reason I shall not be able to be present at your interesting Meeting to-night.

"The Rev. Richard Collins' paper on Krishna and Solar Myths is a healthy contribution to unbiassed knowledge, with which I am glad to agree in its main lines.

"I have not the books at hand, but I think that the combination Jezeus Krishna was put forth by M. Louis Jacolliot, formerly a French magistrate in India, who wrote unsuccessfully several volumes in view of showing that Christianity was a clever adaptation of Hindu views, ideas, and books. "Yours truly,

"T. DE LACOUPERIE.”

Rev. H. M. M. HACKETT.-I would have felt some trepidation in rising to speak on this paper, but for the letter which has just been read from Professor Max Müller, because, after carefully reading what Mr. Collins has written, I came to conclusions very different indeed from those at which he has arrived-conclusions which I did not then adopt for the first time, but which had been the result of many years' work in India. In the first place, I am quite ready to believe in the possibility of Christian notions having filtered from various sources into Hindoo religions in ages that have passed since the coming of Christ, because I have myself seen some strange instances of this in remote villages, where stories of Christ had been repeated and believed as having reference to persons who are supposed to have lived in the neighbourhood-stories that have evidently been derived from Scripture. The theory which the author has put forward is an old

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