literature are worthy of a careful attention, but they too need to be reminded that the question is one of fact. When we are told by K. T. Telang, as a proof of the early date of the Krishna cult, that Kalidasa speaks of "Vishnu in the form of a cowherd" (i.e., Krishna), he is attempting to prove ignotum per ignotius. We do not know at what time Kālidāsa lived. He was one of the "nine gems" of the court of King Vikramaditya at Ujjayini. The late Professor Wilson supposed that this was the king of that name whose era begins in the year 57 B.C., but Dr. Bhau Dājī has attempted to prove that the king referred to was Harsha Vikramaditya, who lived in the middle of the sixth century A.C. This, I think, is the more probable opinion, but it has not been fully proved. K. T. Telang would assign his period to "two or three centuries. before the sixth century A.C." Even if this earlier date could be proved, the rejection of such a date for the Gītā as the fourth century B.C. would follow at once; for it may be affirmed, from the mythological forms and the language of Kālidāsa's finest work, the Sakuntalā, that the time between this work and the Gītā cannot have been great. It has been urged in favour of the early development of the Krishṇa worship that he appears as a god in other parts of the Mahabharata; but certainly not as the Supreme Being, for he offers worship to Mahadeva (Siva) as the Supreme God. In the book called "Drona-parvan," Krishna and Arjuna recite a hymn in honour of Mahadeva as "the soul of all things, the creator of all, and the pervader of all." It is also said in the same book that "the righteous Vasudeva (Krishna), together with the son of Pṛitha (Arjuna), bowed his head to the ground, beholding him, the source of the worlds, . . . the Supreme Brahma." It is added that "Krishna reverenced him (Brahma) with voice, heart (manas), mind (buddhi), and action."1 But 1 Muir iv. 185. The word is vavande from vand, (1) to bow down in worship, and (2) to praise, to celebrate. In another book of the his rank as a deity of any degree was not accepted by all. In the Sabha-parvan, Siśupāla denies his right to such a claim, charging him as a transgressor of the sacred law (smriti), saying that he was inferior, for this and other reasons, to other chiefs present, and that he was not even a king, his father, Vasudeva, being still alive.1 Bhishma then defends the claim of Krishna to this honour, but Sisupala evidently represents the judgment of some contemporaneous class on the subject. The Vaishnavas promoted his claim, but it was affirmed by many that he was only a man; for in the Bhishma-parvan it is said, "Whoever says that he (Krishna) was a mere man is of dull intellect (manda-dhih)."2 If in some few passages he is represented as being the origin of all things, these are so contrary to the general tone of the poem on this subject, that, with Dr. Muir, we are compelled to assume that they are late interpolations. It is not until we come to the Purāņas that he appears as the Supreme Deity beyond all doubt or cavil, and the earliest of these books, the Vayu Purāṇa, has, by general consent, no higher antiquity than the sixth century A.C. In the Bhagavata Purāṇa, which is devoted to the honour of Bhagavat (Krishna), it is said: "When a man hears this (work), devotion to Krishna the Supreme Purusha (Spirit) is produced, destroying grief, delusion, and fear." In the Bhagavad Gita he is called the Supreme Brahma (param Brahma), and the Rishis name him Eternal Spirit (purusham śāswatam) (x. 12). The devotion offered to Krishna is also denoted by the same word, bhakti, in both. This word is also found in Mahābhārata (the Santi-parvan) the worship of Mahadeva is explained as being offered only as an example to others, and that really it was offered to himself, Mahādeva being one of his manifestations (Muir iv. 185 n.); but this must have been a late interpolation. In this great epic Krishna appears mainly as a deified hero. 1 Muir 206. the Nalopākhyānam, or story of Nala, but the Krishṇa division of the Vaishnavas gave to it a deeper meaning. With them it denoted an implicit faith, with incessant devotion and love. The Chaitanyas, who worship Krishna as the Paramātman (Supreme Spirit),1 assign to it five degrees: (1) Sānta, repose or quietism; (2) Dāsya, service; (3) Sākya, personal regard or friendship; (4) Bātsalya, tender affection, as of a parent for children; and (5) Madhurya, passionate attachment. In the Brahma Purana, also, Krishna is declared to be the Supreme Spirit (paramātman), and to be the source of all things, as in the Gitā. He gave origin to a female form, his śaktī or energy, endowed with the three guṇas (the elements of Prakriti or Nature), which form the whole material creation. In the Gītā, Prakriti is the lower nature of the Supreme Being (Krishna), and this he sends forth in the creation of gods and men. Hence he is called both the father and mother of the world (ix. 17), and the origin of all things (xiv. 3).2 The same subject is discussed in the Pātāla section of the Padma Purana and the sixth part of the Vishnu Purāna. In fact, it is impossible to read the Bhagavad Gita and the Purāņas without feeling that we are treading upon the same ground. The Krishna cult was probably developed in its highest form before the earliest of the Purāṇas was written, but it would be unreasonable to suppose that it had existed as a popular worship more than two or three centuries before it entered into the literature of the country. We are also brought near to the Puranic age as the date of the Bhagavad Gitā by the fact that all the mythological signs and attendants of the gods are found in it. They are referred to only as instances of the glory of the one Supreme Being, but they existed at the time as parts of the fully de1 Prof. Wilson's Rel. Sects of the Hindūs, p. 100. 2 Ibid. p. 76. veloped mythological system. The horse Uchchaiḥ-śravas, the white horse of Indra, produced at the churning of the ocean, when gods and Daityas whirled the serpent Vasuki round the mountain Mandara in the sea of milk, and the amrita (the nectar of immortality) was won; the Makara, the monster fish on which Varuna rides upon the ocean, and which Kāma, the Hindu Cupid, bears on his banner; Airāvata, the elephant on which Indra rides, and which guards the eastern quarter of the sky; Vainateya, the bird which carries the god Vishnu, formerly called Garuda, but named, according to the Purāņas, from his mother, Vinatā, a daughter of Daksha,-all are recorded and must have been well known among all classes. Varuna, who in the story of Nala is the god of the sea, is only the chief of aquatic animals in the Gītā (x. 29).1 These are The worship of Bhūtas, too, was then common. malignant spirits which haunt churchyards and eat human. flesh. They are described in the Vishnu Purāṇa, and are said to have been created when Brahma was angry. In the Vayu Purāņa it is said that their mother was Krodhā (Anger). The preference is given to the Sama-Veda over the others, not because it is the most important, but from its use by the priests in chanting at the sacrificial rites (x. 22). The preference given to the Sama-Veda is not an absolute indication of time, but it shows that the chanting of hymns on the occasion of a sacrifice by Brahmans was fully established when the Gītā was written. In Manu the Sama-Veda is said to have the pitris (ancestral manes) for its object, and therefore "its sound is impure;" but the commentator, Kullūka, states that the Sama-Veda was not really impure; it only seems to be so.2 The time when Kullūka lived is not known, but it 1 In the Atharva-Veda Varuņa is addressed as "Lord of all, both of heaven and earth," and from him the forgiveness of sins is prayed for. (Müller's Sanskrit Lit., pp. 534, 541.) 2 Muir, S. T., iii. 26. N 194 may be assumed to be some centuries after the beginning of the Christian era. The argument may be extended to the words used in the Gita. Kulpa, in the sense of a definite number of ages, is a Puranic word. It is not found in any of the Brāhmaṇas. Manwantara, as Manu-period; Dwandwa, as a pair of opposites; Bhāshā, as a mark or sign (used in this sense in the Bhag. Purana); Yoga and Vibhuti, as denoting supernatural power; and Māyā, in the sense of an illusive external world, all belong to a late period. The question of date cannot be settled with absolute certainty, but all the evidence we have points to a time not earlier than the third century A.C. If we may assume this as the proximate date of the Bhagavad Gita, the question arises whether we have evidence of the Christian faith having been preached in India before that time. In answer to this question we may note: (1.) That the intercourse between India and the principal cities of Africa and Europe, even before the beginning of the Christian era, was very great; and (2.) That we have direct evidence of the preaching of the Christian faith there before the third century A.C. (1.) From the time of Alexander's conquest of the North of India there was a constant intercourse between Greeks and Hindus. Even in the time of Chandragupta gold coins were struck, according to Mr. Prinsep, which were undoubtedly in weight and design of Grecian origin.1 At a later period, coins of Hindu kings have been found with Greek inscriptions on one side and Sanskrit on the other. It was quite possible, therefore, for Pāṇini, who mentions the Yavanānī (lipi) (the Greek writing), to be familiar at least with the Greek alphabet.2 Such was the fame of Augustus, and so well known was 1 Max Müller's Sanskrit Lit., p. 245 n. Ibid. p. 520. |
