secondly, whether they cannot be traced, at least in germ, in Indian writers of such antiquity as to exclude the supposition of foreign influence; thirdly, whether they do not so pervade the Indian writings, so form part of their modes of thinking, and recur so often in their different systems and theories philosophical, theological, or religious, of ancient date, as to be inseparable therefrom, and by consequence original and underived; fourthly, whether and how far, any particular work, such as the Bhagavad Gītā, supposed to have been modified by foreign influences, differs in its essential conceptions from other Indian works treating of kindred subjects; fifthly, whether any system of doctrine resembling that expounded in that poem, and known to be independent of Christianity, is discoverable in the religious books of India, or any other country; and sixthly, what probability there is that the Brahmins of the period in question could have been accessible to foreign ideas, and whether they would have been intellectually and morally open to, and susceptible of, such influences. In the meantime, I may venture to make the following remarks on this question. There is, no doubt, a general resemblance between the manner in which Krishna asserts his own divine nature, enjoins devotion to his person, and sets forth the blessings which will result to his votaries from such worship, on the one hand, and, on the other, the strain in which the founder of Christianity is represented in the Gospels, and especially in the Fourth, as speaking of himself and his claims, and the redemption which will follow on their faithful recognition. At the same time, the Bhagavad Gītā contains much that is exclusively Indian in its character, and which finds no counterpart in the New Testament doctrine. A few of the texts in the Indian poem also present a resemblance more or less close to some in the Bible. Perhaps the most striking is the declaration of the Bhagavad Gītā, ix. 29, “They who devoutly worship me are in me, and I in them," as compared with John vi. 56, "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him." But it will be observed that the condition of oneness with the speaker is different in each case; and that it is that oneness with him only that is common to the two texts. (See, however, John xvii. 21-23, where the same reference to the condition of the oneness is not found.) 66 In the Rigveda some passages occur which in part convey the same or a similar idea. Thus in ii. 11, 12, it is said: tve Indra apy abhûma viprâh, “ O Indra, we sages have been in thee;" and in x. 142. 1, Ayam Agne jaritâ tve abhûd api sahasah sûno nahy anyad asty âpyam, "This worshipper, O Agni, hath been in thee: O son of strength, he has no other kinship ; ' and in viii. 47. 8, Yushme devâh api smasi yudhyantah iva varmasu, “We, O gods, are in you, as if fighting in coats of mail." In the great Sanskrit and German Lexicon edited by Dr Böhtlingk and himself, Professor Roth assigns to the words api smasi in the last passage the sense of "being in any thing," being closely connected with it. To the similar phrases, apy abhûma and abhûd api, in the other two texts, he ascribes the sense of "having a share in," which is, no doubt, the meaning in one passage at least, (Aitareya Brahmana, vii. 28), where the compound verb occurs. İn any case, close connection is And in viii. 81. 32, the worshipper says to Indra, tvam asmakam tava smasi, “thou art ours, and we thine." The following are some remarks which I have to make upon Dr Lorinser's renderings: intended. Ind. Ant., as above quoted, p. 288: "He is far from darkness (viii. 9). P. 289: "Light of lights, far from darkness is his name" (xiii. 17). Which he compares with "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John i. 5). The words here translated "far from darkness" (tamasah parastât) would be better rendered by "beyond the darkness." They are not peculiar to this passage, but occur also in the Munda Upanishad, ii. 2. 6, and Mahâbhârata, v. 1712. The words, tamasas pari, meaning “above, or beyond, the darkness," occur also in Rigveda, i. 50. 10: "Gazing towards the upper light beyond the darkness, we have ascended to the highest luminary, Sûrya (the Sun), a god among the gods." In the line of the Bhagavad Gitâ, the words, tamasah parastât, are immediately preceded by âditya-varnam, "the sun-coloured," "beyond the darkness." The Indian writer had thus no need to borrow this epithet from the Bible. It may be remarked, besides, that the verse Bh. G. viii. 9 contains many other epithets of Krishna as the supreme deity. P. 291: "But if I were not constantly engaged in work, unwearied . . . these worlds would perish if I did not work my work” (iii. 23, 24). Which is compared with “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John v. 17). This is quoted as one of the "passages which contain a characteristic expression of the New Testament with a different application;" but as the author translates it, the application seems to be nearly the same, as he renders the words, utsideyur ime lokâh, “these worlds would perish," or "would sink" (versänken); whereas it is clear that the whole context (verses 21 ff.) points to the influence exercised by the example of an eminent man on the people around him, and leads to the conclusion that the words should be rendered "these men would be discouraged,” or led into error, if I did not perform good works as an example for their imitation. In Râmânuja's commentary the words are paraphrased sarve sishtalokâh, &c., "all good people." The sentiment expressed in verse 21 is also to be found in Râmâyana, ii. 109. 9 (Bombay edition). P. 292: "Dead in me” (x. 9). "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. ii. 3). 666 The phrase here rendered "dead in me” is mad-gata-prânâh. It is explained by Râmânuja as mad-gata-jîvitáh | mayâ vinâ ·âtma-dhâranam alabhamânâh ity arthah | 'Having your life gone to me.' The sense is, 'not obtaining a support for your soul or self without me.' The participle gata, followed by prâna (gata-prâna), undoubtedly means "dead,” i.e., one whose breath is gone, just as gatâsu (i.e., gata+asu) does. But compounded with a word preceding it, gata means gone to ;" thus 66 hrid-gata means, "gone to, or abiding in, the heart." The compound before us therefore signifies, "whose breath rests in, or depends on, me." It is preceded by mach-chittâh, “having your hearts in me." Lorinser quotes Mr Cockburn Thomson as supporting the sense he gives, but it is not adopted by Schlegel or Burnouf. P. 291: "I who am the highest way" (vii. 18). 66 P. 293: "I am the way, beginning, and end” (ix. 18). [The by me" (John xiv. 6). i. 17). 66 No man cometh unto the Father but “I am the first and the last." (Rev. The word here translated "way" is in both passages of the Sanskrit, gati. This I regard as incorrect. Gati, no doubt, primarily means 'going," and so, no doubt, stands for "path," but here, as in many other passages of the Indian writings, it certainly signifies "the place reached by going," "resort," ""refuge.” Râmânuja explains gati in the second passage thus: gati-Sakra-loka-prabhriti-prâpya-sthânam, i.e., "the heaven of Sakra (Indra), and other abodes which are to be attained." It is further to be observed that whilst Jesus designates him self as "the way, the truth, and the life," Krishna, in one of the verses referred to, calls himself only the "unequalled abode or resort;" and in the other, "the resort, the sustainer, the lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend, the source, the dissolution, the stay, the receptacle, the undecaying seed; so that, in any case, the resemblance would be but partial, while some of the ideas in the Bh. G. are foreign to the New Testament. Most of the verses cited from that poem by Dr Lorinser as parallel to texts in the Bible appear to me either to exhibit no very close resemblance to the latter, or to be such as might naturally have occurred to the Indian writer, and to offer therefore only an accidental similarity. Dr Lorinser considers (see the note in p. 286 of the Indian Antiquary, and in p. 56 of the German Original) that two Sanskrit words denoting faithful and reverential religious devotion (s'raddhā and bhakti), which often occur in the Bhagavad Gītā, do not convey original Indian conceptions, but are borrowed from Christianity. This may or may not be true of bhakti; but s'raddha (together with its cognates, participial and verbal) is found even in the hymns of the Rigveda in the sense of belief in the existence and action of a deity, at least, if not also of devotion to his service. In pp. 103 ff. of the fifth volume of my "Original Sanskrit Texts," a number of passages are cited and translated in which the word occurs, together with a great variety of other expressions in which the worshipper's trust in, and affectionate regard for, the god Indra are indicated. He is called a friend and brother; his friendship and guidance are said to be sweet; he is spoken of as a father, and the most fatherly of fathers; and as being both a father and a mother; he is the helper of the poor, and has a love for mortals. In other texts adduced in the same volume from those ancient compositions, there may be found (intermingled, no doubt, with many ideas of a different, and much less elevated, character) the most lofty conceptions of the power, omniscience and righteousness of the same god, or of other deities;-conceptions which, I apprehend, are quite sufficient to show that, however the question regarding the introduction of Christian doctrines and sentiments into Indian writers in later times may be determined, the people of Hindustan were not deficient in high and devout religious sentiment from the earliest ages. Besides the Bhagavad Gītā, there is another part of the Mahābhārata to which I wish to refer, as it also has been adduced to prove that a knowledge of Christianity existed in India in the early centuries of our era,-I mean the passages in which the 'Sveta-dvīpa, the white island (or continent), and its inhabitants are referred to. This account is considered by Professor Lassen (Indische Alterthumskunde, ii. 1115, Note 1) to be one of the latest additions made to the great epic poem.* * The reason assigned for this opinion is that the account is inserted in the narrative adduced in the Appendix to Professor's L.'s first volume, p. xxxvi., Note, regarding Uparichara Vasu. |