and qualities, taken apparently from the Upanishads; but the application is different, for the worshipper is not directed to fix his mind upon Brahme, the indefinite essence of deity, but upon the personal God Vishnu, of whom Krishna was a visible form. The following lines are taken

from Mr. Griffith's poetical translation of these passages :

"Life of all life! prop of this earthly frame!
Whither all creatures go, from whence they came,

I am the Best; from Me all beings spring,
And rest on me, like pearls upon their string.
I am the Father, and the fostering Nurse,
Grandsire, and Mother of the Universe;
I am the Vedas, and the Mystic Word,
The Way, Support, the Witness, and the Lord.
They who with pious care have studied o'er,
And made their own the triple Veda's lore,
Whose fires have glow'd . . . . . .

. . . hie to Indra's holy sphere, and share

The joy of Gods,.

And gain their longing bliss, but for a day.

But those a nobler, higher blessing find,

Who worship me with all their heart and mind :
Me, only Me, their wrapt devotion knows,
With Me alone their tranced spirit glows.
Do all thine acts to Me through all thy days,
Thy food, thy gifts, thy sacrifice, thy praise;
Then will the bonds of actions done by thee,
Worthy or evil, leave thy spirit free;
And thy pure soul, renouncing earthly care,
Will come unshackled, and My Essence share.
Though equal looks on all things I bestow,
Nor enmity nor partial fondness know;
Yet happy they who love Me faithfully,

I dwell within them ever,—they in Me.”

This is the same principle of bhakti, or faith, which we found faintly appearing in the north-west Provinces, where,

shortly after the Christian era, Siva was worshipped as Swayambhu, and Sakya-Sinha as Adi-Buddha. Minor deities were in neither case altogether banished; and it was becoming possible to the worshipper to conceive the Eternal Essence, as a Unity, holding personal relations towards mankind. Professor Wilson notices the resemblance of the doctrines of the Bhagavat Gita to those of some divisions of the early Christian schools, and hints that the remodelling of the ancient Hindu systems into popular forms, and “in particular the vital importance of faith, were directly influenced by the diffusion of the Christian religion."* We hail also with satisfaction a similar opinion from Professor Lassen. Brahmans he believes to have met with Christianity in the countries bordering upon Kashmere. St. Thomas he believes really to have visited Parthia; and although he denies the possibility of St. Thomas himself having reached Madras or any part of India, he sees no reason to doubt that Christian churches were introduced into southern India within the first four or five centuries of our era.†

* Oriental Magazine, vol. iii.

Indische Alterth. vol. ii. p. 1103; see also Wilson, Introd. Vishnu Purana, p. 8.

CHAPTER V.

""Tis the old-age of day, methinks, or haply

The infancy of night."

BARRY CORNWALL.

IT cannot be determined when the heroes Rama and Krishna became elevated to the dignity of divinities; but legends of Vishnu thus personified are given at length in the Puranas, and are evidently derived from the same religious system as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. A gradual change may be traced from the domestic elemental worship of the Vedas, "addressed to unreal presences," down to "the sectarial fervour and exclusiveness" of modern Hindu idolatry. Of these modern modes the Puranas are the chief exponents they are voluminous works written at different periods, and compiled under various circumstances; none of them, probably, in all respects the same works as were current under this name in the century previous to Christianity, and in their present forms "the oldest of them not" estimated as "anterior to the eighth or ninth cen* Oxford Lectures, H. H. Wilson, pp. 25, 27, 31.

tury," whilst some are not above three or four centuries old. They appear to have been composed chiefly during the religious ferment, which had for its object the extermination of the Buddhists, beginning in the third or fourth century of our era. The doctrine of the sufficiency of faith alone is "carried to the very utmost of that abuse of which it is susceptible. Entire dependence upon Krishna, or any other favourite deity," not only obviating the necessity of virtue, but sanctifying vice.† Krishna as the boy Cowherd, or Krishna as the lover of Radha, are the characters in which he is most popular. These legends we shall find in the Vishnu Purana, translated by Professor Wilson; and some acquaintance with them is necessary if we would understand the mythology exhibited in literature, religion, paintings, and architecture, since the disappearance of Buddhism from India.

Vishnu is announced as born on earth, in the family of Yadu, and consequently "whoever hears the account of the race of Yadu shall be released from all sin.” The Yadus were settled at Dwaraka, on the west coast of Guzerat: their government was chiefly carried on by means of public assemblies, at which even women were present; and although they had a king, no great importance seems to have attached to his office. At the period of the following story Krishna lived amongst the Yadus as a powerful and successful warrior. At times he is alluded to as a form of the God Vishnu, but never in the character of an earthly sovereign. The following is abridged from Wilson's Vishnu Purana :'

* Vishnu Purana, Introd., H. H. Wilson, pp. 3, 6, 9.
Oxford Lectures, H. H. Wilson, pp. 25, 27, 31.

STORY OF THE SYAMANTAKA GEM.

A king named Satrajit enjoyed the privilege of a personal acquaintance with the Sun. As he walked along the seashore at Dwaraka he addressed hymns and praises to him, and presently the divinity appeared and stood before him; but the shape was indistinct, and the King said, "I have beheld thee, Lord, in the heavens as a globe of fire; now do thou show favour to me, that I may see thee in thy proper form." On this, taking the jewel called Syamantaka from his neck, he placed it apart, and Satrajit then beheld him of a dwarfish stature, with a body like burnished copper, and with slightly reddish eyes. Having offered his adorations, the Sun desired him to demand a boon, and he requested to have the jewel. The Sun immediately presented it to him, and then resumed his place in the sky. Satrajit placed the spotless gem of gems upon his neck and returned to Dwaraka; but the inhabitants, startled at the approach of such effulgence, fled in consternation to the warrior Krishna, saying, "Lord, assuredly the Divine Sun is coming to visit you." Krishna smiled at their fears, and assured them that they had not seen the Sun, but merely their own king Satrajit, to whom the Sun had presented the Syamantaka gem. Satrajit in the meantime reached his house, and there deposited the jewel, which, by virtue of its presence, yielded eight loads of gold a day, and averted fearful portents, wild beasts, fire, robbers, and famine.

Krishna was privately of opinion that this wonderful gem should have been given to Ugrasena, another Yadu chief and his own near relative, but he said nothing, in order