Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 49

"The death of Crishna is very differently related. One remarkable and convincing tradition makes him perish on a _tree_, to which he was _nailed_ by the stroke of an arrow."[184:8]

Rev. J. P. Lundy alludes to this pa.s.sage of Guigniaut's in his "Monumental Christianity," and translates the pa.s.sage "un bois fatal"

(see note below) "_a cross_." Although we do not think he is justified in doing this, as M. Guigniaut has distinctly stated that this "bois fatal" (which is applied to a gibbet, a cross, a scaffold, etc.) was "un arbre" (a _tree_), yet, he is justified in doing so on other accounts, for we find that _Crishna_ is represented _hanging on a cross_, and we know that a _cross_ was frequently called the "accursed _tree_." It was an ancient custom to use trees as gibbets for crucifixion, or, if artificial, to call the cross a tree.[185:1]

A writer in _Deuteronomy_[185:2] speaks of hanging criminals upon a _tree_, as though it was a general custom, and says:

"He that is hanged (on a tree) is accursed of G.o.d."

And _Paul_ undoubtedly refers to this text when he says:

"Christ hath redeemed us from the _curse_ of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, 'Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'"[185:3]

It is evident, then, that to be hung on a cross was anciently called hanging on a _tree_, and to be hung on a tree was called crucifixion. We may therefore conclude from this, and from what we shall now see, that Crishna was said to have been _crucified_.

In the earlier copies of Moor's "_Hindu Pantheon_," is to be seen representations of Crishna (as _Wittoba_),[185:4] with marks of holes in both feet, and in others, of holes in the hands. In Figures 4 and 5 of Plate 11 (Moor's work), the figures have _nail-holes in both feet_.

Figure 6 has a _round hole in the side_; to his collar or s.h.i.+rt hangs the emblem of a _heart_ (which we often see in pictures of Christ Jesus) and on his head he has a _Yoni-Linga_ (which we _do not_ see in pictures of Christ Jesus.)

Our Figure No. 7 (next page), is a pre-Christian crucifix of _Asiatic_ origin,[185:5] evidently intended to represent Crishna crucified. Figure No. 8 we can speak more positively of, it is surely Crishna crucified.

It is unlike any Christian crucifix ever made, and, with that described above with the _Yoni-Linga_ attached to the head, would probably not be claimed as such. Instead of the _crown of thorns_ usually put on the head of the Christian Saviour, it has the turreted coronet of the Ephesian Diana, the ankles are tied together by a cord, _and the dress about the loins is exactly the style with which Crishna is almost always represented_.[185:6]

Rev. J. P. Lundy, speaking of the Christian crucifix, says:

"I object to the crucifix because it is an _image_, and liable to gross abuse, _just as the old Hindoo crucifix was an idol_."[186:1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 7]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 8]

And Dr. Inman says:

"Crishna, whose history so closely resembles our Lord's, was also like him in his being crucified."[186:2]

The Evangelist[186:3] relates that when Jesus was crucified two others (malefactors) were crucified with him, one of whom, through his favor, went to heaven. One of the malefactors reviled him, but the other said to Jesus: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." And Jesus said unto him: "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." According to the _Vishnu Purana_, the hunter who shot the arrow at Crishna afterwards said unto him: "Have pity upon me, who am consumed by my crime, for thou art able to consume me!" Crishna replied: "Fear not thou in the least. _Go, hunter, through my favor, to heaven, the abode of the G.o.ds._" As soon as he had thus spoken, a celestial car appeared, and the hunter, ascending it, forthwith proceeded to heaven. Then the ill.u.s.trious Crishna, having united himself with his own pure, spiritual, inexhaustible, inconceivable, unborn, undecaying, imperishable and universal spirit, which is one with _Vasudeva_ (G.o.d),[186:4] abandoned his mortal body, and the condition of the threefold equalities.[186:5] One of the t.i.tles of Crishna is "_Pardoner of sins_," another is "_Liberator from the Serpent of death_."[187:1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 9]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. No. 10]

The monk Georgius, in his _Tibetinum Alphabetum_ (p. 203), has given plates of _a crucified G.o.d_ who was wors.h.i.+ped in _Nepal_. These crucifixes were to be seen at the corners of roads and on eminences. He calls it the G.o.d _Indra_. Figures No. 9 and No. 10 are taken from this work. They are also different from any Christian crucifix yet produced.

Georgius says:

"If the matter stands as Beausobre thinks, then the inhabitants of India, and the Buddhists, whose religion is the same as that of the inhabitants of Thibet, have received these new portents of fanatics nowhere else than from the Manicheans. For those nations, especially in the city of Nepal, in the month of August, being about to celebrate the festival days of the G.o.d _Indra_, erect crosses, wreathed with _Abrotono_, to his memory, everywhere. You have the description of these in letter B, the picture following after; for A is the representation of _Indra_ himself _crucified_, bearing on his forehead, hands and feet the signs _Telech_."[187:2]

P. Andrada la Crozius, one of the first Europeans who went to Nepal and Thibet, in speaking of the G.o.d whom they wors.h.i.+ped there--_Indra_--tells us that they said _he spilt his blood for the salvation of the human race_, and that he was pierced through the body with nails. He further says that, although they do not say he suffered the penalty of the cross, yet they find, nevertheless, figures of it in their books.[188:1]

In regard to Beausobre's ideas that the religion of India is corrupted Christianity, obtained from the Manicheans, little need be said, as all scholars of the present day know that the religion of India is many centuries older than Mani or the Manicheans.[188:2]

In the promontory of India, in the South, at Tanjore, and in the North, at Oude or Ayoudia, was found the wors.h.i.+p of the _crucified G.o.d Bal-li_.

This G.o.d, who was believed to have been an incarnation of Vishnu, was represented with holes in his hands and side.[188:3]

The incarnate G.o.d Buddha, although said to have expired peacefully at the foot of a tree, is nevertheless described as a suffering Saviour, who, "when his mind was moved by pity (for the human race) _gave his life like gra.s.s for the sake of others_."[188:4]

A hymn, addressed to Buddha, says:

"Persecutions without end, Revilings and many prisons, _Death and murder_, These hast thou suffered with love and patience (To secure the happiness of mankind), Forgiving thine executioners."[188:5]

He was called the "Great Physician,"[188:6] the "Saviour of the World,"[188:7] the "Blessed One,"[188:8] the "G.o.d among G.o.ds,"[188:9]

the "Anointed," or the "Christ,"[188:10] the "Messiah,"[188:11] the "Only Begotten,"[188:12] etc. He is described by the author of the "Cambridge Key"[188:13] as sacrificing his life to wash away the offenses of mankind, and thereby to make them partakers of the kingdom of heaven. This induces him to say "Can a Christian doubt that this Buddha was the TYPE of the Saviour of the World."[189:1]

As a spirit in the fourth heaven, he resolves to give up "all that glory, in order to be born into the world," "to rescue all men from their misery and every future consequence of it." He vows "to deliver all men, who are left as it were without a _Saviour_."[189:2]

While in the realms of the blest, and when about to descend upon earth to be born as man, he said:

"I am now about to a.s.sume a body; not for the sake of gaining wealth, or enjoying the pleasures of sense, but I am about to descend and be born, among men, _simply to give peace and rest to all flesh; to remove all sorrow and grief from the world_."[189:3]

M. l'Abbe Huc says:

"In the eyes of the Buddhists, this personage (Buddha) is sometimes a man and sometimes a G.o.d, or rather both one and the other--a divine incarnation, a man-G.o.d--who came into the world to enlighten men, to _redeem them_, and to indicate to them the way of safety. This idea of _redemption by a divine incarnation_ is so general and popular among the Buddhists, that during our travels in Upper Asia we everywhere found it expressed in a neat formula. If we addressed to a Mongol or a Thibetan the question 'Who is Buddha?' he would immediately reply: '_The Saviour of Men!_'"[189:4]

According to Prof. Max Muller, Buddha is reported as saying:

"_Let all the sins that were committed in this world fall on me, that the world may be delivered._"[189:5]

The _Indians_ are no strangers to the doctrine of _original sin_. It is their invariable belief that _man is a fallen being_; admitted by them from time immemorial.[189:6] And what we have seen concerning their beliefs in _Crishna_ and _Buddha_ unmistakably shows a belief in a _divine Saviour_, who _redeems man_, and takes upon himself the sins of the world; so that "_Baddha_ paid it all, all to him is due."[189:7]

The idea of redemption through the sufferings and death of a _Divine Saviour_, is to be found even in the ancient religions of China. One of their five sacred volumes, called the _Y-King_, says, in speaking of _Tien, the "Holy One"_:

"The _Holy One_ will unite in himself all the virtues of heaven and earth. By his justice the world will be re-established in the ways of righteousness. He will labor and suffer much. He must pa.s.s the great torrent, whose waves shall enter into his soul; _but he alone can offer up to the Lord a sacrifice worthy of him_."[190:1]

An ancient commentator says:

"The common people sacrifice their lives to gain bread; the philosophers to gain reputation; the n.o.bility to perpetuate their families. The _Holy One_ (_Tien_) does not seek himself, but the good of others. _He dies to save the world._"[190:2]

_Tien_, the Holy One, is always spoken of as one with G.o.d, existing with him from all eternity, "before anything was made."

_Osiris_ and _Horus_, the Egyptian virgin-born G.o.ds, suffered death.[190:3] Mr. Bonwick, speaking of _Osiris_, says:

"He is one of the _Saviours_ or deliverers of humanity, to be found in almost all lands." "In his efforts to do good, he encounters evil; in struggling with that he is overcome; he is killed."[190:4]

Alexander Murray says:

"_The Egyptian Saviour Osiris_ was gratefully regarded as the great exemplar of self-sacrifice, in _giving his life for others_."[190:5]

Sir J. G. Wilkinson says of him:

"The sufferings and death of _Osiris_ were the great Mystery of the Egyptian religion, and some traces of it are perceptible among other peoples of antiquity. His being the _Divine Goodness_, and the abstract idea of 'good,' his manifestation upon earth (like a Hindoo G.o.d), his death and resurrection, and his office as judge of the dead in a future state, _look like the early revelation of a future manifestation of the deity converted into a mythological fable_."[190:6]

_Horus_ was also called "The Saviour." "As Horus Sneb, he is the _Redeemer_. He is the Lord of Life and the Eternal One."[190:7] He is also called "The Only-Begotten."[190:8]