the three
great personal deities, namely, Brahm[=a], Vishnu, and Siva,--Creator,
Preserver, and Destroyer respectively. From these and other deities, but
particularly from Vishnu, the Preserver, there descended to earth at
various times and in various forms, human and animal, certain
avatars.[89] Best known of these avatars of Vishnu, the Preserver, are
Ram, the hero of the great epic called after him, the R[=a]m[=a]yan; and
secondly, Krishna, one of the chief figures of the other great Indian
epic, the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rat; and thirdly, Buddha, the great religious
teacher of the sixth century B.C. Ram and Krishna have become deities of
the multitude over the greater part of India. Buddha, latest in time of
these three avatars, and unknown as an avatar to the multitude, has not
yet been lost to history. Such is the genealogy of certain of the Hindu
gods and their avatars, and the object of setting it forth is to enable
us to see how Jesus Christ has presented Himself or been presented to
the Hindu people.

[Sidenote: Parallels in Christian and Hindu theology.]

When Christian doctrine was presented to India in modern times, the
Christian Trinity and the Hindu Triad at once suggested a
correspondence, which seemed to be confirmed by the coincidence of a
Creator and Preserver in the Triad with the Creator and the Son, Our
Saviour, in the Trinity. The historical Christ and the avatars of Vishnu
would thus present themselves as at least striking theological and
religious parallels. "On the one hand, learned brahmans have been found
quite willing to regard Christ himself as an incarnation of Vishnu for
the benefit of the Western world."[90] On the other, Christian
missionaries in India have often preached Christ as the one true
avatar.[91] The idea and the word _avatar_ are always recurring in the
hymns sung in Christian churches in India. Missionaries have also sought
to graft the doctrine of Christ's atonement upon Hinduism, through one
of the avatars. A common name of Vishnu, the second member of the Triad,
as also of Krishna, his avatar, is _Hari_. Accepting the common
etymology of _Hari_ as meaning _the taker away_, Christian preachers
have found an idea analogous to that of Christ, the Redeemer of men.
Then the similarity of the names, _Christ_ and _Krishna_, chief avatar
of Vishnu, could not escape notice, especially since Krishna,
Christ-like, is the object of the enthusiastic devotion of the Hindu
multitude. In famili