e so currently received
among the ancients, that whoever had greatly distinguished himself in
the affairs of men was thought to be of supernatural lineage. Gods
descended from heaven and were made incarnate in men, and men ascended
from earth, and took their seat among the gods, so that these
incarnations and apotheosises were fast filling Olympus with divinities.

In our inquiries on this subject we shall turn first to _Asia_, where,
as the learned Thomas Maurice remarks in his _Indian Antiquities_, "in
every age, and in almost every region of the Asiatic world, there seems
uniformly to have flourished an immemorial tradition that one god had,
from all eternity, _begotten another god_."[112:2]

In India, there have been several _Avatars_, or incarnations of
Vishnu,[112:3] the most important of which is _Heri Crishna_,[112:4] or
_Crishna the Saviour_.

In the _Maha-bharata_, an Indian epic poem, written about the sixth
century B. C., Crishna is associated or identified with Vishnu the
Preserving god or Saviour.[113:1]

Sir William Jones, first President of the Royal Asiatic Society,
instituted in Bengal, says of him:

"Crishna continues to this hour the darling god of the Indian
woman. The sect of Hindoos who adore him with enthusiastic,
and almost exclusive devotion, have broached a doctrine, which
they maintain with eagerness, and which seems general in these
provinces, that he was distinct from all the _Avatars_
(incarnations) who had only an _ansa_, or a portion, of his
(_Vishnu's_) divinity, _while Crishna was the person of Vishnu
himself in human form_."[113:2]

The Rev. D. O. Allen, Missionary of the American Board, for twenty-five
years in India, speaking of Crishna, says:

"He was greater than, and distinct from, all the _Avatars_
which had only a portion of the divinity in them, while he was
the very person of Vishnu himself in human form."[113:3]

Thomas Maurice, in speaking of _Mathura_, says:

"It is particularly celebrated for having been the birth-place
of _Crishna_, who is esteemed in India, not so much an
incarnation of the divine Vishnu, _as the deity himself in
human form_."[113:4]

Again, in his "_History of Hindostan_," he says:

"It appears to me that the Hindoos, idolizing some eminent
character of antiquity, distinguished, in the early annals of
their nation, by heroic fortitude and exalted pie