d or
identified with Crishna, just as he is in the _Bhagavad-gita_ and
_Vishnu Purana_, showing, in the words of Prof. Williams, that: the
_Puranas_, although of a comparatively modern date, are nevertheless
composed of matter to be found in the two great epic poems the
_Ramayana_ and the _Maha-bharata_.[288:5]

FOOTNOTES:

[278:1] It is also very evident that the history of Crishna--or that
part of it at least which has a _religious aspect_--is taken from that
of Buddha. Crishna, in the ancient epic poems, is simply a great hero,
and it is not until about the fourth century B. C., that he is _deified_
and declared to be an incarnation of Vishnu, or Vishnu himself in human
form. (See Monier Williams' Hinduism, pp. 102, 103.)

"If it be urged that the attribution to Crishna of qualities or powers
belonging to the other deities is a mere device by which his devotees
sought to supersede the more ancient gods, _the answer must be that
nothing is done in his case which has not been done in the case of
almost every other member of the great company of the gods_, and that
the systematic adoption of this method is itself conclusive proof of the
looseness and flexibility of the materials of which the cumbrous
mythology of the Hindu epic poems is composed." (Cox: Aryan Mythology,
vol. ii. p. 130.) These words apply very forcibly to the history of
Christ Jesus. He being attributed with qualities and powers belonging to
the deities of the heathen is a mere device by which _his_ devotees
sought to supersede the more ancient gods.

[278:2] See ch. xii.

[278:3] See The Gospel of Mary, _Apoc._, ch. vii.

[278:4] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 329.

[278:5] Mary, _Apoc._, vii. Luke, i. 28-30.

[278:6] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. pp. 317 and 336.

[278:7] Matt. ii. 2.

[279:1] Vishnu Purana, p. 502.

[279:2] Luke, ii. 13.

[279:3] See ch. xvi.

[279:4] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 311. See also, chap. xvi.

[279:5] See ch. xvi.

[279:6] Protevangelion, _Apoc._, chs. xii. and xiii.

[279:7] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. 311.

[279:8] Infancy, _Apoc._, ch. i. 2, 3.

[279:9] See ch. xv.

[279:10] Luke, ii. 8-10.

[279:11] See Oriental Religions, p. 500, and Inman's Ancient Faiths,
vol. ii. p. 353.

[279:12] Matt. ii. 2.

[279:13] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 317.

[279:14] Matt., ii. 1, 2.

[279:15] Vishnu Purana, bk. v. ch. iii.

[279:16] Luke, ii. 1-17.

[280:1] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 259. Hist. Hin