FOOTNOTES:
[1072] The most learned and lucid discussion of these questions, which includes an account of earlier literature on the subject, is to be found in Garbe's Indien und das Christentum, 1914. But I am not able to accept all his conclusions. The work, to which I am much indebted, is cited below as Garbe. See also Carpenter, Theism in Medieval India, 1921, pp. 521-524.
[1073] See Garbe and Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums, ii. Chrysostom (Hom. in Joh. 2. 2) writing at the end of the fourth century speaks of Syrians, Egyptians, Persians and ten thousand other nations learning Christianity from translations into their languages, but one cannot expect geographical accuracy in so rhetorical a passage.
[1074] Eusebius (Ecc. Hist. v. 10), supported by notices in Jerome and others, states that Pantænus went from Alexandria to preach in India and found there Christians using the Gospel according to Matthew written in Hebrew characters. It had been left there by the Apostle Bartholomew. But many scholars are of opinion that by India in this passage is meant southern Arabia. In these early notices India is used vaguely for Eastern Parthia, Southern Arabia and even Ethiopia. It requires considerable evidence to make it probable that at the time of Pantænus (second century A.D.) any one in India used the Gospel in a Semitic language.
[1075] See, for the Thomas legend, Garbe, Vincent Smith, Early History of India, 3rd ed. pp. 231 ff., and Philipps in I.A.. 1903, pp. 1-15 and 145-160.
[1076] Nat. Hist. xii. 18 (41).
[1077] II. iv. 12. Strabo died soon after 21 A.D.
[1078] It is seen even in borrowed words, e.g. hora = ὢρα: Jyau = Ζεὺς: Heli = ἢλιος:
[1079] See Kanakasabhai's book, The Tamils 1800 years ago.
[1080] Harnack (Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums, II. 126) says "Dass die Thomas-Christen welche man im 16 Jahrhundert in Indien wieder entdeckte bis ins 3 Jahrhundert hinaufgehen lässt sich nicht erweisen."
[1081] For Akbar and Christianity, see Cathay and the Way Thither (Hakluyt Society), vol. IV. 172-3.
[1082] See Gover, Folk Songs of Southern India, 1871.
[1083] iv. 3. 95, 98.
[1084] Cf. the Pali verses in the Therîgâthâ, 157: "Hail to thee, Buddha, who savest me and many others from suffering."
[1085] See Yasht, 13. 81 and Vendidad, 19. 14.
[1086] The liberal ideas as to caste held by some Vishnuites are due to Râmânand (c. 1400) who was excommunicated by his coreligionists. I find it hard to agree with Garbe that Râmânuja admitted the theoretical equality of all castes. He says himself (Srî-Bhâshya, II. 3. 46, 47) that souls are of the same nature in so far as they are all parts of Brahman (a proposition which follows from his fundamental principles and is not at all due to Christian influence), but that some men are entitled to read the Veda while others are debarred from the privilege. All fire, he adds, is of the same nature, but fire taken from the house of a Brahman is pure, whereas fire taken from a cremation ground is impure. Even so the soul is defiled by being associated with a low-caste body.
[1087] See Grieson and Garbe. But I have not found a quotation from any original authority. Mohammed, however, had the same notion of the Trinity.
[1088] But the Mappilahs or Moplahs appear to have settled on the Malabar coast about 900 A.D.
[1089] Similarly the neo-Confucianism of the Sung dynasty was influenced by Mahâyânist Buddhism. Chu-hsi and his disciples condemned Buddhism, but the new problems and new solutions which they brought forward would not have been heard of but for Buddhism.
[1090] The idea of the second birth is found in the Majjhima Nikâya, where in Sutta 86 the converted brigand Angulimala speaks of his regenerate life as Yato aham ariyâya jâtiyâ jâto, "Since I was born by this noble (or holy) birth." Brahmanic parallels are numerous, e.g. Manu, 2. 146.
[1091] It is said, however, that the celebration of the Prasâd by the Kabirpanthis bears an extraordinary resemblance to the Holy Communion of Christians. This may be so, but, as already mentioned, this late and admittedly composite sect is not typical of Hinduism as a whole.
[1092] Krishṇajanmâshṭamî, Memoirs of Academy of Berlin, 1867.
[1093] In spite of making enquiry I have never seen or heard of these representations of a stable myself. As Senart points out (Légende, p. 336) all the personages who play a part in Krishna's early life are shown in these tableaux in one group, but this does not imply that shepherds and their flocks are supposed to be present at his birth.
[1094] Though the ordinary legend does not say that Krishna was born in a stable yet it does associate him with cattle.
[1095] Pargiter, Dynasties of the Kali age, p. xviii.
[1096] Commentary on Pânini, 2. 3. 36, 3. 1. 36 and 3. 2. 111. It seems probable that Pâtanjali knew the story of Krishna and Kamsa substantially as it is recounted in the Harivaṃsa.
[1097] Section 337. A journey to Śvetadvîpa is also related in the Kathâsarit sâgara, LIV.
[1098] The most accessible statement of the geographical fancies here referred to is in Vishnu Purâna, Book II, chap. IV. The Sea of Milk is the sixth of the seven concentric seas which surround Jambudvîpa and Mt. Meru. It divides the sixth of the concentric continents or Śâkadvîpa from the seventh or Pushkara-dvîpa. The inhabitants of Śâkadvîpa worship Vishnu as the Sun and have this much reality that at any rate, according to the Vishnu and Bhavishya Purânas, they are clearly Iranian Sun-worshippers whose priests are called Magas or Mṛigas. Pushkara-dvîpa is a terrestrial paradise: the inhabitants live a thousand years, are of the same nature as the gods and free from sorrow and sin. "The three Vedas, the Purânas, Ethics and Polity are unknown" among them and "there are no distinctions of caste or order: there are no fixed institutes." The turn of fancy which located this non-Brahmanic Utopia in the north seems akin to that which led the Greeks to talk of Hyperboreans. Fairly early in the history of India it must have been discovered that the western, southern, and eastern coasts were washed by the sea so that the earthly paradise was naturally placed in the north. Thus we hear of an abode of the blessed called the country of the holy Uttara Kurus or northern Kurus. Here nothing can be perceived with human senses (Mahâbh. Sabhâ, 1045), and it is mentioned in the same breath as Heaven and the city of Indra (ib. Anusâs. 2841).
It is not quite clear (neither is it of much moment), whether the Mahâbhârata intends by Śvetadvîpa one of these concentric world divisions or a separate island. The Kûrma and Padma Purânas also mention it as the shining abode of Vishnu and his saintly servants.
[1099] Garbe thinks that the Sea of Milk is Lake Balkash. For the Pancarâtra see book v. iii. 3.
[1100] See note 2 on last page.
[1101] E.g. several works of Lloyd and Saeki, The Nestorian Monument in China.