The doctrine of 'the ages'[48] is so necessary to a true understanding of the rotative immortality offered as a substitute for the higher bliss of absorption (that is, genuine immortality), that an account of the teaching in this regard will not be out of place. The somewhat puzzling distinction between the happy life of them that fail to desire absorption, and yet are religious men, and the blissful life of those people that do attain absorption, is at once explained by a clear understanding of the duration of the time of the gods' own life and of the divine heaven. Whereas the Greek notion of four ages includes within the four all time, all the four ages of the Hindu are only a fraction of time. Starting at any one point of eternity, there is, according to the Hindu belief, a preliminary 'dawn' of a new cycle of ages. This dawn lasts four hundred years, and is then followed by the real age (the first of four), which lasts four thousand years, and has again a twilight ending of four hundred years in addition. This first is the Krita age, corresponding to the classical Golden Age. Its characteristics are, that in it everything is perfect; right eternal now exists in full power. In this age there are neither gods nor demons (D[=a]navas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, R[=a]kshas, Serpents), neither buying nor selling. By a lucus a non the derivation of the name Krita is k[r.]tam eva na kartavyam, i.e., with a pun, it is called the 'sacred age' because there are no sacrifices in that age. No S[=a]ma Veda, Rig Yeda, or Yajur Veda exist as distinct Vedas.[49] There is no mortal work. Fruit comes by meditation; the only duty is renunciation. Disease, lack of mental power, moral defects (such as pride and hate) do not exist; the highest course of the ascetic Yogis is universally brahma (paramakam). In this age come into existence the Brahman, Kshatriya, V[=a]içya, Ç[=u]dra, i.e., the distinct castes of priest, warrior, husbandman, and slave; all with their special marks, and all delighted with their proper occupations. Yet have all the castes like occupations, like refuge, practice, and knowledge. They are joined to the one god (eka deva), and have but one mantra in their religious rites. Their duties are distinct, but they follow only one Veda and one rule. The four orders (of the time of life) are duly observed; men do not desire the fruit of their action, and so they obtain the highest course, i.e., salvation by absorption into brahma. In this age the 'three attributes' (or qualities) are unknown. After this age follows the dawn of the second age, called Tret[=a], lasting three hundred years, then the real age of Tret[=a], three thousand years, followed by the twilight of three hundred years. The characteristics of this age are, that men are devout; that great sacrifices begin (sattram pravartate); that Virtue decreases by one quarter; that all the various rites are produced, together with the attainment of salvation through working for that end, by means of sacrifice and generosity; that every one does his duty and performs asceticism. The next age, Dv[=a]para, is introduced by a dawn of two hundred years, being itself two thousand years in duration, and it closes with a twilight of two hundred years. Half of Virtue fails to appear in this age, that is, the general virtue of the world is diminished by a half ('the Bull of Justice stands on two legs'). The Veda is now subdivided into four. Instead of every one having one Veda, four Vedas exist, but some people know only three, or two, or one, or are even Veda-less (an[r.]cas). Ceremonies become manifold, because the treatises on duty are subdivided(!). The attribute of passion influences people, and it is with this that they perform asceticism and are generous (not with disinterestedness). Few (kaçcit) are settled in truth; ignorance of the one Veda causes a multiplication of Vedas (i.e., as Veda means 'knowledge,' the Vedas result from ignorance of the essential knowledge). Disease and sin make penance necessary. People sacrifice only to gain heaven. After this age and its twilight are past begins the Kali, last of the four ages, with a dawn of one hundred, a course of one thousand, and a subsequent twilight of one hundred years. This is the present sinful age, when there is no real religion, when the Vedas are ignored, and the castes are confused, when itis (distresses of every form) are rife; when Virtue has only one leg left to stand upon. The believer in Krishna as Vishnu, besides this universal description, says that the Supreme Lord in the Krita age is 'white' (pure); in the Tret[=a] age, 'red'; in the Dv[=a]para age, 'yellow'; in the Kali age, 'black, i.e., Vishnu is Krishna, which means 'black.'[50] This cycle of ages always repeats itself anew. Now, since the twelve thousand years of these ages, with their dawns and twilights, are but one of countless cycles, when the Kali age and its twilight have brought all things into a miserable state, the universe is re-absorbed into the Supreme Spirit. There is then a universal (apparent) destruction, pralaya, of everything, first by fire and then by a general flood. Seven suns appear in heaven, and what they fail to burn is consumed by the great fire called Samvartaka (really a manifestation of Vishnu), which sweeps the world and leaves only ashes; then follows a flood which completes the annihilation. Thereafter follows a period equal to one thousand cycles (of twelve thousand years each), which is called 'Brahm[=a]'s night,' for during these twelve million years Brahm[=a] sleeps; and the new Krita age begins again "when Brahm[=a] wakes up" (iii. 188. 29, 69; 189. 42).[51] All the gods are destroyed in the universal destruction, that is, re-absorbed into the All-god, for there is no such thing as annihilation, either of spirit or of matter (which is illusion). Consequently the gods' heaven and the spirits of good men in that heaven are also re-absorbed into that Supreme, to be re-born in the new age. This is what is meant by the constant harping on quasi-immortality. Righteousness, sacrifice, bravery, will bring man to heaven, but, though he joins the gods, with them he is destroyed. They and he, after millions of years, will be re-born in the new heaven and the new earth. To escape this eventual re-birth one must desire absorption into the Supreme, not annihilation, but unity with God, so that one remains untouched by the new order at the end of Brahm[=a]'s 'day.' There are, of course, not lacking views of them that, taking the precept grossly, give a less dignified appearance to the teaching, and, in fact, upset its real intent. Thus, in the very same Puranic passage from which is taken the description above (III. 188), it is said that a seer, who miraculously outlived the universal destruction of one cycle, was kindly swallowed by Vishnu, and that, on entering his stomach (the absorption idea in Puranic coarseness), he saw everything which had been destroyed, mountains, rivers, cities, the four castes engaged in their duties, etc. In other words, only transference of locality has taken place. But this account reads almost like a satire.
One of the most striking features of the Hindu religions, as they have been traced thus far, is the identification of right with light, and wrong with darkness. We have referred to it several times already. In the Vedic age the deities are luminous, while the demons and the abode of the wicked generally are of darkness. This view, usually considered Iranian and Zoroastrian, is as radically, if not so emphatically, Indic. It might be said, indeed, that it is more deeply implanted in the worship of the Hindus than in that of the Iranians, inasmuch as the latter religion enunciates and promulgates the doctrine, while the former assumes it. All deeds of sin are deeds of darkness, tamas. The devils live underground in darkness; the hells are below earth and are gloom lighted only by torture-flames.
The development of devil-worship (the side-scenes in the theatre of Çivaism) introduces devils of another sort, but the general effect remains. The fire-priest Bhrigu says: "Untruth is a form of darkness, and by darkness one is brought to hell (downwards); veiled in darkness one sees not the light. Light is heaven, they say, and darkness is hell," xii. 190. 2-3. This antithesis of evil as darkness, good as light, is too native to India to admit of the suggestion that it might have been borrowed. But an isolated and curious Puranic chapter of the epic appears to have direct reference to the Persian religion. All Hindu gods have sacrifices, even Çiva the 'destroyer of sacrifice.' Now in iii. 220, after a preliminary account of the p[a]ñcajanya fire (vs. 5 ff.) there is given a list of 'gods that destroy sacrifice,' dev[=a]s yajñamu[s.]as, fifteen in number, who 'stand here' on earth and 'steal' the sacrifice. They extend over the five peoples in three divisions of five each. The first and third group contain names compounded with Bh[=i]ma and S[=u]ra respectively; while the third group is that of Sumitra, Mitravan, Mitrajña, Mitravardhana, Mitradharman. There are others without the mitra (vs. 10). The appellation dev[=a]s seems to take them out of connection with Çiva's demoniac troops, and the persistency of mitra would look as if these 'gods' were of Iranian origin. There may have been (as are possibly the modern S[=a]uras) believers in the Persian religion already long established among the Hindus.
The question will naturally present itself whether in the religious olla podrida known as the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata there are distinct allusions to Buddhism, and, if so, in how far the doctrines of this sect may have influenced the orthodox religion. Buddhism does not appear to have attacked or to have attracted the 'holy land,' whence, indeed, according to law, heretics are 'banished.' But its influence of course must have embraced this country, and it is only a question of in how far epic Brahmanism has accepted it. At a later period Hinduism, as has been observed, calmly accepts Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu. Holtzmann, who is inclined to attribute a good deal to Buddhism, sees signs of it even in the personal characteristics of the epic heroes, and believes the whole poem to have been more or less affected by anti-Buddhistic feeling. If this were so one would have to give over to Buddhism much also of the humanitarianism to be found in the moral precepts that are so thickly strewn through the various books. In our opinion these signs-manual of Buddhism are not sufficiently evident to support Holtzmann's opinion for the whole poem, and it is to be noted that the most taking evidence is drawn from the latest parts of the work. It is just here that we think it necessary to draw the line, for while much of late date has been added in earlier books, yet in the books which one may call wholly late additions appear the strongest indications of Buddhistic influence.[52] A great deal of the Book of Peace is Puranic, the book as a whole is a Vishnuite addition further enlarged by Çivaite interpolation. The following book is, again, an offset to the Book of Peace, and is as distinctly Çivaite in its conception as is the Book of Peace Vishnuite.[53] It is here, in these latest additions, which scarcely deserve to be ranked with the real epic, that are found the most palpable touches of Buddhism. They stand to the epic proper as stands to them the Genealogy of Vishnu, a further addition which has almost as much claim to be called 'part of the epic' as have the books just mentioned, only that it is more evidently the product of a later age, and represents the Krishna-Vishnu sect in its glory after the epic was completed. Nevertheless, even in these books much that is suspected of being Buddhistic may be Brahmanic; and in any concrete case a decision, one way or the other, is scarcely to be made on objective grounds. Still more is this the case in earlier books. Thus, for instance, Holtzmann is sure that a conversation of a slave and a priest in the third book is Buddhistic because the man of low caste would not venture to instruct a Brahman.[54] But it is a command emphasized throughout the later Brahmanism that one must take refuge in the ship that saves; and in passages not suspected of Buddhistic tendency Bh[=i]shma takes up this point, and lays down the rule that, no matter to which caste a man belongs, his teaching if salutary is to be accepted. It is even said in one passage of the Book of Peace that one ought to learn of a slave, and in another that all the four castes ought to hear the Veda read:[55] "Let him get instruction even from a Ç[=u]dra if he can thereby attain to salvation"; and again: "Putting the Brahman first, let the four castes hear (the Veda); for this (giving first place to the priest) is (the rule in) reading the Veda."[56] And in many places are found instructions given by low-caste men. It may be claimed that every case which resembles Buddhistic teaching is drawn from Buddhism, but this would be to claim more than could be established. Moreover, just as the non-injury doctrine is prior to Buddhism and yet is a mark of Buddhistic teaching, so between the two religions there are many points of similarity which may be admitted without compromising the genuineness of the Brahmanic teaching. For Buddhism in its morality is anything but original.[57]
Another bit of instruction from the Book of Peace illustrates the attitude of the slave just referred to. In sharp contrast to what one would expect from a Buddhist, this slave, who is a hunter, claims that he is justified in keeping on with his murderous occupation because it is his caste-occupation; whereas, as a Buddhist he ought to have renounced it if he thought it sinful, without regard to the caste-rule. The Book of Peace lays it down as a rule that the giving up of caste-occupation is meritorious if the occupation in itself is iniquitous, but it hedges on the question to the extent of saying that, no matter whether the occupation be sinful or not, if it is an inherited occupation a man does not do wrong to adhere to it. This is liberal Brahmanism. The rule reads as follows: "Actors, liquor-dealers, butchers, and other such sinners are not justified in following such occupations, if they are not born to the profession (i.e., if they are born to it they are justified in following their inherited occupation). Yet if one has inherited such a profession it is a noble thing to renounce it."[58]
The marks of Buddhistic influence on which we would lay greater stress are found not in the fact that Mudgala refuses heaven (iii. 261. 43), or other incidents that may be due as well to Brahmanism as to Buddhism, but in such passages of the pseudo-epical Book of Peace as for example the dharmyas panth[=a]s of xii. 322. 10-13; the conversation of the female beggar, bhikshuk[=i], with the king in 321. 7, 168; the buddha of 289. 45; the Buddhistic phraseology of 167. 46; the remark of the harlot Pingal[=a] in 174. 60: pratibuddh[=a] 'smi j[=a]g[r.]mi (I am 'awakened' to a sense of sin and knowledge of holiness), and the like phrase in 177. 22: pratibuddho 'smi.[59] Of especial importance is the shibboleth Nirv[=a]na which is often used in the epic. There seems, indeed, to be a subtile connection between Çivaism and Buddhism. Buddhism rejects pantheism, Çivaism is essentially monotheism. Both were really religions of the lower classes. It is true that the latter was affected and practiced by those of high rank, but its strength lay with the masses. Thus while Vishnuism appealed to the contemplative and philosophical (R[=a]maism), as well as to the easy-going middle classes (Krishinaism), Çivaism with its dirty asceticism, its orgies and Bacchanalian revels, its devils and horrors generally, although combined with a more ancient philosophy, appealed chiefly to the magic-monger and the vulgar. So it is that one finds, as one of his titles in the thirteenth book, that Çiva is 'the giver of Nirv[=a]na,' (xiii. 16. 15). But if one examines the use of this word in other parts of the epic he will see that it has not the true Buddhistic sense except in its literal physical application as when the nirv[=a][n.]a (extinguishing) of a lamp, iv. 22. 22, is spoken of; or the nirv[=a][n.]a of duties (in the Pañcar[=a]tra 'Upanishad,' xii. 340. 67). On the other hand, in sections where the context shows that this must be the case, Nirv[=a]na is the equivalent of 'highest bliss' or 'highest brahma,' the same with the felicity thus named in older works. This, for instance, is the case in xii. 21. 17; 26. 16, where Nirv[=a]na cannot mean extinction but absorption, i.e., the 'blowing out' of the individual flame (spirit) of life, only that it may become one with the universal spirit. In another passage it is directly equated with sukham brahma in the same way (ib. 189. 17). If now one turn to the employment of this word in the third book he will find the case to be the same. When the king reproaches his queen for her atheistic opinions in iii. 31. 26 he says that if there were no reward for good deeds hereafter "people would not seek Nirv[=a]na," just as he speaks of heaven ('immortality') and hell, ib. 20 and 19, not meaning thereby extinction but absorption. So after a description of that third heaven wherein is Vishnu, when one reads that Mudgala "attained that highest eternal bliss the sign of which is Nirv[=a]na" (iii. 261. 47), he can only suppose that the word means here absorption into brahma or union with Vishnu. In fact Nirv[=a]na is already a word of which the sense has been subjected to attrition enough to make it synonymous with 'bliss.' Thus "the gods attained Nirv[=a]na by means of Vishnu's greatness" (iii. 201. 22); and a thirsty man "after drinking water attained Nirv[=a]na," i.e., the drink made him happy (ib. 126. 16). One may best compare the Jain Nirv[=a]na of happiness.
While, therefore, Buddhism seems to have left many manifest traces[60] in the later epic the weight of its influence on the early epic may well be questioned. The moral harangues of the earlier books show nothing more than is consistent with that Brahmanism which has made its way unaided through the greater humanitarianism of the earlier Upanishads. At the same time it is right to say that since the poem is composed after Buddha's time there is no historical certainty in regard to the inner connection of belief and morality (as expounded in the epic) with Buddhism. Buddhism, though at a distance, environed epic Brahmanism, and may well have influenced it. The objective proofs for or against this are not, however, decisive.
Whether Christianity has affected the epic is another question that can be answered (and then doubtfully) only by drawing a line between epic and pseudo-epic. And in this regard the Harivança legends of Krishna are to be grouped with the pseudo-epic, of which they are the legitimate if late continuation. Again one must separate teaching from legend. To the Divine Song belong sentiments and phrases that have been ascribed to Christian influence. Definitive assurance in this regard is an impossibility. When Vishnu says (as is said also in the Upanishads) "I am the letter A," one may, and probably will, decide that this is or is not an imitation of "I am alpha," strictly in accordance with his preconceived opinions. There are absolutely no historical data to go upon. One may say with tolerable certainty that the Divine Song as a whole is antique, prior to Christianity. But it is as unmistakably interpolated and altered. The doctrine of bhakti, faithful love as a means of salvation, cannot be much older than the Song, for it is found only in the latest Upanishads (as shown by comparing them with those undoubtedly old). But on the other hand the pras[=a]da doctrine (of special grace) belongs to a much earlier literature, and there is no reason why the whole theory with its startling resemblance to the doctrine of grace, and its insistence on personal affection for the Lord should not have been self-evolved. The old omnipotence of inherited knowledge stops with the Upanishads, To their authors the Vedas are but a means. They desired wisdom, not knowledge. They postulated the desire for the Supreme Spirit as the true wisdom. From this it is but a step to yearning and love for the Supreme. That step is made in the Divine Song. It is recognized by early Buddhism as a Brahmanic trait. Is it necessarily imported from Christianity? The proof is certainly lacking. Nor, to one accustomed to the middle literature of Hindu religion, is the phraseology so strikingly unique as would appear to be the case. Taken all in all, the teaching of Christianity certainly may be suspected, but it cannot be shown to exist in the Divine Song.
Quite different is the case with the miraculous matter that grew up about the infant Krishna. But here one is out of the epic and dealing with the latest literature in regard to the man-god. This distinction cannot be too much insisted upon, for to point first to the teaching of the Divine Song and then to the Krishna legends as equally reflecting Christianity is to mix up two periods as distinct as periods can be established in Hindu literature. And the result of the whole investigation shows that the proofs of borrowing are as different as these periods. The inner Christianity thought to be copied by the re-writer of the Divine Song is doubtful in the last degree. The outer Christianity reflected in the Puranic legends of Krishna is as palpable as it is shocking. Shocking, for here not only are miracles treated grotesquely, but everything that is meant spiritually in the Occident is interpreted physically and carnally. The love of the Bridegroom is sensual; the brides of God are drunken dancing girls.
The 'coincidences,' as some scholars marvellously regard them, between the legends of Christ and Krishna are too extraordinary to be accepted as such. They are direct importations, not accidental coincidences. Whatever is most marvellous in the accounts of Christianity finds itself here reproduced in Krishnaism. It is not in the doctrine of avatars, which resembles the doctrine of the Incarnation,[61] it is in the totality of legends connected with Krishna that one is forced to see Christian influence. The scenes of the nativity, the adoration of the magi, the miracles during the Saviour's childhood, the transfiguration, and other stories of Christ are reproduced with astonishing similarity. One may add to this the Christmas festival, where Krishna is born in a stable, and the use of certain church-utensils in the temple-service. Weber has proved by collecting and explaining these 'coincidences,'[62] that there must be identity of origin. It remains only to ask from which side is the borrowing? Considering how late are these Krishna legends in India[63] there can be no doubt that the Hindu borrowed the tales, but not the name; for the last assumption is quite improbable because Krishna (=Christ?) is native enough, and Vishnu is as old as the Rig Veda. That these tales are of secondary importance, as they are of late origin, is a matter of course. They are excrescences upon real Vishnuism (Krishnaism) and the result of anthropomorphizing in its fullest extent the image of the man-god, who is represented in the epic as the incarnation of the Supreme Spirit. The doctrine of the incarnation is thoroughly Indic. It is Buddhistic as well as Brahmanic, and precedes Vishnuism as it does Christianity. The legends are another matter. Here one has to assume direct contact with the Occident.[64] But while agreeing with Weber and disagreeing with Barth in the determination of the relation of this secondary matter, we are unable to agree with Weber in his conclusions in regard to the one passage in the pseudo-epic that is supposed by him[65] to refer to a visit to a Christian church in Alexandria. This is the famous episode of the White Island, which, to be sure, occurs in so late a portion of the Book of Peace (xii. 337. 20 ff) that it might well be what Weber describes it as being. But to us it appears to contain no allusion at all to Christianity. The account in brief is as follows: Three priests with the insignificant names "First, Second, Third,"[66] go to the far North (diç uttar[=a]) where, in the "Sea of Milk," they find an Albion called 'White Island,' perhaps regarded as one of the seven or thirteen 'islands,' of which earth consists; and there Vishnu is worshipped as the one god by white men of extraordinary physical characteristics.