[53]. [Cave worship does not seem to be specially connected with the cult of Krishna. The mention of the cave at Govardhan seems to refer to the legend of Krishna protecting the people of Braj from a storm sent by Indra, by holding the hill over them (Growse, op. cit. 60). The Gaya caves are Buddhistic, and have no connexion with Krishna (IGI, xii. 198 f.). Guphanāth does not seem to be a Krishna title, and the cave of Gopnāth in Kāthiāwar is said to derive its name from Gopsinghji, a Gohil prince, who reigned in the sixteenth century (BG, viii. 445).]
[54]. “In Hebrew heres signifies the sun, but in Arabic the meaning of the radical word is to guard, preserve; and of haris, guardian, preserver” (Volney’s Ruins of Empires, p. 316). [Needless to say, Elysium (Ἠλύσιον πεδίον) has no connexion with Ἥλιος, the sun.]
[55]. The heaven of Vishnu, Vaikuntha, is entirely of gold, and 80,000 miles in circumference. Its edifices, pillars, and ornaments are composed of precious stones. The crystal waters of the Ganges form a river in Vaikuntha, where are lakes filled with blue, red, and white water-lilies, each of a hundred and even a thousand petals. On a throne glorious as the meridian sun resting on water-lilies, is Vishnu, with Lakshmi or Sri, the goddess of abundance (the Ceres of the Egyptians and Greeks), on his right hand, surrounded by spirits who constantly celebrate the praise of Vishnu and Lakshmi, who are served by his votaries, and to whom the eagle (garuda) is door-keeper (Extract from the Mahabharata—See Ward on the History and Religion of the Hindus, vol. ii. p. 14).
[56]. [Apollo Κάρνειος was probably ‘the horned god,’ connected with κέρας, ‘a horn,’ as a deity of herdsmen (Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv. 131).]
[57]. Supposing these coincidences in the fabulous history of the ancient nations of Greece and Asia to be merely fortuitous, they must excite interest; but conjoined with various others in the history of the Herikulas of India and the Heraclidae of Greece, I cannot resist the idea that they were connected [?].
[58]. [The Annakūta festival, held on the first day of the light half of Kārttik (Oct.-Nov.). This was the old name of the hill which Krishna held aloft to protect his people (Growse, op. cit. 300).]
[59]. Gibbon records a similar offering of 200,000 sesterces to the Roman church, by a stranger, in the reign of Decius [ed. W. Smith, ii. 199].
[60]. I enjoyed no small degree of favour with the supreme pontiff of the shrine of Apollo and all his votaries, for effecting a meeting of the seven statues of Vishnu in 1820. In contriving this I had not only to reconcile ancient animosities between the priests of the different shrines, in order to obtain a free passport for the gods, but to pledge myself to the princes in whose capitals they were established, for their safe return: for they dreaded lest bribery might entice the priests to fix them elsewhere, which would have involved their loss of sanctity, dignity, and prosperity. It cost me no little trouble, and still more anxiety, to keep the assembled multitudes at peace with each other, for they are as outrageous as any sectarians in contesting the supreme power and worth of their respective forms (rupa). Yet they all separated, not only without violence, but without even any attempt at robbery, so common on such occasions.
[61]. [Kānkroli, 36 miles N.E. of Udaipur city: the image is said to have been brought from Mathura A.D. 1669 (Erskine ii. A. 113).]
[62]. [The form of Vishnu worshipped at Pāndharpur in Sholapur District. The name is probably a local corruption of Vishnupati, ‘Lord Vishnu,’ through the forms Bistu or Bittu (IA, iv. 361).]