"'I am sinful, I commit sin, my nature is sinful, I am conceived in sin. Save me, O thou lotus-eyed Heri (Saviour), the remover of sin.'"[184:1]
Moreover, the doctrine of bhakti (salvation by faith) existed among the Hindoos from the earliest times.[184:2]
Crishna, the virgin-born, "the Divine Vishnu himself,"[184:3] "he who is without beginning, middle or end,"[184:4] being moved "to relieve the earth of her load,"[184:5] came upon earth and redeemed man by his sufferings—to save him.
The accounts of the deaths of most all the virgin-born Saviours of whom we shall speak, are conflicting. It is stated in one place that such an one died in such a manner, and in another place we may find it stated altogether differently. Even the accounts of the death of Jesus, as we shall hereafter see, are conflicting; therefore, until the chapter on "[Explanation]" is read, these myths cannot really be thoroughly understood.
As the Rev. Geo. W. Cox remarks, in his Aryan Mythology, Crishna is described, in one of his aspects, as a self-sacrificing and unselfish hero, a being who is filled with divine wisdom and love, who offers up a sacrifice which he alone can make.[184:6]
The Vishnu Purana[184:7] speaks of Crishna being shot in the foot with an arrow, and states that this was the cause of his death. Other accounts, however, state that he was suspended on a tree, or in other words, crucified.
Mons. Guigniaut, in his "Religion de l'Antiquité" says:
"The death of Crishna is very differently related. One remarkable and convincing tradition makes him perish on a tree, to which he was nailed by the stroke of an arrow."[184:8]
Rev. J. P. Lundy alludes to this passage of Guigniaut's in his "Monumental Christianity," and translates the passage "un bois fatal" (see note below) "a cross." Although we do not think he is justified in doing this, as M. Guigniaut has distinctly stated that this "bois fatal" (which is applied to a gibbet, a cross, a scaffold, etc.) was "un arbre" (a tree), yet, he is justified in doing so on other accounts, for we find that Crishna is represented hanging on a cross, and we know that a cross was frequently called the "accursed tree." It was an ancient custom to use trees as gibbets for crucifixion, or, if artificial, to call the cross a tree.[185:1]
A writer in Deuteronomy[185:2] speaks of hanging criminals upon a tree, as though it was a general custom, and says: