This was a common myth. For instance: A Brahman called Dashthaka, a "heaven descended mortal," after his birth, without any human instruction whatever, was able thoroughly to explain the four Vedas, the collective body of the sacred writings of the Hindoos, which were considered as directly revealed by Brahma. (See Beal's Hist. Buddha, p. 48.)
Confucius, the miraculous-born Chinese sage, was a wonderful child. At the age of seven he went to a public school, the superior of which was a person of eminent wisdom and piety. The faculty with which Confucius imbibed the lessons of his master, the ascendency which he acquired amongst his fellow pupils, and the superiority of his genius and capacity, raised universal admiration. He appeared to acquire knowledge intuitively, and his mother found it superfluous to teach him what "heaven had already engraven upon his heart." (See Thornton's Hist. China, vol. i. p. 153.)
[291:5] See Infancy, Apoc., xx. 11, and Luke, ii. 46, 47.
[291:6] See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and Beal: Hist. Buddha, pp. 67-69.
[291:7] See Infancy, Apoc., xxi. 1, 2, and Luke, ii. 41-48.
[291:8] See Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 37, and Beal: Hist. Bud. 67-69.
[291:9] Nicodemus, Apoc., ch. i. 20.
[292:1] R. Spence Hardy, in Manual of Buddhism.
[292:2] See [chap. xvii].
[292:3] "Mara" is the "Author of Evil," the "King of Death," the "God of the World of Pleasure," &c., i. e., the Devil. (See Beal: Hist. Buddha, p. 36.)