Indian Antiquary Vol 47

SR No.: 032539
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 386
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 359

GARBE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BHAGAVADGITA
9
II. The Origin of the Doetrines of the Bhagavadgita.
[p. 19]. For a correct estimation of the contents of the Bhag. it is necessary that we should realise its historical antecedents, in so far as we can gather them with an approximation to truth from the means at (our) disposal. We shall use for that purpose only a part of the huge material regarding Krishna and the Krishna-cult. Even this material is, however, very much complicated and does not yield quite easily to any attempt to secure a clear and homogenous apprehension regarding the progress of Krishna-ism. An attempt of this kind is beset by the danger of some essential and chronological violence being done to the statements contained in our sources. Whether I might have succeeded in steering clear of this danger, is for others to decide. I can only say that I have constantly placed this pitfall before my eyes.
In the epoch in which the Kshatriyas played a prominent part in the reformation of the spiritual life of Ancient India-according to my view they had the leading of it 18-there was established by a valiant warrior, Krishna, the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, a monotheistic religion which spread itself first amongst his co-tribals the Yadavas, Satvatas or Vrishnis, and, then, beyond the range of that tribal communion. This view was first put forward only by way of a hypothesis by R. G. Bhandarkar in connection with his exposition of the Râmânuja system and its antecedents (Report on Search for Sanskrit MSS. in Bombay Presidency, 1883-84, Bombay 1887, p. 74); but this view can (now) be securely established. In connection with this, there are principally to be taken into considerstion the following three lines of evidence, which mutually support and supplement each other. First, Krishna Devakiputra is, as is well known, mentioned already in Chhandogyopanishad III, 17, 6 as the pupil of Angirasa Ghora, in a very remarkable [ p. 20] way in connection with doctrines which bear a distinctly ethical character. Secondly, is to be mentioned the rôle which Krishra, the renowned hero of the Yadava olan and the ally of the Pandavas, plays in the older parts of the Mahabharata-the rôle, viz., as a warrior, counsellor, and expositor of religious doctrines. The Petersburg Dictionary, II. 413, already speaks of the "natural connection" of the hero famed in the Mahabharata with the teacher Krishna mentioned in the Chhandogyopanishad, and this connection should not be severed unnecessarily. Thirdly, there is another circumstance to be mentioned as belonging to this point, viz., that the patronymic of Krishna, viz. "Vasudeva," meets us in a large number of cases, and used earlier than the personal name, as the designation of God, and is primarily found specially amongst the members of that clan to which Krishna according to the Mahabharata belonged. 20 This circumstance is therefore of primary importance since the deification of the founders of sects in India is a general custom, and does not date first with only the rise of neo-brahmanism since the close of the 12th century A.D., as held by Barth, Religions de l'Inde, 137.
If these lines of evidence were to be combined, the way, I should think, is shown to us for our understanding of what Krishna Vasudeva once was in reality. From the tangle of tradition, legend and myth, with which the conception of Krishna is overgrown, there can be peeled out as kernel a victorious hero who at the same time was the successful founder of a religion.
18 See my Beiträge zur indischen Kulturgeschichte (Berlin 1903), Aufsatz I.
1 Chhand. Up. III, 17, 4: Austerities, oharity, straightforwardness, non-injury and truthful words. R. G. Bhandarkar, loc. cit., p. 73.