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GARBE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BHAGAVADGITA
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is, however, none the less very instructive. If the solar theory about Buddha is in itself shown to be an error-Senart himself has deemed it necessary in the second edition of his "Essai", to make a considerable concession to the historical view-then, by a parity of circumstances, the solar theory in the case of Krishna might not well stand. In the Krishna myth we should not see the "basis" from which the conceptions of the person of Krishna might have been evolved; on the other hand, we must see in the Krishnamyth purely mythological ideas which are engrafted on Krishna, after he was raised to God-hood. From this stand-point all the difficulties that are inherent in the solar or atmospheric [p. 23] theory regarding Krishna, vanish, and from this point of view the circumstance that many of the Krishna-myths recur with much peculiar characteristics in the apocryptic biography of Buddha, is not (therefore) to be wondered at.
Every unprejudiced historical consideration of our material shows us Krishna in the oldest period as a human being, and later,-in a progressive development as half-god, god, and all-Soul. If in the mythology of Hinduism Kishua is represented as a God assuming human shape, or as an incarnation of Vishuu, it is simply the reversal of the real relation, as is to be observed elsewhere quite distinctly in the myths that bring about the transformation. As a matter of fact, Euhemerism is quite justified in our present case.
Krishna is therefore as much a real personality as Buddha; and his parents also-Devaki and Vasudeva-were no mythological or allegorical persons, but human beings like (Krishna) himself. The question has naturally been raised as to what fundamental causes the deification of Krishna might be due to. Some (Weber, Ind. Lit. Gesch. 2 p. 78, note 68-English Trans. (1892), p. 71, note 68; Ind. Stu. XIII, p. 349, note, Holtzmann, Arjuna, p. 61) declare this to be a riddle; on the other hand, the services which Krishna rendered in bringing about the victory of the Pandavas are mentioned in this connection. Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur, p. 332, finds it reasonable and natural that "these new rulers of the Madhyadeśa were ready [p. 24] to insist and to promulgate the reverence shown to their national hero by their allies, and were at great pains to magnify the glory of the hero who had now become their hero as well;" and p. 333, he says (in agreement with Lassen, Ind. Altertumskunde, I, 821,) the Pandavas, the heroes of the Mahabharata appear as the furtherers of the Krishna-worship. As against this, it is to be remarked that the deification of Krishna has been brought about in a time when the help which the Yadavas had once rendered to the victors of the Kuru-tribe, did no longer possess any actual interest. Quite naturally the reason of Krishna's deification is-as has been already stated above-due to his being the founder of the monotheistic religion of his tribe; and this on account of the numerous analogies which the religious history of India presents to us from (the time of) Buddha down to quite modern times.
Regarding the original essence of this religion it can only be said that it was popular and independent of the Vedic tradition and of Brahmanism, and that most probably it
23 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 465, says that the Divine man of the Mbh. "must be the same with the character mentioned in the Chhandogya Upanishad, 3-17-6." On page 466 (end), however, Hopkins strikes out a different way of explanation: "It cannot be imagined, however, that the cult of the Gangetic Krishna originated with that vague personage whose pupilage is described in the Upansshad," and on the next two pages he declares Krishna to be an anthropomorphic God. This deduction of the otherwise very ingenious and lucid scholar appears to me not to be happy. In Fausböll's Indian Mythology according to the Mahabharata, London 1903, p. 121, Krishna has been treated of in a remarkable manner with reference to the Hari-vamsa, the Bhagavata Purana and other later works.
