328 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 



holy men who were living in anxious expectation of him, where 

 to find this heavenly child, and that the Emperor of India, uneasy 

 at the prophecies which he conceived portended his ruin, sent 

 emissaries to inquire whether such a child was really born, in 

 order to destroy him." 



Salivahana, another of the avatars or gods born of women, or 

 else the same as Chrislma under a different name, is thus described 

 in one of the Puranas : " Great and mighty, the spirit of right- 

 eousness and justice, whose words are truth itself, free from spite 

 and envy, and whose empire will extend all over the world and 

 the people will be gathered unto him, the conveyor of souls to 

 places of eternal bliss. He was the son of a carpenter. His 

 conception was miraculous and in the womb of a virgin, and he 

 was the son of the Great Artist. His birth was equally wonder- 

 ful ; choirs of angels with the celestial minstrelsy attended on 

 the occasion. The king of the country hearing of these prodigies 

 was alarmed and sought in vain to destroy him. He soon sur- 

 passed his teachers ; and when five years of age he stood before 

 a most respectable assembly of the doctors of the land and 

 explained several difficult cases, to their admiration and astonish- 

 ment." " It was decreed that he should be wretched and perse- 

 cuted all his life-time, and ultimately that he should die upon a 

 cross, and that he would be brought to life again. He did not 

 marry nor had he any offspring." " He proclaimed that he came 

 for the sole purpose of relieving the distressed, and that whatever 

 man claimed his protection he would readily grant it to him and 

 even lay down his life for him. Very many of all descriptions 

 came accordingly, and among them a thief who being pursued 

 by the officers of justice claimed his protection, which he readily 

 granted, and he was really crucified in his stead. He then ascended 

 into heaven and took the thief along with him. Thick darkness 

 overspread the face of the world, and the animated creation was 

 in the utmost distress and consternation. The holy man being 

 afterward taken down from the cross, descended into hell and 

 there encountered and overcame death or Yama. Then a general 

 renovation of the world took place under the inspection of 

 Brahma." (Capt. Wilford. Asiatic Eesearches. Yol. 10.) 



