ON KRISHNA, AND SOLAR MYTHS. 71 
son of Vasudeva and Devaki. ‘There are, however, even in 
what seem to be the earliest accounts of him, probable 
leanings from the Bible story gathering about the legends 
of his infancy. Tor instance, the raja Kansa, the father of 
Devaki, being warned that a son otf Devaki would be his 
destroyer, when he heard the child was born, ‘ordered ‘that 
all the worshippers of Vishnu, young and old, should be 
slain; and commanded his warriors to make search for all 
young children throughout that country, and to slay every 
male child that possessed strength and vigour.” ‘To avoid 
such danger, Vasudeva took the ‘babe Krishna, as soon as he 
was born, in a basket used for winnowing corn, across the 
River Jumna to Gokula. On crossing the river, the waters 
of which were very high, the babe “ stretched forth his foot, 
and the waters were stayed, and became shallow and ford- 
able.” At Gokula, Krishna was exchanged for the daughter 
of Yasodi, the oe of a cowherd named Nanda, and so was 
saved from the evil designs of Kansa. Here it was in the 
house of Nanda that Krishna was brought up. Some have 
thought that the name Goshen suggested Gokula, both words 
meaning a cowhouse; but I do not think that we need suppose 
that the writer of the Purina was learned in the literal 
meaning of Heyptian names. It may, however, be added, as 
perhaps worth notice, that the tribe of the Yadavas, to which 
Krishna belonged, although by marriage he is made to be 
related to the Kauravas and Pandavas, who were Kshatriyas, 
was a tribe of shepherds or cowherds. 
19. Krishna is introduced in the Mahabharata, together with 
his elder brother Balarama, as a Prince of that YAdava tribe ; 
and his royal city is said to be Dwaraka. They are there 
ealled “the amorous Krishna and wine-drinking Balarama.” 
Krishna afterwards describes himself in a speech as being, 
with his family, “equally related to the Pandavas and 
Kanravas.” ‘There is no tracing of his pedigree in the 
course of the poem proper. ‘The Puranas heighten the 
picture of divinity according to Hindu ideas. ‘Thus the 
Bhagavata-Purina says the marks of Vishnu were discerned 
on Krishna at his birth; the Vishnu-Purina that he 
-descended, adored by the gods, and entered into the womb 
of Devaki, that he might become the saviour of the world. 
And in this way, each succeeding story, as in the case of the 
later Buddhist accounts of Gautama, adds fresh adornments 
to supplement the meagre notices of his origin as found 
in the Mahabharata, with the object, as it seems to 
me, of approximating the divine character of Krishna as 
nearly as possible, according to the demands of the Hindu 
VOL. XXI, O 
