ON KRISHNA, AND SOLAR MYTHS. 18} 
one. The Rev. Dr. Bauerjea was the first to broach it, and the objection 
I have to it is that it is not proved. There are three points that are 
necessary to its establishment : first, a late date must be given to the Gita; 
secondly, an early date must be given for the spread of Christian in- 
fluence or knowledge in India; and, thirdly, similarities must be proved 
between the Krishna myth and the history of Christ. In section 9 of the 
paper the author says :—“ The fact is, it is impossible to prove that the 
Gita was written prior to the Christian era”; but, on the other hand, I 
say it is impossible to prove that it was not written prior to the Christian 
era. So long as we are content to engace in the work of destruction it is 
not necessary to substantiate our own theory ; but, when we begin to sub- 
stantiate a theory of our own, we must have a basis for it, and we must be 
able to prove it. We must remember that many scholars agree that 
the Bhagavad-Gitaé was written before Christ. Professor Hunter, in his 
Indian Empire, says there is an allusion to the Mahabharata in 
the work of Dion Chrysostomos, 75 A.p., which would mean that the 
Bhagavad-Gita itself must have been written some time before that. In 
paragraph 15 of the paper, we read that “In the Bhagavad-Gita 
he (Krishna) is once or twice addressed as Vishnu. The doctrine of the 
avataras, or incarnations, of Vishnu, are also only first developed in the 
Puranas. Thus, the legends of the fish, the tortoise, and the boar are found 
in the Satapatha Brahmana ; but it is only in the much-later Puranas that 
they are described as incarnations of Vishnu.” There is indeed a vast gap 
of eight centuries between Christ and the Puranas, during which Vishnu 
was growing into importance. But upon what grounds does Mr. Collins fix 
the date of the Bhagavad-Gita at any particular point between the two ? 
Then, the author of the paper says : “‘ When the worship of Vishnu as the 
supreme spirit really superseded that of Indra we cannot definitely say, but 
it seems to belong to the more metaphysical age of Hindu thought.” If we 
were searching for the metaphysical age of Hindu thought, we ought to 
look for it in the age succeeding the introduction of Buddhism. So much 
for the first point. Mr. Collins’ arguments have not very plainly estab- 
lished his own theory that the Bhagavad-Gita was written in the third cen- 
tury after Christ. As to the next point, the necessity of establishing an 
early date for Christian influence in India. In section 22 of the paper 
we have the arguments, which, I suppose, are familiar to us all, espe- 
cially that about St. Thomas as the Apostle of India ; and the further state- 
ment as to Panténus, the tutor of Clemens Alexandrinus, finding a Gospel 
of St. Matthew there in the second century. Both of these are connected 
with the coast of India, whereas the Bhagavad-Gita has for its scene Upper 
India ; and how this shows that Christian influence was brought to bear on 
Upper India and beyond the coastline Iam at a loss to see. In the 24th 
section of the paper we find the dates put very late indeed—587 Anno 
Domini—to show connexion with the Grecians in the sixth century, and 
also with Persia, on the supposition that some of the Christianity was derived 
from Persia. But what a difference there is between the sixth century and 
