24 REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, M.A., D.D._, ON THE INFLUENCE 



As far as morality is concerned, Christian influence upon the 

 life of India and upon the teaching given by its poets and 

 philosophers was certainly very slight in early days. In neither 

 the Mahabbarata nor in any of the Puranas do we find anything 

 resembling Christian, or even merely human, beneficence 

 taught ; but in matters of less import we discover traces of the 

 influence of Christian theology, though very much misunder- 

 stood and corrupted. Such an authority as Dr. Grierson is of 

 opinion that the Bhagavata triad, consisting of Bhagavan, his 

 various Incarnations, and his Sakti, may have originated, in 

 part at least, from some confused knowledge of the doctrine of 

 the Holy Trinity, learned from the Syrian Church of Malabar, 

 the Sakti (Lakshmi) being derived from the conception of the 

 Virgin Mary, possibly confused with the Holy Spirit. He sup- 

 poses that the influence of other branches of the Christian 

 Church may also have made itself felt, even though it would 

 be rash to attribute the doctrine of Avatdras entirely to this 

 source ; for in Vedic literature — dating long before the 

 Christian era — the same idea is found in connexion with 

 Brahma, Indra, and Yishnu, though later it was held in refer- 

 ence to Yishnu only.* 



The Avatara doctrine, though bearing some resemblance to the 

 Christian belief in an Incarnation, and doubtless powerfully influ- 

 enced thereby, is distinguished from the latter by t>wo important 

 characteristics. Firstly, in an Avatara Yishnu does not really 

 become a man (or a fish, or a boar, or whatever else it may be), 

 but only assumes that form for a time " in sport " {lild) ; in fact, 

 he acts a part for a special purpose, somewhat according to the 

 Docetic theory. Secondly, the god in his Avataras is never 

 regarded as a model for man's imitation, from the moral or from 

 any other standpoint.f Even in the Bhagavata Purana, which 

 Grierson thinks very probably dates from the thirteenth cen- 

 tury, and is certainly a late work, the Hindu conception of an 

 Avatara is what we have said, for we read : " The transgression 

 of virtue and the daring acts which are witnessed in gods must 

 not be charged as faults to these glorious persons. . . . Let 

 no one other than a god ever, even in thought, practise 

 them."+ 



Later still Tulasi-Das, in the sixteenth century, though teach- 

 ing that Eamacandra should be worshipped as the one Incarna- 



Encyc. of Religion and Ethics.^ vol. ii, p. 542, 

 t Farquhar, The Crown of HindHism, p. 431. 

 X Book X, cap. 33, si. 30,' 31. 



