74 
Y. A. Smith —On the Civilization of Ancient India. [No. 1, 
teaching of Christ suffers no disparagement, and is in no wise touched 
as regards its peculiar meaning. 
The question whether parables, such as those of the prodigal son, 
and the Samaritan woman at the fountain, which occur in nearly iden¬ 
tical forms in Buddhist literature are of Christian origin, or, conversely, 
the result of Buddhist influence on Christianity, still seems to me one 
that is altogether open. Especially, because I do not agree with those 
who attribute to the Buddhist texts concerned an antiquity so high as 
is generally supposed. 
But it is quite clear that Buddhism by means of its convents for 
monks and nuns, its legends of saints, its worship of relics, its towers, its 
bells, and, above all, through its rich ritual and hierarchical pomp, did 
exercise influence on the development of Christian worship and cere¬ 
monial. 
The influence of Indian Buddhism on the development of Gnosti¬ 
cism and Mainchoeism is also established. The doctrine of the Trinity, 
likewise, might possibly be connected with the triad of the Avesta,— 
Ahuramazda, Zarathustra, and the congregation,—as well as w r ith the 
Buddhist triad, Buddha, D harm a, and Samgha. 
It is, moreover, well-known that the two Catholic saints Barlaam 
and Josaphat simply owe their origin to a mistaken appropriation of a 
Buddhist legend. Finally, the rosary of the Catholic Church, is, accord¬ 
ing to all appearance, of Indian origin, and its very name seems to be 
due to an erroneous apprehension of the word japamald, the Sanskrit 
term for c prayer-necklace.’* 
But we must also look in the opposite direction, for nowhere does 
continual give and take more constantly occur than in these matters, 
which so profoundly concern the human spirit. 
When then, for example, it is said in the Kathaka Upanishad 
(1, 2, 23) “ This atman (here the term practically is equivalent to 
* God ’) is to be apprehended not through instruction, nor insight, nor 
yet by much learning, but only by him whom He chooses that through 
him He may be known,” the connection of this doctrine, the idea of 
which is otherwise foreign to India, with the doctrine of ‘ election by 
grace ’ in the Epistle to the Romans is so apparent that it seems to me 
that Christian influence must here be assumed. In my opinion the 
position of this text in literary history, as the work is now extant in 
the Atharva recension, is in no way inconsistent with this view. 
According to Oldenberg ( Buddha , p. 5G, (1890)), however, the 
Kathakopanishad should be regarded as prae-Buddhist, and, if this be 
* Jap A means China rose in Kiratarjuniya and S'isnpala vadha ( Benfey , Diet.) 
[V. A.S.] 
