ar speech, Krishna's name is still further
approximated to that of Christ, being frequently pronounced _Krishta_ or
_Kishta_. In the middle of the nineteenth century the common opinion was
that there was some historical connection between Krishna and Christ,
and the idea lingers in the minds of both Hindus and Christians. One is
surprised to find it in a recent European writer, formerly a member of
the Indian Civil Service. "Surely there is something more," he says,
"than an analogy between Christianity and Krishna worship."[92]

Much has been made by the late Dr. K.M. Banerjea, the most learned
member of the Indian Christian Church of the nineteenth century, and
something also by the late Sir M. Monier Williams, of a passage in the
Rigveda (x. 90), which seems to point to Christ. The passage speaks of
Purusha (the universal spirit), who is also "Lord of Immortality," and
was "born in the beginning," as having been "sacrificed by the Gods,
Sadyas and Rishis," and as becoming thereafter the origin of the various
castes and of certain gods and animals. A similar passage in a later
book, the _T[=a]ndya Br[=a]hmanas_, declares that "the Lord of
creatures, Prajapati, offered himself a sacrifice for the devas"
(emancipated mortals or gods). Of the parallelism between the
self-sacrificing Prajapati, Lord of creatures, and the Second Person in
the Christian Trinity, propitiator and agent in creation, we may hear
Dr. Banerjea himself: "The self-sacrificing Prajapati [Lord of
creatures] variously described as Purusha, begotten in the beginning, as
Viswakarma, the creator of all, is, in the meaning of his name and in
his offices, identical with Jesus.... Jesus of Nazareth is the only
person who has ever appeared in the world claiming the character and
position of Prajapati, at the same time both mortal and immortal."[93]

[Sidenote: These parallels ineffective.]

[Sidenote: Christ Himself attractive.]

But it must be confessed that these parallels, real or supposed, between
Christianity and Hinduism have not brought Christ home to the heart of
India. In themselves, they only bring Christianity as near to Hinduism
as they bring Hinduism to Christianity. Uneducated Hindus feel that the
two religions are balanced when they have Krishna and Christians have
Christ. Educated Hindus, as we shall see, are employing some of these
very parallels to buttress Hinduism. Far be it from me, however, to
depreciate the labours of scholars and e