ally a divine or
deified saint, a _rishi_, as the Hindus would call him; and that
somehow he became identified with Vishnu and the Universal Spirit.

[Footnote 21: It must be admitted that ancient writers give different
etymologies of the name: thus, a poet in the Mahabharata (III.
clxxxix. 3) derives it from _narah_, "waters," and _ayanam_, "going,"
understanding it to mean "one who has the waters for his
resting-place"; Manu (I. 10, with Medhatithi's commentary), accepting
the same etymology, interprets it as "the dwelling-place of all the
Naras"; and in the Mahabharata XII. cccxli. 39, it is also explained
as "the dwelling-place of mankind." But these interpretations are
plainly artificial concoctions.]

This theory really is not by any means as wild as at first sight it
may seem to be. Divine saints are sometimes mentioned in the Rig-veda
and Brahmanas as being the creators of the universe[22]; and they
appear again and again in legend as equals of the gods, attaining
divine powers by their mystic insight into the sacrificial lore. But
there is more direct evidence than this.

[Footnote 22: RV. X. cxxix. 5, SB. VI. i. 1, 1-5. Cf. Charpentier,
_Suparnasage_, p. 387.]

In the Mahabharata there are incorporated two documents of first-rate
importance for the doctrines of the churches that worshipped Vishnu.
One of these is the Bhagavad-gita, or Lord's Song (VI. xxv.-xlii.);
the other is the Narayaniya, or Account of Narayana (XII.
cccxxxvi.-cccliii.). Their teachings are not the same in details,
though on most main points they agree; for they belong to different
sections of the one religious body. Leaving aside the Bhagavad-gita
for the moment, we note that the Narayaniya relates a story that there
were born four sons of Dharma, or Righteousness, viz. Nara, Narayana,
Hari or Vishnu, and Krishna. In other places (I. ccxxx. 18, III. xii.
45, xlvii. 10, V. xlviii. 15, etc.) we are plainly told that Nara is a
previous incarnation of Arjuna the Pandava prince, and Narayana is, of
course, the supreme Deity, who in the time of Arjuna was born on earth
as Krishna Vasudeva, and that in his earlier birth Nara and Narayana
were both ascetic saints. This tradition is very important, for it
enables us to see something of the early character of Narayana. He was
an ancient saint of legend, who was connected with a hero Nara, just
as Krishna was associated with Arjuna; and the atmosphere of
saintliness clings to him obstinately. T