he same laws and beliefs as those already
established in Hindustan, were aided by a powerful aboriginal chief,
just as the Sisodias in Rajputana were aided by the Bhils. It is
possible too that Krishna's tribe may have come from Kabul or other
mountainous districts of the north west, although one of the most
definite points in the legend is his connection with the coast town of
Dvaraka. The fortifications of this town and the fruitless efforts of
the demon king, Salva, to conquer it by seige are described in the
Mahabharata,[375] but the narrative is surrounded by an atmosphere of
magic and miracle rather than of history.[376]

Though it would not be reasonable to pick out the less fantastic parts
of the Krishna legend and interpret them as history, yet we may
fairly attach significance to the fact that many episodes represent
him as in conflict with Brahmanic institutions and hardly maintaining
the position of Vishnu incarnate.[377] Thus he plunders Indra's
garden and defeats the gods who attempt to resist him. He fights with
Siva and Skanda. He burns Benares and all its inhabitants. Yet he is
called Upendra, which, whatever other explanations sectarian ingenuity
may invent, can hardly mean anything but the Lesser Indra, and he
fills the humble post of Arjuna's charioteer. His kinsmen seem to have
been of little repute, for part of his mission was to destroy his own
clan and after presiding over its annihilation in internecine strife,
he was slain himself. In all this we see dimly the figure of some
aboriginal hero who, though ultimately canonized, represented a force
not in complete harmony with Brahmanic civilization. The figure has
also many solar attributes but these need not mean that its origin is
to be sought in a sun myth, but rather that, as many early deities
were forms of the sun, solar attributes came to be a natural part of
divinity and were ascribed to the deified Krishna just as they were
to the deified Buddha.[378]

Some authors hold that the historical Krishna was a teacher, similar
to Zarathustra, and that though of the military class he was chiefly
occupied in founding or supporting what was afterwards known as the
religion of the Bhagavatas, a theistic system inculcating the worship
of one God, called Bhagavat, and perhaps identical with the Sun. It is
probable that Krishna the hero was connected with the worship of a
special deity, but I see no evidence that he was primarily a
teacher.[379] In th