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XIII. Modern Hinduism and its Debt to the Nestorians1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

George A. Grierson
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Extract

Much of what I shall say here has appeared before in scattered essays which are not likely to have been seen by many members of the Royal Asiatic Society, and I am grateful for the opportunity now given for considering the question as a whole, and for hearing in the discussion which will, I hope, follow, any arguments that may have escaped my notice for and against the theories advanced. The object of the present paper is to show how the beliefs of the early Nestorian Christians have been absorbed by Hinduism, and how they have profoundly affected the religious system current over a large portion of India.

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Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , April 1907 , pp. 311 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1907

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References

page 311 note 2 It was written under the auspices of the Emperor Akbar. See J.A.S.B., xl p. 170.Google Scholar

page 312 note 1 The latest researches on this suhject will he found in MrPhilipp's, “The Connection of St. Thomas the Apostle with India,” in Indian Antiquary for 1903.Google Scholar

page 314 note 1 See the preface to Cowell's translation of Ṣāṇḍilya's Aphorisms,

page 314 note 2 Calcutta, 1878.

page 314 note 3 See also Indian Antiquary for 1873.Google Scholar

page 315 note 1 Mahābhārata, xii, 337 ff.

page 317 note 1 See, for instance, The Religions of India, pp. 219 ff.Google Scholar

page 317 note 2 See, for instance, Religions of India, pp. 428 ff.Google Scholar

page 317 note 3 Wilson, H. H., of course, in his Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, deals with some of the people whom I shall mention, but not from my point of view.Google Scholar

page 319 note 1 The Bhaktamāla list of these twelve apostles is: (1) Anantānanda, (2) Kabīr, (3) Sukhānanda, (4) Surasurānanda, (5) Padmāyat, (6) Naraharyānanda, (7) Pīpā, (8) Bhavānanda, (9) Raidāsa, (10) Dhanā, (11) Sēna, (12) Surasurī (a woman)., Wilson's list on p. 55 of The Religions Sects of the Hindus (ed. 1861) is wrong, owing to a misreading of the somewhat difficult text.

page 322 note 1 Bhaktamāla, 123. Cf. John iii, 3.

page 322 note 2 Bhaktamāla, 106. Cf. Matt. v, 39.

page 322 note 3 Bhaktamāla, 46. Cf. Matt. v, 29. The “offence” was exactly the same as that mentioned in the preceding verse.

page 322 note 4 Bhaktamāla, 51. Cf. Matt. v, 30.

page 322 note 5 Mr. Kāśīprasād Jayaswāl has drawn my attention to Bhaktamāla, 204. Here the author gives examples of the incarnate God's graciousness to his servants. One of these examples is that Kṛṣṇa washed his servants' feet. The reference is to Mahābhārata, ii, 35. But there Kṛṣṇa is represented as washing the feet of Brāhmaṇas. Nābhā has put “Santas,” i.e., those who possess bhakti, in place of “Brāhmaṇas.” Here the original Hindū legend is actually changed to agree with our Gospel narrative. Cf. John xiii, 5.

page 323 note 1 It is hardly necessary to point out that the Śiva religions of India, although the more modern forms also have their Śaktis, have (with one or two insignificant exceptions) no incarnations as objects of worship.

page 323 note 2 There are many Sanskrit words for God. Of these Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja agreed in selecting one for the personal deity. It was Īśvara, the exact equivalent of the of the Septuagint and of the New Testament. In the Septuagint this word represents the Hebrew YHWH, Jehovah.

page 325 note 1 From the Bhaktakalpadruma.

page 333 note 1 Vide ante, p. 315.Google Scholar

page 334 note 1 Here Professor Cowell points out that He is not the possessor of knowledge, a desire to create, and will, as Nyāya would maintain: He is Himself pure knowledge. Cf. Zanche, , De nat. Dei: “ Hæc est causa cur verius appelletur Deus vita quam vivens, sapientia quam sapiens, lux quam lucidus, atque ita de reliquis. Quamobrem? Quia seipso vivit, non per vitam; seipse perque suam essentiatn sapiens est, non per sapientiam aliquam quæ essentiæ divinæ sit addita.” Cyprian, Ep. 52: ”Unus ille et verus Pater, bonus, misericors, et pius; immo ipsa bonitas, misericordia, et pietas.”Google Scholar