I am extremely glad to find such a reason given, because it liberates me from a painful situation; for it is evident, that if Hercules were Cristna or Buddha, they must have been types or symbols of Christ if Hercules were: and if this be the religion which I contend that I am justified in taking from Parkhurst, how absurd is it to suppress the facts respecting Cristna! For, it is evident the nearer and closer they are to the history of Jesus Christ, the more perfect is the type or emblem; and upon this ground the complaint of the philosopher against the religion will be, not that these histories are similar, but that in certain cases they are not similar. He will say, this cannot be a type or emblem, because it is not the same. Thus the frauds of the priests in suppressing facts will recoil upon themselves. And when we perceive that the Hindoo Gods were supposed to be crucified, it will be impossible to resist a belief, that the particulars of that crucifixion have been suppressed. To suppose that Buddha and Cristna are said in the Hindoo books to be crucified, and yet that there are no particulars of such crucifixion detailed, is quite incredible. The argument of Mr. Parkhurst is very different from that of Mr. Maurice, and I hail it with delight, because it at once sets my hands at liberty, and shews that in future the defenders of the religion must bring forth, not suppress, ancient histories. This shews the folly of the disingenuous proceedings of our priests with respect to Hindoo learning.
For a long time I endeavoured to find some reason or meaning for the story of the crown of thorns, so unlike any thing in history but itself, but in which the prejudices of our education prevent our seeing any absurdity. I have at last come to an opinion, which I know will be scouted by every one who has not very closely attended to the extreme ignorance of the first professors of Christianity, and it is this, that the idea of the thorns has been taken from the pointed Parthian coronet of Wittoba or Balaji. Not understanding it, and too much blinded by their zeal to allow themselves time to think, as in many other instances, they have run away with the first impression which struck them. If I were not well acquainted with the meanness of understanding of these devotees, I should not certainly harbour this opinion, but it is not more absurd than many other of their superstitions,
5. In many of the most ancient temples of India, the Bull, as an object of adoration, makes a most conspicuous figure. A gigantic image of one protrudes from the front of the temple of the Great Creator, called in the language of the country, Jaggernaut, in Orissa. This is the Bull of the Zodiac,—the emblem of the sun when the equinox took place in the first degree of the sign of the Zodiac, Taurus. In consequence of the precession of the equinoxes, the sun at the vernal equinox left Taurus, and took place in Aries, which it has left also for a great number of years, and it now takes place in Aquarius. Thus it keeps receding about one degree in 72 years, and about a whole sign in 2160 years. According to this calculation, it is about 2500 years by the true Zodiac, before the time of Christ, since it was in the first degree of Aries, and about 4660 before the time of Christ, since it was in the same degree of Taurus. M. Dupuis has demonstrated that the labours of Hercules are nothing but a history of the passage of the sun through the signs of the Zodiac;[1] and that Hercules is the sun in Aries or the Ram, Bacchus the sun in Taurus or the Bull. From this it follows that the worship of Jaggernaut must have been instituted, and his temple probably built, near 6500 years ago, and that the temple and worship of Cristna, or the Indian Hercules, must have taken place at least, but probably about, 2160 years later. This brings the date of Cristna to about 2500 years before Christ. When Arrian says that the Indian Hercules was fifteen hundred years after Bacchus, it appears that he had learnt a part of the truth, probably from the tradition of the country. The great length of time between the two was known by tradition, but the reason of it was unknown. But I think we may see the truth
- ↑ In the sphere, Hercules treads on the serpent’s head. See Dupuis.
