| Aren’t there some striking parallels between the Jesus and Krishna stories? |
| It should be noted that a few of these claims originate with Louis Jacolliot
(1837-1890), a Frenchman who lived in India. His claims have not been
supported with any external evidence. If he is to be believed, we are
taking only his word for it. No actual Buddhists in India appear to
have ever professed the beliefs Jacolliot claimed. And even if,
hypothetically, there were 19th century Buddhists who believe the things
he claimed, it's likely their beliefs were influenced by Christianity, since
there is no record of these beliefs pre-dating Christianity.
I've heard from a couple of followers of the Hindu religion (one named Manali, the other who will remain unnamed) who have provided much-appreciated feedback. 1. Born of a Virgin on December 25 Since, according to legend, Krishna had seven older siblings, it's unlikely his mother, Devaki, was a virgin (and there's no tradition saying she was). According to krishna.avatara.org, Krishna was born on the "8th day of the dark half of the month of Sravana. This corresponds to July 19th 3228 BC." I've seen other sites say he was born in August. Skeptic Acharya S makes the claim that Krishna was born of a virgin in the book "The Christ Conspiracy", but her footnotes for this merely say that "The orthodox legend of Krishna is that he was born of a married woman, Devaki; but like Maya, Buddha's mother, she was considered to have had a miraculous conception." How does having a miraculous conception equate to her being a virgin? Manali says "The reason this gets mentioned as a point of similarity, I guess, is not to point that mothers in both cases were a virgin. And its not said anywhere that Devaki the mother of Krishna was a virgin. I think the point of similarity is that like Jesus, Krishna was not Devaki's child, but son of god, whom she conceived miraculously." I agree that their both being conceived miraculously is a point of similarity, but the Christ-myther claim of Krishna being "born of a virgin on December 25" is still not true on either point. 2. His human father was a carpenter No, his human father (his only father, for that matter) was a man named Vasuveda. I have found no sources suggesting that he was a carpenter. I even did internet searches on the combination of "Vasuveda" and "Carpenter" in Google, Yahoo and Infoseek, and got no hits except for articles written about Krishna by people whose last names were 'Carpenter'. In fact, he was most likely a dairy farmer. In some versions of the Krishna story, his father is King Kansa (who is also not a carpenter), who is also Devaki's brother. Some web sites state that Kansa is Devaki's cousin or uncle, but followers assure me Kansa is Devaki's brother. 3. Father was off paying taxes when Krishna was born No, his father, Vasuveda, was in prison with his mother when Krishna was born. Or in the versions in which King Kansa is Krishna's father, you wouldn't expect the king to be paying taxes. 4. Birth was signaled by a star in the East I've found no mention of this in any Krishna story. 5. Birth was attended by angels and shepherds, was presented with spices I found this site, written by a follower of Krishna, which gives the story of the birth of Krishna, and even makes some general comparisons between Krishna and Jesus (that they were both born of a woman, born in this world and were 'God-on-Earth'), yet it mentions nothing about angels, shepherds, or spices. I haven't found such comparisons anywhere else, either. Manali points out that Krishna was visited by cowherds after his birth, since his family was in the dairy business. 6. A ruling tyrant ordered the slaughtering of thousands of infants upon hearing of Krishna's birth While there is a parallel here, it's not the one the critics claim. According to Manali, "after Kansa failed to kill Krishna, and came to know that the baby has been born and is living somewhere, he called upon his army to search the entire city of Mathura and its suburbs, to find and kill all the infants born in the same period as Krishna. Thus he ended up killing several infants, and there are several stories of how miraculously Krishna as a baby escaped the killings." So it was "several" infants, not thousands. Also, the number of infants killed by Herod when he found out about Jesus couldn't have been much more than about twenty according to most scholars, so it wasn't "thousands" there, either. So replace "thousands of" with "several" in the claim, and there is a parallel. However, the earliest version of this story in the Krishna tradition probably dates from the 4th to 6th century A.D., well after the Jesus story had been in circulation. Some date the Krishna story as early as 2nd century A.D., but even this is after the Gospel accounts were written. 7. Was anointed with oil on the head by a woman he healed I can't find any such incident in any version of the Krishna story. 8. Was depicted as having his foot on the head of a snake Again, this cannot be found in any version of the story. 9. Worked miracles: raised the dead, healed lepers, healed the deaf, healed the blind He worked miracles, but I have yet to find any references to his raising the dead, or healing lepers, the deaf or the blind. Acharya S has no footnotes for this claim, so apparently she can't find the references, either. 10. Taught in parables One of the Hindu followers who responded says he knows the Krishna story very well, and he says that Krishna did not use parables. 11. Krishna lived poor and loved the poor The two Hindu followers who responded to this page disagree slightly on this. The first one said that "Krishna never lived as a poor person. The Yadav Caste (of which Krishna was a member) are dairy farmers, and, since milk is an important commodity, they have always been quite wealthy by Indian standards". The second responder, Manali, says that "Krishna did live poor during parts of his childhood, when he was under the care of foster parents. When Kansa's reign ended and he was welcomed back into the royal family, he never lived poor again." But when we say that Jesus "lived poor", we're talking about his entire life, childhood and adulthood, so this isn't a comparison. Besides that, many people throughout history have lived poor and loved the poor, it's not hard to believe that Krishna and/or Jesus may have been among them. 12. Castigated the clergy and charged them with hypocrisy and ambition. Again, not found in any version. 13. Was transfigured in front of his disciples Again, not found in any version 14. Gave his disciples the ability to work miracles Ditto. 15. Krishna's path was "strewn with branches" Ditto. 16. Some traditions held that he was crucified between two thieves Critics claim this, but never back it up. The only method of demise that I can find is his being shot in the foot by a hunter's arrow, and then either died or disappeared. If anyone out there can give me an example of a tradition in which he is crucified, please let me know. Acharya S's footnote on this one makes claims about other mythological figures being crucified, but makes no mention of Krishna being crucified. The forementioned Jacolliot does make the claim of Krishna being affixed to a tree with arrows after he was killed, but doesn't mention anything about two thieves, and since Krishna was already dead and no crucifix was involved, this was hardly a crucifixion. And no one has ever been able to back up Jacolliot's claim, anyway, making it likely fraudulent. And even if not fraudulent, this story postdates Christianity by over 1800 years and was thus certainly influenced by Christianity. 17. Was killed around 30 yrs old and the sun darkened at his death According to tradition, Krishna was 125 when he died. Only off by 95 years! And there's nothing about the sun darkening at his death. 18. Rose from the dead and ascended to heaven The closest parallel comes in some later versions in which Krishna's body turned into a log-like image which floated around the East coast of India, finally ending up in a temple in the town of Puri. But he neither rose from the dead or ascended to Heaven. 19. Was depicted on a cross with nail-holes in his feet. Only in post-Christian times. 20. Was called: Shepherd of God, Redeemer, Firstborn, Sin-Bearer, Liberator, and Universal Word He was called the "Shepherd God", only because, unlike Jesus, he actually WAS a shepherd. Jesus was a shepherd only metaphorically. I cannot find any record of the other names. 21. Was deemed: Our Lord and Savior and Son of God, who came to earth to die for the salvation of man He was never referred to by these titles. 22. Was the second person of a trinity Sort of. The first Hindu follower who responded to this site states, "That Krishna is an avtar of Vishnu would make him the second god of the Hindu threesome". However, he also acknowledges that the form of the threesome has changed over the years, and besides that, "The Hindu threesome cannot be equated even remotely with the Christian trinity." The Hindu trinity is three separate beings, not the three-in-one of the Christian trinity. 23. Was called: Jezeus/Jeseus by his disciples The source for this appears to be the forementioned Jacolliot, and thus postdates Christianity. Besides that, remember that Jesus' Hebrew name was Yeshua. Jesus is only the English pronunciation. So even if true, this one is essentially meaningless. 24. Krishna will return to judge the dead and will do battle with the "Prince of Evil." The Earth will be desolated. This is another claim originating with Jacolliot and cannot be dated to earlier than the 19th century. Nor is it backed up by any evidence besides Jacolliot's claim. Manali pointed me to these two passages in the "Bhagvad Gita": "whenever there is a fall of sustenance; when it goes down, the righteousness falls off, to kill, to destroy these horrible negative forces: to save and sustain the saints, I come in every age in human form." "To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium." Manali says that Krishna is born into a new body in order to return (reincarnation), so this does not compare to Jesus, who is said to be returning in the same body He had in the 1st century.
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