ARTICLES
BY
Buddhism in
By
H P Blavatsky
A letter by H P Blavatsky to the
As in your leading article
of May 6th, I am at one moment given credit for knowing something about the
religion of the Brâhmans and Buddhists, and, anon, of
being a pretender of the class of Jacolliot, and even
his plagiarist, you will not wonder at my again knocking at your doors for
hospitality. This time I write over my own signature, and am responsible, as I
am not under other circumstances.
No wonder that the
"learned friend" at your elbow was reminded "of the utterances
of one Louis Jacolliot."
The paragraphs in the very
able account of your representative’s interview, which relate to "Adhima and Heva" and "Jezeus Christna," were
translated bodily, in his presence, from the French edition of the Bible in
For instance, Prof.
Whitney, your greatest American Orientalist, and one
of the most eminent living, spells it Bagavata; while
his equally great opponent, Max Müller, prefers Bagavadgîtâ, and half a dozen others spell it in as many
different ways. Naturally each scholar, in rendering the Indian words into his
own vernacular, follows the national rule of pronunciation; and so, you will
see, that Prof. Müller in writing the syllable ad
with an a does precisely what Jacolliot does in
spelling it ed, the French e having the same sound as the English a before a
consonant. The same holds good with the name of the Hindû
Saviour, which by different authorities is spelt
Krishna, Crisna, Khristna
and Krisna; everything, in short, but the right way, Christna. Perhaps you may say that this is mere hypothesis.
But since every Indianist follows his own fancy in
his phonetic transcriptions, I do not know why I may not exercise my best judgment,
especially as I can give good reasons to support it.
You affirm that there
"never was a Hindû reformer named Jezeus Christna"; and,
although I confined my affirmation of his existence to the authority of Jacolliot at the interview in question, I now assert on my
own responsibility that there was, and is, a personage of that name recognized
and worshipped in India, and that he is not Jesus Christ. Christna
is a Brâhmanical deity, and, besides by the Brâhmans, is recognized by several sects of the Jains. When Jacolliot says "Jezeus Christna," he only
shows a little clumsiness in phonetic rendering, and is nearer right than many
of his critics. I have been at the festivals of Janmotsar,
in commemoration of the birth of Christna (which is
their Christmas) and have heard thousands of voices shouting: "Jas-i-Christna! Jasas-wi-Christna!" Translated they are: Jas-i,
renowned, famous, and Jasas-wi, celebrated, or
divinely-renowned, powerful; and Christna, sacred. To
avoid being again contradicted, I refer the reader to any Hindûstânî
dictionary. All the Brâhmans with whom I have talked
on the subject spoke of Christna either as Jas-i-Christna, or Jadar Christna, or again used the term, Yadur-pati,
Lord of Yâdavas, descendant of Yadu,
one of the many titles of Christna in India. You see,
therefore, that it is but a question of spelling.
That Christna
is preferable to
M. Taxtor
de Ravisi, a French Catholic Orientalist,
and for ten years Governor of Karikal (
because
(1) most
of the statues of this God are black, and
(2) because
the real name of Christna "was Kaneya, or Caneya." Very
well; but black is
And if not only Jacolliot, but the Brâhmans
themselves are not to be allowed to know as much as their European critics, we
will call in the aid of Volney and other Orientalists, who show that the Hindû
deity’s name is formed from the radical Chris, meaning sacred, as Jacolliot shows it. Moreover, for the Brâhmans
to call their God the "black one" would be unnatural and absurd;
while to style him the sacred, or pure essence, would
be perfectly appropriate to their notions. As to the name being Caneya, M. Taxtor de Ravisi, in suggesting it, completes his own discomfiture.
In escaping Scylla he falls into Charybdis. I suppose
no one will deny that the Sanskrit Kanyâ means
Virgin, for even in modern Hindûstânî the Zodiacal
sign of Virgo is called Kaniya. Christna
is styled Kâneya, as having been born of a Virgin.
Begging pardon, then, of the "learned friend" at your elbow, I reäffirm that if there "never was a Hindû reformer named Jezeus Christna," there was a Hindû
Saviour, who is worshipped unto this day as Jasi Christna, or, if it better
accords with his pious preferences, Jas-i-Kristna.
When the 84,000 volumes
of the Dharma Khanda, or sacred books of the
Buddhists, and the thousands upon thousands of ollæ
of Vaidic and Brâhmanical
literature, now known by their titles only to European scholars, or even a
tithe of those actually in their possession are translated, and comprehended,
and agreed upon, I will be happy to measure swords again with the solar pandit who has prompted your severe reflections upon your
humble subscriber.
Though, in common with
various authorities, you stigmatize Jacolliot as a
"French fraud," I must really do him the justice to say that his
Catholic opponent, De Ravisi, said of his Bible in
India, in a report made at the request of the Société
Académique de St. Quentin, that it is written.
With good faith, of
absorbing interest, a learned work on known facts and with familiar arguments.
Ten years’ residence and
studies in
Respectfully,
H. P. BLAVATSKY.
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A Text Book of Theosophy By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
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The Result of Theosophical Study
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Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
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