name of our blessed Saviour, supposed by this writer to be derived from it, than the humble Mary of Bethlehem has with the Isis of Egypt, the original Virgo of the Zodiac: or Joseph, as there asserted, has with the obsolete constellation of præsepe Jovis, or stable of Jove, as, in his rage for derivation, he ridiculously asserts.”
Now, upon the observation of Mr. Maurice, relating to the celestial Virgin, and the Virgin Mary, the reader is requested to suspend his judgment till he comes to my chapter where she is expressly treated of. With respect to the remainder of his observation on the colour of the Cristna of India, it is replied, that of all the circumstances connected with this subject, there is not one so curious and striking as this; nor one so worthy of the attention of the reader. And though, at first, he may think the Author, in what he is going to say, respecting the black colour, is deviating from the subject, he will in the end find nothing but what is closely connected with it, and necessary for its elucidation.
7. On the first view, it seems rather an extraordinary circumstance that the statues of the Gods of the ancients should be represented of a black colour; or that they should have been made of a stone as nearly black as it could be obtained. Where the stone could not be obtained quite black, a stone was often used similar to our blue slate, of a very dark blue colour; the drapery of the statue often being of a different, light-coloured stone. It is evident that the intention was to represent a black complexion; of this there can be no doubt. The marble statues of Roman Emperors are often found with the fleshy part black, and the drapery of white or some other colour.
Eusebius informs us, on the authority of Porphyry, “That the Egyptians acknowledged one intellectual Author or Creator of the world, under the name of Cneph; and that they worshiped him in a statue of human form and dark blue complexion.” Plutarch informs us, “That Cneph was worshiped by the inhabitants of the Thebaid; who refused to contribute any part towards the maintenance of the sacred animals, because they acknowledged no mortal God, and adored none but him whom they called Cneph, an uncreated and immortal being.” The temple of Cneph, or Cnuphis, was in the island of Elephantine, on the confines of Egypt and Ethiopia.[1]
In the Evangelical Preparation of Eusebius,[2] is a passage which pretty well proves that the worship of Vishnu or Cristna was held in Egypt, under the name of Kneph: Τον Δημιουργον Κνηφ, οἱ Αιγυπτιοι ϖροσαγορευουσιν, την χροιαν εκ καονου μελανος, εχοντα κρατουντα ζωνην και σκηπτρον (λεγουσιν). “The Egyptians, it is said, represented the Demiurgos Kneph, as of a blue colour, bordering on black, with a girdle and a sceptre.”[3]
Mr. Maurice[4] has observed that the Cneph of Egypt, and the statue of Narayen, in the great reservoir of Catmandu, are both formed of black marble. Dr. Buchanan states the statue of Juggernaut to be of wood, painted black, with red lips.
Mr. Maurice says, “That Osiris, too, the black divinity of Egypt, and Chreeshna, the sable shepherd-God of Mathura, have the striking similitude of character, intimated by Mr. Wilford, cannot be disputed, any more than that Chreeshna, from his rites continuing so universally to flourish over India, from such remote periods down to the present day, was the prototype, and Osiris the mythological copy. Both are renowned legislators and conquerors, contending equally with physical and spiritual foes: both are denominated the Sun; both descend to the shades and raise the dead.”[5]
Again he says, “Now it is not a little remarkable that a dark blue tint, approaching to black, as his name signifies, was the complexion of Chreeshna, who is considered by the Hindoos not
