Book Review: The Bible in India by Louis Jacolliot

The Hindu teachings and the Bible The author is a French scholar who studied Hindu scriptures in mid-19th century, translated several texts from Sanskrit into French, and became a believer of Hindu philosophy and admired the beauty and superiority of Vedic wisdom. He observes that the narratives of Old and New Testaments lacks metaphysics, and the beauty of Vedic ideals about cosmos and life. This book was first published in 1869 when strong efforts were undertaken to translate the Sanskrit scriptures into English by the British scholars. While the British research and literary work was focused on understanding Hinduism, but they were also looking for ways to undermine the theological, spiritual, and metaphysical elements in the Hindu texts; Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, the epics; Mahabharata and Ramayana, Manu Smriti, and the six schools of Hindu philosophy to a justify the English colonization of India. Some British scholars exclusively focused on the Aryan (Indo-Germanic race) invasion theory to deny credit to immense amount of early thoughts on life and cosmos in the ancient world. Many studies were designed to question the authenticity of the sacred books or assign them an origin posterior to that of Moses and early texts of Judaism. This book focuses largely on the influence of Hindu religious thoughts on the teachings of Bible, specifically, how it influenced the ministry of Jesus Christ. A number of events which surround the birth of Christ is related to Krishna's legends. Jesus did not have the wisdom, and he did not study in ancient Israel that raised himself above his compatriots as to play the founder of a new religious movement. He was probably in Egypt in his early years and later went to India to study theology and metaphysics. From the age of 12 to 30, there is no account of Jesus in the New Testament. Krishna is the Hindu Redeemer, and Christ is the Christian Redeemer, similar sounding names. The mothers of the two redeemers were conceived by divine intervention. Lord Krishna states in Bhagavad-Gita 18.61, that “The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart.” And this compares to the “One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all,” in the book of Ephesians 4:6. This verse emphasizes the unity and Oneness of the creator that spotlights the teachings of Upanishads and Bhagavadgita. Judaism has twelve castes (tribes), eight more than Hinduism, and of this twelve, the tribe of Levi were designated as the priestly class. They were the interpreters of the sacred texts of Judaism and the guardians of Jewish temples. The portrayal of Christian Holy Trinity, The God the Father, His only son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is based on the Hindu ideas Vedic trinity. Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Shiva; Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver of the universe, and Shiva mediates the end of the cosmos and its reconstitution. The role of the trinity in the New Testament is similar, and possibly borrowed from Hindu belief system. Moses obtained the ideas of Genesis, patriarchal and others, from the sacred books of Egypt to which he had access to, and likely be the rescripts of the teachings of Vedas that may have found their way from India. The Greek and Roman division of time into four ages, the golden age, the silver age, the bronze age, and the iron age are similar to the four yugas (ages of the life and the world). The author briefly touches on the politics and heavy-handedness of Bishops in early Christian history who came out boldly to undermine the rightful place for early Hindu religious texts. They condemned and destroyed them that did not agree with synoptic gospels, and they also destroyed numerous gnostic gospels that included the gospel of Mary (Mary Magdalene). The gospel of Mary departs from the traditional teachings of canons and sounds similar to the teachings of the early Hindu beliefs. Louis Jacolliot’s translation of the Manu Smriti into French is known to have influenced many French scholars, and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.