Blavatsky H.P. - Buddhism in America: Difference between revisions

Mr. Textor de Ravisi, a French Catholic Orientalist, and for ten years Governor of Karikal (India), Jacolliot’s bitterest opponent in religious conclusions, fully appreciated the situation. He would have the name spelt Krishna, because (1) most of the statues of this god are black, and Krishna means black; and (2) because the real name of Christna “was Kaneya, or Caneya.” Very well; but black is Krishna. And if not only Jacolliot, but the Brahmans 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 Hindu deity’s name is formed from the radical Chris, meaning sacred, as Jacolliot shows it. Moreover, for the Brahmans 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, Mr. Textor de Ravisi, {{Page aside|252}} in suggesting it, completes his own discomfiture. In escaping Scylla he falls into Charybdis. I suppose no one will deny that the Sanskrit Canya means Virgin; for even in modern Hindostanee the Zodiacal sign of Virgo is called Kaniya. Christna is styled Caneya, as having been born of a virgin. Begging pardon, then, of the “learned friend” at your elbow, I reaffirm that if there “never was a Hindu reformer named Jezeus Christna,” there was a Hindu Saviour, who is worshipped unto this day as Jas-i-Christna, or, if it better accords with his pious preferences, Jas-i-Kristna. <ref> {{HPB-CW-comment|[Owing to the fact that the Slavonic pronunciation of “J” is equivalent to “Y,” H.P.B. sometimes uses “J” for the Devanâgarî character “Ya,” as is the case in this article where the terms should be Yaś-i-Krishna, Yaśas-vin, etc.—Compiler.]}}</ref>