Parallels in the Events Leading up to the Deaths of Jesus and Krishna

Christian missionaries claim to have a long history in India. How successful those missions are depend upon criteria that is not always obvious or agreed upon. Some Christians trace their first origins in India to a legend associated with Thomas the Apostle who arrived in the country in 52 CE. Others look to the 6th Century and more modern periods beginning in the 14th Century. There is no doubt however that the most prolific period of proselytization was during the British colonialism of the 18th and 19th centuries. Christian missionaries came to India and attempted to share Christianity with Hindus, and many Hindus remained unimpressed. More than a few commented on the similarities between their sacred texts and the Christian Bible. Even Gandhi, whose admiration for Christ is well-known, never abandoned his own traditions. In his opinion, there was nothing ground-breaking that his tradition had overlooked that needed to be recuperated in Christianity. Today, only 2.34% of the population in India claims Christianity, according to a 2001 census. This is why when Christians shared something in their Bible, such as Moses requesting to see God, a Vaishnava could reply, “Well, yes, this is similar to the story of the sadhu Uttanka who asks Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu to show him his true form (vishva-rupa), which he allows him to glimpse."

Reading the Gita in the Mahabarata this week on the death of Krishna, I was struck by some parallels between the Passion of Christ and the Vaishnava avatar. There’s a lot out there on the parallels of Jesus and Krishna, so there is nothing I'm noting here that probably hasn't been  posited somewhere else, but here are two I found interesting:

Matthew 26:36–39:

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Mahabharata, Mausala-parvan, Chapter 5 

“On entering the forest, he saw Balarama sitting in a solitary place engaged in yoga practice. A white serpent with red eyes then emerged from Balarama’s mouth. Leaving the human body behind, it left that place and entered the ocean nearby where it was welcomed by the host of celestial Nagas (serpents). After his brother had departed in this way, Krishna wandered for some time in the lonely forest deeply absorbed in thought and then sat down on the bare earth. He recalled Gandhari’s curse upon him and the prophecy uttered by Durvasa when he was a guest in his house. Sitting there he withdrew his senses and absorbed his mind in yoga practice.”

Of course the garden was more likely a grove of olive trees at Gethsemane. Mel Gibson’s the Passion of the Christ has a seen in the Garden that depicts a serpent tempting Christ. I found it interesting that the serpent’s appearance in Mel’s Hollywood movie is closer to Vaishnavism than Christianity. Could Mel have been looking to Hinduism? Or maybe the way we think about things inevitably creates coincidences. Note too nahas (Hebrew for serpent) and naga (Sanskrit for serpent) are separated by one letter.

Here’s another parallel I like that combines both Luke and John.

Mausala-parvan, Chapter 5 -  The women of the palace wept as he departed, but he told them, ‘Arjuna will come here soon and he will relieve your suffering.’”

Luke 23:28  -  Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and your children.”

John 14:16 – And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.

We certainly don’t want to make too big of deal about every similarity. But this does not mean that they don’t provide for the ever-increasing sense that Christianity does not even always stand apart from other religions in the details and that the only point of comparison remains in broad rather undefined glances at one another from afar. As religious peoples, time and again, we think similarly, and sometimes we approximate one another in ways that should make us take a second glance.