Smoodock's Blog

Some people believe that there are so many similarities between Jesus and Krishna, a Hindi deity, that it seems obvious that they refer to the same individual. This is partially true, but not in the manner most purveyors of this similarity would like us to believe. Some of the supposed similarities are:

• Jesus was born on December 25^th … so was Krishna
• Jesus was born in a stable… so was Krishna born in a stable
• Jesus was born of a virgin… so was Krishna born of a virgin
• Jesus’ father was a carpenter… so was Krishna’s father a carpenter
• Jesus’ birth was accompanied by infanticide… so was Krishna’s
• Jesus was crucified… so was Krishna
• Jesus rose from the dead… so did Krishna

At first one would look at these things and say: “Wow! Could this be true that Krishna is Jesus or Jesus is Krishna? The Hindu religion claims that the story of Krishna precedes that of Jesus, and, if these allegations are true, Jesus would have had to have been originally Krishna, and the Apostles, or the writers of the New Covenant text, must have plagiarized the Hindu scriptures. Is this possible? In a word: “No!” this is not possible. Let me explain why.

First of all in a previous blog, I have shown that December 25^th wasn’t associated with Jesus’ birth until two to three hundred years after Jesus was born and over one or two hundred years after the Christian scriptures were written. The fact is the New Covenant text alludes to the fall as being the time of Jesus’ birth, specifically the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, according to the sign in the heavens in Revelation 12.

Secondly, according to the Hindi scriptures, Krishna was born in a prison cell where his mother and father were kept by the king [Bhagavata, Bk 4, I:4-5]. It seems the king had found a prophecy saying one of the sons of Princess Devaki would kill him and take the throne. Therefore, both she and her nobleman husband were kept in a prison cell and guarded by the king’s men. So, according to the Hindu faith, there is no similarity in either the birth places of Jesus and Krishna or in the vocation of their “fathers”.

Another supposed similarity is that Krishna was born of a virgin, but this would be impossible according to the Hindu scriptures [ Mahabharata Bk 12, XLVIII; cp. Bhagavata, Bk 4, I:4-5], because Princess Devaki had at least six other sons before Krishna was born. Each of them was killed by the king, but Krishna escaped. In contrast, Jesus was Mary’s first son. She was a virgin upon conception and a virgin at birth. Where is the similarity here except in the minds of the purveyors of this myth?

As alluded to above, the infanticide that took place under Herod has no similarity with Princess Devaki’s six sons (some traditions say seven) who were slain at birth [Bhagavata, Bk 4, XXII:7]. All were known by the king, all were of the same family and all deaths preceded the birth of Krishna. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod killed indiscriminately in an effort to find Jesus, whom he presumed should inherit his throne.

Krishna (also called Keshava) was never crucified, as is advertised by the myth enthusiasts. He was slain by accident, while meditating in a forest by a hunter who mistook him for a deer [Mahabharata, Bk 16, 4]. As far as a resurrection is concerned, it was immediate not after being buried for three days and three nights, as is the case with Jesus. Moreover, the only person to whom Krishna showed himself alive after his death, according to the Hindu scriptures, is the hunter who killed him [Mahabharata, Bk 16, 4]. Does anyone, reading this, see any similarity between these two accounts?

There seems to be many other similarities between the two figures, but the problem is that, although the mythical figure, Krishna, predates Jesus birth, the earliest accounts of these similarities are written in Classical Sanskrit. This form of Sanskrit did not exist until the 2^nd or 3^rd century AD, and the earliest manuscripts, showing these many similarities, post date the New Covenant manuscripts, so, if any similarity exists that I didn’t recognize, who copied from whom?

Are Jesus and Krishna the same person? No, not really! Any similarities thought to be real, are the result of pagan corruption of Christian evangelism in India. There are Christian traditions that the Apostle, Thomas, evangelized parts of India and was killed there. Any similarities, therefore, would be a corruption of the Christian Gospel preached there and their absorption into the Krishna cult.