Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s2.39

v2.c27.s2.39

I have already observed that Krishna, before his own deification, worshipped his great ancestor Budha; and his temple at Dwarka rose over the ancient shrine of the latter, which yet stands. In an inscription from the cave of Gaya their characters are conjoined: “Hari who is Budha.” According to Western mythology, Apollo and Mercury exchanged symbols, the caduceus for the lyre; so likewise in India their characters intermingle: and even the Saiva propitiates Hari as the mediator and disposer of the ‘divine spark’ (jyoti) to its reunion with the ‘parent-flame’:—thus, like Mercury, he may be said to be the conveyer of the souls of the dead. Accordingly in funeral lamentation his name only is invoked, and Hari-bol! Hari-bol! is emphatically pronounced by those conveying the corpse to its final abode. The vahan (qu. the Saxon van?) or celestial car of Krishna, in which the souls (ansa) of the just are conveyed to Suryamandal, the ‘mansion of the sun,’ is painted like himself, blue (indicative of space, or as Ouranos), with the eagle’s head; and here he partakes of the Mercury of the [538] Greeks, and of Oulios, the preserver or saviour, one of the titles of Apollo at Delos.⁴