[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [A History of Sanskrit Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900) › c19.18 # A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.18 A History of Sanskrit Literature c19.18 - **Language:** English ### [c19.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.18) The view has been held that the worship of Kṛishṇa, who, as we have seen, plays an important part in the \*Mahābhārata\*, arose under the influence of Christianity, with which it certainly has some rather striking points of resemblance. This theory is, however, rendered improbable, at least as far as the origin of the cult of Kṛishṇa is concerned, by the conclusions at which we have arrived regarding the age of the \*Mahābhārata\* (pp. 286–287), as well as by the statements of Megasthenes, which indicate that Kṛishṇa was deified and worshipped some centuries before the beginning of our era. We know, moreover, from the \*Mahābhāshya\* that the story of Kṛishṇa was the subject of dramatic representations in the second or, at latest, the first century before the birth of Christ. - [Previous: c19.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.17) - [Next: c19.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.19) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19) ## Linked texts (1) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.macdonell-1900.c19.18) · Pramāṇa