An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c8.4

c8.4

The Scythian race called Kushans seized all the western frontiers of India soon after the Christian era, and about the middle of the century conquered the Hindu government at Patna, and thus formed a vast empire stretching from Central Asia to the Gangetic plain. Not long after these events, as it would seem, the Bhagavadgītā arose, in which Kṛṣṇa is represented as a full incarnation of Viṣṇu and as the eternal Brahman of the Upaniṣads: Vaiṣṇava theism was thus formed; and other sects hastened to follow the great example. About the same time, or a little later, Mahāyāna Buddhism was formed, in which the Buddha almost became an eternal god.