A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c7.19.1

c7.19.1

Grierson in the "Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics" points out in a very facile fashion, that "Kṛṣṇa Vāsudeva, who was the founder of the new monotheistic religion, was the pupil of a sage named Ghora Āṅgirasa, who taught him so that he never thirsted again." In answer to such an identification of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva, and Kṛṣṇa, the pupil of Ghora Āṅgirasa, we have to point out that this is merely an assertion without proof. It passes our understanding how for the simple reason that Kṛṣṇa, the pupil of Ghora Āṅgirasa, was the son of Devakī as mentioned in the Chhāndogya, he could be identified with Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī, of the Mahābhārata, where no mention is made whatsoever of Ghora Āṅgirasa who was the teacher of Kṛṣṇa in the Chhāndogya. Such a fact cannot be easily ignored in a work like the Mahābhārata which is expected to give us everything about the divine warrior Kṛṣṇa, and not leave the name of his teacher unmentioned. If the Kṛṣṇa of the Chhāndogya is to be identified with the Kṛṣṇa of the Mahābhārata, for that matter why should not we identify the Hariśchandra of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa who had a hundred wives with the Hariśchandra of mythology who had only one wife? Mere similarity of name proves nothing.