There remained a third way—­the path of bhakti or devotion to God.  If a man loved God not as an abstract spirit but as a loving Person, if he loved with intensity and singleness of heart, adoration itself might obtain for him the same reward as a succession of good lives.  Vishnu as protector might reward love with love and confer immediately the blessing of salvation.

The result, then, was that three courses were now open to a man and whether he followed one or other depended on his own particular cast of mind, the degree of his will-power, the strength of his passions and finally, his capacity for renunciation, righteousness and love.  On these qualifications the upshot would largely depend.  But they were not the only factors.  Since gods and demons were part of the world, a man could be aided or frustrated according as gods or demons chose to intervene.  Life could, in fact, be viewed from two angles.  On the one hand it was one long effort to blend with the Godhead—­an effort which only the individual could make.  On the other hand, it was a war between good and evil, gods and demons; and to such a contest, God as Vishnu could not remain indifferent.  While the forces of evil might properly be allowed to test or tax the good, they could never be permitted completely to win the day.  When, therefore, evil appeared to be in the ascendant, Vishnu intervened and corrected the balance.  He took flesh and entering the world, slew demons, heartened the righteous and from time to time conferred salvation by directly exempting individuals from further re-births.

It is these beliefs which govern the Mahabharata epic and provide the clue to Krishna’s role.  Its prime subject is a feud between two families, a feud which racks and finally destroys them.  At the same time, it is very much more.  Prior to the events narrated in the text, Vishnu has already undergone seven incarnations, taking the forms of a fish, tortoise, boar and man-lion and later those of Vamana the dwarf, Parasurama (’Rama with the Axe’), and finally, the princely Rama.  In each of these incarnations he has intervened and, for the time being, rectified the balance.  During the period covered by the epic, he undergoes an eighth incarnation and it is in connection with this supremely vital intervention that Krishna appears.

To understand the character which now unfolds, we must briefly consider the central story of the Mahabharata.  This is narrated in the most baffling and stupendous detail.  Cumbrous names confront us on every side while digressions and sub-plots add to the general atmosphere of confusion and complexity.  It is idle to hope that this vast panorama can arouse great interest in the West and even in India it is unlikely that many would now approach its gigantic recital with premonitions of delight.  It is rather as a necessary background that its main outlines must be grasped, for without them Krishna’s character and career can hardly be explained.