[Sidenote:  The god Rama.] The character of Rama—­or Ramachandra—­is possessed of some high qualities.  The great poem in which it is described at fullest length—­the Ramayana of Valmiki—­seems to have been an alteration, made in the interests of Hinduism, of early Buddhist legends; and the Buddhist quality of gentleness has not disappeared in the history.[25] Rama, however, is far from a perfect character.  His wife Sita is possessed of much womanly grace and every wifely virtue; and the sorrowful story of the warrior-god and his faithful spouse has appealed to deep sympathies in the human breast.  The worship of Rama has seldom, if ever, degenerated into lasciviousness.  In spite, however, of the charm thrown around the life of Rama and Sita by the genius of Valmiki and Tulsida,[26] it is Krishna, not Rama, that has attained the greatest popularity among the “descents” of Vishnu.

[Sidenote:  Krishna.  His early life a travesty of the life of Christ, according to the Gospel of the Infancy.] Very different morally from that of Rama is the character of Krishna.  While Rama is but a partial manifestation of divinity Krishna is a full manifestation; yet what a manifestation!  He is represented as full of naughty tricks in his youth, although exercising the highest powers of deity; and, when he grows up, his conduct is grossly immoral and disgusting.  It is most startling to think that this being is by grave writers—­like the authors of the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana—­made the highest of the gods, or, indeed, the only real God.  Stranger still, if possible, is the probability that the early life of Krishna—­in part, at least—­is a dreadful travesty of the early life of Christ, as given in the apocryphal gospels, especially the Gospel of the Infancy.  The falling off in the apocryphal gospels, when compared with the canonical, is truly sad; but the falling off even from the apocryphal ones, in the Hindu books, is altogether sickening.[27]

A very striking characteristic of modern Hinduism is what is termed bhakti, or devotion.  There are three great ways of attaining to salvation:  karma marga, or the way of ceremonial works; jnana marga, or the way of knowledge, and bhakti marga, or the way of devotion.

[Sidenote:  Doctrine of bhakti introduced.  Influence of the system.  Mixed with Buddhist elements.  Exaltation of the guru.] The notion of trust in the gods was familiar to the mind of India from Vedic days, but the deity was indistinct and unsympathetic, and there could hardly be love and attachment to him.  But there now arose the doctrine of bhakti (devotion), which resolved religion into emotion.  It came into the Hindu system rather abruptly; and many learned men have traced its origin to the influence of Christianity.  This is quite possible; but perhaps the fact is hardly proved.  Contact with Christianity, however, probably accelerated a process which had previously begun.