the subject of an immense sculpture in the cave at Elephanta,[1] where the tyrant is represented destroying the children. The date of this sculpture is lost in the most remote antiquity. It must, at the very latest period, be fixed at least many hundred years previous to the birth of Jesus Christ, as we shall presently see. But with much greater probability thousands instead of hundreds of years might be assigned to its existence. Cristna was, by the male line, of royal descent, though he was actually born in a state the most abject and humiliating—in a dungeon—as Jesus was descended from King David and was born in a cave, used as astable. The moment Cristna was born, the whole room was splendidly illuminated, and the countenances of his father and mother emitted rays of glory. According to the Evangelium Infantiæ “Spelunca repleta erat luminibus, lucernarum et candelarum fulgorum excedentibus, et solari luce majoribus.” Cristna could speak as soon as he was born, and comforted his mother, as did the infant Jesus, according to the same gospel history. As Jesus was preceded and assisted by his kinsman, John, so Cristna was preceded by his elder brother, Ram, who was born a little time before him, and assisted him in purifying the world, polluted with demons and monsters. Ram was nourished and brought up by the same foster parents as Cristna. Thus the Gospel of James[2] states, that the prophecy of Zachariah and the supernatural pregnancy of his wife being notorious, Herod suspected that John might be the expected Messiah, and commanded him to be delivered up, in order that he might murder him; but Elizabeth had sent him into the wilderness to his cousin, by which means he escaped. Cristna descended into Hades or Hell, and returned to Vaicontha, his proper paradise. One of his epithets was that of a good shepherd, which we know was that of Jesus. After his death, like Jesus Christ, he ascended into heaven.[3] From the glory described above, in the Evangelium Infantiæ, we see the reason why, in all pictures of the Nativity, the light is made to arise from the body of the infant, and why the father and mother are often depicted with glories round their heads.
3. After the birth of Cristna, the Indian prophet Nared, Σοφος, having heard of his fame, visited his father and mother at Gokul, examined the stars, &c., and declared him to be of celestial descent. As Mr. Maurice observes, here is a close imitation of the Magi guided by his star and visiting the Infant in Bethlehem. Cristna was said to have been born at Mathura, (pronounced Mattra,) on the river Jumna, where many of his miracles were performed, and in which at this day he is held in higher veneration than in any other place in Hindostan. Mr. Maurice says, “The Arabic edition of the Evangelium Infantiæ records Matarea, near Hermopolis, in Egypt, to have been the place where the Infant Saviour resided during his absence from the land of Judæa, and until Herod died. At this place Jesus is reported to have wrought many miracles; and, among others, to have produced in that arid region a fountain of fresh water, the only one in Egypt. Hinc ad Sycamorum illam urbem digressi sunt, quæ hodie Matarea vocatur; et produxit Dominus Jesus fontem in Matarea, in quo Diva Maria (Cristna’s mother has also the epithet Deva prefixed to her name) tunicam ejus lavit. Ex sudore autem, qui à Domino Jesu defluxit, balsamum in illâ regione provenit.”[4]
M. Savary says, that at a little distance from Heliopolis is the small village of Matarea, so called because it has a fresh-water spring, the only one in Egypt. This spring has been rendered famous by tradition, which relates that the holy family fleeing from Herod came hither; that the
