given, not so vividly expressed. The details and passages in question are
page 27 concerning the white and black hairs of Vishnu, page 34--the
lyrical description of Krishna's life in the forest, page 46--Akrura's
meditation as he goes to visit Krishna, page 68--the drunken brawl and
page 69 the deaths of Balarama and Krishna. All extracts are from H.H.
Wilson, _The Vishnu Purana_ (pages 498, 511, 541-2, 609-612).


Note 8, p. 28.

The resemblance between Kansa's order to kill all male infants and Herod's
slaughter of the innocents has often been remarked.


Note 9, p. 29.

Krishna's constant alterations of role, appearing sometimes as God but
more often as boy or man, have been commented on by Isherwood and
Prabhavananda in connection with Arjuna's dilemma in the _Mahabharata_.
'Krishna is the divine incarnation of Vishnu, Arjuna's chosen deity.
Arjuna knows this--yet, by a merciful ignorance, he sometimes forgets.
Indeed, it is Krishna who makes him forget, since no ordinary man could
bear the strain of constant companionship with God. After the vision of
Krishna's divine aspect, Arjuna is appalled by the realization that he has
been treating the Lord of the universe as 'friend and fellow-mortal.' He
humbly begs Krishna's pardon, but his awe soon leaves him. Again, he has
forgotten. We may infer the same relationship between Jesus and his
disciples after the vision of the transfiguration.' _(The Song of God,
Bhagavad-Gita,_ 29-30).