Among the ancient Egj-ptians, Apis or Jlapi, "the living bull," was esteemed to be the emblem and image of the soul of Osiris, who, as Pliny and Cicero say, was deemed a god by the Egyptians. "Diodorus derives the worship of Apis from a belief that the soul of Osiris had migrated into this animal; and he was thus sup- posed to manifest himself to man through successive ages;" while Strabo calls "Apis the same as Osiris" (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, abridgm. i, 290, 291). "About the time when Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis ap- peared to the Egyptians." Their great rejoicings led that prince to examine the officers who had charge of Memphis. These responded "that one of their gods had appeared to them— a god who, at long intervals of time, had been accustomed to show himself in Egypt" (Herod, iii, 27). Mnevis, the sacred buU of Heliopolis, was also a rei)resentative of Osiris, and with Apis, the sacred bull oflMemphis, was worshipped as a god throughout the whole of Egj-jit. Ammianus says that Mnevis was sacred to the sun, while Apis w^as sacred to the moon (see Eawlinson's //ero(/. ii, 354, Engl, edition). Hardwick, however, adduces Wilkinson as regarding it " a merit of the old Egyjjtians that they did not human- ize their gods; and yet he admits that their faidt was rather the elevation of animals and emblems to the rank of deities." Hardwick denies that the idea of in-
carnation is to be fomid in the old Egyptian creed {Christ ami other Masters, ii, 351). See Apis.
The mythology of the Hindus presents a vast variety of incarnations, the inferior avatars that have appear- ed in various ages being innumerable. The object of the avatar is declared by Vishnu himself, who, in the form of Krishna, thus addresses Arjima: "Both I and J
thou have passed many births ; mine are known to me, but thou knowest not thine. Although I am not in my nature subject to birth or decay, and am the lord of all created beings, yet, having command over my own na- ture, I am made evident by mj^ own power ; and as often as there is a decline of virtue, and an msurrection of vice and injustice in the world, I make mj'self evident. Thus I appear from age to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the Avicked, and the estab- lishment of virtue" {Bhagavad-Gita, p. 40). With this declaration accord, for the most part, the objects of the ten more conspicuous avatars of this deity, although the details of them abound in puerilities and obscenity. In the Matsya, or Fish avatar, Vishnu took the form of a human being issuing from the body of a fish, for the recovery of the sacred books which had been stolen from Brahma by the d»mon Hayagriva. The Kurma, or Tortoise avatar, supported the earth sinking in the ■waters. The prayer of Brahma for assistance when the whole earth was covered with water called forth a third avatar of Vishnu, that of the Varaha, or Boar, of which Maurice says, " Using the practical instinct of that ani- mal, he began to smell aroimd that he might discover the place where the earth was submerged. At length, having divided the water and arriving at the bottom, he saw the earth lying a mighty and barren stratum; then he took up the ponderous globe (freed from the water), and raised it high on his tusk — one woidd say it was a beautiful lotus blossoming on the tip of his tusk" {Hist, of Hindostan, i, 575 sq.). There can be hut little doubt that these three avatars are perversions of the Hindu traditions of the Deluge. The next incar- nation burst forth from a pillar as a man-lion for the purjjose of destroying a blaspheming monarch. The Vdmana, or Dwarf, in the next avatar, rebidied the pride of Maha Bali, the great Bali. In human form the divine Parasurama, in twenty pitched battles, ex- tirpated the Kettri tribe to prepare for the Brahmin the way to empire. The seventh was very like that of the preceding, and for similar objects. Rama Chandra, how- ever, was a great reformer and legislator. The eighth, that of Krishna, represents the Deity in human form trampling on the head of a serj^ent, while the serpent is biting his heel — a corruption of the promise to Eve, One object of the ninth incarnation, that of Buddha, is generally admitted to have been the abolition of san- guinar}' sacrifices. Whatever be the cause, "Buddhism stands conspicuous in the midst of heathendom as a re- ligion without sacrificial cultus." Upon the tenth, the Kalki a^'atar, which is yet to take place, the destruction of the universe will ensue (see Maurice, Histoi-y of Hin- dostan, passim; Hardwick, i, 278; New Englander, iii, 183-185). For the astounding events connected with the birth and infancy of Gotama (q. v.), see Buddha. See also Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 140 sq. Com- pare Avatau; Hinduism.
Lamaism presents many features in common with Buddhism, so much so that it may be considered one of ils outgrowths. It "differs fundamentallj^ from Chi- nese Buddhism in the doctrine of hereditary incarna- tions. The great thought of some intelligence issuing from the Buddha world assuming the conditions of our frail humanity, and for a time presiding over some one favored group of Buddhist monasteries, had long been familiar to the natives of Tibet." In the latter half of the 15th century arose the idea of perpetual incarna- tions. " Then it was that one chief abbot, the ' perfect Lama,' instead of passing, as he was entitled to do, to his ultimate condition, determined for the benefit of mankind to sojourn longer on the earth, and be contin-