Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

In the midst of these conflicting tendencies, an attempt was made, about the latter part of the 8th century, by the distinguished Malabar theologian and philosopher Sankara Acharya to restore the Brahmanical creed to something like its pristine purity, and thus once more to bring about a uniform system of orthodox Hindu belief. Though himself, like most Brahmans, apparently by predilection a follower of Siva, his aim was the revival of the doctrine of the Brahma as the one self-existent Being and the sole cause of the universe; coupled with the recognition of the practical worship of the orthodox pantheon, especially the gods of the Trimurti, as manifestations of the supreme deity. The practical result of his labours was the foundation of a new sect, the _Smartas_, i.e. adherents of the _smriti_ or tradition, which has a numerous following amongst southern Brahmans, and, whilst professing Sankara's doctrines, is usually classed as one of the Saiva sects, its members adopting the horizontal sectarial mark peculiar to Saivas, consisting in their case of a triple line, the _tripundra_, prepared from the ashes of burnt cow-dung and painted on the forehead. Sankara also founded four Maths, or convents, for Brahmans; the chief one being that of Sringeri in Mysore, the spiritual head (_Guru_) of which wields considerable power, even that of excommunication, over the Saivas of southern India. In northern India, the professed followers of Sankara are mainly limited to certain classes of mendicants and ascetics, although the tenets of this great Vedanta teacher may be said virtually to constitute the creed of intelligent Brahmans generally.

Whilst Sankara's chief title to fame rests on his philosophical works,
as the upholder of the strict monistic theory of Vedanta, he doubtless
played an important part in the partial remodelling of the Hindu
system of belief at a time when Buddhism was rapidly losing ground in
India. Not that there is any evidence of Buddhists ever having been
actually persecuted by the Brahmans, or still less of Sankara himself
ever having done so; but the traditional belief in some personal god,
as the principal representative of an invisible, all-pervading deity,
would doubtless appeal more directly to the minds and hearts of the
people than the colourless ethical system promulgated by the Sakya
saint. Nor do Buddhist places of worship appear as a rule to have been
destroyed by Hindu sectaries, but they seem rather to have been taken
over by them for their own religious uses; at any rate there are to
this day not a few Hindu shrines, especially in Bengal, dedicated to
Dharmaraj, "the prince of righteousness," as the Buddha is commonly
styled. That the tenets and practices of so characteristic a faith as
Buddhism, so long prevalent in India, cannot but have left their marks
on Hindu life and belief may readily be assumed, though it is not so
easy to lay one's finger on the precise features that might seem to
betray such an influence. If the general tenderness towards animals,
based on the principle of _ahimsa_, or inflicting no injury on
sentient beings, be due to Buddhist teaching, that influence must have
made itself felt at a comparatively early period, seeing that
sentiments of a similar nature are repeatedly urged in the Code of
Manu. Thus, in v. 46-48, "He who does not willingly cause the pain of
confinement and death to living beings, but desires the good of all,
obtains endless bliss. He who injures no creature obtains without
effort what he thinks of, what he strives for, and what he fixes his
mind on. Flesh-meat cannot be procured without injury to animals, and
the slaughter of animals is not conducive to heavenly bliss: from
flesh-meat, therefore, let man abstain." Moreover, in view of the fact
that Jainism, which originated about the same time as Buddhism,
inculcates the same principle, even to an extravagant degree, it seems
by no means improbable that the spirit of kindliness towards living
beings generally was already widely diffused among the people when
these new doctrines were promulgated. To the same tendency doubtless
is due the gradual decline and ultimate discontinuance of animal
sacrifices by all sects except the extreme branch of
Sakti-worshippers. In this respect, the veneration shown to serpents
and monkeys has, however, to be viewed in a somewhat different light,
as having a mythical background; whilst quite a special significance
attaches to the sacred character assigned to the cow by all classes of
Hindus, even those who are not prepared to admit the claim of the
Brahman to the exalted position of the earthly god usually conceded to
him. In the Veda no tendency shows itself as yet towards rendering
divine honour to the cow; and though the importance assigned her in an
agricultural community is easily understood, still the exact process
of her deification and her identification with the mother earth in the
time of Manu and the epics requires further elucidation. An idealized
type of the useful quadruped--likewise often identified with the
earth--presents itself in the mythical Cow of Plenty, or "wish-cow"
(Kamadhenu, or Kamadugha, i.e. wish-milker), already appearing in the
Atharvaveda, and in epic times assigned to Indra, or identified with
Surabhi, "the fragrant," the sacred cow of the sage Vasishtha.
Possibly the growth of the legend of Krishna--his being reared at
Gokula (cow-station); his tender relations to the _gopis_, or
cow-herdesses, of Vrindavana; his epithets _Gopala_, "the cowherd,"
and _Govinda_, "cow-finder," actually explained as "recoverer of the
earth" in the great epic, and the _go-loka_, or "cow-world," assigned
to him as his heavenly abode--may have some connexion with the sacred
character ascribed to the cow from early times.

Worship.

Since the time of Sankara, or for more than a thousand years, the gods Vishnu and Siva, or _Hari_ and _Hara_ as they are also commonly called--with their wives, especially that of the latter god--have shared between them the practical worship of the vast majority of Hindus. But, though the people have thus been divided between two different religious camps, sectarian animosity has upon the whole kept within reasonable limits. In fact, the respectable Hindu, whilst owning special allegiance to one of the two gods as his _ishta devata_ (favourite deity), will not withhold his tribute of adoration from the other gods of the pantheon. The high-caste Brahman will probably keep at his home a salagram stone, the favourite symbol of Vishnu, as well as the characteristic emblems of Siva and his consort, to both of which he will do reverence in the morning; and when he visits some holy place of pilgrimage, he will not fail to pay his homage at both the Saiva and the Vaishnava shrines there. Indeed, "sectarian bigotry and exclusiveness are to be found chiefly among the professional leaders of the modern brotherhoods and their low-caste followers, who are taught to believe that theirs are the only true gods, and that the rest do not deserve any reverence whatever" (Jog. Nath). The same spirit of toleration shows itself in the celebration of the numerous religious festivals. Whilst some of these--e.g. the _Sankranti_ (called _Pongal_, i.e. "boiled rice," in the south), which marks the entrance of the sun into the sign of Capricorn and the beginning of its northward course (_uttarayana_) on the 1st day of the month Magha (c. Jan. 12); the _Ganesa-caturthi_, or 4th day of the light fortnight of Bhadra (August-September), considered the birthday of Ganesa, the god of wisdom; and the _Holi_, the Indian Saturnalia in the month of Phalguna (February to March)--have nothing of a sectarian tendency about them; others again, which are of a distinctly sectarian character--such as the _Krishna-janmashtami_, the birthday of Krishna on the 8th day of the dark half of Bhadra, or (in the south) of Sravana (July-August), the _Durga-puja_ and the _Dipavali_, or lamp feast, celebrating Krishna's victory over the demon Narakasura, on the last two days of Asvina (September-October)--are likewise observed and heartily joined in by the whole community irrespective of sect. Widely different, however, as is the character of the two leading gods are also the modes of worship practised by their votaries.

_Siva_ has at all times been the favourite god of the Brahmans,[5] and his worship is accordingly more widely extended than that of his rival, especially in southern India. Indeed there is hardly a village in India which cannot boast of a shrine dedicated to Siva, and containing the emblem of his reproductive power; for almost the only form in which the "Great God" is adored is the _Linga_, consisting usually of an upright cylindrical block of marble or other stone, mostly resting on a circular perforated slab. The mystic nature of these emblems seems, however, to be but little understood by the common people; and, as H. H. Wilson remarks, "notwithstanding the acknowledged purport of this worship, it is but justice to state that it is unattended in Upper India by any indecent or indelicate ceremonies, and it requires a rather lively imagination to trace any resemblance in its symbols to the objects they are supposed to represent." In spite, however, of its wide diffusion, and the vast number of shrines dedicated to it, the worship of Siva has never assumed a really popular character, especially in northern India, being attended with scarcely any solemnity or display of emotional spirit. The temple, which usually stands in the middle of a court, is as a rule a building of very moderate dimensions, consisting either of a single square chamber, surmounted by a pyramidal structure, or of a chamber for the linga and a small vestibule. The worshipper, having first circumambulated the shrine as often as he pleases, keeping it at his right-hand side, steps up to the threshold of the sanctum, and presents his offering of flowers or fruit, which the officiating priest receives; he then prostrates himself, or merely lifts his hands--joined so as to leave a hollow space between the palms--to his forehead, muttering a short prayer, and takes his departure. Amongst the many thousands of Lingas, twelve are usually regarded as of especial sanctity, one of which, that of Somnath in Gujarat, where Siva is worshipped as "the lord of Soma," was, however, shattered by Mahmud of Ghazni; whilst another, representing Siva as _Visvesvara_, or "Lord of the Universe," is the chief object of adoration at Benares, the great centre of Siva-worship. The Saivas of southern India, on the other hand, single out as peculiarly sacred five of their temples which are supposed to enshrine as many characteristic aspects (linga) of the god in the form of the five elements, the most holy of these being the shrine of Chidambaram (i.e. "thought-ether") in S. Arcot, supposed to contain the ether-linga. According to Pandit S. M. Natesa (_Hindu Feasts, Fasts and Ceremonies_), "the several forms of the god Siva in these sacred shrines are considered to be the bodies or casements of the soul whose natural bases are the five elements--earth, water, fire, air and ether. The apprehension of God in the last of these five as ether is, according to the Saiva school of philosophy, the highest form of worship, for it is not the worship of God in a tangible form, but the worship of what, to ordinary minds, is vacuum, which nevertheless leads to the attainment of a knowledge of the all-pervading without physical accessories in the shape of any linga, which is, after all, an emblem. That this is the case at Chidambaram is known to every Hindu, for if he ever asks the priests to show him the God in the temple he is pointed to an empty space in the holy of holies, which has been termed the Akasa, or ether-linga." But, however congenial this refined symbolism may be to the worshipper of a speculative turn of mind, it is difficult to see how it could ever satisfy the religious wants of the common man little given to abstract conceptions of this kind.

Mendicant orders.

From early times, detachment from the world and the practice of austerities have been regarded in India as peculiarly conducive to a spirit of godliness, and ultimately to a state of ecstatic communion with the deity. On these grounds it was actually laid down as a rule for a man solicitous for his spiritual welfare to pass the last two of the four stages (_asrama_) of his life in such conditions of renunciation and self-restraint. Though there is hardly a sect which has not contributed its share to the element of religious mendicancy and asceticism so prevalent in India, it is in connexion with the Siva-cult that these tendencies have been most extensively cultivated. Indeed, the personality of the stern God himself exhibits this feature in a very marked degree, whence the term _mahayogi_ or "great ascetic" is often applied to him.

Of Saiva mendicant and ascetic orders, the members of which are
considered more or less followers of Sankara Acharya, the following
may be mentioned: (1) _Dandis_, or staff-bearers, who carry a wand
with a piece of red cloth, containing the sacred cord, attached to it,
and also wear one or more pieces of cloth of the same colour. They
worship Siva in his form of Bhairava, the "terrible." A sub-section of
this order are the Dandi Dasnamis, or Dandi of ten names, so called
from their assuming one of the names of Sankara's four disciples, and
six of their pupils. (2) _Yogis_ (or popularly, Jogis), i.e. adherents
of the Yoga philosophy and the system of ascetic practices enjoined by
it with the view of mental abstraction and the supposed attainment of
superhuman powers--practices which, when not merely pretended, but
rigidly carried out, are only too apt to produce vacuity of mind and
wild fits of frenzy. In these degenerate days their supernatural
powers consist chiefly in conjuring, sooth-saying, and feats of
jugglery, by which they seldom fail in imposing upon a credulous
public. (3) _Sannyasis_, devotees who "renounce" earthly concerns, an
order not confined either to the Brahmanical caste or to the Saiva
persuasion. Those of the latter are in the habit of smearing their
bodies with ashes, and wearing a tiger-skin and a necklace or rosary
of _rudraksha_ berries (Elaeocarpus Ganitrus, lit. "Rudra's eye"),
sacred to Siva, and allowing their hair to grow till it becomes matted
and filthy. (4) _Parama-hamsas_, i.e. "supreme geese (or swans)," a
term applied to the world-soul with which they claim to be identical.
This is the highest order of asceticism, members of which are supposed
to be solely engaged in meditating on the Brahma, and to be "equally
indifferent to pleasure or pain, insensible of heat or cold, and
incapable of satiety or want." Some of them go about naked, but the
majority are clad like the Dandis. (5) _Aghora Panthis_, a vile and
disreputable class of mendicants, now rarely met with. Their filthy
habits and disgusting practices of gross promiscuous feeding, even to
the extent of eating offal and dead men's flesh, look almost like a
direct repudiation of the strict Brahmanical code of ceremonial purity
and cleanliness, and of the rules regulating the matter and manner of
eating and drinking; and they certainly make them objects of loathing
and terror wherever they are seen.

On the general effect of the manner of life led by _Sadhus_ or "holy
men," a recent observer (J. C. Oman, _Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of
India_, p. 273) remarks: "_Sadhuism_, whether perpetuating the
peculiar idea of the efficiency of austerities for the acquisition of
far-reaching powers over natural phenomena, or bearing its testimony
to the belief in the indispensableness of detachment from the world as
a preparation for the ineffable joy of ecstatic communion with the
Divine Being, has undoubtedly tended to keep before men's eyes, as the
highest ideal, a life of purity, self-restraint, and contempt of the
world and human affairs. It has also necessarily maintained amongst
the laity a sense of the righteous claims of the poor upon the charity
of the more affluent members of the community. Moreover, _sadhuism_,
by the multiplicity of the independent sects which have arisen in
India, has engendered and favoured a spirit of tolerance which cannot
escape the notice of the most superficial observer."

Lingayats.

An independent Saiva sect, or, indeed, the only strictly Saiva sect, are the _Vira Saivas_, more commonly called _Lingayats_ (popularly Lingaits) or _Lingavats_, from their practice of wearing on their person a phallic emblem of Siva, made of copper or silver, and usually enclosed in a case suspended from the neck by a string. Apparently from the movable nature of their badge, their _Gurus_ are called _Jangamas_ ("movable"). This sect counts numerous adherents in southern India; the Census Report of 1901 recording nearly a million and a half, including some 70 or 80 different, mostly endogamous, castes. The reputed founder, or rather reformer, of the sect was Basava (or Basaba), a Brahman of the Belgaum district who seems to have lived in the 11th or 12th century. According to the Basava-purana he early in life renounced his caste and went to reside at Kalyana, then the capital of the Chalukya kingdom, and later on at Sangamesvara near Ratnagiri, where he was initiated into the Vira Saiva faith which he subsequently made it his life's work to propagate. His doctrine, which may be said to constitute a kind of reaction against the severe sacerdotalism of Sankara, has spread over all classes of the southern community, most of the priests of Saiva temples there being adherents of it; whilst in northern India its votaries are only occasionally met with, and then mostly as mendicants, leading about a neatly caparisoned bull as representing Siva's sacred bull _Nandi_. Though the Lingayats still show a certain animosity towards the Brahmans, and in the Census lists are accordingly classed as an independent group beside the Hindus, still they can hardly be excluded from the Hindu community, and are sure sooner or later to find their way back to the Brahmanical fold.

Avatars.

Vishnu, whilst less popular with Brahmans than his rival, has from early times proved to the lay mind a more attractive object of adoration on account of the genial and, so to speak, romantic character of his mythical personality. It is not, however, so much the original figure of the god himself that enlists the sympathies of his adherents as the additional elements it has received through the theory of periodical "descents" (_avatara_) or incarnations applied to this deity. Whilst the Saiva philosophers do not approve of the notion of incarnations, as being derogatory to the dignity of the deity, the Brahmans have nevertheless thought fit to adopt it as apparently a convenient expedient for bringing certain tendencies of popular worship within the pale of their system, and probably also for counteracting the Buddhist doctrines; and for this purpose Vishnu would obviously offer himself as the most attractive figure in the Brahmanical trinity. Whether the incarnation theory started from the original solar nature of the god suggestive of regular visits to the world of men, or in what other way it may have originated, must remain doubtful. Certain, however, it is that at least one of his Avatars is clearly based on the Vedic conception of the sun-god, viz. that of the dwarf who claims as much ground as he can cover by three steps, and then gains the whole universe by his three mighty strides. Of the ten or more Avatars, assumed by different authorities, only two have entered to any considerable extent into the religious worship of the people, viz. those of _Rama_ (or Ramachandra) and _Krishna_, the favourite heroes of epic romance. That these two figures would appeal far more strongly to the hearts and feelings of the people, especially the warlike Kshatriyas,[6] than the austere Siva is only what might have been expected; and, indeed, since the time of the epics their cult seems never to have lacked numerous adherents. But, on the other hand, the essentially human nature of these two gods would naturally tend to modify the character of the relations between worshipper and worshipped, and to impart to the modes and forms of adoration features of a more popular and more human kind. And accordingly it is exactly in connexion with these two incarnations of Vishnu, especially that of Krishna, that a new spirit was infused into the religious life of the people by the sentiment of fervent devotion to the deity, as it found expression in certain portions of the epic poems, especially the _Bhagavadgita_, and in the _Bhagavata-purana_ (as against the more orthodox Vaishnava works of this class such as the Vishnu-purana), and was formulated into a regular doctrine of faith in the _Sandilya-sutra_, and ultimately translated into practice by the Vaishnava reformers.

Ramanujas.

The first successful Vaishnava reaction against Sankara's reconstructed creed was led by Ramanuja, a southern Brahman of the 12th century. His followers, the Ramanujas, or Sri-Vaishnavas as they are usually called, worship Vishnu (Narayana) with his consort Sri or Lakshmi (the goddess of beauty and fortune), or their incarnations Rama with Sita and Krishna with Rukmini. Ramanuja's doctrine, which is especially directed against the Linga-worship, is essentially based on the tenets of an old Vaishnava sect, the Bhagavatas or Pancharatras, who worshipped the Supreme Being under the name of Vasudeva (subsequently identified with Krishna, as the son of Vasudeva, who indeed is credited by some scholars with the foundation of that monotheistic creed). The sectarial mark of the Ramanujas resembles a capital U (or, in the case of another division, a Y), painted with a white clay called gopi-chandana, between the hair and the root of the nose, with a red or yellow vertical stroke (representing the female element) between the two white lines. They also usually wear, like all Vaishnavas, a necklace of _tulasi_, or basil wood, and a rosary of seeds of the same shrub or of the lotus. Their most important shrines are those of Srirangam near Trichinopoly, Mailkote in Mysore, Dvaraka (the city of Krishna) on the Kathiawar coast, and Jagannath in Orissa; all of them decorated with Vishnu's emblems, the tulasi plant and salagram stone. The Ramanuja Brahmans are most punctilious in the preparation of their food and in regard to the privacy of their meals, before taking which they have to bathe and put on woollen or silk garments. Whilst Sankara's mendicant followers were prohibited to touch fire and had to subsist entirely on the charity of Brahman householders, Ramanuja, on the contrary, not only allowed his followers to use fire, but strictly forbade their eating any food cooked, or even seen, by a stranger. On the speculative side, Ramanuja also met Sankara's strictly monistic theory by another recognizing Vishnu as identical with Brahma as the Supreme Spirit animating the material world as well as the individual souls which have become estranged from God through unbelief, and can only attain again conscious union with him through devotion or love (_bhakti_). His tenets are expounded in various works, especially in his commentaries on the Vedanta-sutras and the Bhagavadgita. The followers of Ramanuja have split into two sects, a northern one, recognizing the Vedas as their chief authority, and a southern one, basing their tenets on the Nalayir, a Tamil work of the Upanishad order. In point of doctrine, they differ in their view of the relation between God Vishnu and the human soul; whilst the former sect define it by the _ape_ theory, which makes the soul cling to God as the young ape does to its mother, the latter explain it by the cat theory, by which Vishnu himself seizes and rescues the souls as the mother cat does her young ones.

Madhvas.

_Madhva Acharya_, another distinguished Vedanta teacher and founder of a Vaishnava sect, born in Kanara in A.D. 1199, was less intolerant of the Linga cult than Ramanuja, but seems rather to have aimed at a reconciliation of the Saiva and Vaishnava forms of worship. The _Madhvas_ or _Madhvacharis_ favour Krishna and his consort as their special objects of adoration, whilst images of Siva, Parvati, and their son Ganesa are, however, likewise admitted and worshipped in some of their temples, the most important of which is at Udipi in South Kanara, with eight monasteries connected with it. This shrine contains an image of Krishna which is said to have been rescued from the wreck of a ship which brought it from Dvaraka, where it was supposed to have been set up of old by no other than Krishna's friend Arjuna, one of the five Pandava princes. Followers of the Madhva creed are but rarely met with in Upper India. Their sectarial mark is like the U of the Sri-Vaishnavas, except that their central line is black instead of red or yellow. Madhva--who after his initiation assumed the name Anandatirtha--composed numerous Sanskrit works, including commentaries on the Brahma sutras (i.e. the Vedanta aphorisms), the Gita, the Rigveda and many Upanishads. His philosophical theory was a dualistic one, postulating distinctness of nature for the divine and the human soul, and hence independent existence, instead of absorption, after the completion of mundane existence.

Ramats.

The Ramanandis or Ramavats (popularly Ramats) are a numerous northern sect of similar tenets to those of the Ramanujas. Indeed its founder, Ramananda, who probably flourished in the latter part of the 14th century, according to the traditional account, was originally a Sri-Vaishnava monk, and, having come under the suspicion of laxity in observing the strict rules of food during his peregrinations, and been ordered by his superior (Mahant) to take his meals apart from his brethren, left the monastery in a huff and set up a schismatic math of his own at Benares. The sectarial mark of his sect differs but slightly from that of the parent stock. The distinctive features of their creed consist in their making Rama and Sita, either singly or conjointly, the chief objects of their adoration, instead of Vishnu and Lakshmi, and their attaching little or no importance to the observance of privacy in the cooking and eating of their food. Their mendicant members, usually known as Vairagis, are, like the general body of the sect, drawn from all castes without distinction. Thus, the founder's twelve chief disciples include, besides Brahmans, a weaver, a currier, a Rajput, a Jat and a barber--for, they argue, seeing that Bhagavan, the Holy One (Vishnu), became incarnate even in animal form, a Bhakta (believer) may be born even in the lowest of castes. Ramananda's teaching was thus of a distinctly levelling and popular character; and, in accordance therewith, the Bhakta-mala and other authoritative writings of the sect are composed, not in Sanskrit, but in the popular dialects. A follower of this creed was the distinguished poet Tulsidas, the composer of the beautiful Hindi version of the Ramayana and other works which "exercise more influence upon the great body of Hindu population than the whole voluminous series of Sanskrit composition" (H. H. Wilson).

Kabir.

The traditional list of Ramananda's immediate disciples includes the name of Kabir, the weaver, a remarkable man who would accordingly have lived in the latter part of the 15th century, and who is claimed by both Hindus and Moslems as having been born within their fold. The story goes that, having been deeply impressed by Ramananda's teaching, he sought to attach himself to him; and, one day at Benares, in stepping down the ghat at daybreak to bathe in the Ganges, and putting himself in the way of the teacher, the latter, having inadvertently struck him with his foot, uttered his customary exclamation "Ram Ram," which, being also the initiatory formula of the sect, was claimed by Kabir as such, making him Ramananda's disciple. Be this as it may, Kabir's own reformatory activity lay in the direction of a compromise between the Hindu and the Mahommedan creeds, the religious practices of both of which he criticized with equal severity. His followers, the Kabir Panthis ("those following Kabir's path"), though neither worshipping the gods of the pantheon, nor observing the rites and ceremonial of the Hindus, are nevertheless in close touch with the Vaishnava sects, especially the Ramavats, and generally worship Rama as the supreme deity, when they do not rather address their homage, in hymns and otherwise, to the founder of their creed himself. Whilst very numerous, particularly amongst the low-caste population, in western, central and northern India, resident adherents of Kabir's doctrine are rare in Bengal and the south; although "there is hardly a town in India where strolling beggars may not be found singing songs of Kabir in the original or as translated into the local dialects." The mendicants of this creed, however, never actually solicit alms; and, indeed, "the quaker-like spirit of the sect, their abhorrence of all violence, their regard for truth and the inobtrusiveness of their opinions render them very inoffensive members of the state" (H. H. Wilson). The doctrines of Kabir are taught, mostly in the form of dialogues, in numerous Hindi works, composed by his disciples and adherents, who, however, usually profess to give the teacher's own words.

The peculiar conciliatory tendencies of Kabir were carried on with even greater zeal from the latter part of the 15th century by one of his followers, Nanak Shah, the promulgator of the creed of the _Nanak Shahis_ or _Sikhs_--i.e. (Sanskr.) _sishya_, disciples, whose guru, or teacher, he called himself--a peaceful sect at first until, in consequence of Mahommedan persecution, a martial spirit was infused into it by the tenth, and last, guru, Govind Shah, changing it into a political organization. Whilst originally more akin in its principles to the Moslem faith, the sect seems latterly to have shown tendencies towards drifting back to the Hindu pale.

Of Ramananda's disciples and successors several others, besides Kabir,
have established schismatic divisions of their own, which do not,
however, offer any very marked differences of creed. The most
important of these, the Dadu Panthi sect, founded by Dadu about the
year 1600, has a numerous following in Ajmir and Marwar, one section
of whom, the Nagas, engage largely in military service, whilst the
others are either householders or mendicants. The followers of this
creed wear no distinctive sectarial mark or badge, except a skull-cap;
nor do they worship any visible image of any deity, the repetition
(_japa_) of the name of Rama being the only kind of adoration
practised by them.

Eroticism and Krishna worship.

Although the Vaishnava sects hitherto noticed, in their adoration of Vishnu and his incarnations, Krishna and Ramachandra, usually associate with these gods their wives, as their _saktis_, or female energies, the sexual element is, as a rule, only just allowed sufficient scope to enhance the emotional character of the rites of worship. In some of the later Vaishnava creeds, on the other hand, this element is far from being kept within the bounds of moderation and decency. The favourite object of adoration with adherents of these sects is Krishna with his mate--but not the devoted friend and counsellor of the Pandavas and deified hero of epic song, nor the ruler of Dvaraka and wedded lord of Rukmini, but the juvenile Krishna, Govinda or Bala Gopala, "the cowherd lad," the foster son of the cowherd Nanda of Gokula, taken up with his amorous sports with the _Gopis_, or wives of the cowherds of Vrindavana (Brindaban, near Mathura on the Yamuna), especially his favourite mistress Radha or Radhika. This episode in the legendary life of Krishna has every appearance of being a later accretion. After barely a few allusions to it in the epics, it bursts forth full-blown in the Harivansa, the Vishnu-purana, the Narada-Pancharatra and the Bhagavata-purana, the tenth canto of which, dealing with the life of Krishna, has become, through vernacular versions, especially the Hindi _Prem-sagar_, or "ocean of love," a favourite romance all over India, and has doubtless helped largely to popularize the cult of Krishna. Strange to say, however, no mention is as yet made by any of these works of Krishna's favourite Radha; it is only in another Purana--though scarcely deserving that designation--that she makes her appearance, viz. in the Brahma-vaivarta, in which Krishna's amours in Nanda's cow-station are dwelt upon in fulsome and wearisome detail; whilst the poet Jayadeva, in the 12th century, made her love for the gay and inconstant boy the theme of his beautiful, if highly voluptuous, lyrical drama, _Gita-govinda_.

The earliest of the sects which associate Radha with Krishna in their
worship is that of the Nimavats, founded by Nimbaditya or Nimbarka
(i.e. "the sun of the Nimba tree"), a teacher of uncertain date, said
to have been a Telugu Brahman who subsequently established himself at
Mathura (Muttra) on the Yamuna, where the headquarters of his sect
have remained ever since. The Mahant of their monastery at Dhruva
Kshetra near Mathura, who claims direct descent from Nimbarka, is said
to place the foundation of that establishment as far back as the 5th
century--doubtless an exaggerated claim; but if Jayadeva, as is
alleged, and seems by no means improbable, was really a follower of
Nimbarka, this teacher must have flourished, at latest, in the early
part of the 12th century. He is indeed taken by some authorities to be
identical with the mathematician Bhaskara Acharya, who is known to
have completed his chief work in A.D. 1150. It is worthy of remark, in
this respect, that--in accordance with Ramanuja's and Nimbarka's
philosophical theories--Jayadeva's presentation of Krishna's fickle
love for Radha is usually interpreted in a mystical sense, as
allegorically depicting the human soul's striving, through love, for
reunion with God, and its ultimate attainment, after many
backslidings, of the longed-for goal. As the chief authority of their
tenets, the Nimavats recognize the Bhagavata-purana; though several
works, ascribed to Nimbarka--partly of a devotional character and
partly expository of Vedanta topics--are still extant. Adherents of
this sect are fairly numerous in northern India, their frontal mark
consisting of the usual two perpendicular white lines, with, however,
a circular black spot between them.

Of greater importance than the sect just noticed, because of their far
larger following, are the two sects founded early in the 16th century
by Vallabha (Ballabha) Acharya and Chaitanya. In the forms of worship
favoured by votaries of these creeds the emotional and erotic elements
are allowed yet freer scope than in those that preceded them; and, as
an effective auxiliary to these tendencies, the use of the vernacular
dialects in prayers and hymns of praise takes an important part in the
religious service. The Vallabhacharis, or, as they are usually called,
from the title of their spiritual heads, the Gokulastha Gosains, i.e.
"the cow-lords (_gosvamin_) residing in Gokula," are very numerous in
western and central India. Vallabha, the son of a Telinga Brahman,
after extensive journeyings all over India, settled at Gokula near
Mathura, and set up a shrine with an image of Krishna Gopala. About
the year 1673, in consequence of the fanatical persecutions of the
Mogul emperor, this image was transferred to Nathdvara in Udaipur
(Mewar), where the shrine of Srinatha ("the lord of Sri," i.e. Vishnu)
continues to be the chief centre of worship for adherents of this
creed; whilst seven other images, transferred from Mathura at the same
time, are located at different places in Rajputana. Vallabha himself
went subsequently to reside at Benares, where he died. In the doctrine
of this Vaishnava prophet, the adualistic theory of Sankara is
resorted to as justifying a joyful and voluptuous cult of the deity.
For, if the human soul is identical with God, the practice of
austerities must be discarded as directed against God, and it is
rather by a free indulgence of the natural appetites and the pleasures
of life that man's love for God will best be shown. The followers of
his creed, amongst whom there are many wealthy merchants and bankers,
direct their worship chiefly to Gopal Lal, the boyish Krishna of
Vrindavana, whose image is sedulously attended like a revered living
person eight times a day--from its early rising from its couch up to
its retiring to repose at night. The sectarial mark of the adherents
consists of two red perpendicular lines, meeting in a semicircle at
the root of the nose, and having a round red spot painted between
them. Their principal doctrinal authority is the Bhagavata-purana, as
commented upon by Vallabha himself, who was also the author of several
other Sanskrit works highly esteemed by his followers. In this sect,
children are solemnly admitted to full membership at the early age of
four, and even two, years of age, when a rosary, or necklace, of 108
beads of basil (tulsi) wood is passed round their necks, and they are
taught the use of the octo-syllabic formula _Sri-Krishnah saranam
mama_, "Holy Krishna is my refuge." Another special feature of this
sect is that their spiritual heads, the Gosains, also called
Maharajas, so far from submitting themselves to self-discipline and
austere practices, adorn themselves in splendid garments, and allow
themselves to be habitually regaled by their adherents with choice
kinds of food; and being regarded as the living representatives of the
"lord of the Gopis" himself, they claim and receive in their own
persons all acts of attachment and worship due to the deity, even, it
is alleged, to the extent of complete self-surrender. In the final
judgment of the famous libel case of the Bombay Maharajas, before the
Supreme Court of Bombay, in January 1862, these improprieties were
severely commented upon; and though so unsparing a critic of Indian
sects as Jogendra Nath seems not to believe in actual immoral
practices on the part of the Maharajas, still he admits that "the
corrupting influence of a religion, that can make its female votaries
address amorous songs to their spiritual guides, must be very great."

A modern offshoot of Vallabha's creed, formed with the avowed object
of purging it of its objectionable features, was started, in the early
years of the 19th century, by Sahajananda, a Brahman of the Oudh
country, who subsequently assumed the name of Svami Narayana. Having
entered on his missionary labours at Ahmadabad, and afterwards removed
to Jetalpur, where he had a meeting with Bishop Heber, he subsequently
settled at the village of Wartal, to the north-west of Baroda, and
erected a temple to Lakshmi-Narayana, which, with another at
Ahmadabad, forms the two chief centres of the sect, each being
presided over by a Maharaja. Their worship is addressed to Narayana,
i.e. Vishnu, as the Supreme Being, together with Lakshmi, as well as
to Krishna and Radha. The sect is said to be gaining ground in
Gujarat. Chaitanya, the founder of the great Vaishnava sect of
Bengal, was the son of a high-caste Brahman of Nadiya, the famous
Bengal seat of Sanskrit learning, where he was born in 1485, two years
after the birth of Martin Luther, the German reformer. Having married
in due time, and a second time after the death of his first wife, he
lived as a "householder" (_grihastha_) till the age of 24, when he
renounced his family ties and set out as a religious mendicant
(_vairagin_), visiting during the next six years the principal places
of pilgrimage in northern India, and preaching with remarkable success
his doctrine of Bhakti, or passionate devotion to Krishna, as the
Supreme Deity. He subsequently made over to his principal disciples
the task of consolidating his community, and passed the last twelve
years of his life at Puri in Orissa, the great centre of the worship
of Vishnu as Jagannatha, or "lord of the world," which he remodelled
in accordance with his doctrine, causing the mystic songs of Jayadeva
to be recited before the images in the morning and evening as part of
the daily service; and, in fact, as in the other Vaishnava creeds,
seeking to humanize divine adoration by bringing it into accord with
the experience of human love. To this end, music, dancing,
singing-parties (_sankirtan_), theatricals--in short anything
calculated to produce the desired impression--would prove welcome to
him. His doctrine of Bhakti distinguishes five grades of devotional
feeling in the _Bhaktas_, or faithful adherents: viz. (_santi_) calm
contemplation of the deity; (_dasya_) active servitude; (_sakhya_)
friendship or personal regard; (_vatsalya_) tender affection as
between parents and children; (_madhurya_) love or passionate
attachment, like that which the Gopis felt for Krishna. Chaitanya also
seems to have done much to promote the celebration on an imposing
scale of the great Puri festival of the Ratha-yatra, or
"car-procession," in the month of Ashadha, when, amidst multitudes of
pilgrims, the image of Krishna, together with those of his brother
Balarama and his sister Subhadra, is drawn along, in a huge car, by
the devotees. Just as this festival was, and continues to be, attended
by people from all parts of India, without distinction of caste or
sex, so also were all classes, even Mahommedans, admitted by Chaitanya
as members of his sect. Whilst numerous observances are recommended as
more or less meritorious, the ordinary form of worship is a very
simple one, consisting as it does mainly of the constant repetition of
names of Krishna, or Krishna and Radha, which of itself is considered
sufficient to ensure future bliss. The partaking of flesh food and
spirituous liquor is strictly prohibited. By the followers of this
sect, also, an extravagant degree of reverence is habitually paid to
their gurus or spiritual heads. Indeed, Chaitanya himself, as well as
his immediate disciples, have come to be regarded as complete or
partial incarnations of the deity to whom adoration is due, as to
Krishna himself; and their modern successors, the Gosains, share to
the fullest extent in the devout attentions of the worshippers.
Chaitanya's movement, being chiefly directed against the vile
practices of the Saktas, then very prevalent in Bengal, was doubtless
prompted by the best and purest of intentions; but his own doctrine of
divine, though all too human, love was, like that of Vallabha, by no
means free from corruptive tendencies,--yet, how far these tendencies
have worked their way, who would say? On this point, Dr W. W.
Hunter--who is of opinion that "the death of the reformer marks the
beginning of the spiritual decline of Vishnu-worship," observes
(_Orissa_, i. 111), "The most deplorable corruption of Vishnu-worship
at the present day is that which has covered the temple walls with
indecent sculptures, and filled its innermost sanctuaries with
licentious rites" ... yet ... "it is difficult for a person not a
Hindu to pronounce upon the real extent of the evil. None but a Hindu
can enter any of the larger temples, and none but a Hindu priest
really knows the truth about their inner mysteries"; whilst the
well-known native scholar Babu Rajendralal Mitra points out
(_Antiquities of Orissa_, i. 111) that "such as they are, these
sculptures date from centuries before the birth of Chaitanya, and
cannot, therefore, be attributed to his doctrines or to his followers.
As a Hindu by birth, and a Vaishnava by family religion, I have had
the freest access to the innermost sanctuaries and to the most secret
of scriptures. I have studied the subject most extensively, and have
had opportunities of judging which no European can have, and I have no
hesitation in saying that, 'the mystic songs' of Jayadeva and the
'ocean of love' notwithstanding, there is nothing in the rituals of
Jagannatha which can be called licentious." Whilst in Chaitanya's
creed, Krishna, in his relations to Radha, remains at least
theoretically the chief partner, an almost inevitable step was taken
by some minor sects in attaching the greater importance to the female
element, and making Krishna's love for his mistress the guiding
sentiment of their faith. Of these sects, it will suffice to mention
that of the Radha-Vallabhis, started in the latter part of the 16th
century, who worship Krishna as Radha-vallabha, "the darling of
Radha." The doctrines and practices of these sects clearly verge upon
those obtaining in the third principal division of Indian sectarians
which will now be considered.

Saktas

The Saktas, as we have seen, are worshippers of the _sakti_, or the female principle as a primary factor in the creation and reproduction of the universe. And as each of the principal gods is supposed to have associated with him his own particular _sakti_, as an indispensable complement enabling him to properly perform his cosmic functions, adherents of this persuasion might be expected to be recruited from all sects. To a certain extent this is indeed the case; but though Vaishnavism, and especially the Krishna creed, with its luxuriant growth of erotic legends, might have seemed peculiarly favourable to a development in this direction, it is practically only in connexion with the Saiva system that an independent cult of the female principle has been developed; whilst in other sects--and, indeed, in the ordinary Saiva cult as well--such worship, even where it is at all prominent, is combined with, and subordinated to, that of the male principle. What has made this cult attach itself more especially to the Saiva creed is doubtless the character of Siva as the type of reproductive power, in addition to his function as destroyer which, as we shall see, is likewise reflected in some of the forms of his Sakti. The theory of the god and his Sakti as cosmic principles is perhaps already foreshadowed in the Vedic couple of Heaven and Earth, whilst in the speculative treatises of the later Vedic period, as well as in the post-Vedic Brahmanical writings, the assumption of the self-existent being dividing himself into a male and a female half usually forms the starting-point of cosmic evolution.[7] In the later Saiva mythology this theory finds its artistic representation in Siva's androgynous form of Ardha-narisa, or "half-woman-lord," typifying the union of the male and female energies; the male half in this form of the deity occupying the right-hand, and the female the left-hand side. In accordance with this type of productive energy, the Saktas divide themselves into two distinct groups, according to whether they attach the greater importance to the male or to the female principle; viz. the _Dakshinacharis_, or "right-hand-observers" (also called _Dak-shina-margis_, or followers "of the right-hand path"), and the _Vamacharis_, or "left-hand-observers" (or _Vama-margis_, followers "of the left path"). Though some of the Puranas, the chief repositories of sectarian doctrines, enter largely into Sakta topics, it is only in the numerous Tantras that these are fully and systematically developed. In these works, almost invariably composed in the form of a colloquy, Siva, as a rule, in answer to questions asked by his consort Parvati, unfolds the mysteries of this occult creed.

The principal seat of Sakta worship is the north-eastern part of
India--Bengal, Assam and Behar. The great majority of its adherents
profess to follow the right-hand practice; and apart from the implied
purport and the emblems of the cult, their mode of adoration does not
seem to offer any very objectionable features. And even amongst the
adherents of the left-hand mode of worship, many of these are said to
follow it as a matter of family tradition rather than of religious
conviction, and to practise it in a sober and temperate manner; whilst
only an extreme section--the so-called _Kaulas_ or _Kulinas_, who
appeal to a spurious Upanishad, the Kaulopanishad, as the divine
authority of their tenets--persist in carrying on the mystic and
licentious rites taught in many of the Tantras. But strict secrecy
being enjoined in the performance of these rites, it is not easy to
check any statements made on this point. The Sakta cult is, however,
known to be especially prevalent--though apparently not in a very
extreme form--amongst members of the very respectable Kayastha or
writer caste of Bengal, and as these are largely employed as clerks
and accountants in Upper India, there is reason to fear that their
vicious practices are gradually being disseminated through them.

The divine object of the adoration of the Saktas, then, is Siva's wife--the _Devi_ (goddess), _Mahadevi_ (great goddess), or _Jagan-mata_ (mother of the world)--in one or other of her numerous forms, benign or terrible. The forms in which she is worshipped in Bengal are of the latter category, viz. _Durga_, "the unapproachable," and _Kali_, "the black one," or, as some take it, the wife of _Kala_, "time," or death the great dissolver, viz. Siva. In honour of the former, the _Durga-puja_ is celebrated during ten days at the time of the autumnal equinox, in commemoration of her victory over the buffalo-headed demon Mahishasura; when the image of the ten-armed goddess, holding a weapon in each hand, is worshipped for nine days, and cast into the water on the tenth day, called the Dasahara, whence the festival itself is commonly called Dasara in western India. _Kali_, on the other hand, the most terrible of the goddess's forms, has a special service performed to her, at the _Kali-puja_, during the darkest night of the succeeding month; when she is represented as a naked black woman, four-armed, wearing a garland of heads of giants slain by her, and a string of skulls round her neck, dancing on the breast of her husband (Mahakala), with gaping mouth and protruding tongue; and when she has to be propitiated by the slaughter of goats, sheep and buffaloes. On other occasions also Vamacharis commonly offer animal sacrifices, usually one or more kids; the head of the victim, which has to be severed by a single stroke, being always placed in front of the image of the goddess as a blood-offering (_bali_), with an earthen lamp fed with ghee burning above it, whilst the flesh is cooked and served to the guests attending the ceremony, except that of buffaloes, which is given to the low-caste musicians who perform during the service. Even some adherents of this class have, however, discontinued animal sacrifices, and use certain kinds of fruit, such as coco-nuts or pumpkins, instead. The use of wine, which at one time was very common on these occasions, seems also to have become much more restricted; and only members of the extreme section would still seem to adhere to the practice of the so-called five _m's_ prescribed by some of the Tantras, viz. _mamsa_ (flesh), _matsya_ (fish), _madya_ (wine), _maithuna_ (sexual union), and _mudra_ (mystical finger signs)--probably the most degrading cult ever practised under the pretext of religious worship.

In connexion with the principal object of this cult, Tantric theory
has devised an elaborate system of female figures representing either
special forms and personifications or attendants of the "Great
Goddess." They are generally arranged in groups, the most important of
which are the _Mahavidyas_ (great sciences), the 8 (or 9) _Mataras_
(mothers) or _Mahamataras_ (great mothers), consisting of the wives of
the principal gods; the 8 _Nayikas_ or mistresses; and different
classes of sorceresses and ogresses, called _Yoginis_, _Dakinis_ and
_Sakinis_. A special feature of the Sakti cult is the use of obscure
Vedic _mantras_, often changed so as to be quite meaningless and on
that very account deemed the more efficacious for the acquisition of
superhuman powers; as well as of mystic letters and syllables called
_bija_ (germ), of magic circles (_chakra_) and diagrams (_yantra_),
and of amulets of various materials inscribed with formulae of fancied
mysterious import.

General conclusions.