Chapter IX: Section THE EIGHTH: Of the Vichnuian (va Ishnavas) Worshippers of

VICHNU.――Vichnu, who, according to the belief of the followers of the Smriti, is a subordinate divinity, is held by the Vichnuian to be the preserver of all things. The Vedantían maintain him to possess the qualities of virtue and of order, and to be the lord of the five senses; not subject however to the said senses, nor to their influence in any way. According to the Vichnuían, he is the first cause and author of the universe; they believe him endowed with a body, like mankind; he has a wife. Brahma, a deity, is the creator of things; and Mahádéo, another divinity, the annihilator of beings; both are creators of Vichnu, and distinct from his holy being, because the path of union is closed between the creature and the creator; they say, that every body has a soul, but that the soul is not distinct from, but a part of, the body; the body has two forms, the male and female, and the creator and author of their being is the holy nature of Vichnu; the body is composed of five elements; men, conformably with their actions and works, are invested either with animal or human forms; the soul is always confined in the gaol of ignorance and in the fetters of avidity. Further, the spirits are divided according to three qualities, which are: 1. _sattvam_; 2. _rájas_; and 3. _tamas_: the explanation of these three qualities has been before given. The _Satya_ (virtuous) tends towards _mukt_, that is, “emancipation;” for by the power of this laudable quality, he makes the _bakhti_, that is, “the worship of Vichnu,” his pursuit; and this _bakhti_ raises him to the highest state, that is, to that of “emancipation;” according to the interpretation of this sect, _mukt_ consists in this: that, after having left the _sthúla sarira_,[298] or “elementary body,” and the _linga sarira_,[299] that is, “the visional body,” which has fallen into a vision of appearances, and after having been transformed into the primitive shape, which is either male or female, one enters the _Váikunt_,[300] that is, “the heaven of beatitude of the Gods,” and the mansion of real life. _Rájas_, that is, the possessor of this quality, is liable to recompense or punishment; to the consequence of virtue or crime, according to an impartial appreciation of both. Now he holds the price of virtue, another time that of crime; and conformably to his merits or demerits, he migrates invested with a body, and for reward is associated with the blessed, or for punishment suffers witth the damned. Whoever does not, from the circle of the world, reach the shore of those who are united with salvation, he shall certainly never attain to the state of the desired emancipation. _Tamas_, that is, the possessor of this quality, is an adversary to _mukt_, and an enemy to liberation; his present and future condition is this: that, having left the _sthúla saríra_, that is, “his elemental body,” and the _linga purusha_,[301] or “his visional body,” and having returned to his primitive form, either male or female, he will be tormented in the world of darkness, which they call _andhatamasa_;[302] from this place of manifold torments he never returns. This is the substance of the creed of the worshippers of Vichnu, called Madhu Acháris.[303]

The belief of another sect of the Vichnavas, called _Rámánandis_,[304] is in substance as follows: the quality of _Satwa_ tends towards the attainment of the high state of _mukt_, or “emancipation;” the way of acquiring it is, to lay aside all praises of another divinity; to abstain from the rites of any other sect; and to shun any other worship except that of the holy being of Vichnu, to whom alone all thoughts, all prayers, are to be directed, and whose remembrance is always to be kept. In the same manner as it is not permitted to a husband to desire the wife of another, in the same way they hold it wrong to think of any other deity but of Vichnu. The difference between the beforesaid and this sect is, that the former associates to the worship of Vichnu that of other angels, of the creatures, servants, and companions of this God, which they maintain as meritorious, and perform with magnificence; whilst the latter sect considers the other deities as deformed and hideous.

The characteristical mark of the Rámánandis is a triangle drawn upon their forehead;[305] they never eat their meal before persons of another sect. The _Madhu Achárís_[306] wear two short strokes of red clay near each other upon the forehead; they do not associate with persons of another creed, but they eat before Brahmans who are not of their own peruasion.

A third sect is that of the _Harbayántís_.[307] They drink with Brahmans of another persuasion from the same cup, and wear a circle as a mark on their foreheads.

A fourth sect is that of the _Rádhá-Vallabhis_;[308] these are bound by nothing; they observe no fast on the eleventh day of the month; they deliver their wives to the disposition of their preceptors and masters, and hold this praiseworthy.

In Hindostan it is known that whoever abstains from eating meat and hurting living animals, is esteemed a Vaishnava, without regard to the doctrine beforesaid. Some of them take the name of Rama, who is also a manifestation of Vichnu; others choose the title of Kishen (Krichna), another incarnation of Vichnu. The reputation of continence and purity prevails in favor of those who are called after Rama; whilst those who take their title from Krishna are ill-famed for sensuality and libidinousness. It happened one day that a worshipper of Rama met with an adorer of Krishna; the former repeated perpetually “Ram, Ram;” the latter was occupied with the praise of Krichna, to whom the worshipper of Rama said: “Why dost thou repeat without end the name of a man who was devoted to sensuality, the name of Krichna?” He answered: “Because this name is better than that of a man who knew not even how to be certain of the honor of one woman.” This was said in allusion to Râma’s having banished his wife, named Sitâ, at the end of the fire-ordeal which she underwent to prove her purity.[309] Some of the pious of this sect eat no sort of turnips or carrots which in eating, by taste or color, may remind of flesh. The writer of this work heard from Hansa rádja, a Brahman, that it is written in ancient books of this class, that Brahmans used to fly in the air and to walk upon the water, when, on account of having polluted their lips by eating flesh, they lost this power. As the Vairágis, too, profess to be Váishnavas, I will treat of them in the following article.

* * * * *

OF THE VAIRÁGIS.――_Virág_ is in the dictionary interpreted “aspiring.”[310] This sect renounces the world; their liturgy is in verse, and comprehends the worship of Vichnu and his incarnations, as Rama, Krichna, and the like, and these verses they call _Vichnu padam_. They make pilgrimages to the holy places dedicated to Vichnu, and wear around their necks rosaries of _tutasí_,[311] which they call _malá-tulasí_. Tulasí is an Indian shrub. Whoever among the Hindus, Muselmans, or others, wishes, is received into their religion; none are rejected, but, on the contrary, all are invited. It is said that some Muselmans also worship Vichnu, because in “_Bismilla_,” they confound _Bisem_ with _Bishen_ (or Vichnu), and most of them agree about the purity and infinity of Vichnu’s being; in truth, they think he is incorporeal; the spirits proceed like rays from the light of his being, and all bodies from the shadow of his existence; but they say that when he wills he shows himself, as it happened, with four arms, and they agree about his having manifested himself in ten incarnations. They abstain from eating flesh. They are divided into four classes: _Rámánujas_, _Nimánujas_, _Madhuacháris_, and _Radha Vallabhis_, as before said:[312] these four classes they call _chár sampardá_ (_sampradáya_).[313]

Kabir,[314] a weaver by birth, celebrated among those Hindus who professed their belief in the unity of God, was a Váiragi. They say that, at the time when he was in search of a spiritual guide, he visited the best of the Muselmans and Hindus, but did not find what he sought. At last, somebody gave him direction to an old man of bright genius, the Brahman Rámánanda. This sage never saw the face of a Muselman, nor of any other religionist. Kabir, knowing that Rámánand would not converse with a weaver, dug a hole upon the accustomed road of the Brahman, and placed himself therein. Towards the night Rámánand used to go to bathe on the border of a river, and at the time when, to wash his body and purify his soul with the water of sanctity, he bent his steps towards a house of prayer, he arrived on the border of the hole made by Kabir, who, coming forth, clasped the feet of Rámánanda. As the Brahman harboured in his mind no other thought but that of God the highest, under the name of Rámá, he called out: “Rám!” When Kabir heard “Rám” from the tongue of Rámánand, he withdrew his hands from the Brahman’s feet, and ceased not to repeat the word “Rám, Rám!” so that no other object but that was hovering before his eyes, as before those of Rámánanda; and he discoursed about the unity of God in sublime speeches, such as are heard only from the most learned men. Kabir, having acquired reputation, people said to Rámánand: “There is a weaver in this town who wishes to be your disciple; it is to be regretted that you cannot be connected with a weaver, who is a man of a low caste.” Rámánand answered: “Call him to me,” which was done. When Kabir’s eye fell upon that of Rámánanda, the former exclaimed: “Rám, Rám!” the latter repeated “Rám, Rám!” and clasped Kabir fast in his arms, to the great astonishment and wonder of the people around, who asked the reason of such a favor. Rámánand replied: “Now Kabir is a Brahman, because he knows Brahma, that is, the supreme Being.”

It is said, that a class of learned Brahmans, sitting on the border of the river Ganga, praised its water, because it washes away all sins. Whilst so speaking, one of the Brahmans wanted water; Kabir, who had heard their speeches, jumped up from his place, and having filled a wooden cup which he carried with water, brought it to the Brahman. Kabir, a weaver by birth, being of a low caste, from the hands of whom Brahmans can neither eat nor drink, the water was not accepted, upon which Kabir observed: “You have just now declared, that the water of the Ganga purifies the body and the soul from the pollution of sins, and from the foulness of evil actions, and makes them all disappear; but if this water does not render pure this wooden vase, it certainly does not deserve your praises.”

Among the Hindus it is an establised custom to bring flowers to God at the time of worship. One day Kabir saw a gardener’s wife who collected flowers for the image of a deity; he said to her: “In the leaves of the flower lives the soul of vegetation, and the idol to whom thou offerest flowers is without feeling, dead, without consciousness, in the sleep of inertness, and has no life; the condition of the vegetable is superior to that of the mineral. If the idol possessed a soul, he would chastise the cutter, who, when dividing the matter of which the image is formed, placed his foot upon the idol’s breast: go, and venerate a wise, intelligent, and perfect man, who is a manifestation of Vichnu.”

Kabir showed always great regard for the Fakírs. One day, a number of Durvishes came to him; he received them with respect in his house; as he possessed nothing to show his generosity and munificence to them, he went from door to door to procure something, but having found nothing, he said to his wife: “Hast thou no friend from whom thou mayst borrow something?” She answered: “There is a grocer in this street who threw an eye of bad desire upon me; would I from this sinner demand something, I should obtain it.” Kabir said: “Go immediately to him, grant him what he desires, and bring something for the durvishes.” The woman went to the lewd grocer, and requested the loan of what she required; he replied: “If thou comest this night to me, thy request is granted;” the woman consented, and swore the oath which he imposed upon her to come; after which the grocer gave her rice, oil, and whatever these men might like. When the Fakírs, well satisfied, went to rest, a heavy rain began to fall, and the woman wished to break her engagement; but Kabir, in order to keep her true to her word, having taken her upon his shoulder, carried her in the dark and rainy night, through the deep mud, to the shop of the bad grocer, and placed himself there in a corner. When the woman had entered into the interior part of the house, and the man found her feet unsullied, he said to her: “How didst thou arrive without thy feet being dirty?” The woman concealed the fact. The grocer conjured her by the holy name of God to reveal the truth; the woman, unable to refuse, said what had taken place. The grocer, on hearing this, shrieked and was senseless. When he had recovered his senses, he ran out and threw himself at Kabir’s feet. Afterwards, having distributed among the poor whatever he had in his shop, he became a Virágí. Shaikh Mahmud said:

“When lust seizes the heart of man, God now and then renders
vain his intent.”

It is said that when Kabir left his elemental body, the Muselmans assembled in order to give him a burial, because they supposed him to have been of the right faith; and the Hindus too crowded in order to burn his body, because they thought him to have professed their religion. At last a Fakír stept in the midst of them, and said: “Kabir was a holy man, independent of both religions; but having during his life satisfied you, he will also, after death, meet with your approbation.” Having then opened the door, they did not find Kabir’s body, and both parties remained astonished and bewildered.

“O friend, live so that, after thy death,
Thy friends may bite their finger (from joyous astonishment).”

In Jagernath, at the place where they burn the dead, is the form and simulacre of a tomb which they call Kabir’s.[315]

“Live so with good and bad that, after thy death,
The Muselman may wish to bury, and the Hindu to burn thee (according
to their rites).”

Another of the celebrated Virágis was _Dáyú_. One day, when Brahmans and Bánians (that is, traders) were assembled in a temple of Vichnu, they drove Dáyú out of it, as not worthy of being among their congregation. Dáyú, having gone out, sat down at the back of the temple, which soon after turned about towards the side where Dáyú was.

_Perah Káivan_, a Yezdánian, is one of the accomplished saints, and shows himself in the dress of every sect. When in that of a Vairági, he was in Guzerat for the sake of a pleasure-walk, he saw some of the Váirágis who came from a place of pilgrimage, and had a mark impressed upon their hand and arm: because, whoever makes a pilgrimage to the holy place of Krichna, gets the form of the God’s weapon (the diskus) imprinted upon his body by means of a hot iron. Kaivan Perah said to the Vairágis: “Why this wound?” they answered: “This is the mark of Vichnu; whoever has it is by the God recognised as being his.” Kaivan Perah observed: “When the soul is separated from the body, they burn the corpse; no mark of it remains; whilst the soul is not perishable, and has no mark: how will then Vichnu recognise it?”――When he came to Ahmed-abad, which is the capital of Guzerat, he saw a crier who, from the top of a mosque, chanted his prayer; when he had come down, Káivan Perah asked him: “Hast thou received an answer?” the crier said: “From whom?” Kaivan replied: “From him to whom thou hast been calling.” Lubhaní says:

“They call loud to God seeking him,
This people think him, perhaps, to be far off.”

When he came to the harbour of Surat, which is one of the principal ports of Hindostán, he met with a Háji (a pilgrim from Mecca) who had come by sea to the harbour; Kaiván Perah asked him: “Whence dost thou come?” He answered: “From the house of God.” Kaiván said further: “Hast thou seen God?” The reply was “No.” “He was perhaps not at home,” rejoined Kaiván, and the Háji remained astonished.

The Vairágis are not devoted to a particular worship; they say, the name of Vishnu suffices for the acquisition of _mukt_, or “the union with God.” This sect was formed during the Káli yúg, and call themselves also Váichnavas: they renounce the world, and say: “Our way is opposite to that of the Vêdas and of the Koran: that is, we have nothing to do either with Muselmans or Hindus.” A great number of Muselmans adopted their creed, such as Mirza Salah, and Mirza Háider, two noble Muselmans who became Vaíragis. Of this sect was _Naráin Dásí_, who sided with _Rámánandis_, which is one of the _Sampradayas_, that is the first of the four classes before mentioned. The author of this book saw him in the year 1052 of the Hejira (1642 A. D.) in Lahore. He was one of those who are freed from the affections of the world; he honored whomever he saw, and said: “Every body belongs to the divinity; that is, every body is the house of God.”

“Without thee there is nothing that is in the world:
From thyself demand whatever thou wishest: for it is thyself.”

Píránah Kohely was of the sect of Vairagis, and Kohelí is a tribe of Kshatriyas; he withdrew from all the affections and troubles of the world. Having left the Guzerat of Panjab, which is his native place and the seat of his ancestors, he went to Vizírábád, a city built by Hakím Ilam eddín, named _Buzín khan_, and chose to settle not far from the above mentioned Guzerat. He had no faith in pious austerity. He said, the saints are men who, in a former existence, have brought affliction upon other men, and on that account do penance in this world; every pious act joined to some austerity is a requital of their deeds; those who are fasting have, in a former state, let hunger and thirst afflict the low and feeble; those who watch at night have, in his opinion, prevented the servants from sleeping; the Sanyásis, called Thádéser, who remain years standing upon one leg, he thinks to be a class of spirits who have not permitted the servants to sit down; and those who suspend themselves, and others who perform their devotion in an inverted or strained posture, are a class who used to suspend their inferiors; and those who visit celebrated places and sacred mansions of pilgrimage, are a set who, for trifling reasons, have without pity sent about couriers to different places, without paying them their hire; the _játis_,[316] that is, those who abstain from intercourse with women, and from sensual indulgence, are an order of spirits, who have not provided for their sons and daughters the subsistence and furniture requisite for the marriage state, and prohibited to them this enjoyment, for which reason they now are subjected to retaliating penance.

This sect do no harm to any living being; which is common to all Vairágis, as well as to neglect devotion; but, in opposition to the creed of the Vairágis, they do not admit the _Avatars_, and say that God is exempt from transmigration and union; and, according to those who profess the belief in the unity and solitariness of the supreme being, he is not susceptible of (what we call) intimate friendship. Being asked about the history of Krichna, Píránah said: “He was a Rája, devoted to licentiousness, and oppressing mankind.” The writer of these pages saw Píranah in the year 1050 of the Hejira (1640 A. D.), in Vizirábád, and in the same year and in the same place he saw Ananta, who was of the same creed as Píránah, but particularly addicted to the belief of the singleness of God.

Ananta did not advise abstinence to the sick. One of his friends being attacked by a diarrhœa, Ananta gave him substantial and sweet food, until he left this elemental body. One of his disciples wanted to have a vein opened; Ananda, having been informed of it, expressed himself strongly against this operation and prevented it. Thus, the author of these pages saw, in the year of the Hejira 1050 (A. D. 1640) in Guzerat of the Panjab, another of this sect, called _Mían Lál_, who was venerated by a great number of his sectaries; he abstained from eating any sort of animal food, and showed politeness to every body; like Píránah, he never cleansed his patched garment from vermin, and used to say: “These insects have an assignment for their daily subsistence written upon my body.” Váirágis are also called _Mundís_;[317] because they shave four parts of their bodies, and one shaved is called _Mundí_.[317] There arose a dissension between this sect and the Sanyásis; in the year 1050 of the Hejira (1640 A. D.) a battle was fought at Hardwar,[318] which is a holy place of the Hindus, between the Mundís and the Sanyásis, in which the latter were victorious and killed a great number of the Mundís: these men threw away their rosaries of Tulasi wood which they wear about their necks, and hung on their perforated ears the rings of the Jógís, in order to be taken for these sectaries.

[298] स्थूलशरीर.

[299] लिङ्गशरीर called also शुच्मशरीर _sukshma sarîra_ or
“subtile body.”

It is essential to know the exact meaning which the Hindus
attach to the three words, _linga_, _linga śarîra_, and
_sthula śarîra_.

I must premise that, according to them, the soul is incased
as in a sheath, or rather in a succession of sheaths. The
first, or inner case, is _the intellectual one_: it is
composed of the pure, or simple, elements, uncombined, the
archetypes of elementary matter (तन्मात्र _tanma tra_), and
consists of the intellect (_buddhi_), joined with the five
senses. The next is the _mental sheath_, in which mind is
joined with the preceding. A third sheath comprises the
organs of action and the vital faculties, and is termed the
_organic_ or _vital case_.

These three sheaths (कोषाः _kóshas_) constitute the subtile
frame, _s ukshma śarîra_, or _linga-śarîra_, “the rudimental
body which attends the soul in its transmigration.”

_Linga_ is “the naked rudiment;” the word expresses
“designating, apprising,” synonimous with “characteristic,”
rendered also by “mergent,” and by “subtile.” The linga and
linga-śarîra are ordinarily, though perhaps not properly,
confounded, the linga consisting of thirteen component
parts, namely (see the table of categories, p. 122): of
intellect, egotism, and the eleven organs; whilst the
linga-s arîra adds to these a bodily frame, made up of the
five rudimental elements. In this form however they always
coexist; and it is not necessary to consider them as
distinct.

The “gross body,” _sthúla śarîra_, is composed of the coarse
elements formed by the combination of the simple elements in
a particular proportion, which the Hindus determine with an
acuteness, their own (see _Vedanta sara_, edit. of Calc., p.
11), but which is not necessary here to adduce. This
exterior case, composed of elements so combined, is the
“nutrimentitious sheath,” and being the scene of coarse
fruition, is therefore termed “the gross body.” This is
however animated from birth to death, in any step of its
transmigration, by the interior rudiment confined to the
first-mentioned inner case, which is called कारणशरीर
_kárańa-śarîra_, “the causal frame”――(See Colebrooke on the
Phil. of the Hindus in the Transact. of the R. A. Soc., Vol.
II. Part I. pp 35, 36, etc., and _Sankhya Karika_, p. 129).

[300] वैकुणटं is the Paradise, or world of Vichnu; its site
is variously described, either as in the northern ocean, or
on the eastern peak of Meru.

[301] Here the same as linga sáríra. Parusha means generally
“a subtile body;” it is unconfined, too subtile for
restraint, hence termed अतिवाहिक _ativáhika_, “surpassing
the wind in swiftness,” incapable of enjoyment until it be
invested with a grosser body, affected, nevertheless, by
sensations.

[302] अन्धतमसं “great darkness.”

Without entering here into the details of metaphysical
refinements which the Hindus exhibit in their various
systems of philosophy, we may content ourselves to state
that, in general, they adopt two kinds of bodies or persons,
a subtile, and a substantial or grosser one. The first
transmigrates through successive bodies, which it assumes as
a mimic shifts his disguises to represent various
characters. In the Bhagavad gita, it is intimated, that soul
retains the senses and mind in the intervals of migration:
“At the time that spirit obtains a body, and when it
abandons one, it migrates, taking with it those senses, as
the wind wafts along with it the perfumes of the flowers.”
The grosser body, propagated by generation, is perishable.
According to Manu (XII. 16): “After death, another body,
composed of the five rudimental elements, is immediately
produced, for wicked men, that they may suffer the tortures
of the infernal regions.” This concords with what is said
above.

[303] They are also called _Brahma Sampradáyis_. The founder
of this sect was Madhwácharya, a Brahman, born in the
Saka-year 1121 (A. D. 1199), in Tuluva, on the western coast
of the Indian peninsula; he died in his seventy-ninth year.
He was early initiated into the order of Anchorets, and
devoted to Vichnu; he composed thirty-seven works, built
eight temples, and founded as many _maths_, or “monasteries”
of his particular sect, which is one of the four great
sects. The superiors, or “Gurus” of it are Brahmans and
Sanyásis; their lay-votaries are members of every class of
society except the lowest; they profess perpetual celibacy.
These sectaries reside now chiefly in the peninsula, and are
altogether unknown in Gangetic Hindostan. To what is above
said of their doctrine, I shall add, that they distinguish
the principle of life from the supreme Being, or they deny
the absolute unity of the Deity, and the possibility of
absorption into the universal spirit, and the loss of
independent existence after death.――(See an explicit account
of this sect, by Professor Wilson, _As. Res._, vol. XVI. p.
100-108.)

[304] Rámánanda, the founder of this sect, lived about the
end of the 13th century, according to some accounts;
Professor Wilson is disposed to place him not farther back
than the end of the 14th, or beginning of the 15th century.
His residence was at Benares, in a _math_, or “monastery.”
The especial object of the worship of the Rámánandis is
Vichnu, in his incarnation of _Rámachandra_, on which
account they are called _Rámawats_. The mendicant members of
this sect, numerous even in our days, are usually known as
Váîragis or Viraktas, and consider all form of adoration
superfluous beyond the incessant invocation of Krichna and
Rama. The school of Rámánand admits disciples of every
caste; it abrogates, in fact, the distinction of caste
amongst the religious orders: this seems the proper import
of the term _Avad’huta_, which Rámánanda affixed to his
followers. It does not appear that any work exists
attributed to Rámánand himself; those of his followers are
written in the provincial dialects. The ascetic and
mendicant followers of Ramánand are by far the most numerous
class of sectaries in Gangetic India; some of them acquired
a great celebrity; among these are reckoned _Kabir_, of whom
hereafter, and _Jayadiva_, the author of the beautiful poem
_Gîta govinda_, well known by the translations made of it
into English, by Sir W. Jones; into Latin, by Professor
Lassen (who places however Jayadéva in the year 1150); and
into German, in the metre of the original, by Mr.
Ruckert.――(See, on the Rámánandis, the work quoted, pp.
36-52).

[305] According to Professor Wilson (work quoted, pp. 32 and
43), the marks of the Rámánandis are two perpendicular white
lines, drawn from the root of the hair to the commencement
of each eyebrow, and a transverse streak connecting them
across the root of the nose; in the centre is a
perpendicular streak of varied colours, besides other marks
on the breast and each upper arm.

[306] The marks of the Madhwácharis, according to the same
authority (p. 103), are the impress of the symbols of Vichnu
upon their shoulders and breasts, stamped with a hot iron,
and the frontal mark, which consists of two perpendicular
lines, made with _Gopi chandana_, or the sacred clay from
Dwaraka, the city of Krichna, and joined at the root of the
nose; a straight black line is drawn down the centre with
the charcoal from the incense offered to Náráyana,
terminating in a round mark with turmeric.

[307] This name, perhaps very corrupted, is not to be found
among those enumerated in Professor Wilson’s Treatise on the
Religious Sects of the Hindus.

[308] See the work quoted, p. 125-129. The members of this
sect consider a teacher named Hari Vans as their founder.
This person settled at Vrindavan, and established a math, or
“convent,” there, which exists to our days, and in 1822
comprised between forty and fifty resident ascetics. He also
erected a temple there that still exists, and indicates by
an inscription over the door that it was dedicated to Sri
Rádhá Vallabha by Hari Vans, Samvat 1641, or A. D. 1585.
Rádha, the favourite mistress of Krishna, is the object of
adoration to these sectaries, who worship Krishna as
_Rádhá-Vallabah_, “the lord or lover of Rádhá,” whose
adoration Mr. Wilson thinks an undoubted innovation in the
Hindu creed. He says (_ibid._, p. 125): “The only Rádhá that
is named in the Mahábharat is a very different personage,
being the wife of Duryodhana’s charioteer, and the nurse of
Karna. Even the Bhagavat makes no particular mention of her
amongst the Gopis of Vrindhavan, and we must look to the
Brahma Váivarta Purána (Krishna Janana Khanda) as the chief
authority of a classical character, on which the pretensions
of Rádhá are founded.” We know the difference of opinion
which exists among the Indianists about the antiquity to be
attributed to the Puranas, and which has not yet found a
positive decision. It is probably from the last mentioned
Púráná that Jayadéva (see note, p. 180) took the theme of
his admirable poem, in which the love of Krichna and Rádhá
is described in the most glowing colours.

[309] Rama, obliged to cede the throne to his brother
Bharatta, having on that account been banished by his
father, lived with his wife Sitá, and his younger brother
Lakshmana upon the mountain Chitra Kotá, in Bundelkand,
whence he descended towards the south into the woods of
Dandakam. Every where he protected the Rishis, destroying
their enemies, the Rakshasas. The head of these was Rávaná,
king of Lanka (Ceylon), who, in order to take revenge of
Rama, carried away by a successful stratagem, Ráma’s beloved
consort, Sîtá. The unfortunate husband, to release his wife,
concluded an alliance with Hanuman and Sugriva, chiefs of
the savage inhabitants, called monkies, of southern India,
and by their aid passed over to the island, took its
capital, Lanka, and killed the tyrant, Rávańa, in a
battle. Sitá was released, but, for proving her purity
preserved, she underwent the ordeal of fire: it proved
satisfactory; her innocence was manifest to the multitude,
but, it appears, not quite so to the mind of her husband,
who separated from her.

[310] This is not correct: विराग _virága_ is interpreted
“the absence of desire or passion; the disregard of all
sensual enjoyments, either in this or the next world.”

[311] तुलसी _Tulasí_, a small shrub held in veneration by
the Hindus, “holy basíl” (_ocymum sanctum_――_W._).

[312] This is not quite exact: for the author has not yet
mentioned the _Ramanujas_, nor the _Nîmanujas_, of whom he
says nothing hereafter.

Rámánuja Acharya was born at Perumbar, in the south of
India, about the end of the 11th century; his fame as a
teacher was established about the first half of the 12th
century; he was a great supporter and propagator, nay, the
chief author, of the later Váishnava faith; he founded 700
maths, or “convents,” of which four only remain; but other
establishments of this sect are still numerous in the
Dekhan.

The worship of the followers of Rámánuja is addressed to
Vichnu and to Lakchmî, his wife, and to their respective
incarnations, either singly or conjointly; wherefore they
are also named Srí Váichnavas, consisting of several
subdivisions. The chief religious tenet of the Rámánujas is
the assertion that Vichnu is Brahma; that he was before all
worlds, and was the cause and the creator of all. They
maintain three predicates of the universe comprehending the
deity: it consists of _chit_, “spirit;” _achit_, “matter;”
and _Iśwára_, “God.”

These sectaries are not allowed to eat in cotton garments,
but, having bathed, must put on woollen or silk, and their
meal, whilst they are eating, must not attract the eyes of a
stranger, or it becomes instantly spoiled, and should be
buried in the ground. The marks of the Rámánujas are the
same as those of the Rámánandis, before described (see note,
p. 181), excepting that the central perpendicular streak on
the forehead is red, made with red sanders or roli, a
preparation of turmeric and lime. Besides other marks on
their bodies, not enumerated here, they wear a necklace of
the wood of tulasi, and carry a rosary of the seeds of the
same plant, or of the lotus――(See, for a further account of
this sect, the work quoted, pp. 27-36).

[313] सम्प्रदाय a sect, a schism, a particular doctrine, and
exclusive worship of one divinity.

[314] The most celebrated of the twelve distinguished
disciples of Rámánandra (see note, p. 180) was _Kabir_. I
omit the miraculous circumstances of his birth. He was taken
up near Benares, a foundling, by the wife of a weaver, named
_Nimá_, and brought up by her and her husband _Nuri_. Such
is the uncertainty prevailing about Kabir’s time, that he is
placed by different authors within the space of not less
than three centuries, that is, from 1149 to 1449. According
to Professor Wilson, he flourished probably about the
beginning of the 15th century. The philosophic and religious
notions of the Kabir Panthir are in substance the same as
those of the Pauranic sects, especially of the Váichnava
division. They admit but one God, the creator of the world,
and, in opposition to the Vedanta notions of the absence of
every quality and form in him, they assert that he has a
body formed of the five elements of matter, and that he is
endowed with the three _gunas_, or qualities of being, of
course of ineffable power and perfection.

The works attributed to Kabir himself, or to his disciples,
are written in the usual form of Hindi verse; twenty of them
are enumerated in Professor Wilson’s account of this sect
(pp. 58 and 59), and appear very voluminous.

This sect is very widely diffused in India, and split into a
variety of subdivisions. At a great meeting near Benáres, no
fewer than 35,000 Kabir-Panthis of the monastic and
mendicant class are said to have been collected. A place
called “the Kabir Cháura,” at Benares, is an establishment
pre-eminent in dignity, and constantly visited by wandering
members of this sect, as well as by those of other kindred
heresies: its _Mahant_, or Superior, receives and feeds
these visitors whilst they stay; the establishment itself is
supported by the occasional donations of its lay-friends and
followers――(See the work quoted, pp. 53-75).

[315] According to Professor Wilson’s account (pp. 56-57),
in the midst of the dispute respecting the disposal of his
corpse, Kabir himself appeared amongst them, and having
desired them to look under the cloth supposed to cover his
mortal remains, immediately vanished; on obeying his
instructions, they found nothing under the cloth but a heap
of flowers; one half of them the Hindus burnt in Benáres,
and deposited the ashes in a spot now called _Kabir Chaura_,
whilst the Muselmans erected a tomb over the other portion
at _Magar_, near Gorakhpur, where Kabir died.

[316] In Sanskrit यति _yati_, called also _Séwra s_; they
are a body of pious mendicants, who live in celibacy, and in
general employ their time in the cultivation of medicine,
astrology, and divinity――(See _On the Jainas of Guzerat and
Marwar_, by Lieut.-Col. W. Miles. Transact. R. A. Soc., vol.
III. p. 335).

[317] मुण्ड shaved, bald.

[318] Hardwar, or _Hara-dwara_, “the gate of Hara,” is a
place in the province of Delhi, situated on the west side of
the Ganges, where this river issues from the northern hills.
Lat. N. 29º 57´; long. E. 78º 2´. The event above stated
took place in the 12th year of the reign of the emperor Shah
Jehan, who mounted the throne in the year 1628, and resigned
it to his son Aurengzeb in 1658.

* * * * *