Chapter XIX: Part I: Introductory Essay on Caste (14)

_Saiva, Shaiva, Sivite Sect_.--The name given to Hindus who venerate Siva as their special god. Siva, whose name signifies 'The Propitious,' is held to have succeeded to the Vedic god Rudra, apparently a storm-god. Siva is a highly composite deity, having the double attributes of destroyer and creator of new life. His heaven, Kailas, is in the Himalayas according to popular belief. He carries the moon on his forehead, and from the central one of his three eyes the lightning flashes forth. He has a necklace of skulls, and snakes are intertwined round his waist and arms. And he has long matted hair (_jata_), from which the Ganges flows. It seems likely that the matted locks of the god represent the snow on the Himalayas, as the snow is in reality the source of the Ganges; the snow falling through the air and covering the peaks of the mountains might well suggest the hair of a mountain-god; and this interpretation seems to be accepted in Mr. Bain's _In the Great God's Hair_. Siva has thus three components from which the idea of death might be derived: First, his residence on the Himalaya mountains, the barren, lifeless region of ice and snow, and the cause of death to many pilgrims and travellers who ventured into it. Secondly, he is the god of the moon, and hence of darkness and night, which are always associated with death. In this light he might well be opposed to Vishnu, the god of the sun and day, and the source of growth and life; their association as the two supreme deities representing the preservation and destruction of life, would thus, to some extent, correspond to the conflict of good and bad deities representing light and darkness among the Zoroastrians. Thirdly, Siva is a snake-god, and the sudden death dealt out by the poisonous snake has always excited the greatest awe among primitive people. The cobra is widely revered in India, and it is probably this snake which is associated with the god. In addition the lightning, a swift, death-dealing power, is ascribed to Siva, and this may have been one of his earliest attributes, as it was probably associated with his Vedic prototype Rudra. Whether Siva obtained his character as a god of destruction from one only of the above associations, or from a combination of them, is probably not known. Two great forces lend the deity his character of a god of reproduction, the bull and the phallic emblem. The bull tills the soil and renders it fertile and capable of bringing forth the crops which form the sustenance of mankind; while the phallic emblem is worshipped as the instrument of generation. It is believed that there is a natural tendency to associate these two objects, and to ascribe to the bull the capacity of inducing human fertility as well as the increase of the earth. It is in these two attributes that Siva is worshipped in the rural tract; he is represented by the emblem referred to standing on a circular grooved stone, which is the _yoni_, and in front of him is a stone bull. And he is revered almost solely as a beneficent deity under the name of Mahadeo or the Great God. Thus his dual qualities of destruction and reproduction appear to be produced by the combination in him of different objects of worship; the Himalayas, the moon, the cobra and the lightning on the one hand, and the bull and the emblem of regeneration on the other. Other interesting characteristics of Siva are that he is the first and greatest of ascetics and that he is immoderately addicted to the intoxicating drugs _ganja_ and _bhang_, the preparations of Indian hemp. It may be supposed that the god was given his character as an ascetic in order to extend divine sanction and example to the practice of asceticism when it came into favour. And the drugs, [371] first revered themselves for their intoxicating properties, were afterwards perpetuated in a sacred character by being associated with the god. Siva's throat is blue, and it is sometimes said that this is on account of his immoderate consumption of _bhang_. The _nilkanth_ or blue-jay, which was probably venerated for its striking plumage, and is considered to be a bird of very good omen, has become Siva's bird because its blue throat resembles his. His principal sacred tree is the _bel_ tree, [372] which has trifoliate leaves, and may have been held sacred on this account. The practice of Sati or the self-immolation of widows has also been given divine authority by the story that Sati was Siva's first wife, and that she committed suicide because she and her husband were not invited to Daksha's sacrifice. [373] Siva's famous consort is the multiform Devi, Kali or Parvati, of whom some notice is given elsewhere. [374] The cult of Siva has produced the important Sakta sect, who, however, venerate more especially the female principle of energy as exemplified in his consort. [375] Another great sect of southern India, the Lingayats, worship him in the character of the _lingam_ or phallic emblem, and are noticeable as being a Sivite sect who have abolished caste. The Sivite orders of Gosains or Dasnamis and Jogis also constitute an important feature of Hinduism. All these are separately described. Apart from them the Hindus who call themselves Saivas because they principally venerate Siva, do not appear to have any very special characteristics, nor to be markedly distinguished from the Vaishnavas. They abstain from the consumption of flesh and liquor, and think it objectionable to take life. Their offerings to the god consist of flowers, the leaves of the _bel_ tree which is sacred to him, and ripe ears of corn, these last being perhaps intended especially for the divine bull. The sect-mark of the Saivas consists of three curved lines horizontally drawn across the forehead, which are said to represent the _tirsul_ or trident of the god. A half-moon may also be drawn. The mark is made with Ganges clay, sandalwood, or cowdung cakes, these last being considered to represent the disintegrating force of the deity. [376]

Sakta, Shakta Sect

_Sakta, Shakta Sect_.--The name of a Hindu sect, whose members worship the female principle of energy, which is the counterpart of the god Siva. The metaphysical ideas of Saktism are thus described by Sir Edward Gait: [377]

"Saktism is based on the worship of the active producing principle, Prakriti, as manifested in one or other of the goddess wives of Siva (Durga, Kali, Parvati) the female energy or Sakti of the primordial male, Purusha or Siva. In this cult the various forces of nature are deified under separate personalities, which are known as the divine mothers or Matrigan. The ritual to be observed, the sacrifices to be offered, and the _mantras_ or magic texts to be uttered, in order to secure the efficacy of the worship and to procure the fulfilment of the worshipper's desire, are laid down in a series of religious writings known as Tantras. The cult is supposed to have originated in East Bengal or Assam about the fifth century."

Dr. Bhattacharya states [378] that the practical essence of the Sakta cult is the worship of the female organ of generation. According to a text of the Tantras the best form of Sakti worship is to adore a naked woman, and it is said that some Tantrics actually perform their daily worship in their private chapels by placing before them such a woman. A triangular plate of brass or copper may be taken as a substitute, and such plates are usually kept in the houses of Tantric Brahmans. In the absence of a plate of the proper shape a triangle may be painted on a copper dish. In public the veneration of the Saktas is paid to the goddess Kali. She is represented as a woman with four arms. In one hand she has a weapon, in a second the hand of the giant she has slain, and with the two others she is encouraging her worshippers. For earrings she has two dead bodies, she wears a necklace of skulls, and her only clothing is a garland made of men's skulls. In the Kalika Puran [379] the immolation of human beings is recommended, and numerous animals are catalogued as suitable for sacrifice. At the present time pigeons, goats, and more rarely buffaloes, are the usual victims at the shrine of the goddess. The ceremony commences with the adoration of the sacrificial axe; various _mantras_ are recited, and the animal is then decapitated at one stroke. As soon as the head falls to the ground the votaries rush forward and smear their foreheads with the blood of the victim. It is of the utmost importance that the ceremony should pass off without any hitch or misadventure, [380] and special services are held to supplicate the goddess to permit of this. If in spite of them the executioner fails to sever the head of the animal at one stroke, it is thought that the goddess is angry and that some great calamity will befall the family in the next year. If a death should occur within the period, they attribute it to the miscarriage of the sacrifice, that is to the animal not having been killed with a single blow. If any such misfortune should happen, Dr. Bhattacharya states, the family generally determine never to offer animal sacrifices again; and in this way the slaughter of animals, as part of the religious ceremony in private houses, is becoming more and more rare. If a goat is sacrificed, the head is placed before the goddess and the flesh cooked and served to the invited guests; but in the case of a buffalo, as respectable Hindus do not eat the flesh of this animal, it is given to the low-caste musicians employed for the occasion. Wine is also offered to the goddess, and after being consecrated is sprinkled on every kind of uncooked food brought before her. But the worshipper and his family often drink only a few drops. The Saktas are divided into the Dakshinacharis and Bamacharis, or followers of the right- and left-handed paths respectively. The Dakshinacharis have largely abandoned animal sacrifices, and many of them substitute red flowers or red sandalwood as offerings, to represent blood. An account of those Bamacharis who carry sexual practices to extreme lengths, has been given in the article on Vam-Margi. The sect-mark of the Saktas is three horizontal lines on the forehead made with a mixture of charcoal and butter. Some of them have a single vertical line of charcoal or sandalwood. In the Central Provinces Sakta is a general term for a Hindu who eats meat, as opposed to the Vaishnavas and Kabirpanthis, who abjure it. The animals eaten are goats and chickens, and they are usually sacrificed to the goddess Devi prior to being consumed by the worshippers.

Satnami

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin of the sect_.
2. _Ghasi Das, founder of the Satnami sect_.
3. _The message of Ghasi Das_.
4. _Subsequent history of the Satnamis_.
5. _Social profligacy_.
6. _Divisions of the Satnamis_.
7. _Customs of the Satnamis_.
8. _Character of the Satnami movement_.

1. Origin of the sect.

_Satnami Sect_ [381] (A worshipper of the true name of God).--A dissenting sect founded by a Chamar reformer in the Chhattisgarh country of the Central Provinces. It is practically confined to members of the Chamar caste, about half of whom belong to it. In 1901 nearly 400,000 persons returned themselves as adherents of the Satnami sect, of whom all but 2000 were Chamars. The Satnami sect of the Central Provinces, which is here described, is practically confined to the Chhattisgarh plain, and the handful of persons who returned themselves as Satnamis from the northern Districts are believed to be adherents of the older persuasion of the same name in Northern India. The Satnami movement in Chhattisgarh was originated by one Ghasi Das, a native of the Bilaspur District, between A.D. 1820 and 1830. But it is probable that Ghasi Das, as suggested by Mr. Hira Lal, got his inspiration from a follower of the older Satnami sect of northern India. This was inaugurated by a Rajput, Jagjiwan Das of the Bara Banki District, who died in 1761. He preached the worship of the True Name of the one God, the cause and creator of all things, void of sensible qualities and without beginning or end. He prohibited the use of meat, lentils (on account of their red colour suggesting blood) of the brinjal or eggplant, which was considered, probably on account of its shape, to resemble flesh, and of intoxicating liquors. The creed of Ghasi Das enunciated subsequently was nearly identical with that of Jagjiwan Das, and was no doubt derived from it, though Ghasi Das never acknowledged the source of his inspiration.

2. Ghasi Das, founder of the Satnami sect.

Ghasi Das was a poor farmservant in Girod, a village formerly in Bilaspur and now in Raipur, near the Sonakan forests. On one occasion he and his brother started on a pilgrimage to the temple at Puri, but only got as far as Sarangarh, whence they returned ejaculating '_Satnam, Satnam_.' From this time Ghasi Das began to adopt the life of an ascetic, retiring all day to the forest to meditate. On a rocky hillock about a mile from Girod is a large _tendu_ tree (_Diospyros tomentosa_) under which it is said that he was accustomed to sit. This is a favourite place of pilgrimage of the Chamars, and two Satnami temples have been built near it, which contain no idols. Once these temples were annually visited by the successors of Ghasi Das. But at present the head of the sect only proceeds to them, like the Greeks to Delphi, in circumstances of special difficulty. In the course of time Ghasi Das became venerated as a saintly character, and on some miracles, such as the curing of snake-bite, being attributed to him, his fame rapidly spread. The Chamars began to travel from long distances to venerate him, and those who entertained desires, such as for the birth of a child, believed that he could fulfil them. The pilgrims were accustomed to carry away with them the water in which he had washed his feet, in hollow bamboos, and their relatives at home drank this, considering it was nectar. Finally, Ghasi Das retired to the forests for a period, and emerged with what he called a new Gospel for the Chamars; but this really consisted of a repetition of the tenets of Jagjiwan Das, the founder of the Satnami sect of Upper India, with a few additions. Mr. Chisholm [382] gave a graphic account of the retirement of Ghasi Das to the Sonakan forests for a period of six months, and of his reappearance and proclamation of his revelation on a fixed date before a great multitude of Chamars, who had gathered from all parts to hear him. An inquiry conducted locally by Mr. Hira Lal in 1903 indicates that this story is of doubtful authenticity, though it must be remembered that Mr. Chisholm wrote only forty years after the event, and forty more had elapsed at the time of Mr. Hira Lal's investigation. [383] Of the Chamar Reformer himself Mr. Chisholm writes: [384] "Ghasi Das, like the rest of his community, was unlettered. He was a man of unusually fair complexion and rather imposing appearance, sensitive, silent, given to seeing visions, and deeply resenting the harsh treatment of his brotherhood by the Hindus. He was well known to the whole community, having travelled much among them; had the reputation of being exceptionally sagacious and was universally respected."

3. The message of Ghasi Das.

The seven precepts of Ghasi Das included abstinence from liquor, meat and certain red vegetables, such as lentils chillies and tomatoes, because they have the colour of blood, the abolition of idol worship, the prohibition of the employment of cows for cultivation, and of ploughing after midday or taking food to the fields, and the worship of the name of one solitary and supreme God. The use of _taroi_ [385] is said to have been forbidden on account of its fancied resemblance to the horn of the buffalo, and of the brinjal [386] from its likeness to the scrotum of the same animal. The prohibition against ploughing after the midday meal was probably promulgated out of compassion for animals and was already in force among the Gonds of Bastar. This precept is still observed by many Satnamis, and in case of necessity they will continue ploughing from early morning until the late afternoon without taking food, in order not to violate it. The injunction against the use of the cow for ploughing was probably a sop to the Brahmans, the name of Gondwana having been historically associated with this practice to its disgrace among Hindus. [387] The Satnamis were bidden to cast all idols from their homes, but they were permitted to reverence the sun, as representing the deity, every morning and evening, with the ejaculation 'Lord, protect me.' Caste was abolished and all men were to be socially equal except the family of Ghasi Das, in which the priesthood of the cult was to remain hereditary.

4. Subsequent history of the Satnamis.

The creed enunciated by their prophet was of a creditable simplicity and purity, of too elevated a nature for the Chamars of Chhattisgarh. The crude myths which are now associated with the story of Ghasi Das and the obscenity which distinguishes the ritual of the sect furnish a good instance of the way in which a religion, originally of a high order of morality, will be rapidly degraded to their own level when adopted by a people who are incapable of living up to it. It is related that one day his son brought Ghasi Das a fish to eat. He was about to consume it when the fish spoke and forbade him to do so. Ghasi Das then refrained, but his wife and two sons insisted on eating the fish and shortly afterwards they died. [388] Overcome with grief Ghasi Das tried to commit suicide by throwing himself down from a tree in the forest, but the boughs of the tree bent with him and he could not fall. Finally the deity appeared, bringing his two sons, and commended Ghasi Das for his piety, at the same time bidding him go and proclaim the Satnami doctrine to the world. Ghasi Das thereupon went and dug up the body of his wife, who arose saying '_Satnam._' Ghasi Das lived till he was eighty years old and died in 1850, the number of his disciples being then more than a quarter of a million. He was succeeded in the office of high priest by his eldest son Balak Das. This man soon outraged the feelings of the Hindus by assuming the sacred thread and parading it ostentatiously on public occasions. So bitter was the hostility aroused by him, that he was finally assassinated at night by a party of Rajputs at the rest-house of Amabandha as he was travelling to Raipur. The murder was committed in 1860 and its perpetrators were never discovered. Balak Das had fallen in love with the daughter of a Chitari (painter) and married her, proclaiming a revelation to the effect that the next Chamar Guru should be the offspring of a Chitari girl. Accordingly his son by her, Sahib Das, succeeded to the office, but the real power remained in the hands of Agar Das, brother of Balak Das, who married his Chitari widow. By her Agar Das had a son Ajab Das; but he also had another son Agarman Das by a legitimate wife, and both claimed the succession. They became joint high priests, and the property has been partitioned between them. The chief _guru_ formerly obtained a large income by the contributions of the Chamars on his tours, as he received a rupee from each household in the villages which he visited on tour. He had a deputy, known as Bhandar, in many villages, who brought the commission of social offences to his notice, when fines were imposed. He built a house in the village of Bhandar of the Raipur District, having golden pinnacles, and also owned the village. But he has been extravagant and become involved in debt, and both house and village have been foreclosed by his creditor, though it is believed that a wealthy disciple has repurchased the house for him. The golden pinnacles were recently stolen. The contributions have also greatly fallen off.

Formerly an annual fair was held at Bhandar to which all the Satnamis went and drank the water in which the _guru_ had dipped his big toe. Each man gave him not less than a rupee and sometimes as much as fifty rupees. But the fair is no longer held and now the Satnamis only give the _guru_ a cocoanut when he goes on tour. The Satnamis also have a fair in Ratanpur, a sacred place of the Hindus, where they assemble and bathe in a tank of their own, as they are not allowed to bathe in the Hindu tanks.

5. Social profligacy.

Formerly, when a Satnami Chamar was married, a ceremony called Satlok took place within three years of the wedding, or after the birth of the first son, which Mr. Durga Prasad Pande describes as follows: it was considered to be the initiatory rite of a Satnami, so that prior to its performance he and his wife were not proper members of the sect. When the occasion was considered ripe, a committee of men in the village would propose the holding of the ceremony to the bridegroom; the elderly members of his family would also exert their influence upon him, because it was believed that if they died prior to its performance their disembodied spirits would continue a comfortless existence about the scene of their mortal habitation, but if afterwards that they would go straight to heaven. When the rite was to be held a feast was given, the villagers sitting round a lighted lamp placed on a water-pot in the centre of the sacred _chauk_ or square made with lines of wheat-flour; and from evening until midnight they would sing and dance. In the meantime the newly married wife would be lying alone in a room in the house. At midnight her husband went in to her and asked her whom he should revere as his _guru_ or preceptor. She named a man and the husband went out and bowed to him and he then went in to the woman and lay with her. The process would be repeated, the woman naming different men until she was exhausted. Sometimes, if the head priest of the sect was present, he would nominate the favoured men, who were known as _gurus_. Next morning the married couple were seated together in the courtyard, and the head priest or his representative tied a _kanthi_ or necklace of wooden beads round their necks, repeating an initiatory text. [389] This silly doggerel, as shown in the footnote, is a good criterion of the intellectual capacity of the Satnamis. It is also said that during his annual progresses it was the custom for the chief priest to be allowed access to any of the wives of the Satnamis whom he might select, and that this was considered rather an honour than otherwise by the husband. But the Satnamis have now become ashamed of such practices, and, except in a few isolated localities, they have been abandoned.

6. Divisions of the Satnamis.

Ghasi Das or his disciples seem to have felt the want of a more ancient and dignified origin for the sect than one dating only from living memory. They therefore say that it is a branch of that founded by Rohi Das, a Chamar disciple of the great liberal and Vaishnavite reformer Ramanand, who flourished at the end of the fourteenth century. The Satnamis commonly call themselves Rohidasi as a synonym for their name, but there is no evidence that Rohi Das ever came to Chhattisgarh, and there is practically no doubt, as already pointed out, that Ghasi Das simply appropriated the doctrine of the Satnami sect of northern India. One of the precepts of Ghasi Das was the prohibition of the use of tobacco, and this has led to a split in the sect, as many of his disciples found the rule too hard for them. They returned to their _chongis_ or leaf-pipes, and are hence called Chungias; they say that in his later years Ghasi Das withdrew the prohibition. The Chungias have also taken to idolatry, and their villages contain stones covered with vermilion, the representations of the village deities, which the true Satnamis eschew. They are considered lower than the Satnamis, and intermarriage between the two sections is largely, though not entirely, prohibited. A Chungia can always become a Satnami if he ceases to smoke by breaking a cocoanut in the presence of his _guru_ or preceptor or giving him a present. Among the Satnamis there is also a particularly select class who follow the straitest sect of the creed and are called _Jaharia_ from _jahar_, an essence. These never sleep on a bed but always on the ground, and are said to wear coarse uncoloured clothes and to eat no food but pulse or rice.

7. Customs of the Satnamis.

The social customs of the Satnamis resemble generally those of other Chamars. They will admit into the community all except members of "the impure castes, as Dhobis (washermen), Ghasias (grass-cutters) and Mehtars (sweepers), whom they regard as inferior to themselves. Their weddings must be celebrated only during the months of Magh (January), Phagun (February), the light half of Chait (March) and Baisakh (April). No betrothal ceremony can take place during the months of Shrawan (August) and Pus (January). They always bury the dead, laying the body with the face downwards, and spread clothes in the grave above and below it, so that it may be warm and comfortable during the last long sleep. They observe mourning for three days and have their heads shaved on the third day with the exception of the upper lip, which is never touched by the razor. The Satnamis as well as the Kabirpanthis in Chhattisgarh abstain from spirituous liquor, and ordinary Hindus who do not do so are known as Saktaha or Sakta (a follower of Devi) in contradistinction to them. A Satnami is put out of caste if he is beaten by a man of another caste, however high, and if he is touched by a sweeper, Ghasia or Mahar. Their women wear nose-rings, simply to show their contempt for the Hindu social order, as this ornament was formerly forbidden to the lower castes. Under native dynasties any violation of a rule of this kind would have been severely punished by the executive Government, but in British India the Chamar women can indulge their whim with impunity. It was also a rule of the sect not to accept cooked food from the hands of any other caste, whether Hindu or Muhammadan, but this has fallen into abeyance since the famines. Another method by which the Satnamis show their contempt for the Hindu religion is by throwing milk and curds at each other in sport and trampling it under foot. This is a parody of the Hindu celebration of the Janam-Ashtami or Krishna's birthday, when vessels of milk and curds are broken over the heads of the worshippers and caught and eaten by all castes indiscriminately in token of amity. They will get into railway carriages and push up purposely against the Hindus, saying that they have paid for their tickets and have an equal right to a place. Then the Hindus are defiled and have to bathe in order to become clean.

8. Character of the Satnami movement.

Several points in the above description point to the conclusion that the Satnami movement is in essence a social revolt on the part of the despised Chamars or tanners. The fundamental tenet of the gospel of Ghasi Das, as in the case of so many other dissenting sects, appears to have been the abolition of caste, and with it of the authority of the Brahmans; and this it was which provoked the bitter hostility of the priestly order. It has been seen that Ghasi Das himself had been deeply impressed by the misery and debasement of the Chamar community; how his successor Balak Das was murdered for the assumption of the sacred thread; and how in other ways the Satnamis try to show their contempt for the social order which brands them as helot outcastes. A large proportion of the Satnami Chamars are owners or tenants of land, and this fact may be surmised to have intensified their feeling of revolt against the degraded position to which they were relegated by the Hindus. Though slovenly cultivators and with little energy or forethought, the Chamars have the utmost fondness for land and an ardent ambition to obtain a holding, however small. The possession of land is a hall-mark of respectability in India, as elsewhere, and the low castes were formerly incapable of holding it; and it may be surmised that the Chamar feels himself to be raised by his tenant-right above the hereditary condition of village drudge and menial. But for the restraining influence of the British power, the Satnami movement might by now have developed in Chhattisgarh into a social war. Over most of India the term Hindu is contrasted with Muhammadan, but in Chhattisgarh to call a man a Hindu conveys primarily that he is not a Chamar, or Chamara according to the contemptuous abbreviation in common use. A bitter and permanent antagonism exists between the two classes, and this the Chamar cultivators carry into their relations with their Hindu landlords by refusing to pay rent. The records of the criminal courts contain many cases arising from collisions between Chamars and Hindus, several of which have resulted in riot and murder. Faults no doubt exist on both sides, and Mr. Hemingway, Settlement Officer, quotes an instance of a Hindu proprietor who made his Chamar tenants cart timber and bricks to Rajim, many miles from his village, to build a house for him during the season of cultivation, their fields consequently remaining untilled. But if a proprietor once arouses the hostility of his Chamar tenants he may as well abandon his village for all the profit he is likely to obtain from it. Generally the Chamars are to blame, as pointed out by Mr. Blenkinsop who knows them well, and many of them are dangerous criminals, restrained only by their cowardice from the worst outrages against person and property. It may be noted in conclusion that the spread of Christianity among the Chamars is in one respect a replica of the Satnami movement, because by becoming a Christian the Chamar hopes also to throw off the social bondage of Hinduism. A missionary gentleman told the writer that one of the converted Chamars, on being directed to perform some menial duty of the village, replied: 'No, I have become a Christian and am one of the Sahibs; I shall do no more _bigar_ (forced labour).'

Sikh Religion

List of Paragraphs

1. _Foundation of Sikhism--Baba Nanak._
2. _The earlier Gurus_.
3. _Guru Govind Singh_.
4. _Sikh initiation and rules_.
5. _Character of the Nanakpanthis and Sikh sects._
6. _The Akalis._
7. _The Sikh Council or Guru-Mata. Their communal meal._

1. Foundation of Sikhism--Baba Nanak.

_Sikh, Akali_.--The Sikh religion and the history of the Sikhs have been fully described by several writers, and all that is intended in this article is a brief outline of the main tenets of the sect for the benefit of those to whom the more important works of reference may not be available. The Central Provinces contained only 2337 Sikhs in 1911, of whom the majority were soldiers and the remainder probably timber or other merchants or members of the subordinate engineering service in which Punjabis are largely employed. The following account is taken from Sir Denzil Ibbetson's _Census Report of the Punjab_ for 1881:

"Sikhism was founded by Baba Nanak, a Khatri of the Punjab, who lived in the fifteenth century. But Nanak was not more than a religious reformer like Kabir, Ramanand, and the other Vaishnava apostles. He preached the unity of God, the abolition of idols, and the disregard of caste distinctions. [390] His doctrine and life were eminently gentle and unaggressive. He was succeeded by nine _gurus_, the last and most famous of whom, Govind Singh, died in 1708.

"The names of the _gurus_ were as follows:

1. Baba Nanak 1469-1538-9
2. Angad 1539-1552
3. Amar Das 1552-1574
4. Ram Das 1574-1581
5. Arjun 1581-1606
6. Har Govind 1606-1645
7. Har Rai 1645-1661
8. Har Kishen 1661-1664
9. Teg Bahadur 1664-1675
10. Govind Singh 1675-1708

2. The earlier Gurus.

"Under the second Guru Angad an intolerant and ascetic spirit began to spring up among the followers of the new tenets; and had it not been for the good sense and firmness displayed by his successor, Amar Das, who excommunicated the Udasis and recalled his followers to the mildness and tolerance of Nanak, Sikhism would probably have merely added one more to the countless orders of ascetics or devotees which are wholly unrepresented in the life of the people. The fourth _guru_, Ram Das, founded Amritsar; but it was his successor, Arjun, that first organised his following. He gave them a written rule of faith in the Granth or Sikh scripture which he compiled, he provided a common rallying-point in the city of Amritsar which he made their religious centre, and he reduced their voluntary contributions to a systematic levy which accustomed them to discipline and paved the way for further organisation. He was a great trader, he utilised the services and money of his disciples in mercantile transactions which extended far beyond the confines of India, and he thus accumulated wealth for his Church.

"Unfortunately he was unable wholly to abstain from politics; and having become a political partisan of the rebel prince Khusru, he was summoned to Delhi and there imprisoned, and the treatment he received while in confinement hastened, if it did not cause, his death. And thus began that Muhammadan persecution which was so mightily to change the spirit of the new faith. This was the first turning-point in Sikh history; and the effects of the persecution were immediately apparent. Arjun was a priest and a merchant; his successor, Har Govind, was a warrior. He abandoned the gentle and spiritual teaching of Nanak for the use of arms and the love of adventure. He encouraged his followers to eat flesh, as giving them strength and daring; he substituted zeal in the cause for saintliness of life as the price of salvation; and he developed the organised discipline which Arjun had initiated. He was, however, a military adventurer rather than an enthusiastic zealot, and fought either for or against the Muhammadan empire as the hope of immediate gain dictated. His policy was followed by his two successors; and under Teg Bahadur the Sikhs degenerated into little better than a band of plundering marauders, whose internal factions aided to make them disturbers of the public peace. Moreover, Teg Bahadur was a bigot, while the fanatical Aurangzeb had mounted the throne of Delhi. Him therefore Aurangzeb captured and executed as an infidel, a robber and a rebel, while he cruelly persecuted his followers in common with all who did not accept Islam.

3. Guru Govind Singh.

"Teg Bahadur was succeeded by the last and greatest _guru_, his son Govind Singh; and it was under him that what had sprung into existence as a quietist sect of a purely religious nature, and had become a military society of by no means high character, developed into the political organisation which was to rule the whole of north-western India, and to furnish the British arms their stoutest and most worthy opponents. For some years after his father's execution Govind Singh lived in retirement, and brooded over his personal wrongs and over the persecutions of the Musalman fanatic which bathed the country in blood. His soul was filled with the longing for revenge; but he felt the necessity for a larger following and a stronger organisation, and, following the example of his Muhammadan enemies, he used his religion as the basis of political power. Emerging from his retirement he preached the Khalsa, the pure, the elect, the liberated. He openly attacked all distinctions of caste, and taught the equality of all men who would join him; and instituting a ceremony of initiation, he proclaimed it as the _pahul_ or 'gate' by which all might enter the society, while he gave to its members the _prasad_ or communion as a sacrament of union in which the four castes should eat of one dish. The higher castes murmured and many of them left him, for he taught that the Brahman's thread must be broken; but the lower orders rejoiced and flocked in numbers to his standard. These he inspired with military ardour, with the hope of social freedom and of national independence, and with abhorrence of the hated Muhammadan. He gave them outward signs of their faith in the unshorn hair, the short drawers, and the blue dress; he marked the military nature of their calling by the title of Singh or 'lion,' by the wearing of steel, and by the initiation by sprinkling of water with a two-edged dagger; and he gave them a feeling of personal superiority in their abstinence from the unclean tobacco.

"The Muhammadans promptly responded to the challenge, for the danger was too serious to be neglected; the Sikh army was dispersed, and Govind's mother, wife and children were murdered at Sirhind by Aurangzeb's orders. The death of the emperor brought a temporary lull, and a year later Govind himself was assassinated while fighting the Marathas as an ally of Aurangzeb's successor. He did not live to see his ends accomplished, but he had roused the dormant spirit of the people, and the fire which he lit was only damped for a while. His chosen disciple Banda succeeded him in the leadership, though never recognised as _guru_. The internal commotions which followed upon the death of the emperor, Bahadur Shah, and the attacks of the Marathas weakened the power of Delhi, and for a time Banda carried all before him; but he was eventually conquered and captured in A.D. 1716, and a period of persecution followed so sanguinary and so terrible that for a generation nothing more was heard of the Sikhs. How the troubles of the Delhi empire thickened, how the Sikhs again rose to prominence, how they disputed the possession of the Punjab with the Mughals, the Marathas and the Durani, and were at length completely successful, how they divided into societies under their several chiefs and portioned out the Province among them, and how the genius of Ranjit Singh raised him to supremacy and extended his rule beyond the limits of the Punjab, are matters of political and not of religious history. No formal alteration has been made in the Sikh religion since Govind Singh gave it its military shape; and though changes have taken place, they have been merely the natural result of time and external influences.

4. Sikh initiation and rules.

"The word Sikh is said to be derived from the common Hindu term Sewak and to mean simply a disciple; it may be applied therefore to the followers of Nanak who held aloof from Govind Singh, but in practice it is perhaps understood to mean only the latter, while the Nanakpanthis are considered as Hindus. A true Sikh always takes the termination Singh to his name on initiation, and hence they are sometimes known as Singhs in distinction to the Nanakpanthis. A man is also not born a Sikh, but must always be initiated, and the _pahul_ or rite of baptism cannot take place until he is old enough to understand it, the earliest age being seven, while it is often postponed till manhood. Five Sikhs must be present at the ceremony, when the novice repeats the articles of the faith and drinks sugar and water stirred up with a two-edged dagger. At the initiation of women a one-edged dagger is used, but this is seldom done. Thus most of the wives of Sikhs have never been initiated, nor is it necessary that their children should become Sikhs when they grow up. The faith is unattractive to women owing to the simplicity of its ritual and the absence of the feasts and ceremonies so abundant in Hinduism; formerly the Sikhs were accustomed to capture their wives in forays, and hence perhaps it was considered of no consequence that the husband and wife should be of different faith. The distinguishing marks of a true Sikh are the five _Kakkas_ or _K's_ which he is bound to carry about his person: the _Kes_ or uncut hair and unshaven beard; the _Kachh_ or short drawers ending above the knee; the _Kasa_ or iron bangle; the _Khanda_ or steel knife; and the _Kanga_ or comb. The other rules of conduct laid down by Guru Govind Singh for his followers were to dress in blue clothes and especially eschew red or saffron-coloured garments and caps of all sorts, to observe personal cleanliness, especially in the hair, and practise ablutions, to eat the flesh of such animals only as had been killed by _jatka_ or decapitation, to abstain from tobacco in all its forms, never to blow out flame nor extinguish it with drinking-water, to eat with the head covered, pray and recite passages of the Granth morning and evening and before all meals, reverence the cow, abstain from the worship of saints and idols and avoid mosques and temples, and worship the one God only, neglecting Brahmans and Mullas, and their scriptures, teaching, rites and religious symbols. Caste distinctions he positively condemned and instituted the _prasad_ or communion, in which cakes of flour, butter and sugar are made and consecrated with certain ceremonies while the communicants sit round in prayer, and then distributed equally to all the faithful present, to whatever caste they may belong. The above rules, so far as they enjoin ceremonial observances, are still very generally obeyed. But the daily reading and recital of the Granth is discontinued, for the Sikhs are the most uneducated class in the Punjab, and an occasional visit to the Sikh temple where the Granth is read aloud is all that the villager thinks necessary. Blue clothes have been discontinued save by the fanatical Akali sect, as have been very generally the short drawers or Kachh. The prohibition of tobacco has had the unfortunate effect of inducing the Sikhs to take to hemp and opium, both of which are far more injurious than tobacco. The precepts which forbid the Sikh to venerate Brahmans or to associate himself with Hindu worship are entirely neglected; and in the matter of the worship of local saints and deities, and of the employment of and reverence for Brahmans, there is little, while in current superstitions and superstitious practices there is no difference between the Sikh villager and his Hindu brother." [391]

5. Character of the Nanakpanthis and Sikh sects.

It seems thus clear that if it had not been for the political and military development of the Sikh movement, it would in time have lost most of its distinctive features and have come to be considered as a Hindu sect of the same character, if somewhat more distinctive than those of the Nanakpanthis and Kabirpanthis. But this development and the founding of the Sikh State of Lahore created a breach between the Sikhs and ordinary Hindus wider than that caused by their religious differences, as was sufficiently demonstrated during the Mutiny. In their origin both the Sikh and Nanakpanthi sects appear to have been mainly a revolt against the caste system, the supremacy of Brahmans and the degrading mass of superstitions and reverence of idols and spirit-worship which the Brahmans encouraged for their own profit. But while Nanak, influenced by the observation of Islamic monotheism, attempted to introduce a pure religion only, the aim of Govind was perhaps political, and he saw in the caste system an obstacle to the national movement which he desired to excite against the Muhammadans. So far as the abolition of caste was concerned, both reformers have, as has been seen, largely failed, the two sects now recognising caste, while their members revere Brahmans like ordinary Hindus.

6. The Akalis.

The Akalis or Nihangs are a fanatical order of Sikh ascetics. The following extract is taken from Sir E. Maclagan's account of them: [392]

"The Akalis came into prominence very early by their stout resistance to the innovations introduced by the Bairagi Banda after the death of Guru Govind; but they do not appear to have had much influence during the following century until the days of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They constituted at once the most unruly and the bravest portion of the very unruly and brave Sikh army. Their headquarters were at Amritsar, where they constituted themselves the guardians of the faith and assumed the right to convoke synods. They levied offerings by force and were the terror of the Sikh chiefs. Their good qualities were, however, well appreciated by the Maharaja, and when there were specially fierce foes to meet, such as the Pathans beyond the Indus, the Akalis were always to the front.

"The Akali is distinguished very conspicuously by his dark-blue and checked dress, his peaked turban, often surmounted with steel quoits, and by the fact of his strutting about like Ali Baba's prince with his 'thorax and abdomen festooned with curious cutlery.' He is most particular in retaining the five _Kakkas_, and in preserving every outward form prescribed by Guru Govind Singh. Some of the Akalis wear a yellow turban underneath the blue one, leaving a yellow band across the forehead. The yellow turban is worn by many Sikhs at the Basant Panchmi, and the Akalis are fond of wearing it at all times. There is a couplet by Bhai Gurdas which says:

Siah, Sufed, Surkh, Zardae,
Jo pahne, sot Gurbhai;

or, 'Those that wear black (the Akalis), white (the Nirmalas), red (the Udasis) or yellow, are all members of the brotherhood of the Sikhs.'

"The Akalis do not, it is true, drink spirits or eat meat as other Sikhs do, but they are immoderate in the consumption of _bhang_. They are in other respects such purists that they will avoid Hindu rites even in their marriage ceremonies.

"The Akali is full of memories of the glorious day of the Khalsa; and he is nothing if he is not a soldier, a soldier of the Guru. He dreams of armies, and he thinks in lakhs. If he wishes to imply that five Akalis are present, he will say that 'five lakhs are before you'; or if he would explain he is alone, he will say that he is with 'one and a quarter lakhs of the Khalsa.' You ask him how he is, and he replies that 'The army is well'; you inquire where he has come from, and he says, 'The troops marched from Lahore.' The name Akali means 'immortal.' When Sikhism was politically dominant, the Akalis were accustomed to extort alms by accusing the principal chiefs of crimes, imposing fines upon them, and in the event of their refusing to pay, preventing them from performing their ablutions or going through any of the religious ceremonies at Amritsar."

7. The Sikh Council or Guru-Mata. Their communal meal.

The following account was given by Sir J. Malcolm of the Guru-Mata or great Council of the Sikhs and their religious meal: [393] "When a Guru-Mata or great national Council is called on the occasion of any danger to the country, all the Sikh chiefs assemble at Amritsar. The assembly is convened by the Akalis; and when the chiefs meet upon this solemn occasion it is concluded that all private animosities cease, and that every man sacrifices his personal feelings at the shrine of the general good.

"When the chiefs and principal leaders are seated, the Adi-Granth and Dasama Padshah Ka Granth [394] are placed before them. They all bend their heads before the Scriptures and exclaim, '_Wah Guruji ka Khalsa! wah Guruji ka Fateh!_' [395] A great quantity of cakes made of wheat, butter and sugar are then placed before the volumes of their sacred writings and covered with a cloth. These holy cakes, which are in commemoration of the injunction of Nanak to eat and to give to others to eat next receive the salutation of the assembly, who then rise, while the Akalis pray aloud and the musicians play. The Akalis, when the prayers are finished, desire the Council to be seated. They sit down, and the cakes are uncovered and eaten by all classes of the Sikhs, those distinctions of tribe and caste which are on other occasions kept up being now laid aside in token of their general and complete union in one cause. The Akalis proclaim the Guru-Mata, and prayers are again said aloud. The chiefs after this sit closer and say to each other, 'The sacred Granth is between us, let us swear by our Scriptures to forget all internal disputes and to be united.' This moment of religious fervour is taken to reconcile all animosities. They then proceed to consider the danger with which they are threatened, to devise the best plans for averting it and to choose the generals who are to lead their armies against the common enemy." The first Guru-Mata was assembled by Guru Govind, and the latest was called in 1805, when the British Army pursued Holkar into the Punjab. The Sikh Army was known as Dal Khalsa, or the Army of God, _khalsa_ being an Arabic word meaning one's own. [396] At the height of the Sikh power the followers of this religion only numbered a small fraction of the population of the Punjab, and its strength is now declining. In 1911 the Sikhs were only three millions in the Punjab population of twenty-four millions.

Smarta Sect

_Smarta Sect_.--This is an orthodox Hindu sect, the members of which are largely Brahmans. The name is derived from Smriti or tradition, a name given to the Hindu sacred writings, with the exception of the Vedas, which last are regarded as a divine revelation. Members of the sect worship the five deities, Siva, Vishnu, Suraj or the sun, Ganpati and Sakti, the divine principle of female energy corresponding to Siva. They say that their sect was founded by Shankar Acharya, the great Sivite reformer and opponent of Buddhism, but this appears to be incorrect. Shankar Acharya himself is said to have believed in one unseen God, who was the first cause and sole ruler of the universe; but he countenanced for the sake of the weaker brethren the worship of orthodox Hindu deities and of their idols.

Swami-Narayan Sect

1. The founder.

_Swami-Narayan Sect._ [397]--This, one of the most modern Vaishnava sects, was founded by Sahajanand Swami, a Sarwaria Brahman, born near Ajodhia in the United Provinces in A.D. 1780. At an early age he became a religious mendicant, and wandered all over India, visiting the principal shrines. When twenty years old he was made a Sadhu of the Ramanandi order, and soon nominated as his successor by the head of the order. He preached with great success in Gujarat, and though his tenets do not seem to have differed much from the Ramanandi creed, his personal influence was such that his followers founded a new sect and called it after him. He proclaimed the worship of one sole deity, Krishna or Narayana, whom he identified with the sun, and apparently his followers held, and he inclined to believe himself, that he was a fresh incarnation of Vishnu. It is said that he displayed miraculous powers before his disciples, entrancing whomsoever he cast his eyes upon, and causing them in this mesmeric state (Samadhi) to imagine they saw Sahajanand as Krishna with yellow robes, weapons of war, and other characteristics of the God, and to behold him seated as chief in an assembly of divine beings.

2. Tenets of the sect.