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 46 HISTOEY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

AD, — Only two modes seem practicable. By retiring within itself and engaging in

profound meditation and contemplation, it may render itself insensible to the

Views of the existence of the external world, and thus gradually prepare for becoming part of

Hindoos in,. ,, , mi • i i

regard to the a pure, spu'itual, uucompounded essence, ihus acting, the soul assumes the ofs^^rituai offensive, and in a manner achieves its o^vn freedom. This is one of the modes, perfection. ^j^^| -^^ • ^^ j^j^i^ rcpute with thosc who are of a metaphysical turn, and fond of in- dulging in dreamy indolence. In the other mode the mind is more passive, and the same object is sought to be gained by weakening the powers of the body and thus rendering it incapable of exercising its wonted tyranny. This mode is suited to the taste of those who, incapable of abstract thought and long-continued meditation, excel in physical end 'ance, and are able, as they think, to keep the body under by subjecting it to attenuating processes of hunger and thirst, pain- ful postures, nakedness, extremes of heat and cold, lacerations, gashes, mutilation,s, and numerous barbarities not the less shockino^ from being self-inflicted. Self-inflicted As a general rule, both modes of discipline are practised by the same indi-

tortures. . imp

vidual, and hence while careful to prepare for contemplation by suppressions of breath and mysterious uttei'ances, the Brahmin having, during the last portion of his life abandoned all sensual affections, is enjoined in the Institutes of Menu to " dry up his bodily frame " by means of " harsher and harsher mortifications," and in certain cases to feed " on water and air," till he has " shuffled off* his body." The severest penances mentioned in the Institutes are to " slide back- wards and forwards on the ground," to "stand a whole day on tiptoe," and endure the extremes of heat, cold, and moisture ; but superstition the longer it is indulged always becomes the stronger, and hence to give a list of the severities practised in modern times by the devotees called Yogis and FaJdrs, were to enumerate almost all the imaginable modes of torture. Keeping the palms of the hands closed till the nails grow into the flesh on one side and re-appear on the other — creeping along in twisted forms till permanent and unnatural distor- tion is produced — holding the arms upright till they lose their power of motion and become shrivelled — lying on beds of iron spikes — hanging over slow fires — burying in a living grave with only a small aperture to prevent suffocation — such are only a few of the modes by which superstition proves how expert it is in the art of tormenting. Superstition, indeed, cannot lay claim to all the diabolical ingenuity displayed, but must share it with impostors of various grades who infest the country as mendicants, and extort alms either by the commiseration which their sufferings excite, or the desire to be rid of their filthy and disgusting presence. Naked bodies smeared with the ashes of cow-dung, hair hano-ino; in locks matted toojether with filth, human skulls filled with the same material, and human bones strung around the neck, are among the more common devices used by those who, without practising seLf-denial, are ambitious of the honour or greedy of the profit which even a hypocritical semblance of it too often commands.


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 Chap. II.]

HINDOO FESTIVALS.

47

In order to obtain a full display of the Hindoo religion, and tlie monstrous a.d — practices which it permits and encourages, it will be necessary after having seen how it operates in everyday life, to behold it when crowds are gathered to Hindoo celebrate its greater festivals. As it would be difficult, if not impossible, to give a common description applicable to all, the advisable course will be to select as a specimen the festival of Kali, to whose delight in carnage reference has already been made, and the festival of Juggernaut, which, through the early attention which was drawn to it, is perhaps more familiar and interesting to the British mind than any other.

Kali or Maha Kali is, as will be remembered, identical with Parvati the Festival of wife of Siva, and is celebrated in an annual festival, which receives the name Charak Pujah from the chaJcra or discus, emblematical of the wheeling or swinging employed in its most characteristic performance. Owing to the savage character of Kali, and the numerous crimes of which she is re- garded as the patroness, the Brah- mins and more respectable native classes of Calcutta, in the neighbour- hood of which the festival is held, keep aloof from an open participation

Charak Pujah. — From Gold's Oriental Drawings, and Parke's Wanderings of a Pilgrim.

in it, but at the same time show v^here their sympathies lie by contributing largely to the expsnse, and countenancing the proceedings by their presence as spectators. By the more zealous votaries a whole month before the festival, by others three days, are emjjloyed in initiatory ceremonies of purification and devotion. When the first day devoted to it arrives, an upright pole twenty to thirty feet in height is erected, and across its summit a horizontal beam is placed to move round on a pivot. From each end of the beam hangs a rope, the one loosely and the other with two hooks attached to it. The performance

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 48 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

A.D. — now begins. A devotee coming forward prostrates himself and is immediately fastened to the hooks, which for this purpose are run through the fleshy parts of

Hook- his back near the shoulders. The end of the other rope is then seized by a ° '^ number of persons, who commence running round with it at a rapid pace. This motion is of course communicated at once to the hooks, and the wretched devotee lifted up into the air is swung round in agony Were the flesh to give way, the force with which he is whirled as well as the height would project him like a shot from a gun, and his death would be inevitable. The devotee by giving a signal may be relieved from peril and torture, but he is in no haste to give it, and usually remains suspended from ten minutes to half an hour, for, strange to say! this is a religious service, the merit of which is proportioned to the length of time the agony is endured. The moment he descends and is taken off" the hooks, another steps forward to take his place, and the machine is kept wheeling till the day is far spent. In estimating the aggregate amount of suffering inflicted, it is necessary to remember that these horrid swings are not confined to the suburbs of Calcutta, where Kali's temple stands, but that in thousands of towns and villages throughout Bengal, they are in simultaneous operation, torturing the infatuated devotees, while multitudes of spectators stand around gaping with applause and wonder.

Other When the swino-incj terminates, another equally cruel and more murderous

barbarities. o O l ^

exhibition succeeds. A number of spikes or knives, with their points sloping outwards, are made to protrude from a large straw bag or mattress, and placed in front of a wall or scaffolding from twenty to thirty feet in height. The performance of the devotees is to leap from the scaffolding to the mattress. As the spikes are left somewhat loose, and there is room for the exercise of dexterity in taking the leap, the greater part escape uninjured, but several .sustain serious injuries, and a few are killed on the spot. For the last, the spec- tators feel no pity, because the belief is that the fate which they have met is the punishment of some enormous crime, which they must have committed either • in the present or in some former life. At night the devotees, seated in the open air, make an incision in the skin of their forehead as a receptacle for an iron wire to which they suspend a lamp. These lamps are kept burning till dawn, the wearers meanwhile celebrating the praises of their favourite dignity. It were easy to produce a long list of other self - inflicted tortures — of deluded wretches with their arms and breasts stuck full of pins — of others bound in a sitting posture to the rim of an enormous wheel, every revolution of which must reverse the natural position of head and heels — and of others, who, placing some mustard seeds on some mud with which thej^ have covered the under lip, stretch themselves out on their back.s, under a vow that they will lie there night and day, without change of position, till the seed shall germinate ; but enough has been already said to show by what kind of works the favour of Hindoo deities can be courted.


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 CHAr. II.] HINDOO EITES AND CEREMONIES. 49

The observances already mentioned are rather the preliminaries of the ad. — festival than its actual celebration, which can only be seen with all its accom- ^

paniments in the vicinity of the temple itself, situated near the extremity of a origin of the plain immediately south-east of the capital of British India, and known by the kI^^ ° name of Kali-GJiat. It owes its site, and the veneration in which it is held, to a very singular legend. Siva's wife was Sati, the daughter of Brahma. After ' the marriage the two gods quarrelled. Brahma, who was the aggressor, not only ' insulted his son-in-law by leaving him uninvited to a banquet which he gave to the immortals, but stigmatized him as a wandering beggar, a dweller among tombs, a carrier of human skulls. Sati took the quarrel so much to heart, that she proceeded to the banks of the Ganges and yielded up her life, thereby furnishing an example, on which the Brahmins for want of a better have eagerly seized, to justify the immolation of widows, hence called satis or suttees. Siva on beholding his wife's lifeless body was literally di.sti'acted, and tlirusting his trident into it beo-an whirlino- it in the air with frantic sfestures. His violence shook the three worlds, and threatened the universe with destruc- tion. Even the gods were in alarm, and Vishnu, as preserver, hastened to interpose. With the view of calming Siva he reminded him that the world has no real existence, and that everything in it is only rtiaya, or illusion. This was but sorry comfort, and Siva m his frenzy continued to rage and gesticulate as furiously as before. It next occurred to Vishnu that his fellow-god would calm down if Sati's body was removed from liis sight, and therefore while it was whirling on the trident, he took a scimitar and kept hacking it till the whole had disappeared. Siva was not aware of this hacking process till it was completed, but as soon as the object which made him frantic was removed, re- turned to a sound mind. He was afterwards completely consoled by the return of Sati to him under the form of Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya. From the rapidity with which her body was whirled when Vishnu hewed it in pieces, the fragments were carried to great distances, and have made all the places where they were found famous. The toes of the right foot fell at Kali- Ghat and had lain in the ground undiscovered for ages, when a Brahmin, to whom their position had been revealed in a dream, dug them up, and erected on the site the temple which now bears the name of Kali. The hideous form usually borne by the idol has already been described, and it therefore only remains to give an account of the great day of the festival. The means have happily been provided by a most competent eye-witness, and we shall therefore do little more than abridge and occasionally quote verbatim from the graphic description given by Dr. Duff. '

At early dawn the native population of Calcutta begin to move in myriads its ap- along the road leading to Kali-Ghat — mere spectators, m promiscuous throngs, described. gaily dressed as for a holiday — and devotees in isolated groups, easily distin-

' India and Indian Missions. Vol. II. 96


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 50

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book IV-

VD. —

Festival of Kali.

guislied by their loose robes and their foreheads liberally besprinkled with ver- milion. "Two or three of them are decked in speckled or party-coloured garments, uttering ludicrous unmeaning sounds, and playing off all sorts of antic gestures not unlike the merry-andrews on the stage of a country fair. Two or three with garlands of flowers hanging about their neck, or tied round the head, have their sides transpierced with iron rods, which project in front, and meet at an angular point, to which is affixed a small vessel in the form of a shovel.

Devotees of Kali.' — From Soltykoflf.

Two or three, covered with ashes, carry in their hands iron spits or rods of different lengths, small bamboo canes or Imkah tubes, hard twisted cords oi- living snakes whose fangs have been extracted, bending their limbs into unsightly attitudes and chanting legendary songs. Two or three more are the beaiers of musical instruments — horned trumpets, gongs, tinkling cymbals, and large hoarse drums, surmounted with towering bunches of black and white ostrich feathers." Then instruments blown or beaten lustily make loud and discordant music. Besides the groups of devotees who move along in succession as far as the eye can reach, others are seen advancing and spreading over the southern side of the plain where the temple stands, with flags and other pageants, and with portable stages "on which men and women are engaged in ridiculous, and often worse than ridiculous, pantomimic performances." The temple is surrounded by a high wall and a court, and the principal access to it is by a gate on the west side. Opposite to this gate stands a party of Brahmins

' In Mra. Belnos' Manners in Benpal, are two groups of devotees of Kali, and from these we have selected some of the principal figures. One of tlje men dressed in red silk, with female ornaments, and bells on his feet, was dancing with a water-snake, alive, thrust through his tongue, Iiolding it only by its tail; the reptile curling its head and hissing. Another man, in similar dress, held in his hand an iron shovel with two pointed handles, which were

thrust through both his sides; the shovel had red-hot coals, on which from time to time the devotee threw some kind of powder which blazed up. One man had a bamboo, nearly three inches in circumference, bored through his tongue; another had two ropes run through his sides, the four ends of which were held by two men, whilst he danced backwards and forwards, with as much unconcern as if the ropes only went through his garments.


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 Chap. II.] HINDOO RITES AND CEREMONIES. 51

distributing consecrated flowers, and receiving free-will offerings of money in ad. return. After the gate is passed the temple "starts up full in view." The spectators keep moving along a narrow pathway on the south side between Festival of the temple and a portico, while the devotees pass on the outside of the portico itself towards the eastern side of the court. The proceedings which there take place are thus described: —

"Towards the wall there were stationed several blacksmiths with sharp in- struments in their hands. Those of a particular group that carried the rods, canes, and other implements, now came forward. One would stretch out his hand, and getting it instantly pierced through, in would pass one of his rods or canes. Another would hold out his arm, and getting it perforated, in would pass one of his iron spits or tubes. A third would protrude his tongue, and getting it also bored through, in would pass one of his cords or serpents. And thus all of a group that desired it, had themselves variously transpierced or per- forated. When these groups had finished, another group was waiting in readi- ness to undergo the cruel operation ; and so another and another apparently without end." Everything was now in readiness for the most solemn act of worship. It is thus described: — " Those of the different groups that carried in front the vessels already referred to, now ranged themselves all round the in- terior of the colonnade. All the rest assembled themselves within this living circle. On a sudden, at a signal given, commenced the bleating, and the low- ing, and the struggling of the animals slaughtered in sacrifice at the farthest end of the portico ; and speedily was the ground made to swim with sacrificial blood. At the same moment of time the vessel carriers threw upon the burning coals in their vessels handfuls of Indian pitch, composed of various combustible substances. Instantly ascended the smoke, and the flame, and the sulphureous smell. Those who had the musical instruments sent forth their loud, and jarring, and discordant sounds. And those who were transpierced began dancing in the most frantic manner — pulling backwards and forwards through their wounded members the rods and the canes, the spits and the tubes, the cords and the writhing serpents, till their bodies seemed streaming with their own blood." During this frightful scene the spectators looked on and applauded, ever and anon raising loud shouts of "Victory to Kali! Victory to the great Kali!" the grim idol which, seated within the temple, enveloped in a gloom artificially created by allowing no light to enter except by the door, was supposed to listen de- lighted to the homage thus offered.

Juggernaut, or Jagannath, justly designated as " that mighty pagoda, the Festival of

f. ,,. T. Juggernaut.

mirror of all wickedness and idolatry," stands on the coast of Orissa, near the north-western shore of the Bay of Bengal, at the end of the principal street of the town of same name, every span of which, as well as a large adjoining district, is regarded as holy ground. Being the first object which meets the eye of the stranger, who, after a long voyage, is approaching the mouth of the


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 52. HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book lY.

A.D. — Hooglily, it would be a welcome sight, were not its name associated with mon- strous delusions and shocking barbarities. Seen from a distance, whether by sea

Festival of or land, it has certainly an imposing appearance, and even a nearer approach in the latter direction does not destroy this impression, for the whole town is inclosed bj'^ luxuriant groves and gardens, which produce the best fruit of the province ; but at last the filth and stench, the swarms of religious mendicants, and other objects offensive alike to the eye, the ear, and the nostril, dispel all illusion, and leave little room for any feeling but disgust.

The temple The temple, erected A.D. 1198, stands in a square area, inclosed by a lofty

i-lcsci'i bcil

stone wall, each side of which is about 650 feet in length. It is built chiefly of a coarse granite, resembling sandstone, and appears as a vast mass of masoniy, surmoimted by several lofty towers. Its architecture is rude and inelegant, and no taste has been displayed in the selection and execution of its ornaments. These defects are rendered still more prominent by the treatment which it has received in modern times. A coating of chunam with which it was covered has all been washed away, except a few stains and patches, and many parts of the sculpture, in order to stand out more prominently, have been barbarously bedaubed with red paint. After entering the inclosure by the principal gate of entrance on the east, a flight of steps leads to a terrace, twenty feet in height, inclosed by a second wall, 445 feet square. Within this inclosure most of the principal deities of the Hindoo pantheon have temples. More especially under the great tower, which forms its sanctuary, stand idols of Balbhadra, identified with Siva — Subhadra, identified with Devi or Kali — as weU as of Jagannath, or the lord of the miiverse, of whom some account must now be given. For this purpose it will be necessary to select from competing legends the one which is most generally received. Legend Krishua, it will be remembered, was accidentally killed in a thicket by an

jiiggeruaut. arrow. The hunter who shot the arrow left the body to rot under a tree, but some pious persons collected the bones and placed them in a box. Here they remained till the following incident took place: — Indra Dhooma, the King or Maharajah of Oojein, distinguished for his piety, was supplicating the favour of Vishnu, when the god appeared and assured him that he might gain the fruit of all his religious austerities, by putting the bones of Krishna into the belly of an image of Juggernaut. The king asked who should make the image, and was instructed to make application by prayer to Vishwakarma, the architect of the gods. Vishwakarma consented, but at the same time declared that if any one disturbed him while at work, he would leave the image unfinished. In one night he built a temple on what is called the Blue Mountain in Orissa, and then began with the image. After fifteen days had elapsed the king became im- patient, and went to see what progress had been made. The architect thus interrupted put his threat in execution, and left the image without hands or feet. The king, greatly disconcerted, applied to Brahma, who promised to


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 CHAr. TL]

HINDOO KITES AND CEREMONIES.

53

Idol of Juggernaut.

From Fergusson's Hindoo Architecture.

make the image famous in its present shape. Accordingly, when it was set up he not only invited all the gods to be present, but condescended to act as high- priest, and gave both eyes and soul to Juggernaut, whose fame was thus com- pletely established.

The above legend is so far defective that it does not account for the fact that the temple, instead of being consecrated to Vishnu alone, under his form of Jug- gernaut, is held as a kind of joint tenancy between him and two other gods. Tlie Brahmins of Orissa have availed themselves of this circumstance to maintain that the worship in that temple is more spiritual than what is generally practised elsewhere. Their explanation is that the deity worsliipped at Juggernaut is not subordinate to any other but the supreme Spirit itself; that the images are shapeless because the Vedas declare that the deity has no particular form; and that their grotesque and hideous form has been given them in order to terrify the vulgar into the discharge of duty. It may be true that some allegorical meaning, far more rational than that which is generally received, may be hidden under both the shape and the number of the shapeless idol, but the only thing which can be asserted without contradiction is, that if the object was to produce terror, it has been accomplished.

The number of annual festivals celebrated at Juo-gernaut is thirteen, bat two, called the Asnan and the Rath Jatras, are greatly distinguished above the rest, because then only the monstrous idols are publicly exposed to view. The Rath Jatra, again, takes precedence of the Asnan, because on it alone the idols, besides being publicly exposed, pay a visit on their car to a place about a mile and a half distant. To the Rath, therefore, as the greatest of all th.e festivals, our attention will now be confined. In anticipation of the appointed day, vast numbers of pilgrims have assembled from all parts of the country. Many of these, affecting superior sanctity, or desirous of acquiring superior merit, have measm-ed the whole length of the way with their own bodies, and others of them suffer voluntarily or of necessity so many privations, that the pilgrimage is said to be every year the direct or indirect cause of from 2000 to 3000 deatlis. This computation will not appear exaggerated when it is considered that the aggregate number of pilgrims is not less than 50,000, and that the roads leading to the temple are in many places literally strewed with the bones or other remains of human beings.

The festival is celebrated on the second day of the new moon in Asar, that is in the end of June or beginning of July. After various prayers and cere- monies within the temple, the idols are brought forth beyond the principal

A D, —

Brahmin ical explanation of tlie worship offered to Juggeriraut.

His annual festivals.


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 54 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

AD. — entrance, called the Lion Gate, from its being flanked with colossal figures of

lions, or more properly griffins in a sitting posture. Balbhadra, Juggernaut,

The festival and Subliadra, the so-called deities, are nothing more than wooden busts, about

jatra. six fcct in height, fashioned into a rude resemblance of the human head, resting on a sort of pedestal. The first two, as representatives of Siva and Vishnu, or rather of their incarnations Bala Rama and Krishna, are considered brothers ; the third as an incarnation of Devi or Kali is their sister. The brothers, painted respectively white and black, have arms projecting horizontally forward from the ears; the sister, painted yellow, is left devoid of similar appendages. All three have frightfully grim and distorted countenances, and w^ear a head-dress of cloth of different colom^s, shaped somewhat like a helmet. In bringing them out without the gate the priests, after placing them on a kind of litter, fasten a common rope round their necks. This done, some drag them down the steps, and through, the mud, while othei's keep them erect, and help their movements by shoving them from behind in the most unceremonious manner. Balbhadra, as the elder brother, enjoys a kind of precedence which it would be dangerous to withhold, owing to the fanaticism of the Sivaites, who honour in him their favoui'ite divinity. He is brought out first, occupies the largest car, and takes the lead in the procession which is to follow, but neither he nor his sister receives a tithe of the adoration which is paid to Juggernaut, whose appearance is hailed with an universal shout, to be likened only to that which at the council of Pan- demonium "tore hell's concave." The cars, respectively 43, 41, and 40 feet high, move on ponderous wheels, of which Baibhadi'a's has sixteen, and each of the others fourteen wheels. To put them in motion strong cables have been pro- vided, and the moment the signal is given, first the inhabitants of the neigh- bouring districts, whose peculiar duty and privilege it is, and then the multitudes generally, make a rush, and seizing the cables, drag forward the raths or cars. The shoutings which they raise, the clatter of hundreds of harsh- sounding in- struments, and the creaking, crashing sound of the ponderous machines are absolutely deafening. The violent effort required in dragging cannot be continued without alternate pauses, at each of which the dy talcs, or charioteers of the god, advance to a projecting part of the stage, and, by words and gestures, give utter- ance and display to gross obscenity. The multitude shout applause, and the dragging is resumed. At one period numerous instances of self-immolation oc- curred. Devotees, throwing themselves in front of the cars while in motion, were in a moment crushed to death beneath the wheels. Such cases are now so rare that they cannot be fiiirly represented as forming part of the regular cele- bration of the festival, but numerous other abominations and extravagances remain to justify the worst that can be said of it. The following description of an eye-witness, in June, 1814, is given in the Asiatic Journal: —

" The sights here beggar all description. Though Juggernaut made some progress on the 19th, and has travelled daily ever since, he has not yet reached


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 Chap. II. j HINDOO EITES AND CEREMONIES. 55

the place of his destination. His brother is ahead of him, and the lady in the ad. —

rear. One woman has devoted herself under the wheels, and a shocking sight

it was. Another also intended to devote herself, missed the wheels with her Festival of

,, , , . . - Rath Jatra.

body, and had her arm broken. Three people lost then- lives m the crowd. The place swarms with fakirs and mendicants, whose devices to attract attention are, in many instances, ingenious. You see some standing for half the day on their heads, bawling all the while for alms ; some having their eyes filled with mud, and their mouths with straw ; some lying in puddles of water ; one man with his foot tied to his neck, another with a pot of fire on his belly, and a third enveloped in a network made of rope."

When the question is asked, At whose instigation, and for whose benefit is "^JJ^J^" g^ai!- this monstrous festival celebrated? the answer must be. That of the Brahmins, minsinthe

festival.

who are maintained in idleness and luxury on the endowments of the temple, and the immense revenue obtained by levying a pilgrim tax. Upwards of 8000 of their families subsist in this way, and manage to have not only lodging, but also board, free of expense. The appetite of the idol is so insatiable that he eats fifty-two times a day, and gives sufficient occupation to nearly 400 cooks. It is needless to say that their cookery goes to other mouths than that of Juggernaut, and that the voluntary presents of rice which pilgrims are en- couraged to make as a means of propitiating his favour, besides sufficing for the' ]Driests, leaves a surplus, which, deriving additional value from having been conse- crated, finds numerous and eager purchasers. Even such palpable imposture suf- fices not to satisfy the Brahminical avarice, and votaries are allured to the temple by means of a far more disgracefiil nature. Among the regular attendants of the temple are 120 dancing girls. The nature of their employment is thus explained by Dubois: — " The service they perform consists of dancing and singing. The first they execute with grace, though with lascivious attitudes and motions. Their chanting is generally confined to the obscene songs which relate to some circumstance or other of the licentious lives of their gods. They perform these religious duties at the temple to which they belong twice a day — morning and evening. They are also obliged to assist at all the public ceremonies, which they enliven with their dance and merry song. As soon as their public business is over, they open their cells of infamy, and convert the temple of worship into a den of licentiousness."

In reading such descriptions as the above, one would fain forget how closely Connectiou

_ of the

connected the British government once, was with this very temple. When, in British the course of conquest, the territory in which it was situated became an integral ^tMt™^" part of our Indian empire, it was necessary that some precautions should be taken against the disturbance of the public peace, by the vast crowds brought together from all parts of the country to celebrate the festivals. Had the East India Company, acting with the consent, or rather by the direct authority of the government at home, confined themselves to interference for this purpose alone.


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[Book I^

A.D. —

Connection of British governnie:it nitli tlie festival of

it could not have been misunderstood, and would in itself have been unobjec- tionable. Most unwisely, and we need not hesitate to add, impiously, they vii'tually took the grim and obscene idol under their protection, by undertaking to levy his revenues, and defray all the expenses of his estaljlishment. In con- sequence of the coimection thus formed they not only appointed one of their servants to collect the pilgrim tax, and pay over any residue which might accrue into their own treasury, but furnished part at least of the trappings used in tlie festival. There can be no doubt of the fact ; and hence Stirling, in his excellent account of Orissa, inserted in volume xv. of the Asiatic Researches, when alluding incidentally to the appearance of the oxiths or cars, says, that " every part of the ornament is of the most mean and paltry description, save only the

W§ "^'y^^k^.

l - "^^^fe^^^^--- — __- —

Ji..VJ1U.lAIIB

Car and Procession of Juggernaut. — From Fergusson's Hindoo Architecture

covering of strijjed and spangled hroadclotli furnished from the export 'ware- house of the British governraent, the splendour and gorgeous effect oftvhich com- pensate in a great measure for other deficiencies of decoration." The cutting censure here implied is afterwards distinctly pronounced when he describes the difficulty of dragging the cars from the flagging zeal of the pilgrims; and then adds — ' Even the gods' own proper servants will not labour zealously and effectually without the interposition of authority. I imagine the ceremony would soon cease to be conducted on its present scale and footing, if the institution were left entirely to its fate, and to its own resources, by the officers of the British government." In other words, a government professedly Cliristian was


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engaged in the unhallowed task of not only countenancing idolatry in its most ad. -

abominable form, but of propping it up when it was falling by its own weight. It is needless to examine the arguments, partly mercenary and partly Machia- vellian, employed to justify this alliance with idolatry, since the moral sense revolts against it, and public opinion, once blinded, lias become alive to its enormity, and extinguished it for ever.

The character of the gods and the kind of worship deemed acceptable to Fmiaamen them having been explained, it will now be necessary to examine the other pies of leading articles of the Hindoo creed, and thus obtain a key to the motives by vfJi^f°"* which those who profess it are influenced in their religious observances. Man never sinks so low as not to have some reliffion. The idea of the existence of a higher order of beings than himself is so natural that some have conceived it to be innate, and there is an easy transition from this idea to the conviction, that such beino^s, besides beino- cognizant of human affairs, exercise a direct and powerful influence over them. Hence the important question arises — According to what rule do they act in distributing their favours? or. By what course of conduct may these be most effectually secured ? The importance of this question is greatly increased by the consideration of a future state. When the body dies, the spirit which animated it is not extinguished. It only departs from the tabernacle in which it dwelt, or escapes from the prison-house in which it was confined, and has thereby, in all probability, been rendered more susceptible than ever of pleasure and pain. The belief that these are not dispensed indiscrimi- nately, but awarded according to desert, gives meaning, and is in fact the great incentive to religious observance. Some homage might indeed be paid to a higher nature from instinctive respect and veneration, without expectation of ulterior benefit, but formal and regular worship never would be performed by any one not persuaded that he might by means of it promote at once his present and his future welfare. All systems of religion, tlierefore, how widely soever they may differ in their particular features, must be based on certain fundamental beliefs — an over-rulnig providence belonging exclusively to one Su- preme Being, or ascribed by a foolish imagination to an indefinite series of so- called deities — a future state — and a distribution of rewards and punishments, according to some fixed rule of favour or supposed desert. In the Christian system each of these is exhibited in its most perfect form — one only God, infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness — a future state, in which the destiny of every individual, the moment he quits the ]iresent life, is irrevocably fixed — and a distribution of happiness and misery, not indeed according to a desert of which human nature is incapable, but as the completion of a wondrous plan in which truth meets with mercy, and righteousness with peace. In all these respects Hindooism presents not a resemblance, but a hideous contrast. The nature of its gods has been seen. Turn now to its future state.

The great peculiarity of the Hindoo creed in regard to a future state is its Vol. II. 97


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HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book IV.

A.D.

doctrine of a transmigration of souls, which, having been borrowed from them by the Greeks, has received the name of metempsychosis. According to this Dogma of doctrine, the present life is intended not so much for probation as for transition.

transmigra-. ., , ,

tion. As a general rule, the soul on quitting the body passes into another, and thus

commences a new life, no longer, it may be, in the form of a liuman being, but in that of a lower animal, or even of a vegetable. There is no necessity for confining this curious process to the future, and hence it is actually extended to both the present and the past. All the forms of life now existing are animated by beings who, though utterly unconscious of the fact, previously existed, and owe their present place in the scale of being to the course of conduct which they then pursued. Those in the lower and more degrading forms are paying the penalty of former misdeeds ; those more favourably situated are entitled, besides congratulating themselves on their good fortune, to take credit for a fund of merit of which they are now reaping the reward. This strange doctrine leads

itspemici- directly to important practical results. Poverty, misfortune, and all the ills

ous effects

on society which flcsh is heir to, we have been taught to regard as divine dispensations, sent more in mercy than in judgment, and designed for the moral improvement, both of the sufferers themselves, and of those who only witnessed their suffer- ings. While the former are invited to look upward, and aspire to a better happiness than this world can bestow, the latter are enjoined to sympathize with the distresses, and minister as stewards of the divine bounty to the necessities of their less fortunate brethren. The Hindoo view does not allow any such lessons to be taught. It first identifies misfortune with crime, com- mitted in the present or in a former life, and then refuses to relieve it, on the hypocritical pretext that to do so were to thwart the design of the deity by whom the penalty is inflicted. This is not a theoretical inference, but a well ascertained fact; and hence, when, as not unfrequently happens, the flesh of one of the swinging devotees gives way, and he is dashed down to instant death, the spectators either look on with apathy, or give utterance to their belief that lie would not have been killed in this way if he had not deserved it.

Tliis hardness of heart, steeling a man against his fellow, and making him indifferent to his fate, is not the only pernicious consequence of the dogma of transmigration. While it destroys mutual sympathy, and thus deprives society of one of the strongest bonds by which its stability and good order are maintained, it operates still more injuriously on the individual. Life has an object truly worthy of the name, when it is regarded as the period during which immortal happiness must be gained, or for ever forfeited. On the contrary, when it is regarded as nothing more than one in a series of metamorphoses, of which many have already taken place and others are to follow in almost endless succession, its main interest is destroyed, and it becomes incapable of furnishing the necessary incentive to piety and virtue in the shape of a final and eternal reward. What the human soul longs for, after it has been made sensible of its

n indivi- duals.


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 Chap. IY.] HINDOO LITERATURE. ]27

must have either spoken it as their mother tongae, or been brought into such a.d. —

immediate contact with it as to borrow a large part of their speech from it. The five northern languages of India, those of the Punjab, Kanoje, Mithila or North Sanscrit-. Behar, Bengal, and Gujerat, do not differ more from Sanscrit than Italian from Latin ; and of the five lano:aao;es of the Deccan, while two of them, those of Orissa and Maharashtra, are so full of Sanscrit words that their existence as languages would be destroyed by expunging them, the other three, the Tamul, Teluo-u, and Carnata, thouo^h so different in structure as to indicate a distinct origin from Sanscrit, have incorporated many of its words in the same way as Enoflish has borrowed from Latin.

While Sanscrit might thus have bsen expected to hold its ground in conse- Now only a

, ., . •, T -x • ^ ^ L dead lan-

quence of the vast area over which it was spoken or understood, it had a strong guage. additional security for its permanence as a living language from the exclusive use of it in all branches of knowledge, sacred and profane. Even when the selfish- ness and ambition of the Brahmins succeeded in excluding the other classes from access to the Veda, it miglit have been expected that the language in which they were written would still be kept alive among the great body of the people, by the numerous legends, hymns, and poems embodied in it, and made familiar to them from their earliest years by being, rehearsed in ordinary life and at public festivals. Another guarantee for permanence was given in the excellence of the language itself, which is pronounced by Sir William Jones, perhaps with some degree of hyperbole, to be " more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." All these circum- stances, however, have proved unavailing, and the Sanscrit, banished from the tongues of Hindoos, owes its preservation not to them but to the literary treasures which it contains.

Almost everything among the Hindoos that deserves the name of litera- Hindoo

poetry.

ture is composed in verse ; and therefore, without stopping to take any notice of their prose, we pass at once to their poetry. In forming an estimate of it it is necessary to remember that for poetical compositions, when viewed through the medium of translation, great allowance ought to be made. Homer and Virgil, if known only through the translations of Pope and Dryden, would not be thought worthy of a tithe of the encomiums which all who read them in the original are ready to pronounce upon them ; and there is no ground to suppose that any of the translators from the Sanscrit have performed their task so well as Pope and Dryden. Where the two languages vary so much in structure as English and Sanscrit, and not merely the whole train of thought, but all the figures that can be used in the way of ornament and illustration, differ so v,ddely, a translator cannot hope to do much more than give the sense. The reader consequently knows nothing of the melody of the versification, nor of the facility of forming compounds, which are said to give Sanscrit composi- • tions a peculiar charm and add greatly to their richness, and is hence apt to be


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59 Chap. II.] CREED OF THE HINDOOS. 59

original dignity and desirous of regaining it, is a haven of purity and felicity, a.d. — where it may rest secure after all the toils and trials of the present life are ended ; whereas Hindooism only offers a repetition of the same toils and trials under a new form — a repetition which indeed has some imaginary limits assigned to it, but those so remote, that it may after the lapse of ages give no signs of drawing to a close.

A less unfavourable view of the dogma of transmigration is sometimes taken, Tme nature and it ha.s been said that by it " hope seems denied to none ; the most wicked giatiou. man, after being purged of his crimes by ages of suffering and repeated trans- migrations, may ascend in the scale of being, until he may enter into heaven, and even attain the highest reward of all the good, which is incorporation in the essence of God."^ Such a result being certainly possible, it may be worth while to trace the steps of the process by which it is to be obtained. In the twelfth chap- ter of the Institutes of Menu, which treats at length of transmigration and final beatitude, the explanation of the dogma is as follows: — "A rational creature has a reward or a punishment for mental acts in his mind ; for verbal acts in his organs of speech ; for corporeal acts in his bodily frame. For sinful acts corporeal, a man shall assume a vegetable or mineral form ; for such acts verbal, the form of a bird or a beast ; for acts mental, the lowest of human conditions." Again: "Be it known, that the three qualities of the rational soul are a tendency to goodness, to passion, and to darkness; and endued with one or more of them, it remains incessantly attached to all these created substances." "When a man perceives in the reasonable soul a disposition tending to virtuous Mode in

' _ which its

love, unclouded with any malignant passion, clear as the purest light, let him changes are recognize it as the quality of goodness ; a temper of mind which gives uneasi- °. ness, and produces disaffection, let him consider as the adverse quality of passion, ever agitating embodied spirits; that indistinct, inconceivable, unaccountable disposition of a mind naturally sensual and clouded with infatuation, let him know to be the quality of darkness." Each of these three qualities or dispositions of mind admits of three degrees — a highest, a middle, and a lowest. The corre- sponding transmigrations are thus described: — 1. "Vegetable and mineral sub- stances, worms, insects and reptiles, fish, snakes, tortoises, cattle, shakals, are the lowest forms to which the dark quality leads ; elephants, horses, men of the servile class, and contemptible MlecJihas (barbarians), lions, tigers, and boars, are the mean states procured by the quality of darkness ; dancers and singers, Quauties of

QtiriC 11633

birds, and deceitful men, giants and blood-thirsty savages, are the highest con- ana passion ditions to which the dark quality can ascend." 2. " Jhallas or cudgel-players, mallas or boxers and wrestlers, natas or actors, those who teach the use of weapons, and those who are addicted to gaming and drinking, are the lowest forms occasioned by the passionate quality ; kings, men of the fighting class, domestic priests of kings, and men skilled in the war of controversy, are the

' Elphinatone's History of India, vol. i. pages 189, 190.


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60 60

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AD.

Quality of [xissiou.

Quality of sooduess.

Iliiiiloo heaven.

1 ts limited iluratiou.

middle states caused by the quality of passion ; gandJiarvas or aerial musicians, ghuyacas and yacshas or servants and companions of Cuvera, genii attending superior gods, as the vidyadharas and others ; together with various companies of apsarases or nymphs, are the highest of those forms which the quality of passion attains." 3. " Hermits, religious mendicants, other Brahmins, such orders of demigods as are wafted in airy cars, genii of the signs and lunar mansions, and da'Uyas, are the lowest of the states procured by the quality of goodness ; sacrificers, holy sages, deities of the lower heaven, genii of the Vedas, regents of stars, divinities of years, pi^/'is or progenitors of mankind, and the demigods named sadhyas, are the middle forms to which the good quality conveys; Brahma with four faces, creators of worlds, as Marichi, the genius of virtue, the divinities presiding over Mahat or the Mighty, and Avyacta or Unperceived, are the highest conditions to which, by the good quality, souls are exalted."

In regard to those possessing the quality of goodness, it seems to be held that as soon as the present body dies, the soul rises at once to its destined eleva- tion, and hence goodness in the highest degree exempts its possessor from trans- migration of any kind, and gives him what is conceived to be the greatest of all possible rewards — immediate absorption into the divine essence. Where good- ness is possessed in its middle and lowest, and passion in its highest degree, the reward, though immediate, requires a transmigration. Persons thus qualified are admitted to some kind of celestial mansion, where they either act as ministering servants in the form of aerial musicians, nymphs, and genii, or become demi- gods, wafted in airy cars, occupants of the lunar mansions, regents of stars, deities of the lower heaven, &:c. Here doubtless their happiness is great, for Hindoo imagination has done its best to furnish the habitations of the gods with everything that ministers to enjoyment — with palaces of gold resplendent with gems, magnificent gardens watered by crystal streams and producing all kinds of delicious fruits, lovely flowers and fragrant perfumes, music chanted by aerial choristers, and perpetual feasts, by which the appetite is always grati- fied and never -cloyed. The abode of Yama must indeed be visited before these heavens can be reached; but for tliem it has no terrors, since their path lies along delightful meadows, under the shade of magnificent trees, and by the banks of streams covered with the lotus. The mansions which those possessing only the lower degrees of goodness are taught to anticipate, are in fact far more attractive than the final reward of absorption, which, in any view that can be taken of it, looks very like annihilation. It is not therefore surprising that the number who would be contented with the former is far greater than that of those who aspire to the latter. In the Hindoo system, however, even the happi- ness of heaven has a canker in it. It is not immortal. After a period, which, however long it may be, is so fixed and definite, that its days and years can be counted, a new cycle begins. The inhabitants, in the midst of their enjoy- ments, cannot forget the fact that they must sooner or later quit them, and be


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61 Chap. II.] CREED OF THE HINDOOS. 61

driven into exile, to enter on some new state of being, in which it may be their a.d.

lot to sink to some unfathomable abyss of misery. When thus taught that blessedness, even when attained, is held by a precarious tenm-e, the worshipper does not reason very illogically when he resolves to give up all thoughts of the future, and confine his aspirations to the present life.

Besides those who are at once united to Brahma by absori^tion, without Hindoo transmigration, and those who possess merit sufficient to obtain temporary admission into some kind of heaven, there are others — forming, it is to Ije suspected, the far greater number — to whom the future presents itself only as a period of fearful retribution. These consisting chiefly of those in whom the quality of darkness predominates, are not considered fit even for transmigration till they have, in part at least, expiated their guilt in one of the numerous hells provided for that purpose. "When after death they set out for the court of Yama, who is to sit in judgment on them and fix their doom, they perform the journe}^ amid inconceivable horrors, and rend the air with shrieks and wailing. The sentence passed consigns them to a hell where the torment is adapted to the guilt which it is meant to punish. One sticks in the mud with his head downward, another is plunged in boiling oil, another is being sawed in two ; some stand among molten metal, some have their toe nails or tongues wrenched out, and numbers have their entrails perpetually gnawed by ravenous beasts, birds, and reptiles. It is only after "having passed," as the Institutes of Menu express it, " through terrible regions of torture for a great number of years," that they are condemned to new births. And what births? Some migrate "a hundred times into the forms of gTasses, of shrubs with crowded stems, or of creeping and twining plants, of carnivorous animals, of beasts with sharp teeth, or of cruel brutes;" others "pass a thousand times into the bodies of spiders, of snakes and cameleons, of aquatic monsters, or of mischievous blood-sucking demons." Again, " If a man steal grain in the husk, he shall be born a rat ; if a yellow mixed metal, a gander ; if water, a plava or diver ; if honey, a great stinging gnat; if milk, a crow; if expressed juice, a dog; if clarified butter, an ichneumon weasel," and so on through a long list, in some of which a congruity between the crime and the punishment may be detected, while in others the birth seems to have been selected at random by fancy run riot. It is added that "women who have committed similar thefts incur a similar taint, and shall be paired with those male beasts in the form of their females." Such, then, is the future state which Hindooism has prepared for those who embrace it. An absorption into the divine essence, destructive of personal identity, and conse- quently equivalent to annihilation, is the highest blessedness to which its greatest saints can aspire ; a heaven furnished with all that is most captivating to the senses, but not destined for perpetuity, constitutes its next highest reward; and a hell of unspeakable misery, to be followed after thousands of years by reappearance in the world, under some degenerate form, is the only


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62 62 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book IV.

AD. — doom which the great majority of worshippers can anticipate. As even this doom is not fixed beyond the possibility of change, there is a sense in which it

Hiniiooheii. may be said, that "hope is denied to none;" but the truth of the case would be more accurately expressed by saying, that to all professing Hindoos, with the exception of a comparatively small number, to whom peculiar favour is shown, the natural tendency of their creed is not to cherish hope, but to produce indif- ference or despair. This will be made manifest by attending to the mode in which its rewards and punishments are distributed.

Hindoo All actions not indifferent, naturally range themselves under the two great

inor.il sjs-. . f, ■,. . ^

tern. heads of "virtuous" and "vicious." Every form of religion, false as well as true,

recognizes this important classification, and professes to distribute rewards and punishments in accordance with it. In this respect Hindooism follows the common rule, and presents a system of morality which, notwithstanding some glaring defects and excrescences, does not suffer by comparison with any other system derived from the mere light of nature. Thus, not only is the funda- mental principle laid down, that, " for the sake of distinguishing actions. He (the supreme Ruler) made a total difference between right and wrong ;" but the peculiar qualities belonging to each are enumerated with considerable accuracy and fulness. Even from the Institutes of Menu, though not specially intended to furnish a complete moral code, it would be possible to extract a series of pre- cepts enjoining the observance of almost all individual and relative duties. The Its compara- following quotatious give a sufficient specimen. In regard to the natural ten- nessand deucics of virtuc and vice, it is declared that "even here below an unjust man

accuracy.

attains no felicity;" and, therefore, though a man should be "oppressed by penury, in consequence of his righteous dealings, let liim never give his mind to unrighteousness ; for he may observe the speedy overthrow of iniquitous and sinful men. Yes; iniquity once committed, fails not of producing fruit to him that wrought it ; if not in his own person, yet in his sons, or if not in his sons, yet in his grandsons. He grows rich for a while through unrighteousness ; then he beholds good things; then it is that he vanquishes his foes; but he perishes at length from his root upwards." To these observations, equally sound in principle and confirmed by experience, it is immediately added, " Let a man continually take pleasure in truth, in justice, in laudable practices, and in purity ; let him chastise those whom he may chastise ' in a legal mode ; let him keep in subjection his speech, his arm, and his appetite ; wealth and pleasures repugnant to law, let him shun ; and even lawful acts, which may cause future pain or be offensive to mankind. Let him not have nimble hands, restless feet, or voluble eyes ; let him not be crooked in his ways ; let him not be flippant in his speech, nor intelligent in doing mischief; let him walk in the path of good men." Should the discharge of duty involve the loss of life, it is expressly decided that the former must be preferred. " On a comparison between death and vice, the learned pronounce vice the more dreadful, since after death a


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63 CnAP. II.] HINDOO MORAL SYSTEM. 63

vicious man sinks to regions lower and lower, while a man free from vice a.d. — reaches heaven." In a similar spirit the superiority of moral obligations to ritual observances is thus declared — "A wise man should constantly discharge all the moral duties, though he perform not constantly the ceremonies of reli- gion ; since he falls low if, while he performs ceremonial acts only, he discharge not his moral duties.'" And again, " To a man contaminated by sensuality, neither the Vedas, nor liberality, nor sacrifices, nor strict observances, nor pious austerities, ever procure felicity."

It ought also to be observed, that the morality inculcated is not that which Remaikai>;e

inculcation

consists merely in outward act, but that which has its seat in the heart, and of internal controls its secret purposes. Accordingly, it is forbidden to " injure another in the passive deed or in thought;" and in several passages some approach is made to a cele- brated declaration in the " Sermon on the Mount," by stigmatizing lascivious looks and thoughts as a species of adultery. A still more marked resemblance to the morality of the New Testament is observable in the homage paid to what are called the passive virtues. One of those specially recommended is " returning good for evil ; " and in describing the course which a Brahmin ought to follow in the last stage of his appointed discipline, it is said, " Let him not wish for death ; let him not wish for life ; let him expect his appointed time, as a kind servant expects his wages ; let him utter words purified by truth ; let him by all means keep his heart purified." Again, " Let him bear a reproachful speech with patience ; let him speak reproachfully to no man ; let him not, on account of this frail and feverish body, engage in hostility with any one living. With an angry man let him not in his turn be angry ; abused, let him speak mildly. Delighted with meditating on the supreme Spirit, sitting fixed in such meditation, without needing anything earthly, without one sensual desire, with- out any companion but his own soul, let him live in this world seeking the bliss of the next."

From the pure and elevated tone pervading these quotations, it might be Hindoo supposed that Hindooism demands from all its votaries a strict observance of moral precepts, and confers its highest future rewards, without distinction of persons, on those who make the greatest progress in true piety and virtue. The rule actually followed is very different. In the lives of the favourite deities, licentiousness prevails to such an extent as to counteract, by its example, the practical efifect of any precepts opposed to it ; and hence, while morality is in a great measure discarded, a substitute for it has been found in mummeries and austerities which, though dignified with the name of devotion, are merely mechanical, inasmuch as the performance of them does not require any act of the understanding or call forth any emotion of the heart. This so-called devo- tion is thus eulogized — "All the bliss of deities and of men is declared by sages who discern the sense of the Veda, to have in devotion its cause, in devotion its continuance, and in devotion its fulness." " Perfect health or unfailing medi-


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64 64

HISTORY OF INDIA.

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AD.

Hindoo devotion.

Its exclu- siveiiess.

It« true character.

cines, divine learning, and the various mansions of deities, are acquired by devo- tion alone ; their efficient cause is devotion. Whatever is hard to be traversed, whatever is hard to be acquired, whatever is hard to be visited, whatever is hard to be performed, all this may be accomplished by true devotion ; for the difficulty of devotion is the greatest of all. Even sinners in the highest degree, and of course the other offenders, are absolved from guilt by austere devotion well practised. Worms and insects, serpents, moths, beasts, birds, and vege- tables, attain heaven by the power of devotion. Whatever sin has been con- ceived in the hearts of men, uttered in their speech, or committed in their bodily acts, they speedily burn it away by devotion, if they preserve devotion as their best wealth."

In regard to this devotion, it is to be observed in the first place, that the portion of it which is conceived to constitute the highest perfection, and for which, consequently, the greatest rewards are reserved, is utterly impracticable to the great body of the Hindoo population. It requires free access to the Veda, but in point of fact this access is so far from being free that it is fenced round b}^ an impassable barrier. The whole Suclra class — in other words, the people generally — are strictly prohibited from forming any acquaintance with it. It must not be read in their presence ; and the Brahmin presuming to teach it to them, commits a sin so heinous as to sink him to one of the lowest hells. Even the mode of expiating sin must not be taught to a Sudra; and in any religious act in which he may " imitate the practice of good men," he mvist not make mention of "any holy text," though it is again and again declared that on such mention the efficacy of the act itself mainly depends. Hence it appears that Hindooism, so far from placing all men on an equal footing, and reward- ing them according to their deserts, is a system of unvarnished and revolting favouritism, confining the means of attaining final felicity to the few, and con- signing the many to a state of helpless ignorance, which makes their perdition all but inevitable.

It is to be observed, in the second place, with regard to this lauded devotion, that when it is closely examined the praises bestowed upon it are found to be undeserved. In some passages quoted above from the Institiites of Menu, the insufficiency of mere ritiial observances is distinctly declared. The following passage goes still farther; for it declares that forgiveness cannot be obtained without a repentance proved genuine by its fruits: — " In proportion as a man who has committed a sin shall truly and voluntarily confess it, so far he is dis- engaged from that offence, like a snake from his slough ; and in proportion as his heart sincerely loathes his evil deed, so ftir shall his vital spirit be freed from the taint of it. If he commit sin, and actually repent, that sin shall be removed from him; but if he merely say, 'I will sin thus no more,' he can only be released by an actual abstinence from guilt." Such passjiges, howevei*, prove only to be lights shining in a dark place. Many other passages breathe so different


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65 Chap. II.] HINDOO DEVOTION. 65

a spirit, that they look as if they had been introduced for the mere purpose of ad. contradicting them or neutralizing their effect; and devotion, so far from depending for its efficacy on purity of heart and amendment of life, derives one of its chief recommendations from its supposed ability to act as a substitute for them. So little, indeed, does this devotion partake of the nature of a reason- able service, that in a passage which has been already quoted, the lower animals are supposed capable of performing and profiting by it. The chief ingredients in it are suppressions of the breath, inaudible utterances, repetitions by rote, irksome or painful postures, voluntary privations, and austerities.

In justification of the chai'acter thus ascribed to Hindoo devotion, it will irrational again be necessary to make a few quotations from the Institutes of Menu, of Hindoo

devotion.

" Even three suppressions of breath, made according to the divine rule, accom- panied with the triverbal phrase and the triliteral syllable, may be considered as the highest devotion of a Brahmin." The "triverbal phrase" consists of three Sanscrit words, bhur, bhurah, swer, meaning earth, sky, heaven. The triliteral syllable is A U M, contracted into om, and considered, as already mentioned, emblematic of the godhead. Again: — " A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to himself, both morning and evening, that syllable {pm), and that holy text (the gayatri), preceded by the three words, shall attain the sanc- tity which the Veda confers." Lest the words, "know the Veda," used in this passage, should be supposed to mean a thorough practical knowledge, it is else- where said that "this holy scripture is a sure refuge even for those who under- stand not its meaning ;" and that " a priest who should retain in his memory the whole Rig Veda would be absolved from guilt, even if he had slain the in- habitants of the three worlds, and had eaten food from the foulest hands." The same spirit prevails in all the various modes employed for the expiation of guilt, and whatever the offence, the offender may always purge away the guilt of it by some device which only touches him in his purse or his person, without tending in the least to purify his mind. It is true that many of the penances enjoined are not only severe, but hori'ible ; and that by a kind of will- worship devotees have made a large addition to the number, so that there is scarcely a form of human suffering to which recourse is not had in the vain hope of thereby paci- fying the conscience, and conciliating the divine favour. The number of persons engaged in this hopeless task, and the aggregate amount of suffering which they must endure, attest the existence of a deep religious feeling in the Hindoo, since it is this alone which makes him so ingenious in the art of self-tormenting. The more melancholy, therefore, is the fact, that this religious feeling has only Deep but made him the prey of religious impostors, and bound him in the chains of a super- i«iigious stition so full of absurdity, obscenity, and cruelty. Considering the character of thViilidoos. Hindooism, nothing seems so extraordinary as the hold which it takes of its votaries. The monstrosities of its beliefs, and the painful sacrifices which its worship demands, seem only additional inducements to cling to it with pertina- VoL. II. 98


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Rh objects, and he wrote important works on runic inscriptions and other monuments, by all of which he awakened a general interest in an important source of history, which had hitherto been almost wholly neglected. His chief work in this direction, the "Monumenta Danica," contains a survey of Danish runic monuments, together with an interpretation of the inscriptions, historical elucidations, etc. In spite of its weak points and faults, it will always be of value because it furnishes descriptions and illustrations of a number of antiquities which have since perished. Though the illustrations are by no means remarkable for exactness, they still have more or less value. He also wrote a dissertation on the golden horn found in 1639, and this is properly speaking the first antiquarian work in the Danish literature. Of other antiquarians in the learned period there is but little to be said when we have mentioned the younger, who was the first to point out of what vast importance the study of Icelandic would in time become for the study of northern history.

The study of northern antiquities was essentially advanced by the Icelanders, who with great zeal sought out and investigated the old literary treasures preserved in that island. Without their assistance nothing of importance could have been accomplished in this field either in Denmark or in Sweden. All the great impulses came from the Icelanders, and from their midst were generally selected the "royal translators" and "royal antiquaries," whose works were the basis of later researches.

During the learned period but few occupied themselves with the, and the work they did was rather defective, but still their efforts are worthy of recognition. This is particularly true of the preacher (1631-1702), who, on account of his thorough knowledge


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66 66 HISTORY OF INIHA. [Book IV.

A.D. — city; and while almost on every other subject a general listlessness and apathy prevail, Hindooism, without one particle of rational evidence to support it, keeps Hmdooism. its head erect, and stands its ground even when confronted with Christianity. This tenaciousness of life is doubtless owing in part to the way in which it gratifies the wishes of our fallen nature ; but there is reason also to suspect that a nervous anxiety to avoid everything that might tend to awaken suspicion or alarm in the native mind has often operated as a direct encouragement to Hindooism, and placed it on a kind of vantage ground which it is not entitled to occupy. Aiiegeii toi- Hindooism is precluded by its very nature from attempting to gain converts of Hindoo- from other religions. Every individual who professes it must have been born a ^^' Hindoo, and belong to one or other of its numerous castes. The admission of a

foreigner is consequently irapcssible, and there can be no such thing as conver- sion in the ordinary sense of the term. Men not born Hindoos cannot possibly become so by any other kind of process. Occasionally some eccentric European has renounced his own civilization, and become a professed worshipper of Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, and others of the multifarious gods of the Hindoo pan- theon; but nothing could remove the taint of his birth, or make him anything better than an outcast. From not attending to this fact, or drawing the proper inference from it, some writers have launched out in the praises of Hindooism as a tolerant system, and contrasted it in this respect with the intolerance and persecution which figure so frequently and prominently in the history of the Christian church. A Hindoo, it is said, bears no enmity to a Mahometan or a Christian. Neither to the one nor the other does he apply the opprobrious epithets of heretic and infidel. On the contrary, he liberally expresses his belief that the supreme Being who gave him his religion gave them theirs, and that each, therefore, does right in worshipping according to his own. This talk is specious but hollow. The Hindoo, regarding his religion as his birthright, cannot think that any disparagement is cast upon it when those born vrithout its pale, and consequently incapable of belonging to it, worship differently. The true way to test his toleration is to attend to the feelings with which he regards those who, born Hindoos like himself, differ with him in regard to some of the essential points of their common faith. Here only there is risk of collision, and therefore here only is there full scope for the exercise of toleration. Brought to this test, it will be found that Hindoos are as illiberal, virulent, and blood- thirsty as tlie worst persecutors who have disgraced the Christian name.

Tliough the Hindoos do not, like the Roman Catholics, pretend to be under the guidance of a living infallible head, who, by deciding points of faith, secm-es a species of external unity, they possess standards which they believe to be, inspired, and to which, therefore, whenever questions arise, the ultimate appeal must be made. These are the writings of which some account has already been given. They are included under the general name of Sastras or Shasters, and


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67 Chap. II.] HINDOO SECTS. 67

are both voluminous in buUc and multifarious in contents, consisting of the Vedas a.d. — and the Puranas. The latter are alleged to have been, like the former, compiled by Vyasa, but are evidently of various later dates, between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries of our era, and though regarded as authentic, disfigured by Division of

•nioii 1 !• Hindoo vo-

sectarian tables. Those who profess to receive all those Shasters, and to worship taries into in conformity to them, are considered orthodox. Not being easily reconcilable andhetero- with themselves or Avith each other, the Shasters afford large room for latitude of ^°^" opinion, and for the selection of favourite divinities out of the long list of those to whom worship is authorized. To this latitude and this selection no objection is made, and the great body of the Brahmins, while holding their peculiar views and gratifying their particular fancies, treat each other with mutual forbear- ance. There are many, however, whom this kind of forbearance does not satisfy. It is not enough for them that they may be worshippers of Vishnu, or of Siva, or of any of the old recognized divinities, according as their choice may be ; they also claim the right of insisting that their favoui-ite divinity is supreme, and ought consequently to be worshipped to the exclusion of every other. Some go still farther, and introduce not only old gods under new forms, but new gods altogether. Here forbearance having reached its Umit stops, collision becomes inevitable, and in the strife which ensues, though a body of so-called orthodox remains, a number of distinct sects are formed. The Hindoo sects are usually The leading ranged in four classes — Vaishnavas, or worshippers of Vishnu ; Saivas, or wor- shippers of Siva ; Saktas, or worshippers of Saktis, the consorts or energies of the male divinities ; and Miscellaneous, including all who do not belong to any of the other three. A very complete account of these sects has been given by Professor Wilson, in the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes of the Asiatic Re- searches ; and all that need be done here is to select from it a description of some features common to all the sects, and of the more remaikable opinions and practices by which some of the leading sects are distinguished.

Of the common features there is one which, as it stiikes the eye, is the first Modes of that attracts notice. All sects are in the practice of discriminating themselves ing sects. from the orthodox and from each other by various fantastical streaks on their faces, breasts, and arms. For this purpose all the Vaishnavas employ a white earth called gopichandana. To be of the purest form it should be taken from a pool in which the gopis, or milkmaids, are said to have drowned themselves when they heard of Krishna's death ; but as this is not easily attainable, a sub- stitute is found in a material to which the same name is given, though it is only a magnesian or calcareous clay. In using it, one sect draws two vertical lines from the root of the hair to the commencement of each eyebrow, and unites them by a transverse streak across the root of the nose ; in the centre between the vertical lines a parallel streak of red is introduced. The breast and each upper arm are similarly marked. Some, not satisfied with these marks, have impressions of the shell, discus, club, and lotus, which Vishnu bears in his fom-


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68 68

HISTORY OF INDIA.

lBook IV.

Monastic institutions

A.D. — hands, stam})ed on tixelr bodies by carved wooden blocks, or sometimes even bui'ned in by heated metallic jtlates. Such marks not only serve for distinction, Hindoosects. but are supposed to possess gi-eat virtue; and hence it is asserted in tliewoik called Kasi Khand, that Yama directs his ministers to avoid such as bear them, and that no sin can exist iu the individuals who make use of them, be they of whatever caste. This mention of caste suggests another feature common though not universal among all sects. For the most part the distinction of caste is utterly disregarded by them, and the Brahmins as a class are eyed with hatred and treated with contempt, especially by the sectarian devotees of greatest pretensions.

Another more important feature common to the sects, is the subdivision of their members into various classes, especially into two, which Professor Wilson, for want of a better name, calls clerical and lay. The latter includes the great bullc of the votaries; the former are divided as in the Romish chm-ch into secular and regular, but without having the yoke of celibacy imposed on them. The unmarried, however, are in highest estimation as teachers, and as a general rule, the most influential members of each sect are solitaries and coenobites, who have secluded themselves from the ordinary cares and enjoyments of life, and live either by themselves as hermits, or in communities as monks. Convents are of course required, and under the name of maths, asthals, and ahavas, are scattered over the whole country. Each math is under the control of a mahant or superior, with a certain number of resident chelas or disciples. By those, and

from among their own number, he is usually elected; but in some instances, where the mahant mar- ries, he transmits the office to his descendants. There is nothino- like compulsory residence within the math, and hence most of the members spend the earlier part of their life wandering over the ■^ country singly or in bodies, and subsisting by alms, merchandise, or more questionable means. When old and infirm, they retire into some math previously exist- ing, or found a new one. Among their mendicant and monastic orders of all sects, are certain devotees professing more than usual austerity, and distinguished by the names of Sanyasis, Vairagis, and Nagas. In a similar sense, the term fakir is also used by Hindoos, though being of Mahometan origin it is more properly descriptive of the mendicants of that faith. The only

1, Naoa Fakir. 2, Ramnanandi Fakir at his Prayers.

Fiom Soivjn, Les Hiiidous.


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69 Chap. II.]

HINDOO SECTS.

69

one of these classes which it is necessary particularly to notice are the Nagas, a.u. wlio, as their name implies, throw off every kind of covering and go naked. Having eradicated the sense of shame, they give free indulgence to all the vices which it might have helped them to cover, and are unquestionably the most worthless and profligate members of their respective religions. They always carry weapons — usually a matchlock, and sword, and shield, and wander in troops, solicit- ing alms, or rather levying contributions. The hatred which those of opposite sects bear to each other, has often led to san- guinary conflicts, in one of which, at Hurdwar, it is said that 18,000 of the Vaishnava Nagas were left dead on the field.

The sects of Vaishnavas are ranked

, -i-» f> TTT-y 1 1, T^ Vairagis. — From original drawing in East India House.

by rroiessor Wilson under twenty dif- ferent heads, but as many of thein are ramifications of a single sect, the whole vaisimava number may be greatly reduced. The most ancient and respectable of all is the Sri Sampradaya, founded about the twelfth century by the Vaishnava , reformer, Ramanuja Achaiya, from whom the members take the name of

itamanujyias. Ramanuja was a native of the The Ra,^* south of India, and is the subject of many legends. According to one of these, he is an incarnation of the serpent Sesha, and had for his chief companions and disciples the em- bodied discus, mace, lotus, and other insignia of Vishnu. His usual residence was at Sri Ranga or Seringham. Here he composed his principal works, and hither, after visiting various parts of India, and reclaiming to Vishnu various shrines which the Saivas hatl usurped, he returned. During his absence, the disputes between the Vaishnavas and Saivas had become extremely violent, and the King of Chola. attached to the latter sect, issued an order to all the Brahmins in his dominions, to sign an acknowledgment of Siva's supremacy. Ramanuja refused ; and when armed men were sent to seize him, escaped to the Ghauts. On the death of the Chola king, his persecutor, he wandered back to Seringham, and there ended his days as a recluse. His followers are numerous, particularly in the Deccan.

Sanyasi or Sooxassie.

From original drawing, Asiatic Society.


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70 70

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book IV.

The Rama' wats.

A.D. — where they have many establishments. Their worship is addressed to Vishnu and Lakslnni, and their respective incarnations either singly or conjointly; the

The Kam.T,- most Striking peculiarities in their practice are the individual preparation and scrupulous privacy of their meals. Each person cooks for himself, and if seen by a stranger while thus engaged, or while eating, would bury the viands in the ground. Beside the marks above mentioned, they wear a necklace of the wood of the tulasi, and carry a rosary composed of its seeds or those of the lotus. Their chief reliofious tenet is that Vishnu was before all worlds, and the creator of all, and is, in fact, Brahm, the one self-existent principle, not however devoid of form or quality, but endowed with all good qualities, and with a twofold form — the supreme Spirit, or cause, and the universe or matter, the effect.

The most important branch of the Ramanujyias is the Ramawats or Ramnan- andls, so called from their founder, Ramanand, who, though sometimes said to be an immediate disciple of Ramanuja, seems not to be earlier than the end of the fourteenth century. He was, however, of the sect of Ramanuja, till the scruples of some of its members drove him from its communion. As he had travelled much, they thought it impossible that he could have observed that privacy in his meals to which they attach so much importance. On this gi-ound they condemned him to take his food by himself He resented the treatment, and breaking off all connection with the Ramanujyias, founded a sect of his own. He resided at Benares, where he is said to have had a math which the Mahometans destroyed, and where a stone platform bearing the sup- posed impression of his feet is still shown. In Benares, as well as in many parts of Uppei' Hindoostan, his followers are numerous and influential. In their worship they recognize all the incarnations of Vishnu, but attach themselves particularly to that of Ramachandra. Hence their name of Rama wats. They also take the name of Aradhuta, or liberated, from discarding the peculiar strictness of the Ramanuja sect as to eating, leaving every one in this to follow his own inclination, or comply with common practice.

The most celebrated of Ramanand's disciples was Kabir, the founder of a Vaishnava sect known by the name of the Kabir Panthis. He is entitled to particular notice from the boldness with which he assailed the whole system of idolatrous worship, and ridiculed the learning of the Pundits and tlie doctrines of the Shasters. As usual, his followers have given him a divine origin, by making him an incarnation of Vishnu. The legend is — that Nima, the wife of Nuri, a weaver, found him when an infant floating on a lotus in a pond near Benares. From this circumstance he has received the surname of the "Weaver." It is not ea.sy to fix the date when he flouri.shed, because a life protracted to three hundred years is gravely claimed fur him; but he probably belongs to the first half of the fifteenth century. Tlie distinguishing feature of the sect is the refusal to worship any Hindoo deity, or perform any Hindoo rite. At the same time, the members enjoy considerable latitude, and if so disposed, may

The Kabir Panthis.


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71

conform to the usages of the sect or caste to which they may happen to belong, a.d. — This they justify on the ground, that as the state of the mind and heart is alone important, all outward acts are matters of indifference. In all sects implicit The Kabir submission to the guru or spiritual guide is considered indispensable ; but even in this, the Kabir Panthis give proof of an independent spirit, by refusing to acknowledge the authority of the guru until by previous examination his fitness has been fully tested. In the simplicity of this sect, and the Quaker-like spirit and demeanour of its members, there is little to captivate the populace ; and hence, though widely diffused, it plumes itself more upon the character than the number of its adherents. Few of these are within the limits of Bengal proper ; but at Benares, where the sect originated, it has stiU its principal seat, and is said to have on one occasion mustered its members to the number of 35,000. The importance of the sect is greatly increased by the number of branches which it has thrown out, and of other sects which sometimes with, and oftener without acknowledgment, have borrowed from its doctrines and been emboldened by its example.

The above subdivisions of Vaishnavas have their chief adherents in professed ^'™j!|"^||^7 ascetics, or among those of the general mass of society, who are of a bold and curious spirit ; but the opulent and luxurious among the men, and the far greater part of the women, confine their worship to Krishna and his mistress Radha. The only worship which rivals it in popularity is that of the infant Krishna, or the Bala Gopala, It origin- ated with Vallabha Acharya, the founder of a sect called after him Vallabhacharis, but better known under the two other names of Radra Sampradayes, or Goku- lasta Gosains. One singular article of their creed is, that privation forms no part of sanctity, and that it is the duty of the teacher and his disciples to worship theii- deity " not in nudity and hunger, but in costly apparel and choice food — not in solitude and mortification, but in the pleasures of society and the enjoj^ment of the world." Their pi'actice corresponds. Most of their Gosains or teachers are married, and possessing unlimited influence over their followers, whom they bind to sub- jection of tan, man, and dhan, or body, mind, and wealth, are maintained in ease and luxury. Great

numbers of the mercantile class belong to this sect, and while constantly wan- dering over the country in the professed character of pilgrims, have a keen eye to the profits of trade. One of their dogmas is, that Golaka, the residence of Krishna, is far above the three worlds — Vaikunta and Keilas, the respective heavens of Vishnu and Siva, being no less than 500,000,000 of yoganas below it. While all else is subject to annihilation, Golaka is indestructible, and in its

GOSAIN. From Pennant's Views in Hindoostan.


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 72 centre dwells Krishna, "of the colour of a dark cloud, in the bloom of youth, clad in yellow raiment, splendidly adorned with celestial gems, and holding a flute.

Radha was produced from his left side, and 300 gopas, or male companions, exuded from the pores of his skin The pores of Radha were equally prolific, and produced the same number oi gopis, or female companions. In the temples and houses of the sect are images of Gopal, Krishna, and Radha, and other relative incarnations. The image of Krishna, not unfrequently of gold, represents him as a chubby boy, of a dark hue, richly decorated. In the temples he receives homage eight times a day. The nature of this homage is curious, and proceeds on the figment that the image is the living god, performing all the ordinary functions of life. Thus, in the morning, about half an hour after sunrise, the image, taken from the couch on which it is supposed to have slept, is washed and dressed, and being placed upon a seat is presented with slight refreshments About an hour and a half afterwards, being anointed, perfumed, and richly dressed, he holds his public court. A visit is again paid him, when he is supposed to attend his cattle; and at midday, when he is supposed to return, a dinner, composed of all sorts of delicacies, is placed before him. A siesta is now deemed necessary, and is followed at intervals by an afternoon meal, an evening toilet, and preparations for going to bed. This accomplished, the worshippers retire, and the temple is shut till the following morning, when the same routine begins. At stated times, festivals of great celebrity are held. One of these, in which Krishna, in his form of Juggernaut, holds the principal place, has already been described. Another commemorates his nativity, and a third his dance with sixteen gopis. Both of these, but particularly the latter, when celebrated at Benares, attract immense crowds. The sect has many subdivisions, which form separate communities, but agree with it in all essential particulars. The most celebrated of its shrines is that of Sri Nath Dwar, in Ajmere. Hither the image is said to have transported itself from Mathura or Muttra, when Aurungzebe ordered the temple there to be destroyed. All the members of the sect are bound annually to visit this shrine, and of course contribute to it, in return for a certificate of their visit; the high-priest, or chief Gosain, holds the office by descent, and to this alone is indebted for the veneration paid to him. So little are peculiar sanctity and learning required, that the office has been frequently held by individuals destitute of both. At the time when Professor Wilson drew up his sketch, the actual chief was said not to understand the certificate he signed,

The only other Vaishnavas whom it seems necessary to mention, are those entitled by way of distinction Vaishnavas of Bengal, where they are supposed to form at least one-fifth of the whole population. Their founder was Chitanya, the son of a Brahmin originally from Silhet. He was born in 1485; but as he had been thirteen months in the womb, and was ushered into the world during an eclipse of the moon, his birth was regarded as a supernatural event. His


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73 Chap. II.] HINDOO SECTS. 73

followers accordingly regard him as an incarnation of Krishna, who assumed ad. - the form of Chitanya, for the purpose of instructing mankind in the true mode of worshipping him in this age. Chitanya, whose simplicity and enthusiasm The chitan- ritted him for being a tool, had been put forward by two leading individuals ^'^" of the names of Adwaitanaud and Nityanaud ; and hence, in order to complete the connection, it has been deemed necessary that Krishna, besides incarnating Chitanya, should also animate the other two as ansas or portions of himself At the age of twenty-four, Chitanya became a Vairagi, and spent six years wandering between Muttra and Juggernaut. At the end of this period, having appointed his two coadjutors to preside over the Vaishnavas of Bengal, he fixed his residence at Cuttack, and allowed his imagination to get so much the better of liis judgment, that he was perpetually seeing beatific visions of Krishna, Radha, and the gopis. In one of these he mistook a river for the sea, and fancying that he saw Radha sporting in its blue waters, walked in till he was floated off his legs, and very narrowly escaped drowning by being dragged to shore in a fisherman's net. His death, of which there is no distinct account, may be presumed to have happened in some similar way.

The Chitanyas regard Krishna as the Paramatma, or supreme Spirit, at Their tenets. once the cause and substance of creation. As creator, preserver, and destroyer, he is Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva ; but besides these greater manifestations, has assumed specific shapes, as avatars, or descents ; ansas, or portions ; ansansas, or portions of portions ; and so on, ad injinitwrn. His principal appearance as Krishna was renewed in Chitanya, who is therefore worshipped as that deity himself His other form, as Gopal the cow-herd, or Goponath the lord of the milkmaids of Vindraban, are not forgotten ; and due prominence is given to his juvenile feats under the name of Lila, or sport. The whole religious and moral code of the sect is comprised in the word bhaJdi, "a term that signifies a union of implicit fiiith with incessant devotion," and "is the momentary repetition of the name of Krishna, under a firm belief that such a practice is sufficient for salvation." Hence Krishna himself declares in the Bhagavat Gita that the worship of him alone gives the worshipper "whatever he wishes — paradise, liberation, godhead, and is infinitely more efficacious than all or any observ- ances, than abstraction, than knowledge of the divine nature, than the subjuga- tion of the passions, than the practice of the Yoga, than charity, than virtue, or than anything that is deemed most meritorious." Besides the divisions which may be considered to belong to the sect, there are in Bengal three classes, which, though agreeing with it in many respects, differ so much in others, that they ought to be ranked as seceders from it. One of these, the Spashtha Dayakas, presents two remarkable singularities — first, a denial of the divine character and despotic authority of the guru ; and, secondly, the residence of male and female ccenobites in the same math. The latter practice professes to be platonic. The

male and female members regard each other as brothers and sisters, and have no Vol. II. 99


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74 IIISTOEY OF INDIA.

[Book IV.

The sects of •Saiviis.

A.D. — other intercourse than that which arises from community of belief and interest, and the joint celebration of Krishna and Chitanya, with song and dance. The sisters act as the spiritual instructors of the females of respectable families, to which they have unrestricted access. The effect of this influence is mani- fested in " the growing diffusion of the doctrines of this sect in Calcutta, where it is specially establislied."

The Saivas being far less numerous than the Vaishnavas, will not require to occupy so much space as has been given to their rivals. To judge by the number of shrines dedicated to the Linga, the only form under which Siva is worshipped, it might seem to be the most prevalent of all modes of adora- tion ; but these shrines have comparatively few votaries, and are not regarded with much veneration. The temple of VLsweswara at Benares is indeed thronged "vvith a never-ceasing crowd of worshippers ; but even here, though the most celebrated resort of Siva's votaries, no enthusiasm is displayed, and the votive offerings of flowers or fruit are thrown before the image with no appear- ance of solemnity and veneration. Among the Brahmins, indeed, and the orthodox generally, Siva is a favourite divinity, and the Linga receives their adoration in temples, private houses, and by the banks of streams ; but in Upper India he has never been a popular deity. His emblem, little understood or regarded by the uninitiated, neither interests the feelings nor excites the imagi- nation, and none of the legends recorded of him are of a pleasing and poetical character. The number of the Saiva sects in Professor Wilson's list amounts to nine, but only a few of these are so important or independent as to require

separate notice.

The Dandi,s, distin- guished by carrying a small dand or wand, with several processes or projections, and attached to the wand a piece of cord dyed with red ochre, in which the sacrificial cord is supposed to be enshrined, are legitimate representa- tives of the last stage of Brahminical life. According to rule, they should live. The DandiB. not in but Only near towns, as solitaries ; but generally disregarding the rule, they live like other mendicants collected in math.s. The worship of Siva as Bhairava is their prevailing form ; and their common ceremony of initiation consists in inflicting a small incision on the inner part of the knee, and pre- senting the blood which flows as an acceptable offering. The use of fire being absolutely prohibited to them, they dispose of their dead by putting them into

''M%A ^- .,

Dandi. — From Solvyn, Les Hindous.