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Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus c4: Introductory Observations

Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus c4

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English

Introductory Observations

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The Hindu religion is a term, that has been hitherto employed in a collective sense, to designate a faith and worship of an almost endlessly diversified description: to trace some of its varieties is the object of the present enquiry.

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An early division of the Hindu system, and one conformable to the genius of all Polytheism, separated the practical and popular belief, from the speculative or philosophical doctrines. Whilst the common people addressed their hopes and fears to stocks and stones, and multiplied by their credulity and superstition the grotesque objects of their veneration, some few, of deeper thought and wider contemplation, plunged into the mysteries of man and nature, and endeavoured assiduously, if not successfully, to obtain just notions of the cause, the character and consequence of existence. This distinction prevails even in the *Védas*, which have their *Karma Kánda* and *Jnyána Kánda*, or Ritual and Theology.

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The worship of the populace being addressed to different divinities, the followers of the several gods, naturally separated into different associations, and the adorers of BRAHMA', VISHNU, and SIVA, or other phantoms of their faith, became distinct and insulated bodies, in the general aggregate: the conflict of opinion on subjects, on which human reason has never yet agreed, led to similar differences in the philosophical class, and resolved itself into the several *Dersanas*, or schools of philosophy.

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It may be supposed, that some time elapsed before the practical worship of any deity was more than a simple preference, or involved the assertion of the supremacy of the object of its adoration, to the degradation or exclusion of the other gods :* in like manner also, the conflicting opinions were matters rather of curiosity than faith, and were neither regarded as subversive of each other, nor as incompatible with the public worship : and hence, notwithstanding the sources of difference that existed in the parts, the unity of the whole remained undisturbed : in this condition, indeed, the apparent mass of the Brahmanical order at least, still continues : professing alike to recognise implicitly the authority of the *Védas*, the worshippers of *Siva*, or of *Vishnu*, and the maintainers of the *Sánk'hya* or *Nyáya* doctrines, consider themselves, and even each other, as orthodox members of the Hindu community.

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To the internal incongruities of the system, which did not affect its integral existence, others were, in time, superadded, that threatened to dissolve or destroy the whole : of this nature was the exclusive adoration of the old deities, or of new forms of them ; and even it may be presumed, the introduction of new divinities. In all these respects, the *Puránas* and *Tantras* were especially instrumental, and they not only taught their followers to assert the unapproachable superiority of the gods they worshipped, but inspired them with feelings† of animosity towards those

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∗ One division of some antiquity, is the preferential appropriation of the four chief divinities to the four original castes; thus *Siva* is the *Adideva* of the Brahmans, *Vishnu* of the *Kshettriyas*, *Brahma'* of the *Vaisyas*, and *Ganesa* of the *Súdras*.

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† Thus in the *Bhágavat* :

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विमाणं दैवतं शम्भुः ऋषीणां तु माधवः ।
वैश्यानां भवेद् ब्रह्मा शूद्राणां गणनायकः ।। इति मनु ।।

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भवव्रतधरायेच येच तान् समनुव्रताः ।
पाषण्डिनस्ते भवन्तु सच्छास्त्रपरिपन्थिनः ।।

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Those who profess the worship of *Bhava*, (*Siva*,) and those who follow their doctrines, are heretics and enemies of the sacred *Sástras*.—Again,

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मुमुक्षवो घोररूपान् हित्वा भूतपतीनथ ।
नारायणकलाः शान्ता भजन्ति ह्यनसूयवः ।।

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who presumed to dispute that supremacy: in this conflict the worship of BRAHMA' has disappeared,* as well as, indeed, that of the whole pantheon, except VISHNU, SIVA, and SAKTI, or their modifications; with respect to the two former, in fact, the representatives have borne away the palm from the prototypes, and KRISHNA, RA'MA, or the Linga, are almost the only forms under which VISHNU and SIVA are now adored in most parts of India.†

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† The great text-book of the Vaishnavas is the Bhágavat, with which it may be supposed the present worship, in a great measure, originated, although, the Mahábhárat and other older works had previously introduced this divinity. The worship of the Lingam is, no doubt, very ancient, although it has received, within a few centuries, its present degree of popularity: the Kási K'hand was evidently written to enforce it, and at Benares, its worship entirely overshadows every other ritual.

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Those desirous of final emancipation, abandoning the hideous gods of the devils, pursue their devotions, calm, blameless, and being parts of NA'RA'YANA. The Padma Purána is more personal towards VISHNU.

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विष्णुदर्शनादेव शिवद्रोहः प्रजायते ॥
शिवद्रोहात्सन्देहं नरकं याति दारुणं ।
तस्मान्नविष्णुनामापि न वक्तव्यं कदाचन ॥

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From even looking at VISHNU, the wrath of SIVA is kindled, and from his wrath, we fall assuredly into a horrible hell; let not, therefore, the name of VISHNU ever be pronounced. The same work is, however, cited by the VAISHNAVAS, for a very opposite doctrine.

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वासुदेवं परित्यज्य योऽन्यदेवमुपासते ।
तृषितो जाह्नवीतीरेकूपं खनति दुर्मतिः ॥

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He who abandons VA'SUDEVA and worships any other god, is like the fool, who being thirsty, sinks a well in the bank of the Ganges—The principle goes still further, and those who are inimical to the followers of a deity, are stigmatised as his personal foes—thus in the Adi Purána, VISHNU says:

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मद्भक्तो वल्लभों यस्य स एव मम वल्लभः ।
तत्परो वल्लभों नास्ति सत्यं सत्यं धनञ्जय ॥

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He to whom my votary is a friend, is my friend—he who is opposed to him, is no friend of mine—be assured, Dhananjaya, of this:

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∗ SIVA himself, in the form of KA'LA BHAIRAVA, tore off BRAHMA's fifth head, for presuming to say, that he was BRAHMA, the eternal and omnipotent cause of the world, and even the creator of SIVA, notwithstanding the four VEDAS and the personified Omkára, had all given evidence, that this great, true and indescribable deity was SIVA himself. The whole story occurs in the Kási K'hand of the Skánda Purána, and its real signification is sufficiently obvious.

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The varieties of opinion kept pace with those of practice, and six heretical schools of philosophy disputed the pre-eminence with their orthodox brethren: we have little or no knowledge of these systems, and even their names are not satisfactorily stated: they seem, however, to be the *Saugata* or *Bauddha*, *Arhata*, or *Jain*, and *Várhaspatya*, or Atheistical, with their several sub-divisions.*

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Had the difference of doctrine taught in the heretical schools been confined to tenets of a merely speculative nature, they would, probably, have encountered little opposition, and excited little enmity among the Brahmanical class, of which, latitude of opinion is a very common characteristic. The founder of the Atheistical school, however, VRIHASPATI, attacks both the *Védas* and the *Brahmans*, and asserts that the whole of the Hindu system is a contrivance of the Priesthood, to secure a means of livelihood for themselves,† whilst the *Bauddhas* and *Jainas*, equally disregarding the *Védas* and the *Brahmans*, the practice and opinions of the Hindus, invented a set of gods for themselves, and deposed the ancient pantheon: these aggressions provoked resentment: the writings of these sects are alluded to with every epithet of anger and contempt, and they are all anathematised as heretical and atheistical: more active measures than anathemas, it may be presumed, were had recourse to: the followers of VRIHASPATI, having no worship at all, easily eluded the storm, but the *Bauddhas* of Hindustan were annihilated by its fury, and the *Jainas* apparently evaded it with difficulty, although they have undoubtedly survived its terrors, and may now defy its force.

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* In a work written by the celebrated *Mádhava*, describing the different sects as they existed in his day, entitled the *Sarva Darsana*; the *Várhaspatyas*, *Lokáyatas*, and *Chárvákas* are identified, and are really advocates of an atheistical doctrine, denying the existence of a god, or a future state, and referring creation to the aggregation of but four elements. The *Bauddhas*, according to the same authority, admit of four sub-divisions, the *Madhyámikas*, *Yogácháras*, *Sautrántikas*, and *Vaibháshicas*. The Jains or Arhats, as still one of the popular divisions, we shall have occasion to notice in the text.

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† Vrihaspati has the following texts to this effect:

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अग्निहोत्रं त्रयोवेदा त्रिदण्डभस्मगुण्ठनं ।
बुद्धिपौरुषहीनानांजीविकेतिबृहस्पति ॥

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The varieties thus arising from innovations in practice and belief, have differed, it may be concluded, at different eras of the Hindu worship. To trace the character of those which have latterly disappeared, or to investigate the remote history of some which still remain and are apparently of ancient date, are tasks for which we are far from being yet prepared : the enquiry is in itself so vast, and so little progress has been made in the studies necessary to its elucidation, that it must yet remain in the obscurity in which it has hitherto been enveloped; so ambitious a project as that of piercing the impenetrable gloom has not instigated the present attempt, nor has it been proposed to undertake so arduous a labour, as the investigation and comparison of the abstruse notions of the philosophical sects.* The humbler aim of these researches has been that of ascertaining the actual condition of the popular religion of the inhabitants of some of the provinces subject to the Bengal Government; and as a very great variety prevails in that religion, the subject may be considered as not devoid of curiosity and interest, especially as it has been left little better than a blank, in the voluminous compositions or compilations, professing to give an account of the native country of the Hindus.

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The description of the different sects of the Hindus, which I propose to offer, is necessarily superficial : it would, indeed, have been impossible to have adopted the only unexceptionable method of acquiring an accurate

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“ The Agnihotra, the three Vedas, the Tridanda, the smearing of ashes, are only the livelihood of those who have neither intellect nor spirit.” After ridiculing the Śráddha, shrewdly enough, he says :

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ततश्चजीवनोपायोब्राह्मणैर्विदितस्त्वह ।
मृतानांप्रेतकार्याणि नत्वन्यदिद्यतेकचित् ॥

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Hence it is evident, that it was a mere contrivance of the Brahmans to gain a livelihood, to ordain such ceremonies for the dead, and no other reason can be given for them. Of the Vedas, he says :

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त्रयो वेदस्य कर्तारो भण्डधूर्तनिशाचराः ॥

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The three Authors of the Vedas were Buffoons, Rogues, and Fiends — and cites texts in proof of this assertion.

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∗ Something of this has been very well done by Mr. Ward, in his account of the Hindus: and since this Essay was read before the Society, the account given by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq. in the first part of the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Sánkhya and Nyáya Systems, has left little more necessary on this subject.

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knowledge of their tenets and observances, or of studying the numerous works in Sanskrit, Persian, or the provincial dialects of Hindi, on which they are founded. I have been obliged to content myself, therefore, with a cursory inspection of a few of those compositions; and to depend for much of my information on oral report, filling up or correcting from these two sources, the errors and omissions of two works, on this subject professedly, from which I have derived the groundwork of the whole account.

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The works alluded to are in the Persian language, though both were written by Hindu authors : the first was compiled by SI'TAL SINH, Munshi to the Raja of Benares; the second by MATHURA' NA'TH, late librarian of the Hindu College, at the same city, a man of great personal respectability and eminent acquirements : these works contain a short history of the origin of the various sects, and descriptions of the appearance, and observances, and present condition of their followers : they comprise all the known varieties, with one or two exceptions, and, indeed, at no one place in India could the enquiry be so well prosecuted as at Benares.[*] The work of MATHURA' NA'TH is the fullest and most satisfactory, though it leaves much to be desired, and much more than I have been able to supply. In addition to these sources of information, I have had frequent recourse to a work of great popularity and extensive circulation, which embodies the legendary history of all the most celebrated Bhaktas or devotees of the Vaishnava order. This work is entitled the Bhakta Ma'la'. The original, in a difficult dialect of Hindi, was composed by NA'BHA'JI, about 250 years ago, and is little more than a catalogue, with brief and obscure references to some leading circumstances connected with the life of each individual, and from the inexplicit nature of its allusions, as well as the difficulty of its style, is far from intelligible to the generality even of the natives. The work, in its present form, has received some modifi-

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∗ The acknowledged resort of all the vagabonds of India, and all who have no where else to repair to : so, the Ka'si K'hand,

c4.38

श्रुतिस्मृतिविहीनानां येऽौचाचारविवर्जिताः । येषाम् कापिगतिर्नास्ति तेषांवाराणसीगतिः ॥

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"To those who are strangers to the Sruti and Smriti, (Religion and Law); to those who have never known the observance of pure and indispensable rites; to those who have no other place to repair to; to those, is Benares an asylum."

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cations, and obvious additions from a later teacher, NA'RA'YAN DA'S, whose share in the composition is, no doubt, considerable, but cannot be discriminated from NA'BHA'JI's own, beyond the evidence furnished by the specification of persons unquestionably subsequent to his time.—NA'-RA'YAN DA'S probably wrote in the reign of SHA'H JEHA'N. The brevity and obscurity of the original work pervade the additional matter, and to remedy these defects, the original text, or Múla, has been taken as a guide for an amplified notice of its subjects, or the Tíká of KRISHNA DA'S; and the work, as usually met with, always consists of these two divisions. The Tíká is dated Samvat, 1769 or A. D. 1713. Besides these, a translation of the Tíká, or a version of it in the more ordinary dialect of Hindustan, has been made by an anonymous author, and a copy of this work, as well as of the original, has furnished me with materials for the following account. The character of the Bhakta Málá, will best appear from the extracts of translations from it to be hereafter introduced: it may be sufficient here to observe, that it is much less of a historical than legendary description, and that the legends are generally insipid and extravagant: such as it is, however, it exercises a powerful influence in Upper India, on popular belief, and holds a similar place in the superstitions of this country, as that which was occupied in the darkest ages of the Roman Catholic faith, by the Golden Legend and Acts of the Saints.*

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* In further illustration of our text, with regard to the instrumentality of the Purá-nas in generating religious distinctions amongst the Hindus, and as affording a view of the Vaishnava feelings on this subject, we may appeal to the Padma Purána. In the Uttara Khanda, or last portion of this work, towards the end of it, several sections are occupied with a dialogue between SIVA and PA'RVATI', in which the former teaches the latter the leading principles of the Vaishnava faith. Two short sections are devoted to the explanation of who are heretics, and which are the heretical works. All are Páshandas, SIVA says, who adore other gods than VISHNU, or who hold, that other deities are his equals, and all Brahmans who are not Vaishnavas, are not to be looked at, touched, nor spoken to:—

c4.42

ये अन्यं देवं परत्वेन वदन्त्यज्ञानमोहिताः ।
नारायणाज्जगन्नाथात्सर्वपाषण्डिनःस्मृताः ॥
यस्तु नारायणं देवं ब्रह्मरुद्रादि देवतैः ।
सममन्यै निरीक्षेत सपाषण्डी भवेत्सदा ॥

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