Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus c4.36

c4.36

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-