THE FIFTH SECTION OF THE DABISTAN describes the Samrádián sect.—In common language Samrád means imagination and thought; and the sects thus named are of many descriptions; the first is that of the followers of Fartósh, who lived about the com­mencement of the Serpent-shouldered Zohak's reign: Fartósh followed mercantile pursuits, and his faith was as follows: this elemental world is merely idea; the remainder, the heavens, the stars, and the simple uncompounded beings actually exist. The holders of this opinion are called the Farto­shíán .

The second are the Farshídíyah, so called from Far­shíd , the son of Fartósh: he asserted that the heavens and the stars are also ideal, and that the simple uncompounded beings only have actual existence.

The next are the Farírajíyah, so called from Farí­raj , the son of Farshid: his opinion was that the simple uncompounded beings, that is, intelligences and souls, also have no existence, which is the attri­bute of the necessarily self-existent God alone, and that all besides is ideal, appearing only to exist in consequence of the essence of that sole existence.

The next are the Faramandíyah, thus named from Faramand, the disciple of Faríraj. he says, if any person exists, that person knows that the elements, heavens, stars, intelligences, and souls are the Almighty; and what people call the necessarily self-existent God has no being, although we, through imagination (idea), suppose him to exist; which he certainly does not. According to the testimony of the sage Amr Khaiam:

“The Creator in this aged world is as a vase,

Which is internally water and externally ice;

Resign to children this trifling about infidelity and faith;

Remove from the place where God is only a letter.”

They said to him: “How dost thou prove this idea?” he answered:

“By means of the solar light we can see: but where is the sun?”

Thus, according to them, the Almighty is only an idea of the imagination: the people of this sect are now mixed up with the Moslems, and go about in the garb of the faithful: according to them a per­son named Kámkár, one of the ascetics of this sect, who lived in the reign of sultan Mahmud of Ghiz­nah ,* composed a poetical treatise, and compiled narratives, proofs, and revelations conformable to his tenets; assigning to his faith a superiority over all other systems, after this manner: that, whatever devout persons have recorded in their respective creeds concerning the existence of God, the great­ness of the empyreal sphere, the extent of the angelic world, or concerning paradise, hell, the bridge of judgment, the resurrection of the dead, the interrogatory and reply,* the appearing before God, the rejection of tradition, eternity, and the creation of the world, is all correct in this creed; as all becomes evident to the idea of their professor through the existence of idea; with respect to which they thus express themselves: “by means of idea, they behold the ideal.” In proof of his system, he farther says: “Self cannot be ignorant of self.” But in truth they are ignorant of their own identity, and understand not in what “self” consists: some of them maintain, that the being called man and endowed with voice and speech, is an incorporeal essence joined to the body; the relations of thought and action resulting merely from its entrance or descent into body: notwithstanding this principle, they differ greatly among themselves respecting the eternity and creation of their own souls. In like manner, some have also denied the simple uncom­poundedness of the intellectual soul, and have spoken largely against that doctrine; consequently, as they are unacquainted with their own identity, what can they know about the heavens, stars, intelligences, and God? and it becomes not that one should know nothing about himself, but that he exists not. Kám­kár, in his treatise, has collected many amusing anecdotes respecting the Samrádián sect, of which the following is an instance: a Samradian once said to his steward: “The world and its inhabitants have no actual existence; they merely have an ideal being.” The servant, on hearing this, took the first favorable opportunity to conceal his master's horse, and when he was about to ride, brought him an ass with the horse's saddle. When the Samrá­dián asked, “Where is the horse?” the servant replied, “Thou hast been thinking of an idea: there was no horse in being.” The master answered, “It is true:” he then mounted the ass, and having rode for some time, he suddenly dismounted, and taking the saddle off the ass's back, placed it on the servant's, drawing the girths on tightly; and having forced the bridle into his mouth, he mounted him and flogged him along vigorously. The servant, in piteous accents, having exclaimed: “What is the meaning of this conduct?” the Samrádián replied: “There is no such thing as a whip; it is merely ideal; thou art only thinking of some illusion:” after which the steward repented and restored the horse.

In another tale it is recorded that a Samrádián, having obtained in marriage the daughter of a wealthy lawyer, she, on finding out her husband's creed, proposed to have some amusement at his expense. One day the Samradian brought in a bottle of pure wine, which during his absence she emptied of its contents and filled it up with water; when the time for taking wine came round, she poured out water instead of wine into a gold cup which was her own property. The Samrádián having observed, “Thou hast given me water instead of wine,” she answered, “It is only ideal; there was no wine in existence.” The husband then said: “Thou hast spoken well; present me the cup, that I may go to a neighbour's house and bring it back full of wine.” He therefore took out the gold cup, which he sold, and concealing the money, instead of the gold vase brought back an earthen vessel full of wine. The wife, on seeing this, said, “What hast thou done with the golden cup?” he replied, “Thou art surely thinking about some ideal golden cup:” on which the woman greatly regretted her witticism.

As to those sectaries who assert that the world exists only in idea, the author of this work saw several in Lahore, in the year of the Hejirah 1048, A. D. 1637. The first was Kám Jóí, who composed the following distichs on Faríraj:

“Thou knowest that every thing is ideal,

If the Almighty has given thee illumination!

The mention even of ideality proceeds from idea;

The very idea itself is nothing more than ideal.”

It is to be noted that Samrád and Samwád are applied to fancy or idea. Ismail Sufi, of Ardistan* has poetically expressed himself to the same purport in what is styled the mixed Persian:

“I am about to mention something although remote from reason;

Listen carefully: but if not, mercy still awaits thee:

This world is ideal; and ideality itself is but idea:

This existence which I call ideal, that likewise is idea.”

The second person treated of in the Samrad Namah of Kámkár was Nék Khoy; the third was Shád Késh; and the fourth, Máhyár: they were all engaged in commercial pursuits, and styled Moslem or true believers.