SECTION THE SEVENTH DESCRIBES THE TENETS OF THE SÁKTÍAN. — The belief of this sect is as follows: Síva, that is Mahádeva, who in their opinion with little exception is the highest of the deities, and the greatest of the spirits, has a spouse whom they call Máyá saktí;* this spouse shows first one color, and then another, that is, something else than what really exists: for instance, water like wine. This spiritual and material principle has three natures and three qualities, namely: rajas,* that is, “dominion and desire;” sattva,* which is “rectitude and wisdom, and the power to control the senses, not to be subject to them;” and tamas,* or “vio­lence, passion, besides eating, gluttony, and sleep­ing.” With the Hindus, Brahma, Vichnu, and Mahadeva are personified as proceeding from these three conditions,* or as the powers of the three qualities mentioned. This Máyá is the maker of the productions of this world and of its inhabitants, and the creator of the spirits and of the bodies; the uni­verse and its contents are born from her: from respect of the said productions and of the mentioned effects, she is entitled Jagat-ambá,* or “mother of the universe;” non-entity finds no access to this creator; the garment of perishableness does not sit right upon the body of this fascinating empress, the dust of nothingness does not move round the circle of her dominion; the real beings of heaven, and the accidental creations of the nether world, are equally enamoured and intoxicated of desire before her; bound by these ties of deceit in this revolving world, whoever rebels feels the desire of mukt, that is, of emancipation, independence, and happiness; nevertheless, from carelessness, he pays obedience and worship to this world-deceiving queen, and never abandons the path of adoration of this bewitching lady. This goddess, that is the spiritual principle, exists in all living beings in six circles, which they call shat chakras,* as the fibres in the stalk of a water-lily, in which there are six divisions: 1. the Muládhára, or “the sitting-place;” 2. the Mani­púram , that is, “the navel;” 3. the Swadhishtanam,* “the firm place, and which commands the upper region of the navel;” 4. Hrid,* or “the heart;” 5. Sáda,* that is, “the purified mansion and the place of purification,” and this proceeds from the upmost part of the breast; 6. Agni tchakra,* or “the circle of the fire,” and this is that of the eye-brows. These are the six circles, and above them is Indra, that is the window of life, and the passage of the soul, which is the top and middle of the head; and in that place is the flower of the back of one thou­sand leaves: this is the residence of the glorious divinity, that is, of the world-deceiving queen, and in this beautiful site reposes her origin. With the splendour of one hundred thousand world-illumi-nating suns, she wears, at the time of rising, mani­fold odoriferous herbs and various flowers upon her head and around her neck: her resplendent body is penetrated with perfumes of various precious ingre­dients, such as musk, safran, sandal and amber, and bedecked with magnificent garments: in this man­ner, as was just described, she is to be represented. The worship of her form and appearance, the adora­tion and submission, ought to be internal and true; and the exterior veneration, to be paid before her image; moreover, all that has been divided into five sections and explained in the Yoga śastra, is to be performed with assiduity. The interior worship consists in representing her image, and in keeping her remembrance every where; the possessor of such an imaginative faculty and devotedness is called bhakta,* that is, “a possessor of gladness and of the mansion of perfect delight, and of mukt, or ‘liberation to be enjoyed in this mansion of a perma­nent happy existence.” The mode of this wor­ship is contained in the Agama,* and the whole sect conform themselves to it. With them, the power of Mahadeva's wife, who is Bhávání, surpasses that of the husband. The zealous of this sect worship the Síva-linga, although other Hindus also venerate it. Linga* is called the virile organ, and they say on behalf of this worship that, as men and all living beings derive their existence from it, adoration is duly bestowed on it. As the linga of Mahadeva, so do they venerate the bhaga,* that is, the female organ. A man very familiar with them gave the information that, according to their belief, the high altar, or principal place in a mosque of the Musel­mans, is an emblem of the bhaga. Another man among them said that, as the just-named place emblems the bhaga, the minar, or turret of the mosque represents the linga: on which account both are found together. In many places and among a great number of the Hindus, this worship exists: a great many follow the Agama, in which wine drinking is approved, and if, instead of a common cup, a man's skull (which they call kapála*) be used, the beverage is much more agreeable. They hold the killing of all animals, even of man, to be permitted, and call it bala.* At night they go to the places which they call śmaśána,* and where the dead bodies are burnt; there they intoxicate themselves, eat the flesh of the corpses burnt, and copulate before the eyes of others with women, which they name śakti púja:* and if the devoted woman be that of another, the good work is so much the more valuable, and it is certain that they offer their wives to each other; the dis­ciples bring their wives and daughters to their pre­ceptor; they unite with their mothers, sisters, pater­nal and maternal aunts, which is against the custom of the Hindus, who do not take daughters of their near relations. The author of this work saw one of the learned men of this sect, who read to him a book of modern composition upon their customs, and therein was stated that it is permitted to mix with every woman except one's daughter. This man began to abuse the work, saying that the text was contrary to the old customs of this class, and that no such thing is to be found in the ancient books, and declared it at last to be a mistake of the copyist. They say that the woman exists for the sake of being desired; she may be a mother or a daughter. In their opinion, there is no enjoyment higher that that of love; the Hindus call it kámada;* and say that, when a woman and a man are in close conversation, whoever disturbs them is worthy of God's maledic­tion, because they both therein share a state of hap­piness. The Agama favors both sexes equally, and makes no distinction between women; they may belong to whomsoever; men and women compose equally humankind, and whatever they bring forth makes part of it. This sect hold women in great esteem, and call them śaktis (powers); and to ill treat a śakti, that is, a woman, is held a crime. The high and low value the Lulís (public girls) very high, and call them deva kanya,* “daughters of the gods.”

Among them, it is a meritorious act to sacrifice a man, which they call naramédha;* then the gómé­dha ,* or sacrifice of a cow; further, the asvaméda.* and finally, any other animal. When they perform a sacrificial ceremony, which they call Kála-dek (kala­déya ), they unite the blood of as many animals as possible in a large vase, and place therein the man whom they bring over to their creed, and they drink with him from that blood. Whenever the worship of a god, or of the wife of a god is performed, the ceremony is called ishtam,* and the master of the ceremony ishta. The creed of this sect is, that any god or wife of a god may be worshipped in two ways: the one is called bhadram,* which consists in abstain­ing from shedding blood, and in being pure; the other, termed vakam,* which admits spilling blood, commerce with women, and neglect of purity; but they think this second preferable, and say that each deity, male or female, has a form under which he or she is to be represented; but that the worship of a female divinity affords a greater recompense. When they have an intimate connection with their own or another's wife, they behold in her the image of the goddess, and think to personate the god, her husband, and at this time they sing a prescribed song, which to entune at the very moment of the closest junction, they believe to be most recom­mendable. There is a deity whose praise they sing with unwashed hands;* and another whom they worship with the mark of their cast drawn with dirt on their forehead. Some of thesegoddesses are by them called “queens,” and others “servants;” and the worshipper of a woman is also termed “servant.”

The author of this work saw a man who, singing the customary song, sat upon a corpse which he kept unburied until it came to a state of dissolu­tion, and then ate the flesh of it; this act they hold extremely meritorious. They say that the desires of this and of the other world attain their accomplish­ment by means of the worship of a god or of a god­dess. The followers of this sect send their barren wives, in order that they may become pregnant, to the performers of such acts, and these men use the women before the eyes of their husbands: whoever does not send his wife to his master, renders in their opinion the purity of his faith very doubtful.

The Gossain Tara lochana, a Brahman, was of this sect, and devoted to the worship of Káli, a female deity. Having gone to Kachmir in the year 1048 of the Hejira (1638 A. D.), he practised pious austerity; at last, as is usual, he chose a concubine, for which, they say, five things are requisite: fish, wine, the wife of another man, flesh (if human flesh so much the better) and a mantra, that is, a song. The Hindus used to distinguish fish from flesh. Finally, having accomplished the act of a Gosain, Tara lochana became the friend of Ahsen Ulla, named Zafer Khán ibne Khájá, Abul hasen Taramzi, who was the governor of Kachmir: this took place by the interest of the confidential servants of the lord's house, who were well disposed to be directed by a perfect Gósain. The said lord wished Taralochana to procure him victory over the Tibetans; the Gosain promised it to him, provided he should conform him­self to his directions: Zafer Khan consented to it, and a convention was concluded between them. Tara lochana said: “Appoint a great number of Lúlían who are never to separate from me, because in our religion the intercourse with these is preferable to that with other women, on which account they are entitled Déva-Kanyá, ‘the daugh­ters of the gods;’ my meal must never be destitute of wine and other intoxicating liquors; to begin, let a sheep be killed for me, and the necessaries and materials of repast be prepared.” Zafer Khan did all the Gosain demanded; when he made his expedition to Tibet, he obtained a remarkable vic­tory, and returned triumphant. At last, a disagree­ment took place between the Gosain and Zafer Khan; the former quitted the latter, who soon after, on account of a dispute between the Sonní and the Shiâh of Kachmir, lost his consideration, and being obliged to retire, went to Kabul; there Muhammed Tafer, one of his relations, gave him some fatal stabs with a poniard, in consequence of which he lay sick for some time. Soon after he lost his office and property, and remained long in Lahore without a situa­tion. The author of this book saw in the year 1055 of the Hejira (1645 A. D.) in Gujerat, a district of the Panjab, Tara lochana, who told him “It was on account of his difference with me that so great a misfortune befel Zafer Khan.” Urfi of Shiraz says:

“The bounty of the Eternal does not reject the unbeliever,
Provided he acquire perfection in the adoration of his idol.”

Shédosh, the son of Anosh declared: that, according to the explainers of the law, there must be observed in any pursuit a due relation and correspondence to the intended purpose: further, in the pursuit of a virtuous spirit, sanctity and purity are required; but in the pursuit of a base spirit, nothing of purity enters, and may be dispensed with. This subject has been treated in the second section of the work thereupon.

The writer of this book saw in the same year, and in the place beforesaid of Guzerat, a man called Mahadéo, who at night was always sitting upon a dead body. I also saw Sadánand, of the same sect, who said to one of his disciples: “I wish to per­form a rite, called the worship of the hair.” The disciple brought his own daughter, and Sadá­nanda gazed at her hair, kissed her face, and in that way enjoyed her before the eyes of her father. I saw besides a person who brought his wife to him, saying: “I have no son in my house.” It is the belief of this class that, if in such a manner any one has intercourse with a barren woman, she obtains whatever she desires; on that account, some of the women, at the moment of intimate junction, demand from the perfect man the gift of mukt, that is, union with God Almighty, and emancipation from this body. It was for that reason, that Sadánanda used the woman before the eyes of her husband. One day, Sadánanda sat in a burying place, naked, with one of his friends, and drank wine, when one of the orthodox Brahmans passed that way, and saw these men. The disciples said: “This Brah­man will tell the people what he saw, and expose us to ridicule.” Sadánanda replied: “It does not matter.” When the Brahman came home, he died.

When in the year 1059 of the Hejira (1649 A. D.) the author of this work happened to be in the dis­trict of Kalinga, he saw in every village of this coun­try the image of a god, or of a spirit called by some particular name, and each of these spirits is sup­posed to be the author of some sickness or misfor­tune, for the removing of which they offer their prayers to him. One of these spirits is Anambe­ram ; and when a person gets a pimple, he brings an animal, commonly a domestic bird, to the chapel, and sacrifices it. In the work Khálasa al hayat, “the essence of life,” composed by Mulla Ahmed Tatvi, is stated, that upon the sepulchre of Asefnívas,* a sage of Greece, they used to sacrifice a bird, and they say that, in the book which treats of the ceremonies of pilgrimage to the before-named deities, three kinds of sacrifices are enumerated: agreeable perfumes, sweet cakes, and beverages; besides Mulla Ahmed Tatvi mentions in his work just before quoted, that Herámes (that is Idris)* has established fumigations and wine of grapes for the use of sacrifices.

Among the great idols of the country of Kaling is Gang-Durgá.* They say, Ramachandra déo, one of their great Rájas, descendant of the celebrated family of Kaśyapa, ruled in Orissa. This Rája, having called a goldsmith, gave him the mass of gold which he demanded for making an image of Durga. The goldsmith, having carried the gold home, intended to form the goddess of copper and to purloin the gold, thinking that, as to break into pieces an idol is not permitted among the Hindus, he could keep the gold without fear of discovery. With this project he went to sleep. When he awoke, he saw that one half of the gold remained on the spot, and that the other half was formed into the image of Durgá; having carried this with the remaining gold to Rama­chandra déo, and told the story, the Rája gave him the residue of gold, and carried the idol, in his house and in his travels, constantly with him. They say that, after the death of Kaśyapa the Great, Makan­déo assembled under his sceptre the nations of this country, and that Vichnunath déo Sukra conquered the town Sri Kakul,* from the Rája Nanda. Ram­chandra déo moved his army towards Sri Kakul, and took the fort; Vichnu-náth, being informed of it, marched against him; Ramchandra déo, unable to resist his force, fled; Ganga Durga was by her guardians thrown away in a village, from whence she fell into the hands of a Brahman, who flung her into the barn of a villager. This man, having taken her up, carried her to his house. The goddess appeared to him in a dream, and said: “Offer me in sacrifice thy eldest son, and I will make thee Rája.” After a certain time, the villager told this secret to Vishnu-náth déo, who, having taken the idol from him, gave him a horse ornamented with gold, and a magnificent dress, and carried the goddess to Naránya púr, his residence. As she demanded from him also the sacrifice of a man, Vichnu-náth déo killed every year one of the thieves and like sorts of men before her altar. After the death of Vichnu náth déo, his sons did the same. When Vikramajet déo, who descended from Vichna nath déo, was killed, and the country disturbed by insurrections, then Dasvent­ráu, who was one of the grand-children of Vichnu-náth déo, having taken up Durga, fled from fear of the army, commanded by Jalil ul Khader Tulají Khan Bég, to Márkúl. Bhúpati, the Rája of Már­kul, being also afraid of the attack of the famous general, sent him the goddess Durga, on Monday, the ninth day of the month Rabish ul avel, of the year 1062 of the Hejira (September, 1651, A. D.). The idol was of gold, in the form of a female, with limbs very well proportioned, four arms, in two of her right hands carrying a three-pointed pike, which the Hindus call Trisúla,* and with which the goddess was striking Mahisha Asura, a demon under the form of a buffalo; he was beneath her right foot; in another hand she had a white ball, and in the fourth, the chakra, or discus, which is a circular weapon pecu­liar to the Hindus; under her left foot was a lion, and beneath him a throne. When they weighed the image, they found it equal to four panchiri, mea­sure of the Dekhan. Even now, they sacrifice in every village of the Kohistan of Nanda-púr, and country adjacent, a man of good family.

Another idol, called Mávelí,* is in the town of Bis­ter.* The belief of the people there is that, when an hostile army comes to attack them, the divinity, under the form of a woman selling vegetables, goes into the camp of the enemy, and whoever eats what she offers, dies; and during the night she appears like one of the public girls, and whoever finds her charm­ing, and calls her, meets with death. They relate many strange and wonderful things about her. When in the year of the Hejira 1069, A. D, 1658-9, the famous general Tavaljí Khan Beg besieged and took the fort Kot Bahar, which is stronger than the fort of Bister, there died so many men and beasts of various maladies and the particular effects of cli­mate, that their number exceeds all computation; and this the inhabitants of the fort of Bister attributed to the power of the goddess.

There is another class of followers of Síva, that is, of Sáktían, whose creed is quite different from that just before stated: they never have intercourse with the wife of another; they drink no wine. The adorers of Síva are obliged to drink wine in the Síva-ratra,* which is a sacred night: because it is written in their books that they ought then to fill a cup with wine and to drink it; as, according to the rule of this sect, it is not a matter of choice to drink wine; many who cannot get it, having procured a draught of syrup, mix a little of a fermented liquor with it to render it like wine, and take it for such, calling it pána.*

Sri Kanta, a Kachmirian, is conversant with many sciences of the Hindus; he knows the sástras, that is, the sástras of the Pandits, namely, the Smríti sastra,* or “the written law;” the Kavi-sástra ,* “poetics;” the Tarka-sástra,* “logic and dialectics;” the Váidyá vidyá,* “the medical sci­ence;” the Jyótisha,* “astronomy;” and the Pátanjala,* that is, the restraining of the breath; he knows besides very well the Vedanta, or metaphysics, etc. In the year 1049 of the Hejira (1639 A. D.) the author of this book saw him in Kachmir; he is one of the saints of the Hindus. Sri Kant was invested by the inhabitant of heaven, Núr-ed-din Mahommed Jehangír Pádshah, with the dignity of a judge of the Hindus, in order that they may be tranquillised, and in every concern have nothing to demand from the Muselmans: as it has been established in the code of Akbar, that the tribes of man­kind, high and low, with the existing diversity of creeds and difference of customs, which are all under the trust of a beneficent lord, ought to dwell in the shade of protection of a just king, and perse­vere in the performance of their worship and the exigencies of their devotion, so that, by the authority derived from the chiefs, the sons of the age may not stretch the hand of oppression over the condition of the people.

The belief of the Hindus is as follows: all the tírths,* that is, “places of pilgrimage,” which are in the world are in imitation of the fixed model Hara­tírth , which is in Kachmir; for, after having visited the holy place of Kachmir, there is no desire to see that of any other country; and they call it the great place of pilgrimage, likewise prayága,* which is cele­brated at Máhábád; there are Shah abad ed-din púr, and Gangavara, Lárasún, and Kisâlíhazra. There are many miraculous things in Kachmir; one of them is Sandebár, and they relate: In ancient times, a holy Brahman dwelt in a cavern of the mountain, where he devoted himself to the worship of the Almighty God. Once every year, he went to the Ganges to bathe. After having passed several years in that way, Gangá said to the Brahman: “Thou measurest always such a length of road, on which thou dost set aside the worship of God: my convention with thee is this: that, when the sun reaches the con­stellation of the Bull, I will three times a-day come to thy resting-place.” From this time, when the great luminary throws his effulgence towards the constellation of the Bull, the water of the river springs up boiling from the basin of the fountain, which is near the place of his devotion. Sundeberari, in the cavern of the mountain, became celebrated: it is a square basin, and has on its eastern wall an open cavity, from which, as well as from several other vents and holes in the sides of the basin, the water springs up. However steadfastly one may look, the bottom cannot be discovered. And in the middle of the eastern side, there are seven holes, which the people of Kachmir call Saptarshi,* “the seven Rishis;” on the northern side is an issue, which they call dama bhaváni;* when the world-illuminating sun begins to enter the constellation of the Bull, the water appears there in the following manner: it springs up first from the large cavity, then from the Saptarshi: so the Hindus call seven rakshasas, and give their name to the constellation of the Great Bear. Further, the water comes up from the dama bhaváni, that is “the mansion of Bhaváni, the wife of Mahadéo.” When the cavity is filled, then the water, passing over the borders, runs out; the Sanyásis and other Hindus, who had come from distant places, throw themselves into it, and the people who find no room, carry water from it. Afterwards, the ebullition declines in such a man­ner, that there remains not the least trace of the water. In this month the water boils up three times a-day, namely, in the morning, at mid-day, and in the afternoon, at the hour of prayer. After the lapse of this month, no more water is seen, until the sun enters again into the sign of the Bull.

“Certainly, every thing announces God,
And offers the proof that there is but He.”*

The historians of the times know Sandeberarí among the wonders described by the ancient learned men of Kachmir. The ignorant among the Musel­mans of Kachmir say, that Sandeberari is the well of Abu Ali, and believe it to be the work of shaikh Arráis; the truth is, that Hajet ul hak never came to Kach­mir: as it is evident from the concurring testimony of history.