SECTION THE EIGHTH: OF THE VICHNUIAN (VA ISHNAVAS) WORSHIPPERS OF VICHNU.—Vichnu, who, according to the belief of the followers of the Smriti, is a subor­dinate divinity, is held by the Vichnuian to be the preserver of all things. The Vedantían maintain him to possess the qualities of virtue and of order, and to be the lord of the five senses; not subject however to the said senses, nor to their influence in any way. According to the Vichnuían, he is the first cause and author of the universe; they believe him endowed with a body, like mankind; he has a wife. Brahma, a deity, is the creator of things; and Mahádéo, another divinity, the annihilator of beings; both are creators of Vichnu, and distinct from his holy being, because the path of union is closed between the creature and the creator; they say, that every body has a soul, but that the soul is not dis­tinct from, but a part of, the body; the body has two forms, the male and female, and the creator and author of their being is the holy nature of Vichnu; the body is composed of five elements; men, conformably with their actions and works, are invested either with animal or human forms; the soul is always confined in the gaol of ignorance and in the fetters of avidity. Further, the spirits are divided according to three qualities, which are: 1. sattvam; 2. rájas; and 3. tamas: the explanation of these three qualities has been before given. The Satya (virtuous) tends towards mukt, that is, “eman­cipation;” for by the power of this laudable quality, he makes the bakhti, that is, “the worship of Vichnu,” his pursuit; and this bakhti raises him to the highest state, that is, to that of “emancipation;” according to the interpretation of this sect, mukt con­sists in this: that, after having left the sthúla sarira,* or “elementary body,” and the linga sarira,* that is, “the visional body,” which has fallen into a vision of appearances, and after having been transformed into the primitive shape, which is either male or female, one enters the Váikunt,* that is, “the heaven of beatitude of the Gods,” and the mansion of real life. Rájas, that is, the possessor of this quality, is liable to recompense or punishment; to the conse­quence of virtue or crime, according to an impar­tial appreciation of both. Now he holds the price of virtue, another time that of crime; and con­formably to his merits or demerits, he migrates invested with a body, and for reward is associated with the blessed, or for punishment suffers witth the damned. Whoever does not, from the circle of the world, reach the shore of those who are united with salvation, he shall certainly never attain to the state of the desired emancipation. Tamas, that is, the possessor of this quality, is an adversary to mukt, and an enemy to liberation; his present and future con­dition is this: that, having left the sthúla saríra, that is, “his elemental body,” and the linga purusha,* or “his visional body,” and having returned to his primitive form, either male or female, he will be tormented in the world of darkness, which they call andhatamasa;* from this place of manifold torments he never returns. This is the substance of the creed of the worshippers of Vichnu, called Madhu Acháris.*

The belief of another sect of the Vichnavas, called Rámánandis,* is in substance as follows: the quality of Satwa tends towards the attainment of the high state of mukt, or “emancipation;” the way of acquiring it is, to lay aside all praises of another divinity; to abstain from the rites of any other sect; and to shun any other worship except that of the holy being of Vichnu, to whom alone all thoughts, all prayers, are to be directed, and whose remembrance is always to be kept. In the same manner as it is not per­mitted to a husband to desire the wife of another, in the same way they hold it wrong to think of any other deity but of Vichnu. The difference between the beforesaid and this sect is, that the former asso­ciates to the worship of Vichnu that of other angels, of the creatures, servants, and companions of this God, which they maintain as meritorious, and per­form with magnificence; whilst the latter sect con­siders the other deities as deformed and hideous.

The characteristical mark of the Rámánandis is a triangle drawn upon their forehead;* they never eat their meal before persons of another sect. The Madhu Achárís* wear two short strokes of red clay near each other upon the forehead; they do not associate with persons of another creed, but they eat before Brahmans who are not of their own per­uasion.

A third sect is that of the Harbayántís.* They drink with Brahmans of another persuasion from the same cup, and wear a circle as a mark on their foreheads.

A fourth sect is that of the Rádhá-Vallabhis;* these are bound by nothing; they observe no fast on the eleventh day of the month; they deliver their wives to the disposition of their preceptors and masters, and hold this praiseworthy.

In Hindostan it is known that whoever abstains from eating meat and hurting living animals, is esteemed a Vaishnava, without regard to the doctrine beforesaid. Some of them take the name of Rama, who is also a manifestation of Vichnu; others choose the title of Kishen (Krichna), another incarnation of Vichnu. The reputation of continence and purity prevails in favor of those who are called after Rama; whilst those who take their title from Krishna are ill-famed for sensuality and libidinousness. It hap­pened one day that a worshipper of Rama met with an adorer of Krishna; the former repeated perpetu­ally “Ram, Ram;” the latter was occupied with the praise of Krichna, to whom the worshipper of Rama said: “Why dost thou repeat without end the name of a man who was devoted to sensuality, the name of Krichna?” He answered: “Because this name is better than that of a man who knew not even how to be certain of the honor of one woman.” This was said in allusion to Râma's having banished his wife, named Sitâ, at the end of the fire-ordeal which she underwent to prove her purity.* Some of the pious of this sect eat no sort of turnips or carrots which in eating, by taste or color, may remind of flesh. The writer of this work heard from Hansa rádja, a Brahman, that it is written in ancient books of this class, that Brahmans used to fly in the air and to walk upon the water, when, on account of having polluted their lips by eating flesh, they lost this power. As the Vairágis, too, profess to be Váish­navas, I will treat of them in the following article.