OF THE VAIRÁGIS.—Virág is in the dictionary inter­preted “aspiring.”* This sect renounces the world; their liturgy is in verse, and comprehends the worship of Vichnu and his incarnations, as Rama, Krichna, and the like, and these verses they call Vichnu padam. They make pilgrimages to the holy places dedicated to Vichnu, and wear around their necks rosaries of tutasí,* which they call malá-tulasí. Tulasí is an Indian shrub. Whoever among the Hindus, Muselmans, or others, wishes, is received into their religion; none are rejected, but, on the contrary, all are invited. It is said that some Muselmans also worship Vichnu, because in “Bismilla,” they confound Bisem with Bishen (or Vichnu), and most of them agree about the purity and infinity of Vichnu's being; in truth, they think he is incorporeal; the spirits proceed like rays from the light of his being, and all bodies from the shadow of his existence; but they say that when he wills he shows himself, as it happened, with four arms, and they agree about his having manifested himself in ten incarnations. They abstain from eating flesh. They are divided into four classes: Rámánujas, Nimá­nujas, Madhuacháris, and Radha Vallabhis, as before said:* these four classes they call chár sampardá (sampra­dáya ).*

Kabir,* a weaver by birth, celebrated among those Hindus who professed their belief in the unity of God, was a Váiragi. They say that, at the time when he was in search of a spiritual guide, he visited the best of the Muselmans and Hindus, but did not find what he sought. At last, somebody gave him direction to an old man of bright genius, the Brah­man Rámánanda. This sage never saw the face of a Muselman, nor of any other religionist. Kabir, knowing that Rámánand would not converse with a weaver, dug a hole upon the accustomed road of the Brahman, and placed himself there in. Towards the night Rámánand used to go to bathe on the border of a river, and at the time when, to wash his body and purify his soul with the water of sanctity, he bent his steps towards a house of prayer, he arrived on the border of the hole made by Kabir, who, coming forth, clasped the feet of Rámánanda. As the Brah­man harboured in his mind no other thought but that of God the highest, under the name of Rámá, he called out: “Rám!” When Kabir heard “Rám” from the tongue of Rámánand, he withdrew his hands from the Brahman's feet, and ceased not to repeat the word “Rám, Rám!” so that no other object but that was hovering before his eyes, as before those of Rámánanda; and he discoursed about the unity of God in sublime speeches, such as are heard only from the most learned men. Kabir, having acquired reputation, people said to Rámá­nand: “There is a weaver in this town who wishes to be your disciple; it is to be regretted that you cannot be connected with a weaver, who is a man of a low caste.” Rámánand answered: “Call him to me,” which was done. When Kabir's eye fell upon that of Rámánanda, the former exclaimed: “Rám, Rám!” the latter repeated “Rám, Rám!” and clasped Kabir fast in his arms, to the great astonishment and wonder of the people around, who asked the reason of such a favor. Rámánand replied: “Now Kabir is a Brahman, because he knows Brahma, that is, the supreme Being.”

It is said, that a class of learned Brahmans, sitting on the border of the river Ganga, praised its water, because it washes away all sins. Whilst so speaking, one of the Brahmans wanted water; Kabir, who had heard their speeches, jumped up from his place, and having filled a wooden cup which he carried with water, brought it to the Brahman. Kabir, a weaver by birth, being of a low caste, from the hands of whom Brahmans can neither eat nor drink, the water was not accepted, upon which Kabir observed: “You have just now declared, that the water of the Ganga purifies the body and the soul from the pollution of sins, and from the foulness of evil actions, and makes them all disappear; but if this water does not render pure this wooden vase, it certainly does not deserve your praises.”

Among the Hindus it is an establised custom to bring flowers to God at the time of worship. One day Kabir saw a gardener's wife who collected flowers for the image of a deity; he said to her: “In the leaves of the flower lives the soul of vegetation, and the idol to whom thou offerest flowers is with­out feeling, dead, without consciousness, in the sleep of inertness, and has no life; the condition of the vegetable is superior to that of the mineral. If the idol possessed a soul, he would chastise the cutter, who, when dividing the matter of which the image is formed, placed his foot upon the idol's breast: go, and venerate a wise, intelli­gent, and perfect man, who is a manifestation of Vichnu.”

Kabir showed always great regard for the Fakírs. One day, a number of Durvishes came to him; he received them with respect in his house; as he pos­sessed nothing to show his generosity and munifi­cence to them, he went from door to door to procure something, but having found nothing, he said to his wife: “Hast thou no friend from whom thou mayst borrow something?” She answered: “There is a grocer in this street who threw an eye of bad desire upon me; would I from this sinner demand something, I should obtain it.” Kabir said: “Go immediately to him, grant him what he desires, and bring something for the durvishes.” The woman went to the lewd grocer, and requested the loan of what she required; he replied: “If thou comest this night to me, thy request is granted;” the woman consented, and swore the oath which he imposed upon her to come; after which the grocer gave her rice, oil, and whatever these men might like. When the Fakírs, well satisfied, went to rest, a heavy rain began to fall, and the woman wished to break her engagement; but Kabir, in order to keep her true to her word, having taken her upon his shoulder, carried her in the dark and rainy night, through the deep mud, to the shop of the bad grocer, and placed himself there in a corner. When the woman had entered into the interior part of the house, and the man found her feet unsullied, he said to her: “How didst thou arrive without thy feet being dirty?” The woman concealed the fact. The grocer conjured her by the holy name of God to reveal the truth; the woman, unable to refuse, said what had taken place. The grocer, on hearing this, shrieked and was senseless. When he had recovered his senses, he ran out and threw himself at Kabir's feet. Afterwards, having distributed among the poor whatever he had in his shop, he became a Virágí. Shaikh Mahmud said:

“When lust seizes the heart of man, God now and then renders vain his intent.”

It is said that when Kabir left his elemental body, the Muselmans assembled in order to give him a burial, because they supposed him to have been of the right faith; and the Hindus too crowded in order to burn his body, because they thought him to have professed their religion. At last a Fakír stept in the midst of them, and said: “Kabir was a holy man, independent of both religions; but having during his life satisfied you, he will also, after death, meet with your approbation.” Having then opened the door, they did not find Kabir's body, and both parties remained astonished and bewildered.

“O friend, live so that, after thy death,

Thy friends may bite their finger (from joyous astonishment).”

In Jagernath, at the place where they burn the dead, is the form and simulacre of a tomb which they call Kabir's.*

“Live so with good and bad that, after thy death,

The Muselman may wish to bury, and the Hindu to burn thee (according to their rites).”

Another of the celebrated Virágis was Dáyú. One day, when Brahmans and Bánians (that is, traders) were assembled in a temple of Vichnu, they drove Dáyú out of it, as not worthy of being among their congregation. Dáyú, having gone out, sat down at the back of the temple, which soon after turned about towards the side where Dáyú was.

Perah Káivan, a Yezdánian, is one of the accom­plished saints, and shows himself in the dress of every sect. When in that of a Vairági, he was in Guzerat for the sake of a pleasure-walk, he saw some of the Váirágis who came from a place of pilgrim­age, and had a mark impressed upon their hand and arm: because, whoever makes a pilgrimage to the holy place of Krichna, gets the form of the God's weapon (the diskus) imprinted upon his body by means of a hot iron. Kaivan Perah said to the Vai­rágis: “Why this wound?” they answered: “This is the mark of Vichnu; whoever has it is by the God recognised as being his.” Kaivan Perah observed: “When the soul is separated from the body, they burn the corpse; no mark of it remains; whilst the soul is not perishable, and has no mark: how will then Vichnu recognise it?”— When he came to Ahmed-abad, which is the capital of Guzerat, he saw a crier who, from the top of a mosque, chanted his prayer; when he had come down, Káivan Perah asked him: “Hast thou received an answer?” the crier said: “From whom?” Kaivan replied: “From him to whom thou hast been calling.” Lubhaní says:

“They call loud to God seeking him,

This people think him, perhaps, to be far off.”

When he came to the harbour of Surat, which is one of the principal ports of Hindostán, he met with a Háji (a pilgrim from Mecca) who had come by sea to the harbour; Kaiván Perah asked him: “Whence dost thou come?” He answered: “From the house of God.” Kaiván said further: “Hast thou seen God?” The reply was “No.” He was “perhaps not at home,” rejoined Kaiván, and the Háji remained astonished.

The Vairágis are not devoted to a particular wor­ship; they say, the name of Vishnu suffices for the acquisition of mukt, or “the union with God.” This sect was formed during the Káli yúg, and call them­selves also Váichnavas: they renounce the world, and say: “Our way is opposite to that of the Vêdas and of the Koran: that is, we have nothing to do either with Muselmans or Hindus.” A great number of Muselmans adopted their creed, such as Mirza Salah, and Mirza Háider, two noble Musel­mans who became Vaíragis. Of this sect was Naráin Dásí, who sided with Rámánandis, which is one of the Sampradayas, that is the first of the four classes before mentioned. The author of this book saw him in the year 1052 of the Hejira (1642 A. D.) in Lahore. He was one of those who are freed from the affections of the world; he honored whomever he saw, and said: “Every body belongs to the divinity; that is, every body is the house of God.”

“Without thee there is nothing that is in the world:

From thyself demand whatever thou wishest: for it is thyself.”

Píránah Kohely was of the sect of Vairagis, and Kohelí is a tribe of Kshatriyas; he withdrew from all the affections and troubles of the world. Having left the Guzerat of Panjab, which is his native place and the seat of his ancestors, he went to Vizírábád, a city built by Hakím Ilam eddín, named Buzín khan, and chose to settle not far from the above mentioned Guzerat. He had no faith in pious austerity. He said, the saints are men who, in a former existence, have brought affliction upon other men, and on that account do penance in this world; every pious act joined to some austerity is a requital of their deeds; those who are fasting have, in a former state, let hunger and thirst afflict the low and feeble; those who watch at night have, in his opinion, pre­vented the servants from sleeping; the Sanyásis, called Thádéser, who remain years standing upon one leg, he thinks to be a class of spirits who have not permitted the servants to sit down; and those who suspend themselves, and others who perform their devotion in an inverted or strained posture, are a class who used to suspend their inferiors; and those who visit celebrated places and sacred man­sions of pilgrimage, are a set who, for trifling rea­sons, have without pity sent about couriers to dif­ferent places, without paying them their hire; the játis,* that is, those who abstain from intercourse with women, and from sensual indulgence, are an order of spirits, who have not provided for their sons and daughters the subsistence and furniture requisite for the marriage state, and prohibited to them this enjoyment, for which reason they now are subjected to retaliating penance.

This sect do no harm to any living being; which is common to all Vairágis, as well as to neglect devo­tion; but, in opposition to the creed of the Vairágis, they do not admit the Avatars, and say that God is exempt from transmigration and union; and, accord­ing to those who profess the belief in the unity and solitariness of the supreme being, he is not suscep­tible of (what we call) intimate friendship. Being asked about the history of Krichna, Píránah said: “He was a Rája, devoted to licentiousness, and oppressing mankind.” The writer of these pages saw Píranah in the year 1050 of the Hejira (1640 A. D.), in Vizirábád, and in the same year and in the same place he saw Ananta, who was of the same creed as Píránah, but particularly addicted to the belief of the singleness of God.

Ananta did not advise abstinence to the sick. One of his friends being attacked by a diarrhœa, Ananta gave him substantial and sweet food, until he left this elemental body. One of his disciples wanted to have a vein opened; Ananda, having been informed of it, expressed himself strongly against this opera­tion and prevented it. Thus, the author of these pages saw, in the year of the Hejira 1050 (A. D. 1640) in Guzerat of the Panjab, another of this sect, called Mían Lál, who was venerated by a great number of his sectaries; he abstained from eating any sort of animal food, and showed politeness to every body; like Píránah, he never cleansed his patched garment from vermin, and used to say: “These insects have an assignment for their daily subsistence written upon my body.” Váirágis are also called Mun­dís ;* because they shave four parts of their bodies, and one shaved is called Mundí.* There arose a dis­sension between this sect and the Sanyásis; in the year 1050 of the Hejira (1640 A. D.) a battle was fought at Hardwar,* which is a holy place of the Hindus, between the Mundís and the Sanyásis, in which the latter were victorious and killed a great number of the Mundís: these men threw away their rosaries of Tulasi wood which they wear about their necks, and hung on their perforated ears the rings of the Jógís, in order to be taken for these sectaries.