never-ending succession of Rishis and poets, who fed her with tales of gods until she cared nothing for histories of men; and the result has been, that this great India has never cared to know her own past history, or to transmit records of the present to posterity."

In the Bhagavata, the assembled Rishis, calling upon Sûta (or the bard) to give information on the usual divine subjects, he begins with Bhagavat, which means Vishnu, Hari, or Nârâyana, by the appellation of Bhagavat.

Sûta praises the Rishis for enquiring about this Being who gives the soul repose, and tells them that when Devotion takes Bhagavat for its object, detachment from desire is quickly effected. Whereas the strictest observance of duty, which results not in devotion to Vishnu, is lost labour.1 Pleasure, or even truth, which ends in this life, has no real value; but when the wise attain that knowledge which excludes duality, some recognise it as Brahmâ, others recognise it as Paramâtman, whilst the persons now assembled perceive it to be Bhagavat. And if they have indeed attained this knowledge, they recognise Bhagavat as the Supreme Spirit to be dwelling within their own individual spirits. The worship of Hari (Bhagavat or Vishnu) is, therefore, the strict duty of every condition and class of men. Meditation, of which Vishnu is the object, is like a sword cutting the cords which enchain a man in self-consciousness. Vishnu, as Krishna, descends into the hearts of men who recite his actions, and expels evil inclinations. And the man who is free from evil inclinations and worships at holy places, acquires bhakti, or inextinguishable faith; and his heart, resisting the attacks of desire, cupidity, and other vices, reposes in tranquillity on the bosom of Good

ness.

The main purpose of the Bhagavata-Purâna is to show that Bhagavat or Vishnu is the Supreme Being, manifested under many forms.

1 Burnouf, Bhagavata Purâna, vol. i., book ii. pp. 1–13.

"As it is one and the same fire which shines wherever wood is kindled, so the Spirit of the Universe is one, although manifested in every sepa

rate creature.

"Creator of worlds, he preserves them by the aid of Goodness, loving to assume, in the sports of his incarnations, the form of god, or man, or animal."1

In Book III. Vishnu is described in accordance with modern Hindu representations. He sleeps for ages, on a couch formed by the king of serpents. At length the subtile molecules of elements absorbed within his substance are evolved through the stalk of a lotus. Within the flower Brahmâ appeared as Creator. He sits in the centre of the lotus flower, and, looking to all quarters, he takes four faces, corresponding with the four quarters of the horizon. Feeling compassion for men, he permits them to see the lotus-mark on his feet. His garment is yellow, like filaments of the kadamba flower. He wears a necklace and bracelets of infinite price. He is Bhagavat, an epitome of that which moves and of that which moveth not.2

In the ninth chapter, the hymn which Brahmâ chanted is recited. It sets forth that all fear and distress, whether caused by family or friends, or by desire or cupidity, or by such erroneous notions as cause a man to say, "this is mine;" all such evils will endure until the world seeks relief at the feet of Bhagavat.

The closing words are:

"Adoration to Bhagavat, who is that tree of the world from which issue three stems: one to create, one to preserve, and one to destroy the universe." 3

These slight sketches will suffice to show that Purânas are in truth a recast of older works with additions adapted to later times, and that they are intended to answer the same purpose as the great poems, which also were epitomes of knowledge re

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hearsed on public occasions for the instruction of society. Every Hindu knows something of the Purânas, but even many Pandits know them but imperfectly; and as they are voluminous, and eighteen in number, passages from the Bhagavata and the Vishnu are usually selected. "Most Brâhmans," says Professor Wilson, "who pretend to scholarship are acquainted with two or more of them (the Purânas); and particular sections, as the Devî-Mâhâtmya, are amongst the most popular works in the Sanskrit language. Prayers from them have been copiously introduced into all the breviaries; observances of feasts and fasts are regulated by them; temples, and towns, and mountains and rivers, to which pilgrimages are made, owe their sanctity to legends for which the Purânas, or the Mâhâtmyas, (works asserted, often untruly, to be sections of them), are the only authorities; and texts quoted from them have validity in civil as well as religious law." ↑

The Purânas must, therefore, command the interest of all those who desire to know the sources from which the majority of even good, learned, and religious men in India derive religious doctrine.

Of the Tantras we should hesitate to treat, for Professor Wilson speaks of the "mystical and debasing rites,"" founded upon the class of works called Tantras," and says that the latter exercise "a most baneful influence upon the manners and principles of the Hindus." Yet the knowledge which Sanskrit scholars in general possess of these works is still very limited, and we may hope, therefore, that there are exceptions to those which Wilson had in his mind when passing this severe judgment; but, in a general way, it would appear that, whilst the Purânas are handbooks or compendiums used by the more educated, the Tantras are compendiums patronized by the less respectable members of Hindu society.

"Show me, O Krishna, thy other form, with thy tiara, thy staff, and thy discus in thy hand."-BHAGAVAD-GITA, CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XIV.

RELIGIOUS SECTS.

Religious sects coeval with Puránas.-Vishnu and Siva developed out of epithets in Vedas and epics.-Vishnu as Krishna.-Râmânuja.-Monasteries.-Vishnuworship debased.-Baba Gopala.-Vallabhácháryas. Other sects.-Bhakti faith. -Kabir.-Nanak.-Tukâ.-Siva sects.-Dandins, self-denying.-Sankara Acháryas.-Vedanta doctrine joined with Yoga.-Debased sects.-Charwakas.-Durga-Puja.-Gods Káma, Ganesa, Small-pox, &c., not philosophic, local.

SECTS arose simultaneously with the Purânas, each sect, like each Purâna, being devoted to the worship of some popular form of one of the chief deities. This is shown as much by ancient

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architecture as by written works; the one and the other equally indicating, that after Vedic worship and Buddhism disappeared, religion in India was represented by manifestations of Vishnu and manifestations of Siva. At first these gods were regarded as allies, though not as equals, but gradually they became fierce rivals; that is, the worshippers of the one cherished fierce enmity against the worshippers of the other.

Both Vishnu and Siva were, in a manner, elaborated out of gods (or personified epithets) met with in the Rig-Veda, and a certain resemblance may be detected between the faint tracing in the Veda and the developed god in the Purâna. In the RigVeda, Vishnu is the "wide-stepping." His steps make room in the sky. When Indra is about to slay Vrittra, he says, "Friend Vishnu, do thou stride widely." And when wanting room for his thunderbolt, he says again, "Friend Vishnu, stride vastly; sky, give room for the thunderbolt to strike; let us slay Vrittra and let loose the waters."3 Vishnu is celebrated for having strode over this universe, making three steps; "in three places he planted his step," which is explained by the Hindu commentator as meaning that Vishnu was the sun, who planted one foot at rising, another on the meridian sky, and a third on the hill at setting. "Vishnu, the unconquerable preserver," is another epithet applied in the hymns to Vishnu. "Sages constantly behold," says another Rishi, "that highest position of Vishnu, like an eye fixed in the sky."5

In the two great heroic poems Vishnu still bears this cheerful, friendly character, the difference being, that in the Râmâyana he is represented by Râma, and in the Mahâbhârata by the warrior Krishna. Many years ago, Professor Lassen observed, that it is only "in certain sections, which have been added for the purpose of enforcing their divine character," that Krishna is made to bear