1851.] Notes on the " Mah&purushyas." 469 



side, who all prostrate themselves as they repeat it, and thus it is con- 

 tinued till it is heard but as a faint moan and dies away in the dis- 

 tance. None that have been present could fail to be struck with this 

 very impressive mode of concluding the service. 



The superiority of the form and mode of the devotional exercises 

 above described, contrasted with the ordinary temple worship of the 

 Hindus, is apparent enough to attract and retain votaries. Instead of 

 a small shrine into which none but the officiating Brahman enters and 

 from which no instruction to the crowd outside is even attempted, a 

 large building capable of affording accommodation to thousands is 

 devoted to the purposes of praises of the deity, congregational singing 

 and moral instruction, and to keep up the spirit of the sect as well as 

 to afford them ensamples of holy living, the actions, precepts and 

 chief incidents in the lives of their founders are constantly brought to 

 their recollection. 



Amongst the peculiarities of this institution is the almost communis- 

 tic nature of their system of Government. In other Asam Shostros 

 the resident Bhakats were regarded as little better than slaves of the 

 high priest for the time being, whether the latter office was hereditary 

 or otherwise held, but the Bhakats of Borpetah have all a proprietary 

 right in their Shostro and a share in its Government. Acknowledg- 

 ing the Adhikari as their " Guru," they implicitly submit to his 

 guidance in spiritual affairs but in temporal matters he can take no 

 step without their voice. There are indeed two parties amongst them 

 which we may designate " high and low church/' the one admitting, 

 the other disavowing his claim to infallibility, but these are delicate 

 questions with which I will not further meddle. 



The institution is less richly endowed by the former rulers of the 

 country than many others of far less importance, but they hold a grant 

 of land conferred on them by Seeb Sing, one of the Ahom rajas of 

 Asam, dated Saka 1657, corresponding with A. D. 1735, in which the 

 rights of the Bhakats are peculiarly recognized. The lands, about 

 397 acres, being granted to 297 individuals by name who were the 

 heads of the families of the resident Bhakats then existing and to the 

 Shusturiah and Desha Shusturiah and Pujari for the time being the 

 space for whose names is left blank. I am told that they have more 

 ancient grants for a smaller quantity of land from two of the Delhi 

 Badshahs but these I have not seen. 



