VIII. 



On the Rosheniah sect, and its founder Bayezid An 



CSAR I 



By J. LEYDEN, M. D. 



XN the course of some researches relative to the language and literature 

 of xhQ Afghans,! met with an. account of an author of that nation, named 

 Ba'yezid Ansa'iii, which; rgreatly excited my curiosity and induced 'me to 

 investigate his history. I now submit to the Asiatic Society, the result of 

 my enquiries, in the following sketch of. his 'life and opinions. Having 

 been the founder of a heretical sect, which attained a very formidable de- 

 gree of power, and was suppressed with extreme difficulty, his works have 

 been proscribed, and his memory regarded with horror among the greater 

 number of the Afghans, while the adherents to his sect, who still exist, 

 are confined to the wildest and most inaccessible districts, conceaHng their 

 books, and their tenets, with . equal care. lam informed by Amir- 

 MuH'AMMED, a native o£ Paishdzver, that, some of the reputed followers of 

 Ba'yezid are still to l?e found, both in Paishdwer and Cdlmi, but that they 

 are reckoned stjiU more numerous among the wild tribes of the Tusefzei. 

 In Paishdzver, they are supposed to hold secret meetings, by night, at an 



