36 RELIGIOUS SECTS 



observed, by all the Vaishnavas ; Swddhydija, counting the rosary and repeat- 

 ing the names of the divinity, or any of his forms ; and Yoga, the effort to 

 unite Vt^ith the deity : the reward of these acts is elevation to the seat of 

 Vishnu, and enjoyment of like state with his own, interpreted to be perpetual 

 residence in Vailcu7ifka, or Vishnu's heaven, in a condition of pure ecstasy and 

 eternal rapture. 



The Rdmdimjas are not very numerous in the north of India, where they 

 are better known as Sri Vaishnavas ; they are decidedly hostile to the Saiva 

 sect, and are not on very friendly terms with the modern votaries of Krishna, 

 although they recognise that deity as an incarnation of Vishnu.* 



RAMANANDIS, OR RAMA WATS. 



The followers of Ramanand are much better known than those of Ra.- 

 MANUJA in upper Hindustan : they are usually considered as a branch of the 

 Ramanuja sect, and address their devotions peculiarly to Ramachandra, 

 and the divine manifestations connected with Vishnu in that incarnation, as 

 SiTA, Lakshma:^a, and Hanuman. 



* Dubois, in his 8th Chapter, has some details of the Valshnava mendicants, as met with 

 in the Dekhin : his account, however, does not apply to the Rdmdnuja, or any other Vaishnava sect, 

 as known in these provinces, although a few of the particulars may be true, if confined to the Vaish- 

 nava Vairagis — the Dekkini Vaishnavas must be, therefore, a very difFeuent class from those that are 

 met within any other part of India, or the Abbe must have mixed, as is not unusual with him, a small 

 quantum of truth, with a very large portion of error ; it is, indeed, impossible to think him correct, 

 when he states, that " the sectaries of Vishnu eat publicly of all sorts of meat, except beef, and 

 drink spirituous liquors without shame or restraint, and that they are reproached with being the 

 chief promoters of that abominable sacrifice, the SalUi Pujd .•" now, it is not true of any sect in 

 Upper India, that the practices the Ahbi mentions occur at all, except in the utmost privacy and 

 secrecy, and if even in that way they do occur, it is certainly not amongst the Vaishnava Vai- 

 ragis, but with very diiFerent sects, as we shall hereafter see. 



