OF THE HINDUS. 



39 



Church : they have, however, their fixed rallying points, and ^re sure of finding, 

 in various parts of their progress, establishments of their own, or some friendly 

 fraternity where they are for a reasonably moderate period lodged and fed. 

 When old or infirm, they sit down in some previously existing Matli, or 

 establish one of their own. 



The Matlis, Astlids, or Akdras^ the residences of the monastic commu- 

 nities of the Hindus, are scattered over the whole country : they vary in 

 structure and extent, according to the property of which the proprietors are 

 possessed ; but they generally comprehend a set of huts or chambers for the 

 Mahant* or Superior, and his permanent pupils; a temple, sacred to the deity 

 whom they worship, or the Samidh, or shrine of the founder of the sect or 

 some eminent teacher ; and a Dharma Said, one or more sheds, or buildino-s for 

 the accommodation of the mendicants or travellers, who are constantly visiting 

 the Mat'h : ingress and egress is free to all ; and, indeed, a restraint upon 

 personal liberty seems never to have entered into the conception of any of the 

 religious legislators of the Hindus. 



The Mat'h is under the entire controul of a Mahant, or Superior, with a 

 certain number of resident Chelas, or disciples ; their number varies from three 



* The following description of the residence of Mandana Misua, from the Sankara Vijaija of 

 Ananda Giri, is very applicable to a modern MaCh. 



" At the distance of four Yojanas, west from Hastinapur, was a square plot of ground, extending 

 a cos on each side, in the centre of it stood a large mansion, constructed of the timber of the Tal, and 

 exactly facing it another a hundred cubits in length ; upon the top of this last, were many cages full 

 of parrots, and within It resided five hundred pupils, occupied in the study of various Sastras : the 

 first was the dwelling of the Teacher, like Brahma with four heads, like the Serpent King, with a 

 thousand faces, and Rudra, with a five-fold head, amongst his disciples like the waves of the ocean, 

 and enabling them to overcome the universe in unparalleled profundity and extent of knowledge : he 

 was attended by numerous slaves of both sexes : attached to his dwelling, were wells and reservoirs, 

 and gardens and orchards, and his person was pampered with the choicest viands procured daily by 

 his disciples. In his court-yard were two Temples, on a circular mound, for the worship of the ViS' 

 toadcvas and the Sdlaprdm, in the form of Lakshvii Ndrayana. 



