OF THE HINDUS. 43 



from those fetters which he had found so inconvenient: in allusion to this, 

 indeed, he gave, it is said, the SL-pYieWation Avadhula, or Liberated, to his scholars, 

 and they admit no particular observances with respect to eating or bathing,* 

 but follow their own inclination, or comply with the common practice in these 

 respects. The initiatory Maw/ra is said to be Sri Rama — the salutation hjaya 

 Sri Rama, Jay a Ram, or Silo. Ram: their marks are the same as those of the 

 preceding, except that the red perpendicular streak on the forehead, is varied, 

 in shape and extent, at the pleasure of the individual, and is generally narrow- 

 er than that of the RamAnujas. 



Various sects are considered to be but branches of the Rdmcinandi Vaish- 

 navas, and their founders are asserted to have been amongst his disciples : of 

 these disciples, twelve are particularised as the most eminent, some of whom 

 have given origin to religious distinctions of great celebrity, and, although 

 their doctrines are often very different from those of Kamanand, yet the po- 

 pular tradition is so far corroborated, that they maintain an amicable inter- 

 course with the followers of Ramanand, and with each other. 



The twelve chief disciples of Ramanand are named, as follows — Asanand, 

 Kabir, the weaver, Raedas, the Chamdr, or currier, PfpA, the Rajaput, Sur- 

 suRANAND, SukhAnand, BhAvanand, Dhanna the Jdt, Sena, the barber — 

 Mahanand, Paramanand, and SRfANAND,t a list which shews, that the 

 school of RAmanand admitted disciples of every caste : it is, in fact, assert- 

 ed in the Bhakta Mala, that the distinction of caste is inadmissible according 



* The Vairagis of this sect, and some others, eat and drink together, without regard to 

 tribe or caste, and are thence called Kulatut, or Verna Tut. 



f Tlie Bhakta Mala has a rather different list : 1 Raghu^a'th, 2 Akantanand, 3 Kabir, 

 4 Suk'hasur, 5 Jiva, 6 Padmavat, 7 Pipa, 8 Bhavanand, 9 Raidas, 10 Dhanna, 11 Seva, 

 12 SuRsuRA. His successors, again, were somewhat different, or 1 Raghunath, 2 Anantanand, 

 Joganand, Ramdas, Sri Ranja, and Narahari. 



