OF THE HINDUS. 6i 



no great value, however, as it is little less puzzling than the original, of a few 

 passages of which the following translations will best exemplify the descrip^ 

 lion thus given : 



Ramaini the 1st. — God, light, sound, and one woman; from these have sprung Ha- 

 Ki, Brahma, and Tripuuari. Innumerable ai-e the emblems of Siva and BnAVANf, which 

 they have established, but they know not their own beginning nor end : a dwelling has been 

 prepared for them : Hari, Brahma, and Siva, are the three headmen, and each has his own 

 village: they have formed the ^AawfZas and the egg of Brahma, and have invented the six 

 Dersanas — and ninety-six Pdshandas : no one has ever read the Vedas in the womb, nor 

 has any infant been born a member of Islam, ' The woman,' relieved from the burthen of 

 the embryo, adorned her person with every grace. I and you are of one blood, and one hfe 

 animates us both ; from one mother is the world born : what knowledge is this that makes 

 us separate, no one knows the varieties of this descent, and how shall one tongue declare 

 them ; nay should the mouth have a million of tongues, it would be incompetent to the task. 

 Kabir has said, I have cried aloud from friendship to mankind ; from not knowing the name 

 of Rama, the world has been swallowed up in death. 



In this Ramaini, the first passage contains an allusion to the notions of 

 the sect regarding the history of creation. God is called Anter, Inner, that 

 which was in all, and in which all was, meaning the first self-existent and all 

 comprehensive being. Jyotish is the luminous element, in which he manifested 

 himself, and Sahda, the primitive sound or word that expressed his essence — 

 the woman, is Maya, or the principle of error and delusion : the next passage 

 relates to the impotence of the secondary gods, and the unnatural character of 

 religious distinctions : " the woman,''' is Maya the self-born daughter of the 

 first deity, and at once the mother and wife of Brahma, Vishi^u, and Siva, 

 " I and yon, cSpc." is addressed by her to them, *' no one knows, <l§:c." is an allu- 

 ^on to the blindness of all worldly wisdom, and the passage winds up with a 

 word of advice, recommending the worship of Kama, implying the true God, 

 agreeably to the system of KABiR, 



