OF THE HINDUSo 



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sects who direct their devotions to beings of a still lower rank, and of whom 

 none, at present, exist as distinct bodies, although individuals may be found, 

 either detached or comprehended in other classes, who, more or less, rever- 

 ence similar objects. Thus, the worship of Akds* or Ether ^ as the supreme 

 deity, is still occasionally met with : all classes pay daily homage to the Pitris 

 or Manes, and a few of the Tdntrikas worship the Siddhas, or Genii, in the 

 hope of acquiring super-human powers : the same class furnishes occasional 

 votaries of the Fasus, Yakshas^ and GandharbaSy and even of the Vetdlas and 

 Bhutas, or goblins and gliosts, and the latter also receive still, from the fears 

 of the villagers, propitiatory adoration. It does not appear, that in any form, 

 the worship of the moon a«d stars, of the elements, and divisions of the 

 universe, is still practised, although that of the Tirthas, or hply places and 

 rivers, is as popular as ever. 



We have thus completed the enumeration of the sects as described by the 

 author of the Sankara Vijayay and have had an opportunity of observing, that, 

 although the outlines of the system remain the same, the details have under- 

 gone very important alterations, since the time at which this work was 

 composed: the rise of most of the existing modifications, we can trace 

 satisfactorily enough, as will hereafter appear, and it is not improbable, 

 that the disappearance of many of those, which no longer take a part in 

 the idolatry of the Hindus, may be attributed to the exertions of Sankara 

 and his disciples : his object, as appears from the work we have hitherto follow- 

 ed, was by no means the suppression of acts of outward devotion, nor of the 

 preferential worship of any acknowledged and pre-eminent deity : his leading 

 tenet is the recognition of Brahme Para Brahme,f as the sole cause and 



* I have encountered but one Professor, however, of this faith, a miserable mendicant, who 

 taught the worship of Ether, under the strange name of Baghela. 



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