OF THE HINDUS. 15 



in Ajmer, also at BitJiur^ in the Doah, where, at the principal Ghat, denomi- 

 nated Brahmavertta Ghaty he is said to have offered an Aswamedha on com- 

 pleting the act of creation : the pin of his slipper left behind him on the oc- 

 casion, and now fixed in one of the steps of the Ghat, is still worshipped there, 

 and on the full moon of Agrahayana (Novr. Deer.) a very numerously attended 

 Melay or meeting, that mixes piety with profit, is annually held at that 

 place. 



The worshippers of Agni no longer form a distinct class : a few AgniJioira 

 Brahmans, who preserve the family fire, may be met with, but in all other res- 

 pects they conform to some mode of popular devotion. 



The next opponents of Sankara Acharya were the Sauras, or v/orship- 

 pers of the sun, as the creator and cause of the world : a few Sauras, chiefly 

 Brahmans, still exist as a sect, as will be hereafter noticed j but the divisions 

 enumerated by Ananda Giri, are now, it is believed, unknown : he distinguishes 

 them into the following six classes. 



Those who adored the rising sun, regarding it as especially the type of 

 BrahmA or the creative power. Those who worshipped the meridian sun as 

 IswARA, the destructive and regenerative faculty; and those who reverenced 

 the setting sun, as the prototype of Vishnu, or the attribute of preservation. 



The fourth class comprehended the advocates of the Trimurtiy who ad- 

 dressed their devotions to the sun in all the preceding states, as the compre- 

 hensive type of these three divine attributes. 



The object of the fifth form is not quite clearly stated, but it appears to 

 have been the adoration of the sun as a positive and material body, and the 

 marks on his surface, as his hair, beard, &c. The members of this class so far 



