OP THE HINDUS. 75 



8. Tak SdlL—BaToda. 



9. Jnydni. — Majjhni near Sahasram. 



10. Saheb Das. — Cuttack : his followers have also some distinct notions, 

 and form a sect called Mula Panfhis. 



11. Nitydnand. 



12. Kamal Nad : these two settled somewhere in the Delchin, but my 

 imformant could not tell me exactly where. There are also some popular, 

 and perhaps local distinctions of the sect, as Hansa Kabiris, Dana Kabiris, and 

 Mangrela Kabiris, but in what respect, except appellation, they differ from the 

 rest has not been ascertained. 



Of these establishments the Kabir Chaura^ at Benares, is pre-eminent in 

 dignity, and it is constantly visited by wandering members of the sect,^a:s well 

 as by those of other kindred heresies : its Mahant receives and feeds these 

 visitors whilst they stay, although the establishment has little to depend upon, 

 except the occasional donations of its lay friends and followers. Balwant 

 SiNH, and his successor, Cheit Sink, were great patrons of it, and the latter 

 granted to the Chaura a fixed monthly allowance. Cheit Sinh also attempted 

 to form some estimate of the numbers of the sect, and if we may credit the 

 result, they must be very considerable indeed, as at a grand meeting, or Mela^ 

 which he instituted near Benares, no fewer than 35,000 Kabir Pant'his of the 

 Monastic and Mendicant class are said to have been collected. There is no 

 doubt that the Kabir Panfhis, both clerical and lay, are very numerous in all 

 the provinces of upper and central India, except, perhaps, in Bengal itself: 

 the quaker-like spirit of the sect, their abhorrence of all violence, their 

 regard for truth, and the inobtrusiveness of their opinions, render them very 

 inoffensive members of the state : their mendicants also never solicit alms, 

 and in this capacity even they are less obnoxious than the many religious 

 vagrants, whom the rank soil of Hindu superstition and enervating operation 

 of an Indian climate so plentifully engender. 



