OF THE HINDUS. 



97 



why he did not allow his wife to cook, to which Ram Das replied, that she had not received 

 the initiating name from Sri AcJirUya, and was, therefore, unfit to prepare his food, 

 Ranachhor, therefore, directed him to communicate the Nam {the name) to his wife, and 

 after returning to the AcMtya, get him to repeat it. Accordingly, Ram Das initiated his 

 wife, and this being confirmed by the AcMrya^ she also became his disciple, and, with her 

 husband, assiduously worshipped Sri TJidJmrji. 



Vallabha was succeeded by Iiis son Vittala Nath, known amongst tlie 

 sect by the appellation of Sri Gosain Ji, Vallabha's designation being Sri 

 Achdrj Ji. Vittala Nat'h, again, had seven sons, Girdhari rai, Govind RaIj 

 Bala Krishna, Gokul Nat'h, Raghunath, Yadunat'h, and Ghanassyama; 

 these were all teachers, and their followers, although in all essential points the 

 same, form as many different communities. Those of Gokulnat'h, indeed, are 

 peculiarly separate from the rest, looking upon their own Gosains as the only 

 legitimate teachers of the faith, and withholding all sort of reverence from the 

 persons and Mafhs of the successors of his brethren : an exclusive preference 

 that does not prevail amongst the other divisions of the faith, who do homage 

 to all the descendants of all Vittala Nat'h's sons. 



The worshippers of this sect are very numerous and opulent, the mer- 

 chants and bankers, especially those from Guzrat and Malwa, belonging to it : 

 their temples and establishments are "numerous all over India, but particularly 

 at Mathura and Bindraban, the latter of which alone is said to contain many 

 hundreds, amongst which are three of great opulence. In Benares are two 



temples of great repute and wealth, one sacred to Ldlji, and the other to Puru- 



if 

 shottama ji* Jagannatli and Dwdrakdy are also particularly venerated by this 



sect, but the most celebrated of all the Gosain establishments is at Sri Ndt^h 



Dwdr, in Ajmer. The image at this shrine is said to have transported 



* Many of the bankers of this city, it is said, pay to one or other of the temples a tax of 

 one-fourth of an ana, on every bill of exchange, and the cloth merchants, half an ana on all sales. 



A a 



