108 RELIGIOUS SECTS 



temfles, of the worship oflfered to Vishnu. The votaries of the Mddkwa Gurus, 

 and of the Sankardchari Gosains, offer the Namaskdr, or reverential obeisance, 

 to their teachers mutually, and the Srtngeri Mahant visits Udipi, to perform his 

 adorations at the shirne of Krishna. It is evident, therefore, that there is an 

 affinity between these orders, which does not exist between the Saivas and 

 Vaishnavas generally, who are regarded by the Mddlvwas, even without ex- 

 cepting the Rdmdnujas, as Pdshandis, or haxtics, whether they profess the 

 adoration of Vishnu or of Siva. 



SANAKADI SAMPRADAYIS, OR NIMAWATS. 



This division of the Vaish?iava faith is one of the four primary onea, 

 and appears to be of considerable antiquity : it is one also of some popularity 

 and extent, although it seems to possess but few characteristic peculiarities be- 

 yond the name of the founder, and the sectarial mark. 



' ' NiMBADiTYA is said to have been a VaisJmava ascetic, originally named 

 BhdsJcara Achdrya, and to have been, in fact, an incarnation of the sun, for 

 the suppression of the heretical doctrines then prevalent : he lived near Vin- 

 drdvan, where he was visited by a Dandi, or, according to other accounts, by a 

 Jaina ascetic, or Jati, whom he engaged in controversial discussion till sun- 

 set : lie then offered his visitant some refreshment, which the practice of either 

 mendicant renders unlawful after dark, and which the guest was, therefore, 

 compelled to decline : to remove the difficulty, the host stopped the further 

 descent of the sun, and ordered him to take up his abode in a neighbouring 

 Nimb tree, till the meat was cooked and eaten : the sun obeyed, and the 

 saint was ever after named Nimbdrka, or Nimbdditi/a, or the Nimb tree sun. 



The Nimdiicats are distinguished by a circular black mark in the centre of 

 the ordinary double streak of white earth, or Gopickandan : they use the neck- 



