OF THE HINDUS. 115 



Next to the six Gosains, several learned disciples and faithful companions 

 of Chaitanya are regarded with nearly equal veneration : these are Suinibas, 

 Gadadhar Pandit, Sri Swarijpa, Ramanand, and others, including Hari 

 Das : the last, indeed, has obtained almost equal honour with his master, being 

 worshipped as a divinity in some places in Bengal — it is recorded of him, that 

 he resided in a thicket for many years, and during the whole time he repeated 

 the name of Krishna three hundred thousand times daily. In addition to 

 these chiefs, the sect enumerates eight Kavi Rajas, or eminent and orthodox 

 bards, amongst whom is Krishna Das, the author of the Chaitanya Charitd" 

 mrita, and they also specify sixty-four Mahantas, or heads of religious 

 establishments. 



The object of the worship of the Chaitanyas is Krishna : according to 

 them he is Paramdtmd, or supreme spirit, prior to all worlds, and both the 

 cause and substance of creation : in his capacity of creator, preserver, and des- 

 troyer, he is Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and in the endless divisions of his sub- 

 stance or energy, he is all that ever was or will be : besides these manifesta- 

 tions of himself, he has, for various purposes, assumed specific shapes, as Ava- 

 tars, or descents ; Aiisas, or portions ; A77sdnsas, portion of portions, and so on 

 ad infinitum: his principal appearance, and, in fact, liis actual sensible mani- 

 festation, was as Krishna, and in this capacity he again was present in Chai- 

 tanya, who is therefore worshipped as the deity, as are the other forms of the 

 same god, particularly as Gopal, the cow-herd, orGoPiNAx'H, the lord of the 

 milk maids of Vindraban ; his feats, in which juvenile characters are regarded,, 

 are his Lild, or sport. 



It is not worth while to enter upon the prolix series of subtle and un- 

 meaning obscurities in which this class of Krishna's worshippers envelop their 

 sectarial notions : the chief features of the faith are the identification of 

 Vishnu with Brahme, in common with all the Vaishnava sects, and the asser- 



