122 RELIGIOUS SECTS 



The VaisJinavas of this sect are distinguished by two white perpendicular 

 streaks of sandal, or Gopichandana, down the forehead, uniting at the root of 

 the nose, and continuingto near the tip ; by the name of Rddhd Krishna stamped 

 on the temples, breast and arms; a close neckiaceofTw/as? stalk of three strings, 

 and arosaryof one hundred and eight or sometimes even of a thousand beads 

 made of the stem of the Tulasi;i\ie necklace is sometimes made of very minute 

 beads, and this, in upper India, is regarded as the characteristic of the Chaitanya 

 sect, but in Bengal it is ojily worn by persons of the lowest class. The Chaitanya 

 sectaries consist of every tribe and order, and are governed by the descendants 

 of their Gosains. They include some Uddsinas, or Vairdgis, men who retire 

 from the world, and live unconnected with society in a state of celibacy and 

 mendicancy : the religious teachers are, however, married men, and their dwel- 

 lings, with a temple attached, are tenanted by their family and dependants. 

 Such coenobitical establishments as are common amongst the Rdmdnandis and 

 otlier ascetics, are not kriown to the great body of the Chaitanya Vaishnavas, - 



Besides the divisions of this sect arising from the various forms under 

 which the tutelary deity is worshipped, and thence denominated Rddhdrama- 

 nis, RddhipdliSy Vihdriji ancjl Govindji, and Yugala Bkakias, and which distinc- 

 tions are little more than nominal, whilst also they are almost restricted to 

 the Bengal Vaishnavas about Mathur(i and Vindravan^ there are in Bengal 

 three classes of this sect, that maly be regarded as seceders from the principal 

 body, these are denominated Spashtha Ddyakas, Karta Bhajas and Sahiijas, 



The Spashtha Ddyakas are distinguished from perhaps every other Hindu 

 sect in India by two singularities — denial of the divine character, and despotic 

 authority of the Guru, and the, at least professedly, platonic association of. 

 male and female coenobites in one conventual abode.* 



* Like the brethren and sisters of the free spirit, who were numerous in Europe in the ISth 

 century — See Mosheim 3. 379. 



