OF THE HINDUS. 1^5 



reverence, are three, one at Nadiya, dedicated to_ Chaitanya, one at Amblki^ 

 to NiTYANAND and the same, and one at Agj'adwipa, dedicated to GopinXt'h : 

 at the latter a celebrated Mela, or annual fair, is held in the month of March,, 

 at which from 50 to 100,000 persons are generally collected. 



RADHA VALLABHIS. 



Althougli the general worship of the female personifications of the Hindis 

 deities forms a class by itself, yet when individualised as the associates of 

 the divinities, whose energies they are, their adoration becomes so linked with 

 that of the male power, that it is not easy, even to their votaries, to draw a pre- 

 cise line between them : they, in fact, form a part of the system, and LaJcshmi 

 and Sitd are the preferential objects of devotion to many of the followers of 

 RAm'.nuja and Ramanand, without separating them from the communion of 

 the sect. 



In like manner Radha, the favourite mistress of Krishna, is the object 

 of adoration to all the sects who worship that deity, and not imfreqiiently 

 obtains a degree of preference that almost throws the character from whom 

 she derives her importance into the shade : such seems to be the case with the 

 sect now noticed, who worship Krishna as Rddhd Vallablia^ the lord or 

 lover of Radha. j>: 



The adoration of Radh A is a most undoubted innovation in the Hindu 

 creed, and one of very recent origin. The only Radha that is named in the 

 MahqhJi&rat is a very different personage, being the wife of Duryodhana's 

 charioteer, and the nurse of Kerna. Even the Bhdgavat makes no parti- 

 cular mention of her amongst the Gopis of Frinddvan, and we must look 



H h 



