130 llELIGIOUS SECTS 



■with retribution or reward : their moral code, which they seem to have borrow- 

 ed from the Madlmas, if not from a purer source, consists of ten prohibitions. 

 They are not to lie, not to revile, not to speak harshly, not to discourse idly, not 

 to steal, not to commit adultery, not to offer violence to any created thing, 

 not to imagine evil, not to cherish hatred, and not to indulge in conceit or 

 pride. The other obligations enjoined, are, to discharge the duties of the pro- 

 fession or caste to which a person belongs, to associate with pious men, to put 

 implicit faith in the spiritual preceptor, and to adore Hari as the original 

 and indefinable cause of all, and who, through the operation of Maya, created 

 the universe, and has appeared in it occasionally in a mortal form, and parti- 

 cularly as Krishna at Vindrdvan. 



The followers of Charan Das are both clerical and secular ; the latter are 

 chiefly of the mercantile order ; the former lead a mendicant and ascetic 

 life, and are distinguished by wearing yellow garments, and a single streak of 

 sandal, or Gopichandana, down the forehead ; the necklace and rosary are of 

 . Tulasl beads : they wear also a small pointed cap, round the lower part of 

 which they v/rap a yellow turban. Their appearance in general is decent, and 

 their deportment decorous ; in fact, although they profess mendicity, they are 

 well supported by the opulence of their disciples ; it is possible, indeed, that 

 this sect, considering its origin, and the class by which it is professed, arose 

 out of an attempt to shake off the authority of the Gokulasfha Gosains, 



The authorities of the sect are the Sri Bhdgavat and Gitd, of which they 

 have BJidsha translations : that of the former is ascribed, at least in parts, to 

 Charan Das himself: he has also left original works, as the Sandeha Sdgar and 

 Dharme Jihaj, in a dialogue between him and his teacher, Suk'h Deva, the same, 

 according to the Clmran Basis, as the pupil of Vyas, and narrator of the Pit- 

 rdaas. The first disciple of Charan d's was his own sister, Sahaji Bai, and 

 she succeeded to her brother's authority, as well as learning, having written 



