OP THE HINDUS. 131 



tlie Sahaj PraJcds and Solah Tat Niniaya : tliey have both left many Sahdas and 

 Kavits : other works, in Bhdsha, have been composed by various teachers of the 

 sect. 



The chief seat of the Charan Ddsis is at Delhi, where is the Samddh, or 

 monument of the founder : this establishment consists of about t^venty resident 

 members: there are also five or six similar Mafhs at Dehli, and others in 

 the upper part of the Doab, and their numbers are said to be rapidly 

 increasing. 



HARISCHANDIS, SADHNA PANT'HIS AND MADHAVIS. 



These sects m_ay be regarded as little more than nominal. The 

 two first have originated, apparently, in the determination of some of the 

 classes considered as outcaste, to adopt new religious as well as civil dis- 

 tinctions for themselves, as they were excluded from every one actually 

 existing. The Harischandls are Doms, or sweepers, in the western provinces : 

 their name bears an allusion to the Paurdnik prince Harischandra* who, 

 becoming the purchased slave of a man of this impure order, instructed his 

 master, it is said, in the tenets of the sect. What they were, however, is not 

 known, and it may be doubted whether any exist. 



Sadhna, again, was a butcher, but it is related of him, that he only sold, 

 never slaughtered meat, but purchased it ready slain. An ascetic rewarded 

 his humanity with the present of a stone, a Sdldgram which he devoutly wor- 

 shipped, and, in consequence, Vishnu was highly pleased with him, and con- 



* See the Story of Ilarischandra in Ward, Vol. 1, p. IG. Note. 



