OP THE HINDUS. 135 



ritual guides of the worldly votaries ; it is almost impossible, however, to give 

 any general character of these Vairdgis, as, although united generally by the 

 watch-word of Vishnu, or his ihcarnations, there are endless varieties both of 

 doctrine and practice amongst them : those who are collected in Mat'hs, are of 

 more fixed principles than their vagrant brethren, amongst whom individuals 

 are constantly appearing in some new form with regard to the deity they 

 worship, or the practices they follow.* 



N A G A S. 



All the sects include a division under this denomination. The Ndgas are 

 of the same description as the Vairdgis, or Sanydsis, in all essential points, but in 



Vairdgis, is an excellent illustration of the confusion that prevails respecting the application of the 

 term ; as he has blended with the Rdmdnandi ascetics, who are accurately entitled to the designation, 

 a variety of religious vagrants, to some of whom the name is rarely, and to others never applied : as 

 Paramahansas, Digambaras, or Ndgas, Urddhav alius, and even Aghoris ; the latter are not named, 

 but they, or similar Saiva mendicants, are the only individuals " who extort compassion by burning 

 themselves with torches, and cutting themselves with swords." 



* Such are the Sitd Padres, Ramati Rdms, and others ; also the new and scarcely yet 

 known sects Guldl Ddsis, and Derya Ddsis : mention is also made in the Dabistan, of a number of 

 Hindu mendicants, who are no longer numerous, if ever to be encountered. It is not possible in 

 general, however, to discriniinate the classes to which they belong, as in the descriptions given by 

 tlie writer, he usually confines himself to a few peculiarities of practice that afford no guide to the 

 principles of the sect, and as in the case of the Dhers, he confounds the distinction of caste, or 

 occupation with that of religious belief. Many of the vagrant ascetics whom he notices, belong 

 also rather to the Mohammedan, than the Hindu religion, as in the followers of Sheikh Bedia al 

 Din Medar — who, although they credit the divine mission of Mohammed, disregard the established 

 forms of the Musselman faith, chew Bheng, and go naked, smearing their bodies with Vibhut, or 

 the ashes of burnt cow-dung, and twisting their hair into the Jatd, or braid worn by Hindu ascetics 

 — except as professed worshippers of Niranjan, or the indescribable deity, and a belief in magic, 

 these mendicants have little in common with the Hindu religion, or perhaps with any, although, with 

 a facility of which innumerable instances occur in Hindustan, they have adopted many of the Hindu 

 practices. The tomb of Sheikh Medar is still to be seen at Makhenpiir, near Firozabad, in the 

 Doab — where, at the time of the Dabistan, an annual meeting of his disciples was held. The tomb is 

 an extensive building, though in decay. The Dabistan, although it contains many curious, and 

 some correct notices of the Hindu religion, affords too loose and inaccurate a description to be con- 

 sulted with advantage. 



