172 SKETCH OF THE 



their tutelary deity, wear his insignia, and worship the Linga, either in 

 temples, in their houses, or on the side of a sacred stream, providing, in 

 the latter case, extempore emblems kneaded out of the mud or clay of the 

 river's bed. The example of the Brahmans, and the practice of ages, 

 maintain the veneration universally offered to the type of Siva ; but it is 

 not the prevailing, nor the popular condition of the Hindu faith, along 

 the banks of the Ganges. We shall now proceed to specify the different 

 classes into which the worshippers of Siva, as distinct from the mass of 

 Brahmans, may be distinguished. 



DANDIS AND DASNAMIS. 



It is customary to consider these two orders as forming but one divi-i 

 sion. The classification is not, in every instance, correct, but the practices 

 of the two are, in many instances, blended, and both denominations are 

 accurately applicable to the same individual. It will not be necessary, 









therefore, to deviate from the ordinary enumeration. 





f 



i 





The Dafiilis, properly so called, and the TridancLis of the Vaislmavas, 

 are the only legitimate representatives of the fourth Asrama, or mendicant 

 life, into which the Hindu, according to the instructions of his inspired 

 legislators, is to enter, after passing through the previous stages of student, 

 householder and hermit.* It is not necessary, however, to have gone 

 through the whole of the previous career, as the Brahman may pass from 









* Thus Menu, 6, 33 



« Having thus performed religious acts in a forest during the third portion of his life, let him 

 become a Sanydsi, for the fourth portion of it, abandoning all sensual affection. 







A 



