RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS. 233 



priests ; but their office consists chiefly in reading and expounding 

 the writings of Nanak and Govind Sinh, as collected in the Adi Granth 

 and Das Padshah hi granth. The perusal is enlivened by the chaunting, 

 occasionally, of Hindi Fadas and Rekktas, the compositions of Kabir, 

 Mira Bhai, Sur Das, and others. With that fondness for sensible objects 

 of reverence which characterises the natives of India, the Book is also 

 worshipped, and Rupees, flowers, and fruits, are presented by the votaries, 

 which become, of course, the property of the officiating Uddsi. In return, 

 the Uddsi not uncommonly adopts the presentation of the Prdsada, and 

 at the close of the ceremony, sweetmeats are distributed amongst the con- 

 gregation. In some of the establishments at Benares, the service is 

 held in the evening after sunset, and the singing and feasting continue 

 through a great part of the night. Many of the Uddsis are well read 

 in Sanscrit, and are able expounders of the Veddnta philosophy, on which 

 the tenets of Nanak are mainly founded. 



The Uddsi sect was established by Dharmachand, the grandson of 

 NAnak, through whom the line of the Sage was continued, and his des- 

 cendants, known by the name of Nanak Putras, are still found in the 

 Punjab, where they are treated by the Sikhs with especial venera- 

 tion. 



The doctrine taught by Nanak, appears to have differed but little 

 from that of Kabir, and to have deviated, but inconsiderably, from the 

 Hindu faith in general. The whole body of poetical and mythological 

 fiction was retained, whilst the liberation of the spirit from the delusive 

 deceits of Maya, and its purification by acts of benevolence and self- 

 denial, so as to make it identical even in life with its divine source, were 

 the great objects of the devotee. Associated with these notions, was great 

 chariness of animal life, whilst with NXnak, as well as with Kabir, uni- 

 versal tolerance was a dogma of vital importance, and both laboured to 



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