RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS. 295 



Baba Lal was a Khetriya, born in Maliva, about the reign of Jehan- 

 gir : he early adopted a religious life under the tuition of Chetana Swam!, 

 whose fitness as a teacher had been miraculously proved. This person 

 soliciting alms of Baba Lal, received some raw grain, and wood to dress 

 it with : lighting the wood, he confined the fire between his feet, and sup- 

 ported the vessel in which he boiled the grain upon his insteps, Baba 

 Lal immediately prostrated himself before him as his Guru, and receiv- 

 ing from him a grain of the boiled rice to eat, the system of the universe 

 became immediately unfolded to his comprehension. He followed Chetana 

 to Lahore, whence being dispatched to Dwdrakd by his Guru, to procure 

 some of the earth, called Gopichandana, he effected his mission in less 

 than an hour : this miraculous rapidity, the distance being some hundred 

 miles, attesting his proficiency, he was dismissed by his Guru, in order to 

 become a teacher. He settled at Dehanpur, near Serhind, where he erect- 

 ed a Math, comprehending a handsome temple, and where he initiated a 

 number of persons in the articles of his faith. 



Amongst the individuals attracted by the doctrines of Baba Lal, was 

 the liberal minded and unfortunate Dara Shekoh : he summoned the sage 

 to his presence to be instructed in his tenets, and the result of seven in- 

 terviews was committed to writing, in the form of a dialogue between the 

 Prince and the Pir, by two literary Hindus, attached to the Prince's train, 

 one Yadu Das, a Khettriya, and the other Raichand Brahman, the latter 

 the Mirmunshi; the interview took place in the garden of Jaffer Khan 

 Saduh, in the 21st year of Shah Jehan's reign, or 1649: the work is 

 entitled Nddir unnikdt, and is written, as the name implies, in the Per- 

 sian language. Some miscellaneous extracts from it may not be unaccepta- 

 ble, as they may not only explain the tenets of Baba Lal, and something of 

 the Veddttta and Sufi doctrines, but may illustrate better than any description 

 the notions generally prevailing of the duties of a religious and mendicant 

 life. The interrogator is the Prince, Baba Lal himself the respondent. 



