1840.] On the Creed, Customs and Literature of the Jangams. 165 



as more moral than the dulness? of bramiuical puranas. Bat when 

 tliey are asked how thej^ venture to represent their god in this hidi- 

 crous manner, they reply at once that this is not their god : their god 

 is Allama Basava; the one Sada-Siva (ever blest), whereas the hero 

 of these stories is merely the braminical Siva whom they think as 

 fair a subject for merriment as Jupin or Jupiter is in the French 

 theatre. 



In apology for these stories Jangams allege that they all establish 

 the necpssity of faith (bhacti) as the great means of attaining happiness 

 and miraculous power, " As the Bramins, say they, call themselves 

 (bhu-sura) gods upon earth we will shew that our worthies (bhact) are 

 quite a match for them." Accordingly there are many legends to 

 prove that (Janga-prasadam) food or the leavings of food blessed by a 

 worthy can perform all sorts of miracles. For instance, a Bramin who by 

 a curse had become a swine ate what a Jangam had spit out and hereby 

 resumed the human form. Elsewhere a Jangam's shoe works miracles. 



In all hagiology we find that the fables invented in successive cen- 

 turies become gradually more marvellous. Accordingly though the 

 legends of the Basava Puran are w'ild enough they are out heroded by 

 those of later date : for instance, the Chenna Basava Puran, from which 

 (book 2 verse 86) I cite the anecdotes now mentioned. 



It must however, be acknowledged that in a redundancy of nonsense 

 as well as in dirt the Bharata beats all the Saivite stories. There we 

 find the very sublime of puerility : bramiuical legends compared to 

 which Jack and the Bean Stalk are nothing at all. And all this is en- 

 shrined in a flow of beautiful Sanscrit verse which for richness of ex- 

 pression and harmony rivals Homer himself. The Bramins have had 

 possession of the most perfect and beautiful of languages, and have oU 

 ten perverted its melody and vigour to the vilest of purposes. 



Objectionable as many of the Saivite* legends are, they are 

 purity itself when compared to the braminical writings. The great 

 prophet of the Bramins is Vyasa, and this venerated Saint's description 

 of his own miraculous birth is a master- piece both of filth and folly. 



The Jangams are indeed set free from believing such legends but 

 their own hagiography, though not dirty like that of the Bramins, is 

 full of absurdities: in apology for which they acknowledge that many 

 of these tales bear marks of fiction. 



Further, they allege that in all these legends the adorers are "not 



• I ought to have already mentioned the Siva Puran— ot which the reader may find an 

 abstract under that title, in Rees's Cyclof<Fdia {furnished by Sir Chas. Wilkins; and 

 he will perceive that this book haa nothing to do with the Vira Saiva Creed. This puian 

 is entirely forgotten. I possess one copy in Sanscrit and never could discover another. 



