] 44 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
CHAPTER Vaishnavam Brahmans. They worship Vishnu, and the gods of his 
family only, and all over the Decan are almost exclusively the 
June s. officiating priests in the temples of these deities. They allege Brahma 
to be a son of Vishnu, and Sim the son of Brahma, and consider 
them as the creative and destructive powers in the universe; but 
they abhor the worship of these gods. Vishnu they consider as the 
same with Para Brahma, or the Supreme Being : yet they worship 
him in nine only of his ten incarnations. Budha, although the 
tenth incarnation of Vishnu , is never worshipped by them, nor, I 
believe, by any Brahman. The reason assigned for this is as follows: 
one of the Asuras , or demons, named Tripura, possessed a city, the 
inhabitants of which were very troublesotne to the inhabitants of 
Brahma Loka, heaven of Brahma, who attempted in vain to take 
the place; it being destined not to fall, so long as the women who 
resided in it should preserve their chastity, which hitherto had 
been inviolate. The angels at length offered up their prayers to 
Vishnu, who took upon himself the form of a most beautiful young 
man, and became Budha Avatar a. Entering then into the city, he 
danced naked befor.e the women, and inspired them with loose 
desires ; so that the fortress, being no longer defended by the 
shield of purity, soon fell a prey to the angels. As the Brahmans 
cannot defend this action of the god, they never invoke him by 
the name or in the form of Budha Avatara. 
Rama Anuja Achdrya having had great success both against the 
Smartal , and the heretical sects, especially the Jamas, formed a 
hierarchy for his followers. He divided the whole into eighty-four 
portions ; and ordered, that each portion, and their descenclents, 
should be subject to a Guru or Swdmalu of his appointment, and to 
the successors of this Guru. The number ol Gurus belonging to 
this sect are therefore eighty-four; of whom live are aS annyasi, and 
seventy-nine are married hereditary chiefs. 
The Matams, or places where the five Sannyasi Gurus chiefly 
reside, are Ahobalum , Totadri near Rtimeswara , Tripathi , Sri Rang am, 
