Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume II Part 27

5

There are interesting Vishnuite sects in a.s.sam.[644] Until the sixteenth century Hinduism was represented in those regions by Saktism, which was strong among the upper cla.s.ses, though the ma.s.s of the people still adhered to their old tribal worships. The first apostle of Vishnuism was San?kar Deb in the sixteenth century. He preached first in the Ahom kingdom but was driven out by the opposition of Saktist Brahmans, and found a refuge at Barpeta. He appears to have inculcated the worship of Kr?ishn?a as the sole divine being and to have denounced idolatry, sacrifices and caste. These views were held even more strictly by his successor, Madhab Deb, a writer of repute whose works, such as the Namghosha and Ratnavali, are regarded as scripture by his followers. Though the Brahmans of a.s.sam were opposed to the introduction of Vishnuism and a section of them continued to instigate persecutions for two centuries or more, yet when it became clear that the new teaching had a great popular following another section were anxious that it should not pa.s.s out of sacerdotal control and organized it as a legitimate branch of Hinduism. While fully recognizing the doctrine of justification by faith, they also made provision for due respect to caste and Brahmanic authority.

According to the last census of India[645] the common view that San?kar Deb drew his inspiration from Caitanya meets with criticism in a.s.sam. His biographies say that he lived 120 years and died in 1569.

It has been generally a.s.sumed that his age has been exaggerated but that the date of his death is correct. If it can be proved, as contended, that he was preaching in 1505, there would be no difficulty in admitting that he was independent of Caitanya and belonged to an earlier phase of the Vishnuite movement which produced the activity of Vallabha and the poetry of Vidyapati. It is a further argument for this independence that he taught the worship of Vishn?u only and not of Radha and discountenanced the use of images. On the other hand it is stated that he sojourned in Bengal and it appears that soon after his death his connection with the teaching of Caitanya was recognized in a.s.sam.

At present there are three sects in a.s.sam. Firstly, the Mahapurushias, who follow more or less faithfully the doctrines of San?kar and Madhab. They admit Sudras as religious teachers and abbots, and lay little stress on caste while not entirely rejecting it. They abstain almost entirely from the use of images in worship, the only exception being that a small figure of Kr?ishn?a in the form of Vaikun?t?ha Natha is found in their temples. It is not the princ.i.p.al object of veneration but stands to the left of a throne on which lies a copy of the Namghosha.[646] This, together with the foot-prints of San?kar and Madhab, receives the homage of the faithful. The chief centre of the Mahapurushias is Barpeta, but they have also monasteries on the Majuli Island and elsewhere. Secondly, the Bamunia monasteries, with a large lay following, represent a brahmanized form of the Mahapurushia faith.

This movement began in the life-time of Madhab. Many of his Brahman disciples seceded from him and founded separate communities which insisted on the observance of caste (especially on the necessity of religious teachers being Brahmans) but tolerated image-worship and the use of some kinds of flesh as food. Though this sect was persecuted by the Ahom kings,[647] they were strong enough to maintain themselves. A compromise was effected in the reign of Rudra Singh (1696-1714), by which their abbots were shown all honour but were a.s.signed the Majuli Island in the upper Brahmaputra as their chief, if not only, residence. This island is still studded with numerous _Sattras_ or monasteries, the largest of which contain three or four hundred monks, known as Bhakats (Bhaktas). They take no vows and wear no special costume but are obliged to be celibate while they remain in the sattra. The Mahapurushia and Bamunia monasteries are of similar appearance, and in externals (though not in doctrine) seem to have been influenced by the Lamaism of the neighbouring regions of Sikhim and Tibet. The temples are long, low, wooden buildings, covered by roofs of corrugated iron or thatched, and containing inside a nave with two rows of wooden pillars which leads to a sanctuary divided from it by a screen. The third sect are the Moamarias, of political rather than religious importance. They represent a democratic element, recruited from non-Hindu tribes, which seceded even in the life-time of San?kar Deb. They appear to reject nearly all Hindu observances and to worship aboriginal deities as well as Kr?ishn?a. Little is known of their religious teaching, if indeed they have anything worthy of the name, but in the latter half of the eighteenth century they distracted the kingdom of a.s.sam with a series of rebellions which were suppressed with atrocious cruelty.

Caitanya is said to have admitted some Mohammedans as members of his sect. The precedent has not been followed among most branches of his later adherents but a curious half-secret sect, found throughout Bengal in considerable numbers and called Kartabhajas,[648] appears to represent an eccentric development of his teaching in combination with Mohammedan elements. Both Moslims and Hindus belong to this sect. They observe the ordinary social customs of the cla.s.s to which they belong, but it is said that those who are nominal Moslims neither circ.u.mcize themselves nor frequent mosques. The founder, called Ram Smaran Pal, was born in the Nadia district about 1700, and his chief doctrine is said to have been that there is only one G.o.d who is incarnate in the Head of the sect or Karta.[649] For the first few generations the headship was invested in the founder and his descendants but dissensions occurred and there is now no one head: the faithful can select any male member of the founder's family as the object of their devotion. The Karta claims to be the owner of every human body and is said to exact rent for the soul's tenancy thereof. No distinction of caste or creed is recognized and hardly any ceremonies are prescribed but meat and wine are forbidden, the mantra of the sect is to be repeated five times a day and Friday is held sacred. These observances seem an imitation of Mohammedanism.[650]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 604: See Bhandarkar, _Vaishn. and Saivism_, pp. 66 ff., Grierson in _Ind. Ant._ 1893, p. 226, and also in article Ramanandi in _E.R.E._; Farquhar, _J.R.A.S._1920, pp. 185 ff. Though Indian tradition seems to be unanimous in giving 1299 A.D. (4400 Kali) as the date of Ramanand's birth, all that we know about himself and his disciples makes it more probable that he was born nearly a century later. The history of ideas, too, becomes clear and intelligible if we suppose that Ramanand, Kabir and Nanak flourished about 1400, 1450 and 1500 respectively. One should be cautious in allowing such arguments to outweigh unanimous tradition, but tradition also a.s.signs to Ramanand an improbably long life, thus indicating a feeling that he influenced the fifteenth century. Also the traditions as to the number of teachers between Ramanuja and Ramanand differ greatly.]

[Footnote 605: One of them is found in the Granth of the Sikhs.]

[Footnote 606: Ramanand's maxim was "Jati pati puchai nahikoi: Hari-ku bhajai so Hari-kau hoi." Let no one ask a man's caste or sect. Whoever adores G.o.d, he is G.o.d's own.]

[Footnote 607: Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, p. 445.]

[Footnote 608: Thus we have the poems of Kabir, Nanak and others contained in the Granth of the Sikhs and tending to Mohammedanism: the hymns wherein Mira Bai, Vallabha and his disciples praised Kr?ishn?a in Rajputana and Braj: the poets inspired by Caitanya in Bengal: San?kar Deb and Madhab Deb in a.s.sam: Namdev and Tukaram in the Maratha country.]

[Footnote 609: See Beames, _J.A._ 1873, pp. 37 ff., and Grierson, _Maithili Christomathy_, pp. 34 ff., in extra No. to _Journ. As. Soc.

Bengal_, Part I. for 1882 and Coomaraswamy's ill.u.s.trated translation of Vidyapati, 1915. It is said that a land grant proves he was a celebrated Pandit in 1400. The Bengali Vaishn?ava poet Chan?d?i Das was his contemporary.]

[Footnote 610: See Grierson, Gleanings from the Bhaktamala, _J.R.A.S._ 1909 and 1910.]

[Footnote 611: _Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan_, 1889, p.

57.]

[Footnote 612: Similarly Dinesh Chandra Sen (_Lang, and Lit. of Bengal_, p. 170) says that Krittivasa's translation of the Ramayan?a "is the Bible of the people of the Gangetic Valley and it is for the most part the peasants who read it." Krittivasa was born in 1346 and roughly contemporary with Ramanand. Thus the popular interest in Rama was roused in different provinces at the same time.

He also wrote several other poems, among which may be mentioned the Gitavali and Kavittavali, dedicated respectively to the infancy and the heroic deeds of Rama, and the Vinaya Pattrika or pet.i.tion, a volume of hymns and prayers.]

[Footnote 613: See Growse's _Translation_, vol. I. pp. 60, 62.]

[Footnote 614: Ib. vol. III. p. 190, cf. vol. I. p. 88 and vol. III.

pp. 66-67.]

[Footnote 615: Ib. vol. II. p. 54.]

[Footnote 616: Ib. vol. I. p. 77.]

[Footnote 617: Growse, _l.c._ vol. II. p. 200, cf. p. 204. Maya who sets the whole world dancing and whose actions no one can understand is herself set dancing with all her troupe, like an actress on the stage, by the play of the Lord's eyebrows. Cf. too, for the infinity of worlds, pp. 210, 211.]

[Footnote 618: Growse aptly compares St. Paul, "I had not known evil but by the law."]

[Footnote 619: Ib. vol. II. p. 223.]

[Footnote 620: Ib. vol. II. p. 196.]

[Footnote 621: The Vishnuite sect called Nimavat is said to have been exterminated by Jains (Grierson in _E.R.E._ sub. V. Bhakti-marga, p.

545). This may point to persecution during this period.]

[Footnote 622: For Vallabhacarya and his sect, see especially Growse, _Mathura, a district memoir_, 1874; _History of the sect of the Maharajas in western India_ (anonymous), 1865. Also Bhandarkar, _Vaishn?. and Saivism_, pp. 76-82 and Farquhar, _Outlines of Relig.

Lit. of India_, pp. 312-317.]

[Footnote 623: The princ.i.p.al of them are the Siddhanta-Rahasya and the Bhagavata-Tika-Subodhini, a commentary on the Bhagavata Puran?a. This is a short poem of only seventeen lines printed in Growse's _Mathura_, p. 156. It professes to be a revelation from the deity to the effect that sin can be done away with by union with Brahma (Brahma-sambandha-karan?at). Other authoritative works of the sect are the Suddhadvaita martan?d?a, Sakalacaryamatasangraha and Prameyaratnarn?ava, all edited in the Chowkhamba Sanskrit series.]

[Footnote 624: Cf. the use of the word poshan?am in the Bhagavata Puran?a, II. X.]

[Footnote 625: Growse, _Mathura_, p. 157, says this formula is based on the Naradapancaratra. It is called Samarpana, dedication, or Brahma-sambandha, connecting oneself with the Supreme Being.]

[Footnote 626: For instance "Whoever holds his Guru and Kr?ishn?a to be distinct and different shall be born again as a bird." Harirayaji 32. Quoted in _History of the Sect of the Maharajas_, p. 82.]

[Footnote 627: In the ordinary ceremonial the Maharaj stands beside the image of Kr?ishn?a and acknowledges the worship offered. Sometimes he is swung in a swing with or without the image. The hymns sung on these occasions are frequently immoral. Even more licentious are the meetings or dances known as Ras Mandali and Ras Lila. A meal of hot food seasoned with aphrodisiacs is also said to be provided in the temples. The water in which the Maharaj's linen or feet have been washed is sold for a high price and actually drunk by devotees.]

[Footnote 628: Strictly speaking the Radha-Vallabhis are not an offshoot of Vallabha's school, but of the Nimavats or of the Madhva-sampradaya. The theory underlying their strange practices seems to be that Kr?ishn?a is the only male and that all mankind should cultivate sentiments of female love for him. See Macnicol, _Indian Theism_, p. 134.]

[Footnote 629: But other explanations are current such as Lord of the senses or Lord of the Vedas.]

[Footnote 630: See Growse, _Mathura_, p. 153. I can entirely confirm what he says. This mean, inartistic, dirty place certainly suggests moral depravity.]

[Footnote 631: His real name was Sahajananda.]

[Footnote 632: Caran Das (1703-1782) founded a somewhat similar sect which professed to abolish idolatry and laid great stress on ethics.

See Grierson's article Caran Das in _E.R.E._]

[Footnote 633: But Vishnuite writers distinguish _kama_ desire and _prema_ love, just as _e???_ and _???p?_ are distinguished in Greek.

See Dinesh Chandra Sen, _l.c._ p. 485.]

[Footnote 634: Dinesh Chandra Sen, _History of Bengali Language and Literature_, pp. 134-5.]

[Footnote 635: For Caitanya see Dinesh Chandra Sen, _History of Bengali Language and Lit._ chap. V. and Jadunath Sarkar, _Chaitanya's Pilgrimages and teachings from the Caitanya-Caritamrita_ of Kr?ishn?a Das (1590) founded on the earlier Caitanya-Caritra of Brindavan.

Several of Caitanya's followers were also voluminous writers.]

[Footnote 636: He married the daughter of a certain Vallabha who apparently was not the founder of the Sect, as is often stated.]

[Footnote 637: The theology of the sect may be studied in Baladeva's commentary on the Vedanta sutras and his Prameya Ratnavali, both contained in vol. V. of the _Sacred Books of the Hindus_. It would appear that the sect regards itself as a continuation of the Brahma-sampradaya but its tenets have more resemblance to those of Vallabha.]

[Footnote 638: No less than 159 padakartas or religious poets are enumerated by Dinesh Chandra Sen. Several collections of these poems have been published of which the princ.i.p.al is called Padakalpataru.]

[Footnote 639: See Bhandarkar, _Vaishn?. and Saivism_, pp. 87-90, and Nicol, _Psalms of Maratha Saints_ which gives a bibliography. For Namdev see also Macauliffe, _The Sikh Religion_, vol. VI. pp. 17-76.

For Ramdas see Rawlinson, _Sivaji the Maratha_, pp. 116 ff.]