VAISESHIKA. 792 VAISHNAVAS. the sutras were translated by Ballantyne (Mirza- poie, 1851). Of later works on the same system may be mentioned the lihushupuricchfda, edited with the commentary called iiiddhCintamulitCirali, and translated by Koer in the liibliuthccu Indica (falcutta, 1850), and the popular Turkdsan- ijniha in several editions: also edited and trans- lated by Ballantyne (2d ed., Calcutta. 1848), and edited again by Vidyasagara (ib., 1807) ; and by Vasadeo Atlialya (Bombay, 1897). Consult: Gough. The Vaiicshika Aphorisms of Kunada. transhited (Benares, 1873) ; Windisch, Vebcr das Xyuya-bhashya (Leipzig, 1886) ; Cole- brook, Miscellaneous Essays, vol. i. (2d ed., Lon- don, 1873) ; Jliiller, Six Systems of Indian Phi- losophy (Xew York, 1899). VAISHNAVAS, vish'na-vaz (Skt. i-aisnava, adherent of Vishnu, from Visnii, Vishnu, name of a Hindu god). The general name of all wor- shipers of Vishnu (q.v.), but applied particularly to those who worship Vishnu in liis incarnate form, either as Krishna or as Rama. Even those who worship Vishnu under other forms, such as the reverers of 'Vishnu as the tortoise' (see Vishnu), are adherents at the same time of one of these two sects. Of the two, the older division comprises those wlio worship Vishnu as Krishna. These Krishnaites were known in the earliest sectarian period (c.200 B.C.) as Pancaratras and BhOi/aratas. Whether these names were at first applied to the same sectaries or to two divisions of Krishnaites is not known; but in the seventh century a.d. they appear to be two distinct bod- ies. The essential tenet of these sects is that which is maintained by all Vaishnavas, namely, that, besides the identity of Krishna with Vishnu, the human soul is a distinct entity, while in- corporate in an earthly body, and after the death of the body it becomes one with Vishnu. This qualified idealism distinguished the Vaishnavas philoso])hicaIly from the Saivas (q.v.) on the one hand, and from the Vedantists (see Ve- d.Inta) on the other. Another tenet held by all Vaishnavas, though not exclusively by them, is the doctrine of bhakti or saving faith, and this may be said to be the great popular support of all the Vaishnava sects. It appears first in the Bhar/avadglta (q.v.), the oldest scripture of the Vnislmavas. According to this doctrine, all works and other beliefs are without essential value, though good works and riglit knowledge are useful. The one essential, however, is faith in Krishna (or Rama) as Vishnu, i.e. as supreme deity. He who believes that Krishna is God is saved. Salvation, further, consists in being re- ceived back into God's essence. The correspond- ing activity on the part of the divinity is grace or favor extended to such as have faith. In the grosser conception of Vishnu as a god occupy- ing a heaven of his own, the soul, instead of being reabsorbed, simply shares the joy of this heaven. At the present time the Krishnaites are largely in the majority in Northern India, while the Ramaites are strongest in the southeast, the southwest being the home of one of the strong Krishnaite sects, which arose in the twelfth cen- tury. At this period, in fact, sprang >ip the chief sects of both parties, and from this time onward the antagonism between the sects and sub-sects of each separate division became powerful. Before these jiopular schools or sects arose, a special division of Krislinaitp Vaislniavas was formed (c.1200 a.u.) on the JIalabar coast under the infiuence of Anandatertha, the founch-r of :i school known as Madhvas. He tauglit not only the separate existence of human .souls, but the separate existence of matter as an eternal es- sence. This sehool remains a restricted southern growth, but the 'duality doctrine,' as it is called, has been accepted bj- the masses over a wide area. Both the next great Krishnaite sects emphasize ♦an entirely new practice, on which they lay more weight than thej' do on theology or metaphysics. This is the practice of revering the Child Krishna. No trace of this cult, with its accom- paniment of madonna-worship, is to be found in the records of the older sects, and it is quite pos- sible that the practice was an imitation of Chris- tian usage. Unfortunately, with the introduction of this child-worship was still retained the an- tique conception of Krishna as an amorous shep- herd, and under the intiuence of these two images, together with the continual emphasis upon bliakti, the worship of Krislina-Vishnu rapidly deteriorated. This element became supreme in the later development of the Krishnaite sects of the north, where among the lower classes it has superseded all other religious notions and has deeply affected even the cultivated classes. The first of these sects is that of Caitanya, who was born in Bengal in 1485. His special reli- gious tenet was 'love for Krishna.' This was expressed by songs and dances of an amorous and licentious character. Caitanya himself, like most of the late Vaishnava teachers, was re- garded as also divine and as a reincarnation of Krishna himself. The second great sect of Krishnaites arose in the northwest and was founded by Vallabha, called also Vallabhacarya. His sect, if somewhat less licentious than that of Caitanya, was no less self-indulgent. The wor- ship of the Child Krishna was particularly af- fected by the Vallabhas with all its exces.ses. But the sect is saved from the uniform low level of the Caitanyas through the fact that it is not without sectarian literature. The founder re- verted to the non-dualistie doctrine of the Ve- danta, and the philosophy of his school is thus distinguished from that of Caitanya, who taught that each believer was to exist as a separate spirit in a heaven filled with sensual pleasures. Both these sects elevate Radlia. the mistress of Krishna, to a divine position. A reform of both these religious bodies took place in the eighteenth century. The Caran Dasis were protestants against the excesses of the Vallabha sect and they instituted a moral reform based on the purer belief and practice of the southern iladhva Krishnaites. A similar protest against the Val- labha sect resulted in the formation of a new division under the leadership of Narayana, who was worshiped as a god by his adherents. Other leforming sects of this sort scarcely deserve to be called Vaishnavas, as they are eclectic deists. At the same time that Jladhva was founding his Krishnaite sect in Southwestern India. Rama- nuja in the southeast (about Madras) was founding the first distinctively Raniaite Vaish- nava sect. The Ramanuja .sect remained in the south. Iiut the sect founded by Ramanuja's fol- lower. Ramanand, was operative in the north in the fourteenth century, and to this sect are
