Chap. II.] HINDOO SECTS. 67
are both voluminous in buUc and multifarious in contents, consisting of the Vedas a.d. — and the Puranas. The latter are alleged to have been, like the former, compiled by Vyasa, but are evidently of various later dates, between the eighth and the sixteenth centuries of our era, and though regarded as authentic, disfigured by Division of
•nioii 1 !• Hindoo vo-
sectarian tables. Those who profess to receive all those Shasters, and to worship taries into in conformity to them, are considered orthodox. Not being easily reconcilable andhetero- with themselves or Avith each other, the Shasters afford large room for latitude of ^°^" opinion, and for the selection of favourite divinities out of the long list of those to whom worship is authorized. To this latitude and this selection no objection is made, and the great body of the Brahmins, while holding their peculiar views and gratifying their particular fancies, treat each other with mutual forbear- ance. There are many, however, whom this kind of forbearance does not satisfy. It is not enough for them that they may be worshippers of Vishnu, or of Siva, or of any of the old recognized divinities, according as their choice may be ; they also claim the right of insisting that their favoui-ite divinity is supreme, and ought consequently to be worshipped to the exclusion of every other. Some go still farther, and introduce not only old gods under new forms, but new gods altogether. Here forbearance having reached its Umit stops, collision becomes inevitable, and in the strife wliich ensues, though a body of so-called orthodox remains, a number of distinct sects are formed. The Hindoo sects are usually The leading ranged in four classes — Vaishnavas, or worshippers of Vishnu ; Saivas, or wor- shippers of Siva ; Saktas, or worshippers of Saktis, the consorts or energies of the male divinities ; and Miscellaneous, including all who do not belong to any of the other three. A very complete account of these sects has been given by Professor Wilson, in the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes of the Asiatic Re- searches ; and all that need be done here is to select from it a description of some features common to all the sects, and of the more remaikable opinions and practices by which some of the leading sects are distinguished.
Of the common features there is one which, as it stiikes the eye, is the first Modes of that attracts notice. All sects are in the practice of discriminating themselves ing sects. from the orthodox and from each other by various fantastical streaks on their faces, breasts, and arms. For this purpose all the Vaishnavas employ a white earth called gopichandana. To be of the purest form it should be taken from a pool in which the gopis, or milkmaids, are said to have drowned themselves when they heard of Krishna's death ; but as this is not easily attainable, a sub- stitute is found in a material to which the same name is given, though it is only a magnesian or calcareous clay. In using it, one sect draws two vertical lines from the root of the hair to the commencement of each eyebrow, and unites them by a transverse streak across the root of the nose ; in the centre between the vertical lines a parallel streak of red is introduced. The breast and each upper arm are similarly marked. Some, not satisfied with these marks, have
impressions of the shell, discus, club, and lotus, which Vishnu bears in his fom-
