caste system, and asserting that religion consisted not in worshipping the Deity according to any special ritual, but in loving God,—the Deity to be meditated on by the inward soul. Chaitanya was believed by his followers to be the incarnation of Krishna and Rádhá united in one person. For simplicity and purity of character, he was probably unrivalled among Hindu religious reformers, and his faith made rapid progress. Chaitanya, after a life of forty-eight years, disappeared from the world in 1527 or 1533 A.D.
His two principal disciples were Adwaitánand Goswámí of Sántipur, and Nityánand of Nadiyá, who are also credited with superhuman attributes, and receive the title of Prabhu, or Lord. Six other disciples of Chaitanya, named Rúp, Sanátan, Jíb, Raghunáth Bhatta, Raghunáth Dás, and Gopál Bhatta, received the title of Guru or Spiritual Teachers, which is still enjoyed by their descendants. These gurus have deputies under them in different parts of the country, called faujdárs and chharidárs, who collect the sums due from their followers, and also help to propagate the faith. The pure system of theology, however, as taught by Chaitanya, has now ceased to be practised by his followers. Abuses gradually crept in, and at the present day, few if any of the upper classes of Hindus belong to the sect. It makes its converts almost entirely among the lower orders. The sect has its own form of marriage, and other social ceremonies. Its members may marry widows; they profess no distinction of caste, although caste differences are now gradually creeping in; and they bury their dead. The number of Vaishnavs in the 24 Parganás who observe no distinction of caste is returned by the Census Report of 1872 at 36,563. There are, however, a very large number of other Hindus who are worshippers of Vishnu and Chaitanya, but who do not belong to the sect known as Vaishnavs.
The Kartabhajas are another sect of Hindus, but the history of their origin is obscure. I have given the local tradition of the founding of the sect in my Statistical Account of Nadiyá. The following account has been furnished to me by the Collector of the 24 Parganás, and differs somewhat from the other:—In the year 1616 of the Saka era, or 1694 A.D., one Mahádeva Barni, of the town of Ulá, in Nadiyá, found a boy in his betel garden, of unknown parentage, and about eight years old. He took the lad to his house and kept him there for twelve years. The young man then went on a journey to the eastern part of the country, and at
