1 Maolapau,
2 § 5 S.
3 The Vatshwavas.
4 V iSHNir. — We may turn now to the forms of worship which
5 represent the Hindu spirit more truly than the strange practices of the
6 Jogf and Sam as i sects. The Hindu, generally speaking, is not a
7 Shniva, but a Vaishnava, that is to say, he does not eat flesh, onions
8 or garlic, and does not drink spirits. The main' features of the Hindu
9 pantheon are revealed to him in Vishnu or the incarnations of Vishnu.
10 He worships the stone image of Vishnu in human shape. He reveres
11 the Brahman and the cow. He wears the sacred thread (janeo) and
12 the scalp-lock {bocli). He marries by walking round the sacred fire.
13 He burns his dead, throwing the ashes into a river and taking a small
14 portion of them to be thrown into the Ganges. He will often mark
15 his forehead with one or more upright streaks of the calcareous clay
16 known as gopicianrlan. His place of worship is called a thdkurdwdra ;
17 and his places of pilgrimage are Hard war, Gaya, Benares, Jaggannath,
18 Dvwti k& AjucUiia, Bidrinstnun^ Piishkar, Bindndjiuij Mathra, Pryng’,
19 Rfimeshar, and the like. His sacred books are the four Vedas, the
20 Ram ay an, the Mahdbhdrat, the B hag aval GUa, and the Fishnu-
21 purdn. lie is, in fact, the orthodox Hindu, and in our returns the
22 word Vais hnav means, as a rule, little more than this. The BaiiiS, of
23 the south-east, for instance, will often call himself a Vaishnav, when he
24 means little more than that he is Hindu, and not a Jain. A Hindu
25 when asked his sect, is generally safe in replying that he is a Vaishnav!
26 anu the term covers a multitude of other sects regarding whom special
27 separate information is also forthcoming. The numbers returned at a
28 census as Vaishnavas exceed greatly the numbers returned under any
29 other sect. The term is less distinctive, and the difference between
30 the \ aishnav and the Shaiv is less marked in the Pimiab than it is
31 m the United Provinces and RajputAna, where the mutual jealousy
32 of the two sects is often very acute ; and the Vaishnavs ' of our
33 Census tables are mamly returned from the districts of the south-east
34 border.
35 The Vaishnavs also include those who more particularly
36 worship the god Vishnu under terms such as Bishnpuj, Bishm -md
37 Mahabishn, or their adoration of the god as TliAkur, TMkurji or Sri
38 MaharAj. He is also reverenced as Nirbhav, the fearless one, especially
39 in Multan and Muzaffargarh. He is known also as NYuAin and :s wor¬
40 shipped as BadrinaiAin at the shrine of that name in the Himalayas 1
41 Another name for him which is common apparently in Hissar and Kangra
42 is Visvakarma, Biskarma or Biskam, the Maker of all things, the Great
43 Architect, and under this name is revered by the Tarkhan or carpenter
44 caste, who, on the night of the DiwaH festival, will put away their
45 tools and will not make use of them again until they have made to
46 them due offerings of flowers and gar m the name of the god.
47 iv 0frtbNT^n°! aVtdr* °fKhis <leIfcy> fche only noticeable ones are
48 those of Narsingh, the man lion, who tore into pieces the tyrant
49 Harn&kas (H.rmyakasipa) to save the pious Prahlad ; and Parasnim
50 the axe-hero, who fell with such fury oa the Khatri caste. The most
51 1 The Sat Nariins of Rawalpindi arc mirloy orthodox Hindu) who oh »,,» n,„ e <
52 of SntNarAinonthel3thdayof thomojn (pwranwi.Ai). who observe the fast