have been expected from a man who fearlessly disclosed to the world the secrets of salvation. He enjoined the utmost attention to cleanliness in cooking and eating, an injunction which must be commended on sanitary grounds, but he made regulations concerning dress, salutation, and sacri ficial marks of too strict a character for general observance. For instance, his followers cooked for themselves, and ate in the greatest privacy after bathing. On one point in particular he laid the greatest stress : If the sight or shadow of any person fell upon the food of a follower of his, it was to be immediately rejected. He believed that purity of thought could only be attained by eating food not seen by others. Nabhaji states that the strict culinary rules of Ramanuj were not made for caste purposes, but for the glory of God and purity of worship.
Such teaching naturally met with opposition. It can easily be gathered that Jagannath became too dangerous a place for Ramanuj to permanently reside in, and he escaped at night to pursue his missionary career in other lands. He is said to have had ten thousand followers, seventy- four of whom were specially devoted to their teacher. These seventy-four, however, each put a different interpretation on his doctrines, and accordingly established as many sects of their own. Ramanuj died at Sriranganath at the age of one hundred and twenty years. The chronogram dharmonashta or the destruction of religion, gives the date of his death as 1059 of the Shaka era, corresponding to A.D. 1137.
The mantra or words of initiation of the sect consists of eight letters, and is communicated in a secret whisper by the teacher to his disciple. The proclamation of the mantra was made by Ramanuj from the loftiest gopura, known as the white gopura, or ornamental gateway of the temple at Srirangam. The motto of members of their order is ' Ramanuj-
RAMANAND 99
assya daso asmi ' I am a slave of Ramanuj . The head is slightly inclined and the hands are joined and applied to the forehead for the purposes of salutation. The sacrificial marks of the sect are several. On the forehead there are two vertical streaks made with a calcareous clay called gopi- chandan. Within them is a vertical red streak made of turmeric and lime. The white streaks are con nected over the nose by a transverse streak which admits of several varieties. The usual marks on the forehead are as follow ; — IjJ y_J, to denote that body, tongue, and mind should be kept under subjec tion. On the breast and upper arms Ramanuj is make white patches in which they enclose red streaks. The several marks represent the shell, quoit, club, and lotus carried in the four hands of Vishnu, and the central streak of red represents his consort or energy Lakshmi. It is piously believed that persons, no matter of what caste, who apply these marks to their foreheads are after their departure from this life not molested by Death's ministers. The sect besides venerate the salagram stone and the sweet basil flower as indispensable adjuncts of worship.
The followers of Ramanuj believe that Vishnu is the supreme Being, that he existed before all worlds, and was the Creator of all things. Creation origi nated in his desire to multiply himself and was formed from his material essence. This essence, however manifested, is pervaded by a portion of his vitality which again is distinct from his spiritual essence, as God the spirit and matter are all dis tinct. Like the propounders of other religious systems, Ramanuj found himself in a difficulty between pantheism and anthropomorphism. Vishnu pervades all creation. Vishnu and the universe are one, but at the same time Vishnu is not devoid of form, and he is endowed with all good qualities. Vishnu has manifested himself to men in several human and other incarnations. He is present in
H 2
ioo BHAGATS OF THE GRANTH SAHIB
objects of worship, and may be adored by the purification of temples and idols, by the presenta tion of flowers and perfumes, by counting rosaries and repeating his name and that of his energy or consort Lakshmi, and finally by the practice of Jog. The reward of such devotion is release from all transmigration throughout eternity.
Several temples were erected in Ramanuj's honour, the principal of which are at Jadari, Galata, Ahobal, and Rewasa. In the famous fort of Sriran- gapatam, also, a temple sacred to Ramanuj is pointed out to visitors!
Ramanuj wrote several works, the principal of which are the Sri Ramanuj Bhashya, the Git a Bhashya, the Vedaratha Sangraha, the Vedanta dipa, the Vedanta Sar, and the Dharm Sanhita.1
RAMANAND, a Gaur Brahman,was born at Mailkot, where Ramanuj had set up an idol of Vishnu and induced the Brahmans to renounce their devotion to Shiv. Very little is known of Ramanand's life. Only a page and a half is devoted to it in Nabhaji's Bhagat Mai, where he is compared to Ram, and made an incarnation of God come down from heaven to save the world.
The Ramanandis make it a special point to keep all details of their sect and its founder a profound secret. All the works that we have been able to obtain relating to Ramanand have been for the most part devoted to his praise. We give here such details of his life as have been gleaned from acces sible sources.
Nabhaji makes Ramanand the fourth in spiritual
For a further account of Ramanuj's doctrines and followers see Sir Monier Williams 's Brahmanism and Hinduism.
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descent from Ramanuj. Allowing a third of a century as an average period of incumbency for each religious teacher, Ramanand must have flourished in the end of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century. This corresponds too with another reckoning which may be employed as a chronological test. The great religious reformer Kabir, of whom we shall presently have much to say, was according to all documentary and tradi tional evidence a disciple of Ramanand. Now the followers of Kabir say that the year A. D. 1908 is the 5ioth of his era. His birth therefore, according to them, took place in the year A. D. 1398, a date which may be unhesitatingly accepted. We are thus able to fix Ramanand's approximate epoch.
Ramanand like Ramanuj originally imbibed the Hindu doctrines enunciated in the Simritis, in which he had been instructed by a hermit. He subsequently adopted the reformed principles of Ramanuj and became a prominent member of the Sri sect. It is related that Ramanand, while still a worshipper according to the Simritis, was one day gathering flowers in a garden when he saw Swami Raghwanand, a follower of Ramanuj. Raghwanand asked him if he knew anything of his own state, but, before he had time to answer, told him that he had reached the end of his life, and exhorted him to seek the protection of God at the last hour. Ramanand went and informed his hermit tutor of the message he had received. The hermit and his pupil proceeded to Raghwanand and besought his divine intercession. The great Swami took com passion on Ramanand, and by his skill in the arduous practice of Jog suspended at the critical moment Ramanand's life breath in the tenth gate of his body. The time fixed by destiny for Ramanand's death having thus passed, Raghwanand bestowed on him the coveted boon of a protracted life.
Ramanand served the Swami for some time, and
then went on a pilgrimage to Badrikashram, the modern Badri Narain in the Himalayas, and other places. In the course of his wanderings he visited Banaras, and lived at the ghat called Panch Ganga, where his sandals were preserved at the time of the composition of Nabhaji's Bhagat Mai.
It is certain that Ramanand came in contact at Banaras with learned Musalmans, for by that time there had been several conquests of India under the flag of the Prophet of Makka. It is natural to suppose that there should have been held at the ancient sacred city of the Hindus heated contro versies between Mullas and Brahmans, and that the better informed classes of Hindus, who had already shown a predilection for monotheism, should have formed a just conception of the divine unity. We shall afterwards see how some of the followers of Ramanand at Banaras became fervent monotheists, and at the same time ridiculed the priestcraft of the Mullas and the Brahmans.
Being far from members of his own religious persuasion, Ramanand was now free to form his own ideas and speculations on religion, and he laid aside among other previous articles of belief several of the cumbrous social and caste observances of the Sri sect. When he returned after long absence to Raghwanand, his co-religionists and those who had previously lived with him interrogated him as to his observance of caste rules since his departure from them. It was found that his theological belief had altered in some respects, and that he had relaxed the severe culinary rules of Raman uj .
It is an ordinary practice of Hindu priests when they lay food before an idol to draw a screen over both the idol and the food. When sufficient time according to human ideas is allowed the idol for its consumption, the screen is withdrawn. The followers of Ramanuj observe the same practice, but have added to it a stern injunction that, if any
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one but the person cooking see the idol's food, it must be immediately rejected. The followers of Ramanuj consider attention to such matters one of the most important elements of divine worship.
Ramanand did not adopt this view. Like another great Teacher he could not understand what con cern culinary rules had with the worship of God;1 and he must have freely given vent to his feelings, though his expressions have not been preserved. His sect promptly expelled him, but his religious guide Raghwanand appears to have felt some sym pathy with him, for he authorized him to found a sect of his own, which he accordingly did. The theological tenets of the new faith corresponded to some extent with those of Ramanuj, except that Sita and Ram instead of Lakshmi and Narayan became special objects of Ramanand' s worship, and the culinary and kindred rules of the Ramanuj is were generously relaxed.
Ramanand then applied himself to prove from the Shastars that the observance of caste rules was unnecessary for any one who sought the protection of God and embraced his service. He laid it down as a rule that all persons of any caste who accepted the tenets and principles of his sect, might eat and drink together irrespective of birth. All men who serve God in the same way are brothers and of the same social position. Contrary to the practice of Ramanuj, who had enforced a discipline too strict for ordinary mortals, Ramanand threw his spiritual door wide open, admitted disciples of all castes, and boldly announced that gyan, or knowledge of God, emancipated man from all social bondage.
It is written in Nabhaji's Bhagat Mai that even a low caste man who loves God is superior to a Brahman who, although irreproachable in his acts, possesses no love for the Creator. An instance of
1 * Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.'
this is cited. At the great feast given by Yu- dhishtar to commemorate the victory of the Pan- davs over the Kauravs, the festal bell would not ring spontaneously at the appointed time. Krishan, who attended the banquet, inquired if any person had failed to receive his share of the viands. He was informed that food had not been served to Valmik because he was a Chandal, and, as a hunts man, destroyer of life. Krishan then ordered that Valmik should be seated in the midst of the assem blage, and that Draupadi, the fractional wife l of Yudhishtar, should feed him with her own hands. This she accordingly did, and the festal bell pealed forth struck by no earthly hands.
Ramanand was distinguished for his kindness to others and his love of God. He pointed out the way of the Lord to men of the four castes and the four conditions of life.2 He deemed forms of adora tion superfluous, and held that the supreme reward of devotion was to be obtained by incessantly uttering God's name. He called his disciples the Liberated, when he allowed them and they accepted a liberal interpretation of the Hindu social rules sanctioned by religion. At the same time he vehemently opposed atheists and those who boasted that they existed independently of God. He van quished in argument the Jains, the Budhists, and the followers of the left way,3 whose devotions were not addressed to the supreme Lord of the world.
FOLLOWERS OF RAMANUJ AND RAMANAND
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Ramanand, having forsaken the cares of the world, gave himself up to vairag or renunciation of all worldly things, and thus became the first Bairagi. He had four disciples, from each of whom arose four sects composed of Nagas, who are purely ascetic and practise seclusion, and Samayogis, who marry and lead domestic lives. Both orders may eat together. They mostly belong to the Sudar class, but some wear the triple cord of the twice-born Hindus, and style themselves Gaur Brahmans who had their origin in the north of India.
It is said that Ramanand at Ganga Sagar — at the mouth of the Hughli branch of the Ganges- discovered a temple sacred to Kapila, an incarna tion of Vishnu and author of the Sankhya Shastars. A fair is annually held there at the time of the winter solstice.
The disciples of Ramanand were, according to Nabhaji, Anantanand, Sureshwaranand, Sukhanand, Bhawanand, Pipa, Sain, Dhanna, Ravdas, Kabir, and others. Ramanand died at Banaras at an advanced age.
Most of the present followers of Ramanand appear to have completely fallen away from his teaching, and observe caste rules with the utmost strictness. As far as their tenets are concerned, they appear to have become hopelessly confused with the Rama- nujis, and to differ only in their sectarial marks and their preference for Sita and Ram to Lakshmi and Narayan as objects of worship.
The following is the hymn of Ramanand found in the Granth Sahib. An invitation had been given him to attend a religious service of Vishnu, to which he replied :—
BASANT
Whither shall I go, Sir ? I am happy at home.
My heart will not go with me ; it hath become a cripple.1
io6 BHAGATS OF THE GRANTH SAHIB
One day I did have an inclination to go ; I ground sandal, took distilled aloe wood and many perfumes,
And was proceeding to worship God in a temple,
When my spiritual guide showed me God in my heart.
Wherever I go / find only water or stones.1
But Thou, O God, art equally contained in everything.
The Veds and the Purans all have I seen and searched.
Go thou thither, if God be not here.
O true guru, I am a sacrifice unto thee
Who hast cut away all my perplexities and doubts.
Ramanand's Lord is the all-pervading God ;
The guru's word cutteth away millions of sins.
DHANNA
DHANNA, generally known as Dhanna Jat, is said to have been born in the year A. D. 1415. He lived in the village of Dhuan in Tank territory, about twenty miles from the Deoli cantonments in Rajputana. A religious bent was given to his genius from his earliest years. A Brahman went to his parents' house to worship. On seeing the ceremonials, Dhanna asked for an idol so that he too might worship on his own account in imitation of the Brahman. The Brahman at first put him off with excuses, but, when Dhanna further importuned, he handed him a small black stone for his youthful devotion. Dhanna took it up, applied it to his eyes and head, and began to worship it in imitation of the Brahman. The ceremony observed was this : — Dhanna first bathed himself, then bathed the stone, and put on it a tilak or patch made from the mud
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of a neighbouring tank. He had no sweet basil dear to gods and idols, but he offered green leaves instead, and then performed the customary devotional homage and prostration.1
When Dhanna's mother brought him bread he put it in front of the idol, and shutting his eyes sat down hard by. He waited long in hope that the idol would eat, but, on finding that it would not, became sad and distressed. He repeatedly clasped his hands in supplication, and, when that form of inducement proved unavailing, began to ply the idol with boyish flatteries At last, when all failed, he threw the bread into the tank, by which he meant to clearly show the idol that if it did not eat it, he would not eat it himself. Some days passed in this way until Dhanna was well- nigh dead from weakness produced by thirst and hunger. At last the Brahman, anxious to confer a blessing on the youthful saint, appeared to him and urged him to satisfy his appetite. Dhanna did so and revived to pursue his devotions with even greater fervour than before.
The Brahman again paid Dhanna a visit, and on seeing his progress towards spiritual perfection pros trated himself before him and shed tears of love. By Dhanna's contemplation, worship, and repetition of the Name, God was gladdened, and the Brahman, through Dhanna's devotion, obtained, it was said, the object of his desires both in this world and the next.
Dhanna was supernaturally directed to go to Banaras and receive the spell of initiation from Ramanand. He accordingly did so. Ramanand on seeing his purity of heart and devotion, recog nized him as a great saint and apostle, and duly initiated him as a disciple. In due time Rama-
io8 BHAGATS OF THE GRANTH SAHIB
nand, having enjoined the service of the saints on him as a special duty, dismissed him with every token of love and respect, and Dhanna on reaching his home duly followed his spiritual guide's injunc tions.
One day, as Dhanna was taking wheat to sow, he met some holy men who urged their neces sities. Accordingly, he bestowed his seed- wheat on them. God, on seeing Dhanna's charity to his saints, said, ' He who casteth corn in the ground expecteth a return several times greater. Now Dhanna putteth corn into the mouths of My saints, so I must give him a thousandfold return.' Dhanna's field accordingly flourished so much better than the fields of his neighbours that it became the subject of general congratulation. Dhanna thought the congratulations were merely jeers and jests, until one day he paid a visit to his field. Then he found that what people had been saying was really true. He became absorbed in the love of God, and re doubled his devotion to Him and His saints. His land is still called Dhanne Bhagat ka khet, or Saint Dhanna's field. It is said that the black stone of his youthful worship was subsequently embedded in one of the walls of his temple.
Nabhaji concludes his account of Dhanna with the following invocation : — ' O God Indar, how pru dent and wise art thou who madest thy thunderbolt out of the bones of Dadhich, king of the Rikhis ! Why hast thou not lifted up and taken away this wretched heart of mine which is millions of times harder than adamant, since it is not in the slightest degree softened on reading the story of Dhanna and hearing of God's kindness, love, and affection for His saints ? '
Though Dhanna began life as an idolater, it is clear from the following hymn that he became in riper years a worshipper of the one God, and re nounced all superstitious practices.
DHANNA 109
ASA
In Gobind, Gobind, Gobind was Namdev's heart absorbed;
A calico-printer worth half a dam became worth a lakh.
Abandoning weaving and stretching thread, Kabir devoted his love to God's feet ;
Though a weaver of low family he obtained untold virtues.
Rav Das who used to remove dead cattle, abandoned worldly affairs,
Became distinguished, and in the company of the saints obtained a sight of God.
Sain, barber and village drudge,1 well known in every house,
In whose heart the Supreme God dwelt, is numbered among the saints.
Having heard all this I, a Jat, applied myself to God's service ;
I have met God in person 2 and great is the good fortune of Dhanna.3
The following hymns of Dhanna afford abundant additional evidence that be by further study and meditation embraced a purer form of worship than that of his early youth. After a confessedly sinful life Dhanna met the guru, who united him with God