Mathura A Gazetteer-3

MATHURA A GAZETTEER,
edited and compiled by, D.L. DRAKE-BROCKMAN [1911]

THE PEOPLE

EARLY ENUMERATIONS

Owing to the interchange of villages between Muttra and the neighbouring districts, any even approximately accurate statement of the population for the earliest periods is im­possible. Moreover in 1874 the Jalesar pargana was trans­ferred to Etah and 84 villages of pargana Farah were received in 1878 in compensation from Agra. As, however, Jalesar has ceased bodily to form a portion of the district, it is possible by excluding it to obtain from the earlier censuses an appro­ximate idea of the changes in the population for all but 84 villages in the district; and as the Farah portion differs little in characteristics from the rest of the Muttra tahsil, the enumerations may be accepted as representative of the whole. The first census taken in Muttra was that of 1848: but it was in reality little more than an estimate. The total population returned amounted to 583,705 persons. The results were generally discredited, and their unreliability was proved six years later when a far more accurate enumeration was made. The population in 1853 was 718,512 persons, the density being 542 persons to the square mile on a total area of 1,326.5 square miles. This was an increase of 134,807 persons or over 23 per cent. on the figures of 1848. The rate ranged from 1,424 persons to the square mile in the Sadr tahsil to 391 in the pargana of Sahar, now represented by south-western Chhata. The next census was taken in 1865, details as to castes, occupations, and other important matters being for the first time recorded. During the interval since 1853 the district had passed through the Mutiny, suffered from two severe epidemics of cholera and small-pox, and the famine of 1861. The returns showed a total of 667,847 souls, the decrease in the twelve years being 50,665 or 7 per cent: The density had fallen to 504 persons per square mile. The next enumeration was that of 1872. The district, still excluding Jalesar and the Farah villages, was found to contain 729,580 inhabitants, the resultant density on an area of 1,325 square miles being 551 persons to the square mile. If now the population and area of the Farah villages be added, the total area amounts to 1,408 square miles and the population to 782,460 persons or 556 persons to the square mile. From this point onwards comparisons for the whole district as now constituted can be made.

CENSUS OF 1881

By the time of the next enumeration in 1881, the number of inhabitants was found to have decreased by no less than 110,770. The population was returned at 671,690 persons and the area by the survey at 1,452.7 square miles. The density was thus 462 persons per square mile. The most thickly populated pargana was that of Muttra with 591 persons to the square mile, but the figure was swollen by the inclusion of the city population. Next came the fertile pargana of Sadabad with 493 and lowest in the scale was Chhata with only 370 persons to the square mile. The decrease may be attributed principally to the famine of 1878. This famine caused extensive migration. Severe epidemics of fever too prevailed after it and raised the rate of mortality to an abnormal figure. All tahsils lost heavily in population.

CENSUS OF 1891

During the following decade there was continuous progress and prosperity. By 1891 the population had increased to 713,421 souls, and the density to 490 persons to the square mile. On this occasion the increase was common to Muttra, southern Chhata, Mahaban and Sadabad; but Kosi or northern Chhata and Mat lost over 5,000 inhabitants each. The relative position of the tahsils, however, had not changed. Muttra was still the best populated pargana, the density being 593 persons to the square mile. Chhata tahsil came last and had only 370 persons to the square mile.If the city population be excluded from the returns, the density is only 439 persons to the square mile.

CENSUS OF 1901

The last census was taken in 1901 and it was then ascertained that the increase of population had been maintained and at an even higher rate than between 1881 and 1891. This is all the more remarkable because there had been famines in 1897 and 1900. The total number of inhabitants was returned at 763,099 persons. The average density was 524 persons to the square mile, or 482.4 if the city population be excluded. Every tahsil had shared in the rise, but the increase was most noticeable in Chhata and Muttra and was ascribed principally to immigration. This immigration had been encouraged by the extension of canal irrigation. The density was highest in Muttra tahsil, where it amounted to 623 persons to the square mile. Next in order came Sadabad with 605, Mahaban with 569 and Mat with 437 persons to the square mile. The least densely populated tahsil was Chhata, the number of persons to the square mile being only 428. The urban population living within the municipalities and Act XX towns numbered 142,655 souls or 18.7 per cent of the whole.

TOWN AND VILLAGES

In 1853 there were ten places possessing over 5,000 inhabitants, namely Muttra, Brindaban, Kosi, Mahaban, Gobar­dhan, Chhata, Shergarh, Kursanda, Ramgarh and Bisawar; but the population of the last three appears to have been swollen by the inclusion of that of many outlying hamlets. In 1872, however, Ramgarh was no longer on the list, and the number was reduced to nine. Moreover the place of Gobardhan had been taken by Surir. In 1881 the district contained 856 towns and villages, of which 698 contained less than 1,000 persons, while 101 others had less than 2,000 and 50 less than 5,000 inhabitants apiece. The remainder comprised Muttra, Brindaban and Kosi, which were then as now municipalities, and Chhata, Surir, Mahaban and Kursanda. Ten years later there were 850 towns and villages in Muttra, of which 674 had populations of less than 1,000, while 113 others had less than 2,000 and 54 between 2,000 and 5,000. The towns with over five thousand inhabitants included, besides those existing in 1891, Gobardhan and Shergarh. At the last census the total had increased by one: 654 villages contained under 1,000 persons, 122 others under 2,000, and 65 under 5,000. There remain ten and these were the three municipal towns and the Sadr bazar at Muttra, Gobardhan in tahsil Muttra, Surir in tahsil Mat, Mahaban, and Kursanda and Bisawar in Sadabad. The largest number of villages with over 500 inhabitants is to be found in the Muttra and Chhata tahsils, and after them comes Mahaban. In most parts, of the district the villages resemble those to be seen thoughout the west of the United Provinces. They generally consist of a single compact site, which when viewed from without is a mud-walled enclosure pierced by a few openings. The houses within are simi­lar mud-walled enclosures: inside is a small courtyard surrounded by low rooms or thatched sheds. In western Muttra, however, the sites are generally perched on hillocks. They have thus a fort-like appearance. They were constructed in this form, as has already been noted, in the days when the country was harried by Jat and Maratha marauders. In some of the older established towns such as Gobardhan, Barsana, Mahaban and Gokul, substantial edifices of masonry or stone are to be seen and these cities have an air of comfort and wealth. In Muttra city the houses are for the most part built of brick or stone. The general design common to all modern buildings is a front of carved stone with a grand central archway and arcaves on both sides; the latter are let out as shops on the ground floor. Storey upon storey above are projecting balconies supported on quaint corbels, the arches being filled in with minute reticulated tracery of an infinite variety of pattern and protected from the weather by broad eaves. Owing to the free use of stone both the buildings and the streets in Muttra city have an unusually tidy appearance, which is only marred by the many unsightly screens which are erected in front of the shops.

MIGRATION

The population is more affected by migration than that of any other district in the province, Dehra Dun and Naini Tal alone excepted. Nor is the fact surprising considering the close proximity of Rajputana. At the last census only 83.42 per cent. of the people enumerated in Muttra were born in the district, while 13.44 per cent. came from adjacent tracts, and 3.12 per cent. from other parts of India. The proportion of immigrants was thus 16.6 per cent. and the majority of these were women. This addition to the population, however, was practically all counteracted by emigration; for of all the persons who in 1901 gave Muttra as their birthplace 83.72 were enumerated in the district, 9.97 were found in other districts of the United Provinces and 6.31 per cent. in other parts of India. The total proportion of emigrants was thus 16.28 per cent. Resides the emigrants within India a certain number of natives of Muttra go further afield every year in search of labour, being recruited by agencies for British Guiana, Jamaica, Fiji and elsewhere. As regards internal migration there are no figures to form a basis for exact conclusions; but it is a well-known fact that during the decade from 1891 to 1901 a considerable number of persons left their homes in the trans-Jumna tahsils for those portions of the district which were protected by canal irrigation. Since the year of the census, however, the Mat branch extension of the canal has been opened and there will be no inducement for the people to migrate as they did before.

SEX

In 1853 the proportion of females to every hundred males was 86.2, and since that time there has been practically no increase. In 1865 it decreased to 84.1. In 1872 the proportion recorded was 85.2; in 1881 it rose to 86.1; in 1891 to 86.4; and in 1901 to 86.6. The proportion, however, is the highest in the Agra division, and differs little from that obtaining generally in the western portion of the province. The deficiency of females to males is more marked among the Hindus than among the Musalmans. This has been noted in many other districts; but none of the theories so far advanced, such as female infanticide or emigration, are entirely sufficient to account for the difference. The disproportion is found equally among nearly all the Hindu castes in the district, from the lowest to the highest: Kayasths are the only important caste in which females exceed males. In the city, where, however, the figures are to some extent affected by the influx of persons coming to be married in it, there appear to have been some curious fluctuations. In 1872 there were 92.6 females to every hundred males. This proportion declined to 91.1 in 1881 and to 83.8 in 1891, but rose at the last census to 87.2. The last figure is slightly in excess of the district average.

RELIGION

Of the total population recorded at the last census 680,096, or 89.12 per cent. were Hindus, 77,087 or 10.10 per cent. Musal­mans, 2,512 Jains, 2,262 Christians, 1,018 Aryas, 105 Sikhs, 16 Parsis and 3 Brahmo Samajists. The proportion of Hindus is larger than in the majority of the districts in the west of the province or the Agra division; but it falls short both of Etawah and Mainpuri. It is not as high as might be expected from the purely Hindu character of the district, the place Muttra holds in popular Hindu estimation or the vigour of its religious life. Moreover the Hindu population appears to have steadily dimi­nished since 1881; for in that year it exceeded 91 per cent. and in 1891 it was 90.60 per cent. On the other hand Musalmans have shown a decided increase. The proportion borne by members of this creed to the total was 8.65 per cent. in 1881 and fell to 7.78 in 1891. Even its present figure, however, is lower than in other district in the division except Mainpuri and Etawah. The same phenomenon has been observed in almost all parts of the provinces and is ascribed to the greater longevity and fertility of the Musalman population, and to the fact they do not form so large a portion of the very poor as the Hindu community.

MUSALMANS

Of the whole Musalman population at the last census 68,580 or 88.9 per cent. were returned as Sunnis. This is considerably lower than the provincial average, and is in part accounted for by the number of Lalbegis, of whom there were 7,311. Lalbegis are more numerous only in Agra and Meerut. They are sweepers who, in spite of their profession of the faith of Islam, still preserve the cult of their special deities: they derive their name from Lal Beg, round whom a whole cycle of legends centres. Of the rest 1,024 were Shies, 31 followers of the Saints, 9 Ahmadias and 6 Wahabis; while in the case of 126 persons no sect was specified. The returns of the last census showed that there were representatives of 37 different sub-divisions in the district, while in the case of 227 persons no subdivision was specified. Only one of these had over 10,000 members, namely the Sheikhs, making up 17.13 per cent. of the Musalman population. Five others occurred in numbers exceeding 5,000, and five more amounted to over 2,000 in each case. Very few of them are of any interest or importance; most have their Hindu counterparts and none are found in unusual numbers. It is, however, curious to note that in every instance the Musalman castes are far more numerous to the west of the Jumna than to the east.

SHEIKHS

First on the list come Sheikhs with 13,204 representa­tives, over half of whom are in the Muttra tahsil. The majority of these reside within municipal limits, while elsewhere they are most numerous in the towns of Chhata, Shergarh and Kosi, or in tahsil Mahaban. They belong to many subdivisions, but over half of the total are Qurreshis and one-seventh Siddiqis.

RAJPUTS

Musalman Rajputs follow Sheikhs with 8,885 members. They are found for the most part in Muttra, Chhata and Mahaban; but they are also numerous in Sadabad. They belong chiefly to the Bhale Sultan and Chauhan clans. The Bhale Sultans are more numerous, according to the census of 1901, in Muttra than in any district of the province except Sultanpur. In the province of Agra their largest settlement is in Bulandshahr. Those in that district claim descent, according to one story, from Siddh Rai Jai Singh, the Solankhi chief of Anhulwara Patan in Gujerat. After the defeat of Prithviraj, Sawai Singh, the ancestor of the family, obtained the title of Bhale Sultan, or "Lord of the Lance", from Shahab-ud-din Ghori. Another story is that they are descended from Sarang Dee, a nephew of the Raja of Gujerat, who took service under Prithviraj and perished in the war against Kanauj, when his descendant was rewarded with the lands in Bulandshahr. It was his grandson, Hamir Singh, who took service with the Raja of Kanauj, and obtained through him and Shahab-­ud-din the title of Bhale Sultan. The seventh in descent from him, Kirat Singh, distinguished himself in the campaign of Ghias-ud-din against the Meos, and obtained their lands as a reward; while Khan Chand, the seventh in descent from Kirat Singh, turned Musalman to please the Muhammadan governor under Khizr Khan. The Musalman Rajputs of Sadabad are mainly Malkanas. Originally they were mostly Jats and Gaurua Rajputs who were converted to Islam by the sword; but they retain many Hindu Customs and are known by Hindu names.

PATHANS

Pathans amounted 6,701 persons. They reside for the most part in Muttra and Chhata tahsils; and belong chiefly to the Ghori, Yusufzai and Lodi clans. But members of several other clans are found, such as the Bangash, Rohilla and Afridi.

SAIYIDS AND MUGHALS

Saiyids numbered 2,121 souls, and Mughals only 614, neither being in any sense important.

OTHER MUSALMANS

The other Musalman castes call for no special mention. The numerically strongest are Bhangis, 6,758; Qassabs, 6,542, half of whom belong to tahsil Chhata; Bhishtis,5,128; Faqirs, 4,867; Telis, 4,130, for the most part in Sadabad;Meos or Mewatis,3,813,two-thirds in Chhata; and Julahas,2,375, nearly half of whom are in Mahaban. After them come Dhobis, Nais and Darzis with numbers exceeding one thousand. None of the reminder are of any importance.

JAINS

The Jains are not a large community in the district, though their number exceeds that of most other districts in the province. They are usually known as Saraogis, and are almost exclusively recruited from the Bania caste. A few belong to the Agarwala subdivision, but the majority are of the Khandel gachcha or got. They are making no progress in the district, for in this centre of orthodoxy the “naked gods " are held in unaffected horror by the mass of the Hindu population. The temples of the sect are few and far between, and the Jains themselves are usually to be found in the neighbourhood of the large trading marts. It is not surprising therefore that the largest number reside in tahsil Chhata, particularly in or around Kosi, which possesses a Jain temple. Next to Chhata comes Sadabad, where they are concentrated for the most part in Sahpau; after that comes Mut­tra. In the city the creed of Jainism gained some prominence from its profession by the late Seth Raghunath Das, who owns the principal Jain temple in muhalla Kesopur. It is said that Jambu Swami here practised penance and that his name is record­ed in an old and almost effaced inscription on a stone slab that is still preserved under the altar. He is reputed to be the last of the Kewatis, or divinely inspired teachers, being the pupil of Sudharma, who was the only surviving disciple of Mahavira, the great apostle of the Digambara, as Paras Nath was of the Svi­tambara, sect. The temple was built by Mani Ram, who enshrined in it a figure of Chandra Prabhu, the second of the Tirthankaras. Some sixty years ago, however, Seth Raghanath Das brought from a ruined temple at Gwalior a large marble statue of Ajita Nath, which now occupies the place of honour, The site, as well as the temple, is popularly known by the name of Chaurasi; and an annual fair is held here lasting for a week from Kartik 5th to the 12th (October-November). This fair was instituted in 1870 by Nain Sukh, a Saraogi of Bharatpur. There are two other Jain temples in the city. They are both dedicated to Padma Prabhu; one is in the Ghiya mandi, and the other in the Chaube's quarter.

CHRISTIANITY

According to the returns of the last census the Christian population comprised 2,031 natives of India, 222 Europeans and nine Eurasians. It may be noted that on the date when the enumeration of 1901 was made, all but the dept of the cavalry regiment in the cantonments was away on active service. The district contains several missions, and to these must be attributed the remarkable increase in the number of converts; for in 1881 not more than 57, and in 1891 only 173 natives professed this religion. Of the native Christian population 1,858 belonged to theMethodist Church, 85 to the Anglican Communion, 47 were Roman Catholics, 15 Baptists and 8 Presbyterians, the denomina­tion of the remainder not being specified. The great majority of Christians were enumerated in the Muttra tahsil; but 582 were found in Mahaban and 382 in Sadabad, the smallest number being in Chhata tahsil.

BAPTIST MISSION

The earliest mission in the district was that of the London Baptist Missionary Society, whose connection with Muttra dates back to very early in the last century. The Agra missionaries of the society visited the place very soon after the establishment of their mission in that city in 1811; but the first official notice of Muttra is found in the society's report for 1826. From this it appears that Muttra was made a separate station in February 1825 under Mr. R. Richards, who was deputed there from Fatehgarh. In 1828, however, Mr. Richards returned to the communion of the Episcopal Church; and the native preacher who assisted him, by name Ram Das, was sent to Benares. Muttra was again treated as an outstation of Agra for the next fourteen years. In September 1843 another missionary, the Revd. J. Phillips, left Agra and took up his residence at Muttra; here he built a small chapel and baptised, two months later, his first convert. Both the house and chapel of the mission were destroyed in the Mutiny; and work was restarted in 1858 by Mr. Evans. For some years a determined attempt was made by the inhabitants of the city to obstruct the mission­aries, firstly by contesting in the law courts their title to the land on which their church was situated, and secondly by systematically hindering preaching in the city. The law suit, however, was unsuccessful, and the opposition to preaching after some years died down. In 1882 a suggestion was put forward is the London committee of the society to abandon the station on account of the scarcity of workers. This was not carried out entirely, though the staff was withdrawn and the place was only occasionally visited by the Agra missionaries until 1893. In that year the Revd. R. McIntosh took charge of the station and built the present mission house on the site of the bungalow destroyed by the rebels in 1857. The only part of the original buildings that remains is the baptistry of the old chapel, which is still in use. The Baptist Mission has two outstations and schools at Chhata and Kosi; and some medical mission work is also carried on in the city and district.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY

The mission of the Church Missionary Society was started by the Revd. H. W. Shackell of Agra about 1860, though occasional visits had been paid to Muttra for nearly 20 years previously. From its inception the mission at Muttra was always treated as an outstation either of the Agra or Aligarh mission; but in 1882 the committee, being desirous of taking up the work of evangeliza­tion more vigorously, raised Muttra to the position of an independent mission station and placed the Revd. P. M. Zenker in charge. The society possessed at the time only a limited plot of ground in the cantonments, not far from the English and Roman Catholic churches, and on this ground a small bungalow was built which still serves the purposes of both chapel and school. In 1891 two ladies were sent out to carry on work among the women of the city; and in 1899 the two mission bungalows, lying in the civil lines, were purchased from Seth Lachhman Das, C.I.E. The mission has two outstations, and several schools, both for boys and girls, at Muttra and Brindaban.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH MISSION

The Methodist Episcopal Church Mission commenced opera­tions in the city of Muttra in 1887, by appointing an ordained native catechist under the superintendence of the Revd. Rockwell Clancy, then missionary in charge at Agra. In January of the following year the Muttra circuit was formed, embracing the towns of Muttra, Brindaban, Hathras and Sikandra Rao, and the Revd. J. E. Scott was appointed to its charge. Both evange­lical and educational work was at once commenced, and during the year 13 secular and 17 Sunday schools were organised. An eligible site near the city was secured, and a mission house was erected thereon. In 1889 a deaconess home and a training school for assistants and Bible readers were opened, the necessary buildings being purchased with funds provided by Mr. W. E. Blackstone of Chicago. Medical work was started at Muttra in the same year, and in Brindaban in 1897. In the city there are two boarding schools for Christian boys and girls, and at Brindaban a mission house and a dispensary, all the buildings, including the hostels, having been provided by private donors. The school for boys, to which non-Christians as well as Christians are admitted, is held in the Flora hall in the heart of the city, and the instruction given is up to the middle standard. Evangelistic work has always been carried on from many centres. The mission has a soldier's chapel and coffee-shop in the canton­ments, and the Revd. Dr. Scott is acting chaplain to the Noncon­formist troops in the station.

OTHER DENOMINACTION

There is an Anglican church in cantonments, which was consecrated by Bishop Dealtry in December 1856: it has a tall Italian campanile, which forms a land-mark for some miles round. The adjoining compound was for many years occupied by a mean and dilapidated shed, dedicated to St. Francis, which served as a Catholic chapel. This was taken down in January 1874, and on the site was laid the first stone of the present building, which is known as the Church of the Sacred Heart. The church owes everything to the late Mr. F. S. Growse, former collector of the district, and is a mixture of Gothic and Oriental architecture. The building was never completed owing to Mr. Growse's transfer from the district. The chief points lacking are the upper portions of the two stone stair turrets on the western facade.

ARYA SAMAJ

The description of the Arya Samaj movement in the district should perhaps find a place after rather than before one of the religion, from which it may legitimately be held to have sprung: but its dissociation from Hinduism as known at Muttra is complete enough to justify its treatment as a distinct creed: and it will be more convenient, before dealing with the Hindus, to give some account of its position and progress in the district. The founder of the Arya Samaj was a Brahman of Kathiawar, born in 1827, who, after his initiation as a Sannyasi, was known as Swami Dayanand Saraswati. At the age of 21 he ran away from home and devoted himself to the study of religion and the pursuit of true knowledge: he was much attracted by the practice of yoga, studied it with great ardour, and claimed to have been initiated into the highest secrets of yoga vidya. In 1860 he visited Muttra and studied with Virjananda, from whom he appears to have imbibed his contempt for the later Sanskrit philosophy. About 1863 he commenced missionary work; and during the next 20 years continued preaching and disputing in various parts of India, till be died in 1883 at Ajmer. Muttra may thus be looked upon practically as the cradle of the Arya Samaj; but of its principal beliefs, its ritual, or its social aims it is not necessary here to speak. The disciples of the movement have rapidly increased in most districts of the province since Swami Dayanand lectured and taught, and in this increase the district of Muttra has shared, though in a less degree than many others. In 1891 only 209 adherents of its tenets were recorded in the district, but at the last enumeration in 1901 the number had risen to 1,018. A lodge was estab­lished in the city in January 1882: it then comprised some 50 members, who met every Sunday in muhalla Mandavi Ram Das with the object of propagating the Vedic religion. Three years later a hall was erected near the Hardinge gate, where the Sunday evening meetings were continued; but for many years little progress was made in the acceptance of the Society's teachings. Indeed, it is prima facie improbable that the move­ment will make rapid progress in a locality where the older forms of worship have so strong a hold on the populace; for its followers denounce idol worship and deny the spiritual virtue of bathing in the rivers, the latter the most important ceremony;onnected with the sacred city. But it is not in Muttra city that the bulk of the Arya Samajists are to be found; for 591 or considerably over one half of their total number exist in Mat tahsil-the result apparently of a vigorous propaganda which has spread thither from Aligarh. In Muttra tahsil there are 183 adherents of the sect, and in Mahaban 158; while 66 reside in Sadabad and only 20 in Chhata. These are drawn from many different castes, no fewer than 20 being represented at the time of the last census. Most of them are Jats, and of these there were 343; after Jats come Brahmans, 198; Banias 153; Rajputs 131; and Kayasths 75. Converts have not been recruited in numbers from any other caste, but it is noticeable that there are Aryas among the lowest castes, such as Chamars, Nais and Mallahs.

OTHER RELIGION

The Sikhs are mainly in Government service and are not natives of the district. Out of the whole number, 74 were found in the Muttra tahsil, while the rest were distributed over Chhata and Mahaban. Twelve out of the 16 Parsis in the district were in Chhata; they are immigrant traders and consequently live for the most part in Kosi, a town which has some connection with Bombay through its cotton trade. Lastly, the three members of the Brahmo Samaj were all residents of Muttra. We may now proceed to deal with Hinduism, the chief religion of the district, and with the Hindus who make up the vast majority of its inhabitants.

HINDUISM

It is a fact of peculiar significance that among the cities which to a Hindu are the holiest of the holy, there are three, namely Gaya, Benares and Muttra, which are equally sacred to the Buddhists. The inference is almost irresistible. The leaders of the movement which centuries ago resulted in the final and complete overthrow of Buddhism by Brahmanism, decided to yield to popular custom in appearance in order to make themselves undisputed masters in reality. Prohibiting pilgrimage to the three cities might have aroused dangerous opposition; hence they sagaciously made the sanctuaries of their foes the places whither the pilgrims of Brahmanic persuasion might resort in order to obtain particular blessings. Whilst, however, this applies to the three cities in general, there is one feature which applies exclusively to Muttra. The sacredness of neither Gaya nor Benares can be condensed into a single phrase; but with Muttra this is possible, for Muttra is the birthplace of Krishna, the hero of the last and most successful phase of Hinduism. A Hindu scholar, Mr. K. M. Banerji, writing on this subject says " The Brahmans saw on regaining their supremacy after the fall of the rival (i.e., Buddhist) school, that it would be impossible to enlist the popular sympathy in their favour without some concession to the shudras. They accordingly pitched on the well-known, and perhaps already deified, character of Krishna and set it up as an object of universal worship. And in order to make it the more fascinating to the popular mind and to give that mind a strong impulse in a direction the very opposite of Buddhism, they invested their new god with those infirmities of the flesh from which Sakya-muni is said to have been somewhat unnaturally free. The rude mind of the populace, devoid of education, is easily led in the direction of sensuality...." Thus Muttra became, through its tutelary deity, the " locale" whence originated that influence which has largely moulded Hinduism as it presents itself to our eyes to-day; and this fact manifests itself in the almost daily arrival and departure of hundreds of pilgrims from and to all parts of India, especially Marathis, Gujratis and Bengalis. As regards the last, there is a signifi­cant saying to the effect that"the wealth of Bengal is in Brindaban". Nor is it Muttra itself alone that is the centre of Hindu veneration; for, though one-third the size of Benares, it possesses two features which render its position quite unique in India. First, for miles and miles round it, every inch of the ground is holy; and secondly, at a distance varying from four to thirty miles it is surrounded by a circle of especially sacred localities. A popular saying asserts that Benares is good for one thing, namely, to die in; but Muttra is good for four, namely, to be born in, to live in, to marry in as well as to die in. Nearly every one of these places is intimately associated with Krishna, the tutelary deity of the place; and it is to the stories connected with his life and career that we must now turn.

KRISHNA

In the days when Rama was king of Ajodhya there stood on the banks of the Jumna a dense forest, once the stronghold of the terrible giant Madhu, who called it after his own name, Madhuban. On his death it passed into the hands of his son, Lavana, who in the pride of his superhuman strength sent an insolent challenge to Rama, provoking him to single combat. The godlike hero disdained the easy victory for himself, and sent his youngest brother, Satrughna, who vanquished and slew the oppressor, hewed down the wood in which he lived and on its site founded the city of Muttra. The family of Bhoja, a remote descendant of the great Jadu, the common father of all the Jadav race, occupied the throne for many generations. The last of the line was king Ugrasen. In his house was born Kansa who was nurtured by the king as his own son. As soon as he came to man's estate he deposed the aged monarch, seated himself on the throne and filled the city with carnage and bloodshed. Heaven was besieged with prayers for deliverance from such a monster: and a supernatural voice declared to Kansa that an avenger would be born in the person of the eighth son of his kinsman, Vasudeva. Now Vasudeva had married Devaki, a neice of king Ugrasen, and was living in retirement at the hill of Gobardhan. In the hope of defeating the prediction, Kansa immediately summoned them to Muttra, kept them closely watched; and, as each successive child was born, it was duly consigned to death. When Devaki became pregnant for the seventh time the embryo was miraculously transferred to the womb of Rohini, another wife of Vasudeva, living at Gokul; and the child thus preserved was first called Sankarshana, but afterwards became famous as Balaram. On the eighth of the dark half of Bhadon (August-September) in the following year, the day now devoutly celebrated as the Janam-Ashtami, Devaki was delivered of her eighth child, the immortal Krishna. Vasudeva took the babe in his arms, passed through the prison guards, who where miraculously charmed to sleep, and fled with his burden to the Jumna. It was then the season of the rains, and the river was pouring down a resistless flood of waters. He, however, fearlessly breasted the torrent, which at the first step rose as high as the foot of the slumbering child; but, marvellous to relate, the waters were stilled at the touch of the divine infant, and in a moment the wayfarer passed over and emerged in safety on the opposite shore. Here he met Nanda, the chief herdsman of Gokul, whose wife, Jasoda, at that very time had given birth to a daughter. Vasudeva dexterously exchanged the two infants, and returning placed the female child in the bed of Devaki. The tyrant Kansa, assured that this was the very child of fate, with his own hands dashed the unconscious infant to the ground: but what was his horror to see it rise resplendent in celestial beauty and ascend to heaven there to be adored as the great goddass Durga. Savage orders were next issued for the diligent search of every infant in the kingdom, in order that Devaki's child might perish among the number; but Vasudeva and Devaki were set at liberty, as nothing more was to be feared from them. The former hastened to see Nanda, and begged him to take Rohini's child back to Gokul and let the two children be brought up together. To this Nanda assented, and so it came to pass that the two brothers, Balaram and Krishna, spent the days of their childhood together at Gokul. Many are the stories told of the miraculous child during this period; how he drained of her life blood the witch Putana; how, infant though he was, he upset Jasoda's big cart full of milk pails; how he thwarted the demon Trinavart, who carried him off in a whirlwind; and how his childish frolics could not be stopped even by tying him with a cord to a heavy wooden mortar fixed between two immense arjun trees. Alarmed by these portents, Nanda resolved to remove his home elsewhere, and selected Brindaban as affording the best pasturage for his cattle. Here the boys lived until they were seven years old, frolicking about in the thickets on the opposite side of the river near Mat, and sporting with other herdsmen's children under the shade of the great bhandir tree. It was near here one day while they were grazing their cattle on the banks of the Jumna that the demon Bachhasur made an open onset upon them; that the serpent Aghasur swallowed Tosh and other playmates of Krishna, who caused the serpent's body to swell to such an extent that it burst; that the divine boy created children and cattle to take the place of those whom the jealous god Brahma had stolen; that he subdued and danced on the head of the savage dragon, Kaliya; that Balaram obtained his name of Rama the strong, by defeating the demon, Prelamba; and that Krishna stole the garments of the maidens of Braj, while they were bathing in the Jumna. Next Krishna persuaded the people of Braj to withhold their sacrifice in honour of Indra and to repair to Gobardhan, in order to worship the spirits of the hills. Arrived here he assumed himself the character of the mountain god, and accepted the adoration of the assembled crowd. Indra, thus defrauded of his sacrifice, called the clouds from every quarter of heaven and bade them descend upon Braj in one fearful torrent. But Krishna, undismayed, uprooted the mountain from its base, and balancing it on the tip of his finger, called all the people under its cover; here they remained for seven days and nights, while the rain beat harmlessly on the summit. Indra then descended to earth on his elephant Airavata, and saluted Krishna by the new titles of Upendra and Gobind, in token of adoration. "Beholding all the glorious deeds that he had performed, the maidens of Braj could not restrain their admiration. Drawn from their lonely homes by the low,sweet notes of his seductive pipe, they floated around him ins rapturous love, and through the moonlit autumn nights joined with him in the circling dance, passing from glade to glade in ever increasing ecstasy of devotion. Radha, fairest of the fair, reigned queen of the revels, and so languished in the heavenly delight of his embraces that all consciousness of earth and self was obliterated." Such is the description given of the celebrated amours of Krishna with the Gopis or milkmaids of Braj. It is the one incident on which modern Hindu writers love to lavish all the resources of their eloquence, and which appeals most strongly to the devout worshipper.

When Kansa heard of the marvellous acts performed by the two boys at Brindaban, he recognized the fatal avengers and trembled with fear. After pondering awhile what stratagem to adopt, he proclaimed a great tournay of arms, making sure that if the boys were invited and induced to enter the lists, they would inevitably be destroyed by his two champions, Chanur and Mush­tikha. Too impatient, however, to await their coming, he sent the demon Kesin, terror of the woods of Brindaban, to try his strength against them before they left their homes. Disguised as a wild horse the monster rushed amongst the herds; scattering them in all directions. Krishna alone stood calmly in his way and thrust his arms down his throat, so that he burst the huge body asunder. Soon after Akrur arrived with Kansa's invita­tion. This was at once accepted. On the way to Muttra they met the king's washerman with the king's apparel, tore open the bundles, decked themselves out in the clothes and entered the city like young princes. As they went along they met the hump-backed woman Kubja; and Krishna, as he passed, putting one foot on her feet and one hand under her chin, stretched out her body as straight as a dart. After seeing all the sights of the city they returned to Nanda; and on the morrow repaired to the arena. First they were confronted with the savage elephant Kuvalayapida; but Krishna, after sporting with it for a while at length dashed it to the ground. Then, each bearing one of its tusks, the two boys stepped into the ring and challenged all-comers. Chanur was matched against Krishna and Mushtika against Balaram: but the unequal contest was soon ended, for both the king's champions were thrown and rose no more. Then Kansa started from his throne and cried aloud to his guards to kill the two rash boys with their father, Vasudeva, and the old king Ugrasen. But Krishna with one bound sprang upon the dais, seized the cowering tyrant by the hair and hurled him down the giddy height into the ravine below. Then the two boys dragged the lifeless body to the banks of the Jumna, and there by the water's edge at last sat down to rest, whence the place is known to this day as the " Visraint ­ghat". Lastly king Ugrasen was reseated on his ancient throne, and Muttra once more knew peace and security.

Krishna and Balaram then underwent the ceremonies of caste initiation; and after a few days proceeded to Ujjain to pursue the prescribed course of study under the Kasya sage, Sandipani. Mean-while the widows of king Kansa had fled to Magadha, their native land, and implored their father, Jarasandha, to take up arms and avenge their lord. Scarcely had Krishna returned to Muttra than the assembled hosts prepared to invest the city. The gallant prince did not wait to be attacked; but accompanied by Balaram, sallied forth, routed the enemy and took Jarasandha prisoner. Pitying the utterness of his defeat, they allowed the captive king to return to his own country, where, unmoved by the generosity of his victors, he immediately began to raise a new army. Seventeen times did he renew the attack, only to be repulsed; till at last he called to his aid king Kalayavana, who with his barbarous hordes from the far west bore down upon the devoted city. That very night Krishna bade arise on the far distant shore of the Bay of Cutch the stately fort of Dwarka, and thither in a moment of time transferred the whole of his faithful people. He then returned alone to do battle with the invaders. The barbarian was put to flight and his army annihilated. But it was only by stratagem that Krishna and Balaram continued to secure themselves from the fury of the survivors. So Muttra fell into the hands of Jarasandha, who forthwith destroyed all the palaces and temples, and erected new buildings in their place as monuments of his own conquest. Henceforth the place knew Krishna no more.

THE BANJATRA

Such in outline is the story of Krishna, the creed implicitly believed by thousands of devout pilgrims that throng the city from the Janam-Ashtami onwards, bent on making the peregrination of the sacred country, nearly every spot in which is associated with some event in his life. This pilgrimage it is now necessary to describe. The number of sacred places, woods, groves, ponds, wells, hills and temples, all to be visited in fixed order, is considerable. There are generally reckoned five hills, eleven rocks, four lakes, eighty-four ponds and twelve wells; but the twelve bans or woods, and the twenty-four upabans or groves, are the charac­teristic features of the pilgrimage, which is thence called the Ban­jatra. The twelve bans are Madhuban, Talban, Kumudban, Bahulaban, Kamban, Khadiraban, Brindaban, Bhadaban, Bhandir­ban, Belban, Lohaban and Mahaban; and the 24 upabans are Gokul, Gobardhan, Barsana, Nandgaon, Sanket, Paramadra, Aring, Sessai, Mat, Unchagaon, Khelban, Srikund, Gandharvban, Parsauli, Bilchhu, Bachhban, Adibadri, Karahla, Ajnokh, Pisayo, Kokilaban, Dadhigaon, Kotban and Rawal. Starting from Muttra, the pilgrims make their first halt at Madhuban in the village of Maholi, some four or five miles to the south-west of the city. Here, according to the Puranas, Rama's brother, Satrughna, after hewing down the forest stronghold of the giant Madhu, founded on its site the town of Madhupuri. From Maholi, the pilgrims turn south to Talban,"the palm grove" where Balaram was attacked by the demon Dhanuk. The village in which it is situated is called Tarsi, probably in allusion to the legend. They then visit Kumudban,"of the many water lilies," in Unchagaon; and Bahulaban in Bathi, where the cow Bahula, being seized by a tiger, begged the savage beast to spare her life for a few minutes, while she went away and gave suck to her little one. On her return, bringing her calf with her, the tiger vanished and Krishna appeared in his stead; for it was the god himself who had made this test of her truthfulness. The event is commemorated by the little shrine of Bahula-gae, still standing on the margin of the Krishna-kund. They next pass through the villages of Tosh, Jakhingaon and Mukhrai, and arrive at Radhakund, where are the two famous tanks prepared for Krishna's expiatory ablution after he had slain the bull Arishta*(Aring,a few miles distant,is supposed to have been the place wherethe bull was slain and to have drived its name originally Arishta-gaon,from the event.) Thence they pass on to Gobardhan, scene of many a marvellous incident, and visit all the sacred sites in the neighbour-hood; the village of Basae, where the two divine children with their foster parents once came and dwelt; the Kallolkund by the grove of Aring; Madhurikund; Morban, “the haunt of the peacock;” and Chandrasarovar, “the moon lake,”*(This is at a village called Parsauli by the people ,but which appears on the maps as Muhammadpur.) where Brahma, joining with the Gopis in the mystic dance, was so enraptured with delight that, all unconscious of the fleeting hours, he allowed the single night to extend over a period of six months. After a visit to Paitha, where the people of Braj “came in” (paitha) to take shelter from the storms of Indra under the uplifted range, they pass along the heights of the Giriraj to Anyaur, " the other side," and so by many sacred rocks, as Sugandhi-sila, Sinduri-sila and Sundar-sila, with its temple of Gobardhan Nath, to Gopalpur, Bilchhu and Ganthauli, where the marriage knot was tied (ganth), that confirmed the union of Radha and Krishna.

Following the line of frontier the pilgrims arrive at Kam-ban, in Bharatpur territory, 39 miles from Muttra, with the Lukluk cave, where the boys played blindman's bluff, and Aghasur's cave, where the demon of that name was destroyed: and leaving Kanwarogaon', enter again on British territory near the village of Unchagaon, with its ancient temple of Baladeva. High on the peak above is Barsana, with its series of temples dedicated to Larliji, where Radha was brought up by her parents, Brikhbhan and Kirat; and in the glade below is Dohani­kund, near Chaksauli, where, as Jasoda was cleansing her milk pail (dohani), she sfirst saw the youthful pair together. Here too is Premsarovar, or "love lake," where first the amorous tale was told; and Sankari Khor, "the narrow opening" between the hills, where Krishna lay in ambush and levied his toll of milk on the Gopis as they came from Gahwarban, the "thick forest," beyond. Next are visited Sanket, the place of assigna­tion; Rithora, home of Chandravali, Radha's faithful attendant; and Nandgaon, the residence of Nanda and Jasoda; with the great lake Pansarovar, at the foot of the hill, where Krishna morning and evening drove his foster-father's cattle to water (pan). Next in order come Karahla,*(Also spelt Karhela, and locally derived from kar hilna, the movement of the hands in the ras-lila.) with its five kadamb trees; Kamai, where one of Radha's humble friends was honour­ed by a visit from her lord and mistress in the course of their rambles; Ajnokh,*( Ajnokh, or in its fuller form,Ajnokhari,is a contraction for Anjan pokhar “the Anjan lake.” ) where Krishna pencilled his lady's eye-brows with anjan as she reclined in careless mood on the green sward; and Pisayo, where she found him fainting with thirst, and revived him with a draught of water. Then, still bearing due north, the pilgrims come to Khadiraban, "the acacia grove," in Khaira; Kumarban and Javakban, where Krishna tinged his lady's feet with the red Javak dye, and Kokilaban, "ever musical with voice of the cuckoo;" and so arrive at the base of the Charan Pahar*(So called from the impression of the divine feet “charans” ) in Little Bathen, the "favoured spot," where the minstrel god delighted most to stop and play his flute, and where Indra descended from heaven on his elephant Airavata to do him homage. They then pass on through Dadhigaon, where Krishna stayed behind to divert himself with the milk-maids, having sent Baladeva on ahead with the cows to wait for him at Bathen; and so reach Kotban, the northernmost point of the perambulation.

The first village on the homeward way is Sessai, a hamlet of Hatana, where Krishna revealed his divinity by assuming the emblems of Narayan and reclining under the canopied heads of the great serpent Shesha, of whom Baladeva was an incarnation. Then reaching the Jumna at Khelban, near Shergarh, where Krishna's temples were decked with "the marriage wreath" (sihara), they follow the course of the river through Biharban in Pirpur, and by Chirghat in the village of Siyara, where the frolicsome god stole the bathers' clothes (chir), and arrive at Nandghat. Here Nanda, bathing one night, was carried off by the myrmidons of the sea god Varuna, who had long been lying in wait for this very purpose, since their master knew that Krishna would at once follow to recover his foster-father, and thus the depths of ocean, too, no less than earth, would be gladdened with the vision of the incarnate deity. The adjoining village of Bhaigaon derives its name from the terror (bhai) that ensued on the news of Nanda's disappearance. The pilgrims next pass through Bachhban, where the demon Bachhasur was slain; the two villages of Basai, where the Gopis were first subdued (bas-ai) by the power of love; Atas, Narisemri, Chhatikra and Akrur, where Kansa's perfidious invitation to the contest of arms was received; and wend their way beneath the temple of Bhatrond to Brindaban, where many a sacred ghat and venerable shrine claim devout attention. The pilgrims then cross the river and visit the tangled thickets of Belban in Jahangirpur; the town of Mat, with the adjoining woods of Bhadraban and Bhandirban; Dangauli, where Krishna dropped his staff (dang), and the lake of Mansarovar, scene of a lover's fit of pettishness (man). Then follow the villages of Pipraoli; Lohaban, where the demon Lohasur was defeated; Gopalpur; and Rawal, where Radha's mother, Kirat, lived. Next come Burhiya-ka-khera, home of the old dame, whose son had married Radha's companion Manvati, whom the fickle Krishna saw and loved; Bandigaon, name commemorative of Jasoda's faithful attendants, Bandi and Anandi; and Baldeo with its wealthy temple dedicated in honour of Balarama and his spouse Revati. At Hathaura beyond are the two river landing places, Chinta-haran, "the end of doubt," and Brahmanda "creation" ghat. Close by is the town of Mahaban, famous for many incidents in Krishna's infancy; and a little further on lies Gokul, with innumerable shrines dedicated to the god under one or other of his favourite titles, MadanMohan, MadhavaRao, Brajesvar, Gokulnath, Navanit Priya and Dwarka Nath. After all these have been duly honoured with a visit, the weary pilgrims finally recross the Jumna and rest at last at the Visrant-ghat in Muttra, the place whence they started. During the time of the Banjatra a series of melas is held at the different woods, where the Ras-lila is celebrated. This is an unwritten religious drama, which repre­sents the most popular incidents in the life of Krishna. The arrangement of the performances forms the recognized occupa­tion of a class of Brahmans residing chiefly in the villages of Karahla and Pisayo. They are called rasdharis and have no other profession or means of livelihood. The complete series of representations extends over a month or more, each scene being acted on that very spot with which the original event is tradi­tionally connected. The cost of the whole perambulation with the performances at the different stations is provided by some wealthy individual, often a trader from Bombay or other distant part of India. The local Gosain, whom he acknow­ledges as his spiritual director, organizes all the arrangements through one of the rasdharis. The rasdhari who collects the troupe or mandali of singers and musicians, and himself takes the chief part in the performance, declaiming in set recitative with the mandali for chorus. The children who personate Radha and Krishna act only in dumb show.

THE HOLI

Next to the Banjatra, the most popular local festivity is the Holi, which is observed for several days in succession at differ­ent localities. Several of the usages are peculiar to Braj; and the most peculiar, under the generic name of Phul Dol, take place in Chhata tahsil. At Barsana the festival is known as the Rangila Holi, and a sham fight takes place between the men of Nandgaon and the Barsana ladies, the wives of the Gosains of the temple of Larliji. At Phalen a huge bonfire is lit on the banks of the Prahlad-kund, and the local pande or priest of the temple of Prahlad, after immersing himself in the waters of the tank, leaps through the sacred flames. At Kosi the Jat inhabitants indulge in a more elaborate performance, which consists largely of dancing, successive troops, attired in high­waisted, full-skirted robes, called jhaga, and red pagris, in which is fixed a tinsel plume, called kalangi, taking part in the show. At Bathen, the ceremony is known as the Holanga Meta; and here a sham fight takes place between the Jatnis of the village, armed with lathis, and the men of the neighbouring village of Jau, armed with boughs of the prickly acacia. The scenes depicted in these various performances are clearly relics of the primitive worship of the powers of nature on the return of spring: but it is curious to note that, in Braj, the festival of the Holi is now largely connected with the worship of Krishna, Radha and Balaram, so saturated are the people with reverence for the godlike hero, his brother and his spouse. This is all the more curious because the institution of the Banjatra and the Ras-lila, and the local legends they involve, is traceable to one of the Brindaban Gosains at the end of the 17th century. The place these ceremonies and legends hold in popular estimation may be gathered from the foregoing remarks. It remains to detail the religious sects of the district, especially those whose particular adoration is devoted to its tutelary deity.

HINDU SECTS

The majority of the Hindus of Muttra belong , as is usually the case, to no particular religious sect, though the number of persons professing adherence to a definite denomination is con­siderably above the average. It is usual to speak of Muttra as the headquarters of Vaishnavism, more especially under the form of Krishna worship, and Benares as the centre of Saivism. To this, as a general statement, provided it is not held to involve a classification of all Hindus into two main orders, exception can hardly be taken: and at the last census in Muttra no less than 178,169 persons or 26.2 per cent. of the Hindu population were returned as Vaishnavites of various sorts.Of the remainder,103,343 or 15.2 per cent. were described as Monotheists, 10,521 or 1.5 percent. as Saivites; and there were 3,213 worship­pers of the Panchon Pir, and 1,737 Radha Swamis. The last figure was only exceeded in Saharanpur and Agra. It is, however, unnecessary to here describe the tenets of this sect, the founder of which was Sheo Dayal Singh, a member of an old and respectable family of Khattris in Agra, who died in 1878.*(For an account reference may be made to the Census Report of 1901,page78. ) Nor is there anything curious to note regarding the worshippers of the Panchon Pir. The only remarkable point about the Saiv­ites is their paucity compared with the majority of the districts in the province. As usual the majority of them belong to the division known as Lingaits and Gorakhpanthis. But Vaishnaism calls for more detailed notice.

VAISHNAVISM

For the early history of Vaishnavism or Saivism we have few materials. Vaishnavism has been traced through Buddhism up to tree and serpent worship, and has been supposed to be of Scythian origin. But on this it would be out of place to enter here; and it is not until the time of the reformers, begin­ning with Ramanuja in the 12th century, that the disruption of the Hindus into the sectarian divisions which we find at the present day commences. The teachers of the reformed Vaish­nava creed at first confined their labours to the south and east of India, where the influence of Muhammadanism was less felt than in the north and west. From here their doctrines spread gradually to other portions of Hindustan and found a congenial home in Muttra, which was sanctified for ever by the deity himself who chose it as his home during his ninth incarnation as Krishna. The teachings of the reformers here underwent, in several cases, modification at the hands of disciples who formed sects of their own; and therefore it will be more convenient in dealing with the Vaishnavite sects to treat distinctively those which may be considered to be peculiarly associated with Muttra.

THE FOUR OLDER VAISHNAVA SECTS ,SHRI VAISHNAVA

The four main divisions or sampradayas, as they are called, of the early reformed Vaishnavas are the Sri Vaishnava, the Nimbarak Vaishnava, the Madhva Vaishnava and the Vishnu Swami. Of these the first, which was founded by Ramanuja in the 11th or 12th century, has never been important in this province, and was altogether unknown in Muttra until the two brothers of the well-known Seth family abjured the Jaini faith, declared their adhesion to its belief, and built at enormous cost the famous temple of Rang Ji at Brindaban. It is the most ancient and the most reputable of the four communities, and may be distinguished from the others by a sectarial mark. This mark consists of two white perpendicular streaks down the forehead, joined by a cross line at the root of the nose, with a streak of red between. Their chief doctrine, called Vaishthadwaita, is the assertion that Vishnu, the one supreme god, though invisible as cause is visible as effect in a secondary form in material creation. In one marked respect they differ from the mass of the people at Brindaban: they refuse to recognise Radha as an object of religious adoration. Their mantra or formula of invitation is said to be Om Ramaya Nammah, that is " Om, reverence to Rama." This sampradaya is divided into two sects, the Tenkalai and the Vadakalai, who differ on two points of doctrine, details of which need not be given here, and in the mode of making the sectarial mark on the forehead. The followers of the Tenkalai extend its middle line a little way down the nose itself, while the Vadakalai terminate it exactly at the bridge. The temple at Brindaban is attended almost exclusively by foreigners; and the habitues of the building itself are all of the Tenkalai persuasion. Their number was not separately recorded at the census.

MADHVACHARYAS

Next in order come the Madhva Vaishnavas or Madhva­charyas, who in 1901 numbered 5,510 persons. They form a scattered community, and none of their temples, either at Brinda­ban or elsewhere in the district, are of any note. The founder of the sect was Madhvacharya, who was a native of southern India and was born in 1199 A.D. The temple where he ordinarily resided and where he set up a miraculous image of Krishna, made with the hero Arjun's own hands, is still in existence at a place called. Udipi. He is said to have been only nine years of age when he composed the Bhasha or commentary on the Gita, which his disciples accept as of divine authority. Their distinct­ive tenet is the assertion of an essential duality between the jivatma or principle of life and the paramatma or supreme being which is identified with Vishnu: they consequently deny the doctrine of absorption into the universal spirit after death. Ten duties form the moral code of the Madhvacharyas—truth, good counsel, mild speaking, study, liberty, kindness, protection, clemency, freedom from envy, and faith. The usual rites of Hindu worship are followed, images of Saiva as well as of Vishnu being admitted to the Madhva temple, but rites are held to be of value only as evidencing a desire to conciliate Vishnu.

NIMBARK VAISHNAVAS

The Nimbarak Vaishnavas were returned at 14,503 in number at the last census. One of their oldest shrines is on the Dhurva hill at Muttra. The founder of the sect was one Bhaskaracharya; and the origin of the name Nimbarak, literally " the sun in a nim tree ", is explained by the following story. One of the founders of the sect invited a holy man to a repast but had delayed till after sunset the ceremony of receiving his guest, not knowing that the latter was forbidden to eat except in the day time. In order to oblige him, the sun god descended on to a nim tree and remained there until the holy man had finished his food. In consequence of this special manifestation of the divine favour, Bhaskaracharya's name became Nimbarka or Nimbaditya. His special tenets are unknown, as they do not appear ever to have been committed to writing. The Nimbarak Vaishnavas believe, however, in salvation by faith and by the contemplation of the one infinite and invisible god. The reward of faith is not, as with most Hindu sects, final extinction, but final enjoyment of the visible presence of the deity. Radha and Krishna as separate personalities are mere symbols of divine love and like other symbols disappear, whilst the essential love for and trust in a supreme god remains. Most of the solitary ascetics who have their little hermitages in the different sacred groves, with which the district abounds, belong to the Nimbarak persuasion.

THE VISHNU SWAMI AND VALLABHACHARYAS

The faith of the fourth early reformed sampradaya, the Vishnu Swami, has now disappeared in its original form; but it has a successor in that of the Vallabhacharyas or as they are otherwise called Gokulastha Gosains. They are numerically the strongest represented of the four, the adherents at the census of 1901 numbering 32,344 persons. But it may be doubted whether all these are residents of the district, for the town of Gokul, which is their headquarters, is crowded throughout the year with pilgrims, of whom the majority come from Gujarat and Bombay, where the doctrines of the sect have been very widely propagated, more especially among the Bhattias and other mercantile classes. The founder of the sect, Vallabha­charya, was born in 1479 A.D. at Champaranya, near Benares, while his parents were on a pilgrimage, and was the second son of Lakshman Bhatt, a Telinga Brahman of the Vishnu Swami sampradaya. After a very short stay at Benares his parents fixed their home at Gokul, where the child was placed under the tuition of Pandit Narayan Bhatt. In four months he is said to have mastered the whole vast range of Sanskrit literature and philosophy. At eleven years of age he lost his father, and almost immediately afterwards commenced his career as a religious teacher. His earliest triumphs were achieved in southern India, where he made his first convert, Damodar Das; and in a public disputation at Bijainagar, the place where his mother's family resided, he refuted the arguments of the court pandits with such authority that even the king, Krishna Deva, was convinced by his eloquence and adopted the youthful stranger as his spiritual guide. Thenceforth his success was assured, and everywhere his doctrines enlisted a multitude of adherents. A life of celibacy being utterly at variance with his ideas of a reasonable religion, he married a wife at Benares and became the father of two sons, Gopi Nath and Bithal Nath. His visits to Braj were long and frequent. In 1520 he founded at Gobardhan the great temple of Srinath, and at Brindaban saw in a vision the god Krishna, who directed him to introduce a new form of worship in his honour, wherein he should be adored in the form of a child under the title of Bal Krishna or Bal Gopal. This is still the cultus most affected by his descendants at the present day. His permanent home, however, was at Benares, where he composed his theological works, of which the most extensive is a commentary on the Bhagvatgita, called the Subodhini. He died at Benares in 1531 A.D. He was succeeded by his second son, Bithal Nath, who propagated his father's doctrines with zeal and success through out all the south and west of India, and finally in 1565 settled down at Gokul. He had a family of seven sons, by two wives the most famous of whom was Gokul Nath. The descendants of Gokul Nath in consequence claim some slight pre-eminence above their kinsmen; and the principal representative now is a Gosain at Bombay. As taught by Vallabhacharya, the doctrines of the sect are unexceptional. Sin of all kinds is washed away by a union with god: Krishna is the refuge of all, and to the holy Krishna man must dedicate his all. The scandal which has attached itself to the name of the sect is due to the development of this doctrine, apparently in the time of Gokul Nath. The Gosain is identified with the divinity. By the act of dedication a man submits to the pleasure of the Gosain as god's representative, not only his worldly wealth but the virginity of his daughter or newly married wife. Under this teaching, the Vallabhacharyas have become the epicureans of the East, and are not ashamed to avow their belief that the ideal life consists rather in social enjoyment than in solitude and mortification. Members of the sect are invariably family men and engage freely in secular pursuits. The present head of the community is Ramman Lal.