Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume II Part 28

[Footnote 640: Bhandarkar, _l.c._ p. 92. An earlier poet of this country was Jnanesvara who wrote a paraphrase of the Bhagavad-gita in 1290.

His writings are said to be the first great landmark in Marathi literature.]

[Footnote 641: There is no necessary hostility between the wors.h.i.+p of Siva and of Vishn?u. At Pandharpur pilgrims visit first a temple of Siva and then the princ.i.p.al shrine. This latter, like the temple of Jagannath at Puri, is suspected of having been a Buddhist shrine. It is called Vihara, the princ.i.p.al festival is in the Buddhist Lent and caste is not observed within its precincts.]

[Footnote 642: Quoted by Bhandarkar, p. 90. The subsequent quotations are from the same source but I have sometimes slightly modified them and compared them with the original, though I have no pretension to be a Marathi scholar.]

[Footnote 643: Called Abhangs.]

[Footnote 644: See Eliot, Hinduism in a.s.sam, _J.R.A.S._ 1910, pp.

1168-1186.]

[Footnote 645: _Census of India_, 1911, a.s.sam, p. 41.]

[Footnote 646: Some authorities state that the sacred book thus venerated is the Bhagavad-gita, but at Kamalabari I made careful enquiries and was a.s.sured it was the Namghosha.]

[Footnote 647: Especially Gadadhar Singh, 1681-96.]

[Footnote 648: See _Census of India_, 1901, Bengal, pp. 183-4 and Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_, pp. 485-488.]

[Footnote 649: Karta, literally doer, is the name given to the executive head of a joint family in Bengal. The sect prefer to call themselves Bhabajanas or Bhagawanis.]

[Footnote 650: Another mixed sect is that of the Dhamis in the Panna state of Bundelkhand, founded by one Prannath in the reign of Aurungzeb. Their doctrine is a combination of Hinduism and Islam, tending towards Krishnaism. See Russell, _Tribes and Castes of Central Provinces_, p. 217.]

CHAPTER x.x.xI

AMALGAMATION OF HINDUISM AND ISLAM. KABIR AND THE SIKHS

1

The Kartabhajas mentioned at the end of the last chapter show a mixture of Hinduism and Mohammedanism, and the mixture[651] is found in other sects some of which are of considerable importance. A group of these sects, including the Sikhs and followers of Kabir, arose in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Their origin can be traced to Ramanand but they cannot be called Vaishn?avas and they are clearly distinguished from all the religious bodies that we have hitherto pa.s.sed in review. The tone of their writings is more restrained and severe: the wors.h.i.+pper approaches the deity as a servant rather than a lover: caste is rejected as useless: Hindu mythology is eschewed or used sparingly. Yet in spite of these differences the essential doctrines of Tulsi Das, Kabir and Nanak show a great resemblance. They all believe in one deity whom they call by various names, but this deity, though personal, remains of the Indian not of the Semitic type.

He somehow brings the world of transmigration into being by his power of illusion, and the business of the soul is to free itself from the illusion and return to him. Almost all these teachers, whether orthodox or heterodox, had a singular facility for composing hymns, often of high literary merit, and it is in these emotional utterances, rather than in dogmatic treatises, that they addressed themselves to the peoples of northern India.

The earliest of these mixed sects is that founded by Kabir.[652] He appears to have been a Mohammedan weaver by birth, though tradition is not unanimous on this point.[653] It is admitted, however, that he was brought up among Moslims at Benares but became a disciple of Ramanand.

This suggests that he lived early in the fifteenth century.[654]

Another tradition says that he was summoned before Sikander Lodi (1489-1517), but the details of his life are evidently legendary. We only know that he was married and had a son, that he taught in northern and perhaps central India and died at Maghar in the district of Gorakhpur. There is significance, however, in the legend which relates that after his decease Hindus and Mohammedans disputed as to whether his body should be burned or buried. But when they raised the cloth which covered the corpse, they found underneath it only a heap of flowers. So the Hindus took part and burnt them at Benares and the Moslims buried the rest at Maghar. His grave there is still in Moslim keeping.

In teaching Kabir stands midway between the two religions, but leaning to the side of Hinduism. It is clear that this Hindu bias became stronger in his followers, but it is not easy to separate his own teaching from subsequent embellishments, for the numerous hymns and sayings attributed to him are collected in compilations made after his death, such as the Bijak and the adi-granth of the Sikhs. In hymns which sound authentic he puts Hindus and Moslims on the same footing.

"Kabir is a child of Ram and Allah," he says, "and accepteth all Gurus and Pirs." "O G.o.d, whether Allah or Ram, I live by thy name."

"Make thy mind thy Kaaba, thy body its enclosing temple, Conscience its prime teacher.

Then, O priest, call men to pray to that mosque Which hath five gates.

The Hindus and Mussulmans have the same Lord."

But the formalities of both creeds are impartially condemned. "They are good riders who keep aloof from the Veda and Koran."[655] Caste, circ.u.mcision and idolatry are reprobated. The Hindu deities and their incarnations are all dead: G.o.d was not in any of them.[656] Ram, it would seem, should be understood not as Ramacandra but as a name of G.o.d.

Yet the general outlook is Hindu rather than Mohammedan. G.o.d is the magician who brings about this illusory world in which the soul wanders.[657] "I was in immobile and mobile creatures, in worms and in moths; I pa.s.sed through many various births. But when I a.s.sumed a human body, I was a Yogi, a Yati, a penitent, a Brahmacari: sometimes an Emperor and sometimes a beggar." Unlike the Sikhs, Kabir teaches the sanct.i.ty of life, even of plants. "Thou cuttest leaves, O flower girl: in every leaf there is life." Release, as for all Hindus, consists in escaping from the round of births and deaths. Of this he speaks almost in the language of the Buddha.[658]

"Though I have a.s.sumed many shapes, this is my last.

The strings and wires of the musical instrument are all worn out: I am now in the power of G.o.d's name.

I shall not again have to dance to the tune of birth and death.

Nor shall my heart accompany on the drum."

This deliverance is accomplished by the union or identification of the soul with G.o.d.

"Remove the difference between thyself and G.o.d and thou shalt be united with him....

Him whom I sought without me, now I find within me....

Know G.o.d: by knowing him thou shalt become as he.

When the soul and G.o.d are blended no one can distinguish them."[659]

But if he sometimes writes like San?kara, he also has the note of the Psalms and Gospels. He has the sense of sin: he thinks of G.o.d in vivid personal metaphors, as a lord, a bridegroom, a parent, both father and mother.

"Save me, O G.o.d, though I have offended thee....

I forgot him who made me and did cleave unto strangers."

"Sing, sing, the marriage song.

The sovereign G.o.d hath come to my house as my husband....

I obtained G.o.d as my bridegroom; so great has been my good fortune."

"A mother beareth not in mind All the faults her son committeth.

O, G.o.d, I am thy child: Why blottest thou not out my sins?" ...

"My Father is the great Lord of the Earth; To that Father how shall I go?"[660]

The writings of Kabir's disciples such as the Sukh Nidhan attributed to Srut Gopal (and written according to Westcott about 1729) and the still later Amar Mul, which is said to be representative of the modern Kabirpanth, show a greater inclination to Pantheism, though caste and idolatry are still condemned. In these works, which relate the conversion of Dharm Das afterwards one of Kabir's princ.i.p.al followers, Kabir is identified with the Creator and then made a pantheistic deity much as Kr?ishn?a in the Bhagavad-gita.[661] He is also the true Guru whose help is necessary for salvation. Stress is further laid on the doctrine of Sabda, or the divine word. Hindu theology was familiar with this expression as signifying the eternal self-existent revelation contained in the Vedas. Kabir appears to have held that articulate sound is an expression of the Deity and that every letter, as a const.i.tuent of such sound, has a meaning. But these letters are due to Maya: in reality there is no plurality of sound. Ram seems to have been selected as the divine name, because its brevity is an approach to this unity, but true knowledge is to understand the Letterless One, that is the real name or essence of G.o.d from which all differentiation of letters has vanished. Apart from some special metaphors the whole doctrine set forth in the Sukh Nidhan and Amar Mul is little more than a loose Vedantism, somewhat reminiscent of Sufiism.[662]

The teaching of Kabir is known as the Kabirpanth. At present there are both Hindus and Mohammedans among his followers and both have monasteries at Maghar where he is buried. The sect numbers in all about a million.[663] It is said that the two divisions have little in common except veneration of Kabir and do not intermix, but they both observe the practice of partaking of sacred meals, holy water,[664]

and consecrated betel nut. The Hindu section is again divided into two branches known as Father (Bap) and Mother (Mai).

Though there is not much that is original in the doctrines of Kabir, he is a considerable figure in Hindi literature and may justly be called epoch-making as marking the first fusion of Hinduism and Islam which culminates and attains political importance in the Sikhs. Other offshoots of his teaching are the Satnamis, Radha-swamis and Dadupanthis. The first were founded or reorganized in 1750 by a certain Jag-jivan-das. They do not observe caste and in theory adore only the True Name of G.o.d but in practice admit ordinary Hindu wors.h.i.+p. The Radha-swamis, founded in 1861, profess a combination of the Kabirpanth with Christian ideas. The Dadupanthis show the influence of the military spirit of Islam. They were founded by Dadu, a cotton weaver of Ahmedabad who flourished in Akbar's reign and died about 1603. He insisted on the equality of mankind, vegetarianism, abstinence from alcohol and strict celibacy. Hence the sect is recruited by adopting boys, most of whom are trained as soldiers. In such conditions the Dadupanthis cannot increase greatly but they number about nine thousand and are found chiefly in the state of Jaipur, especially in the town of Naraina.[665]

2

The Sikh religion[666] is of special interest since it has created not only a political society but also customs so distinctive that those who profess it rank in common esteem as a separate race. The founder Nanak lived from 1469 to 1538 and was born near Lah.o.r.e. He was a Hindu by birth but came under Mohammedan influence and conceived the idea of reconciling the two faiths. He was attracted by the doctrines of Kabir and did not at first claim to teach a new religion. He wished to unite Hindus and Moslims and described himself simply as Guru or teacher and his adherents as Sikhs or disciples.

He spent the greater part of his life wandering about India and is said to have reached Mecca. A beautiful story relates that he fell asleep with his feet turned towards the Kaaba. A mollah kicked him and asked how he dared to turn his feet and not his head towards G.o.d. But he answered, "Turn my feet in a direction where G.o.d is not." He was attended on his wanderings by Mardana, a lute-player, who accompanied the hymns which he never failed to compose when a thought or adventure occurred to him. These compositions are similar to those of Kabir, but seem to me of inferior merit. They are diffuse and inordinately long; the j.a.pji for instance, which every Sikh ought to recite as his daily prayer, fills not less than twenty octavo pages. Yet beautiful and incisive pa.s.sages are not wanting. When at the temple of Jagannath, he was asked to take part in the evening wors.h.i.+p at which lights were waved before the G.o.d while flowers and incense were presented on golden salvers studded with pearls. But he burst out into song.[667]

"The sun and moon, O Lord, are thy lamps, the firmament thy salver and the orbs of the stars the pearls set therein.

"The perfume of the sandal tree is thy incense; the wind is thy fan; all the forests are thy flowers, O Lord of light."

Though Nanak is full of Hindu allusions he is more Mohammedan in tone than Kabir, and the ritual of Sikh temples is modelled on the Mohammedan rather than on the Hindu pattern. The opening words of the j.a.pji are: "There is but one G.o.d, whose name is true, the Creator"[668] and he is regarded rather as the ruler of the world than as a spirit finding expression in it. "By his order" all things happen. "By obeying him" man obtains happiness and salvation. "There is no limit to his mercy and his praises." In the presence of G.o.d "man has no power and no strength." Such sentiments have a smack of Mohammed and Nanak sometimes uses the very words of the Koran as when he says that G.o.d has no companion. And though the penetrating spirit of the Vedanta infects this regal monotheism, yet the doctrine of Maya is set forth in unusual phraseology: "G.o.d himself created the world and himself gave names to things. He made Maya by his power: seated, he beheld his work with delight."