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OF THE HINDUS.
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haps local, distinctions of the sect, as Hansa Kabírís, Dána Kabírís, and Mangrela Kabirís, but in what respect, except appellation, they differ from the rest has not been ascertained.
Of these establishments the Kabir Chaura, at Benares, is pre-eminent in dignity, and it is constantly visited by wandering members of the sect, as well as by those of other kindred heresies: its Mahant receives and feeds these visitors whilst they stay, although the establishment has little to depend upon, except the occasional donations of its lay friends and followers. BALVANT SINH, and his successor, CHEIT SINH, were great patrons of it, and the latter granted to the Chaura a fixed monthly allowance. CHEIT Sini also attempted to form some estimate of the numbers of the sect, and if we may credit the result, they must be very considerable indeed, as at a grand meeting, or Meli, which he instituted near Benares, no fewer than 35,000 Kabir Panthis of the Monastic and Mendicant class are said to have been collected. There is no doubt that the Kabir Panthis, both clerical and lay, are very numerous in all the provinces of upper and central India, except, perhaps, in Bengal itself: the quaker-like spirit of the sect, their abhorrence of all violence, their regard for truth, and the inobtrusiveness of their opinions, render them very inoffensive members of the state: their mendicants also never solicit alms, and in this capacity even they are less obnoxious than the many religious vagrants, whom the rank soil of Hindu superstition and the ener
