________________
114
RELIGIOUS SECTS
Granth of the Sikhs; he is there named Ravi Dása, which is the Sanskrit form of his name: some of his compositions also form part of the collection of hymns and prayers used by that sect at Benares: there appears to be but little known of him of any authentic character, and we must be contented with the authority of the Bhakta Malá, where he makes a rather important figure: the legend is as follows:
One of RÁMÁNAND's pupils was a Brahmachárí, whose daily duty it was to provide the offering presented to the deity: on one of these occasions, the offering consisted of grain, which the pupil had received as alms from a shop-keeper, who supplied chiefly the butchers with articles of food, and his donation was, consequently, impure: when RÁMÁNAND, in the course of his devotions, attempted to fix his mind upon the divinity, he found the task impracticable, and suspecting that some defect in the offering occasioned such an erratic imagination, he enquired whence it had been obtained: on being informed, he exclaimed, Hi Chamár, and the Brahmachari soon afterwards dying was born again as Rai Dás, the son of a worker in hides and leather.
The infant Rar Dás retained the impression left upon his mind by his old master's anger, and refused to take any nourishment: the parents, in great affliction, applied to RÁMÁNAND, who, by order of the deity, visited the child, and recognising the person at once whispered into his ear the initiating Mantra: the effect was instantaneous: the child immediately accepted
