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OF THE HINDUS.
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paid, is addressed to some of his forms, particularly those of Vakratunda and Dhundhiraj.
NÁNAK SHAHIS.
A sect of much greater importance is that which originated with NÁNAK SHAH, and which, from bearing at first only a religious character, came, in time, to be a political and national distinction, through the influence of Mohammedan persecution and individual ambition. The enterprising policy of GOVIND SINH and the bigotry of AURANGZEB converted the peaceful tenets of NÁNAK into a military code, and his speculative disciples into the warlike nation of the Sikhs. It is not, however, in their political capacity that we are now to consider them, but as the professors of a peculiar form of faith, which branches into various sub-divisions, and is by no means restricted to the Punjab. At the same time it is unnecessary to detail the tenets and practices of the Sikhs, as that has been already performed in a full and satisfactory manner.
The Sikhs, or Nanak Shahis, are classed under seven distinctions, all recognising Nának as their primitive instructor, and all professing to follow his doctrines, but separated from each other by variations of practice, or by a distinct and peculiar teacher. Of these the first is the sect of the Udasis.
UDÁSÍS.
These may be regarded as the genuine disciples of Nának, professing, as the name denotes, indifference
