Book Title: Essays Lectures on Religion of Hindu Vol 01
Author(s): H H Wilson
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

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Page 285
________________ OF THE HINDUS. 269 mony sweetmeats are distributed amongst the congregation. In some of the establishments at Benares the service is held in the evening after sunset, and the singing and feasting continue through a great part of the night. Many of the Udásis are well read in Sanskrit, and are able expounders of the Vedanta philosophy, on which the tenets of Nának are mainly founded. The Udási sect was established by DHARMACIAND, the grandson of Nának, through whom the line of the Sage was continued, and his descendants, known by the name of Nának Putras, are still found in the Panjáb, where they are treated by the Sikhs with especial veneration. The doctrine taught by Nának appears to have differed but little from that of Karir, and to have deviated but inconsiderably from the Ilindu faith in general. The whole body of poetical and mythological fiction was retained, whilst the liberation of the spirit from the delusive deceits of Máyá, and its purification by acts of benevolence and self-denial, so as to make it identical even in life with its divine source, were the great objects of the devotee. Associated with these notions was great chariness of animal life, whilst with NÁNAK, as well as with KABIR, universal tolerance was a dogma of vital importance, and both laboured to persuade Hindus and Mohammedans that the only essential parts of their respective creeds were common to both, and that they should discard the varieties of practical detail, or the corruptions of their teachers

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