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26
RELIGIOUS SECTS
Besides the adorers of the secondary divinities, we have a variety of sects who direct their devotions to beings of a still lower rank, and of whom none, at present, exist as distinct bodies, although individuals may be found, either detached or comprehended in other classes, who, more or less, reverence similar objects. Thus, the worship of Akás", or Ether, as the supreme deity, is still occasionally met with: all classes pay daily homage to the Pitris or Manes, and a few of the Tántrikas worship the Siddhas, or Genii, in the hope of acquiring super-human powers: the same class furnishes occasional votaries of the Vasus, Yakshas, and Gandharvas, and even of the Vetálas and Bhútas, or goblins and ghosts, and the latter also receive still, from the fears of the villagers, propitiatory adoration. It does not appear, that in any form, the worship of the moon and stars, of the elements, and divisions of the universe, is still practised, although that of the Tirthas, or holy places and rivers, is as popular as ever.
We have thus completed the enumeration of the sects as described by the author of the Sankara Vijaya, and have had an opportunity of observing, that, although the outlines of the system remain the same, the details have undergone very important alterations, since the time at which this work was composed: the
"I have encountered but one Professor, however, of this faith, a miserable mendicant, who taught the worship of Ether, under the strange name of Baghela.
