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ON THE SIKHS.
stitute much of their favourite literature; except in the mode of performing public worship, and in the profession of benevolent sentiments for all mankind, there is little difference between a Nirmala Sikh and an orthodox Hindu of the Vaishnava sect.
Neither are the Govind Sinhís, the disciples of Guru Govind, to be considered as unbelievers in the Hindu mythology. They receive all the Pauráńik legends as true, but they appear to be most partial to those of the Saiva sect, as harmonizing best with their fierce and martial character. It is affirmed of their teacher Guru Govind himself, that he was directed to loosen his hair and draw his sword by the Goddess Bhavání, of whom he was an assiduous worshipper. He says of himself, "Durgá Bhavání appeared to me when I was asleep, arrayed in all her glory. The goddess put into my hand the hilt of a bright seymetar which she had before held in her own. The country of the Mohammedans,' said the goddess, 'shall be conquered by thee, and numbers of that race shall be slain.' After I had heard this I exclaimed, 'This steel shall be the guard to me and to my followers, because in its lustre the splendour of thy countenance, oh Goddess! is always reflected."" In the account, also, which he gives of his mission, he says that in a preceding life he performed severe penance, meditating on Mahákála and Káliká (or Siva and Durgá), in consequence of which he was sent into the world by Parameswara, the supreme god, to establish a perfect system, to teach virtue, and exterminate the wicked.
