A Sikh author[99], whom I have followed in several parts of this sketch, is very particular in stating the causes of the origin of the religion of Nánac: he describes the different Yugas, or ages of the world, stated in the Hindú mythology. The Cáli Yug, which is the present, is that in which it was written that the human race would become completely depraved: "Discord," says the author, speaking of the Cáli Yug, "will rise in the world, sin prevail, and the universe become wicked; cast will contend with cast; and, like bamboos in friction, consume each other to embers. The Védas, or scriptures," he adds, "will be held in disrepute, for they shall not be understood, and the darkness of ignorance will prevail every where." Such is this author's record of a divine prophecy regarding this degenerate age. He proceeds to state what has ensued: "Every one followed his own path, and sects were separated; some worshipped Chandra (the moon); some Surya (the sun); some prayed to the earth, to the sky, and the air, and the water, and the fire, while others worshipped D'herma Rájá (the judge of the dead); and in the fallacy of the sects nothing was to be found but error. In short, pride prevailed in the world, and the four casts[100] established a system of ascetic devotion. From these, the ten sects of Sanyásís, and the twelve sects of Yógis, originated. The Jangam, the Srívíra, and the Déva Digambar, entered into mutual contests. The Bráhmens divided into different classes; and the Sástras, Védas, and Puránas[101], contradicted each other. The six Dersans (philosophical sects) exhibited enmity, and the thirty-six Páshands (heterodox sects) arose, with hundreds of thousands of chimerical and magical (_tantra mantra_) sects: and thus, from one form, many good and many evil forms originated, and error prevailed in the Cáli Yug, or age of general depravity." The Sikh author pursues this account of the errors into which the Hindús fell, with a curious passage regarding the origin and progress of the Muhammedan religion. "The world," he writes, "went on with these numerous divisions, when Muhammed Yara[102] appeared, who gave origin to the seventy-two sects[103], and widely disseminated discord and war. He established the Rózeh o Aíd (fast and festivals), and the Namáz (prayer), and made his practice of devotional acts prevalent in the world, with a multitude of distinctions, of Pír (saint), Paighamber (prophet), Ulemá (the order of priesthood), and Kitàb (the Korán). He demolished the temples, and on their ruins built the mosques, slaughtering cows and helpless persons, and spreading transgression far and wide, holding in hostility Cáfirs (infidels), Mulhids (idolaters), Irmenis (Armenians), Rumis (the Turks), and Zingis (Ethiopians). Thus vice greatly diffused itself in the universe."