The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
Another sect is that of the _Jangaman_; these also cut the hair off
their heads, they rub dust upon their bodies, and praise Mahadéo, to
whom they attribute a real existence. They are divided into several
classes. They say, among the celestial spirits are nine Brahmas, who
are the _anśus_,[377] that is, “the rays” of Brahma. There are one
thousand Vichnus, rays of Vichnu, who is also called _Naráyana_; there
are eleven _Rudras_, rays of Rudra, which is a name of Mahádeo; they
reckon twelve suns,[378] rays of the great luminary; sixteen
_kalas_,[379] that is, parts or rays of the moon; and they divide the
effulgence of that body into sixteen parts, and enumerate eight and
twenty of its mansions, or _nakshatras_,[380] and seven planets,
besides the head and tail of the dragon. Ganesa is to them a god with
the head of an elephant. They distinguish eight quarters of the world,
besides the zenith and nadir, and call them _asht dísa_,[381] in the
following order: _purva_, “east;” _paśchima_, “west;” _dakchina_,
“south;” and _uttara_, “north;” between south and east, _agni_;
between south and west, _náirrita_; between north and west, _váyu_,
between north and east, _íśána_. Among the deities are _Bhaírava_[382]
and _Hanuman_, and among female spirits _asht Durgás_, or “eight
Durgás,” in the following order: _Kálaká_, _Chandra Kálanjarí_,
_Káumarí_, _Váichnaví_, _Bábhraví_, _Chamundá_,[383] _Bhavání_, and
_Parvati_.[384] _Maha Lakchmî Sarasvatí_ is the wife of Brahma.
_Rakshasas_ are termed the pious men of the Satya yug; _Kaśyapa_ is
the father of the sun; _Vaśishta_, the preceptor of Ram-avatár;
_Viśvamitra_, a Kshatría, who by dint of pious austerity became a
Brahman; _Valmiki_ is the author of the poem Ramayána, which contains
the history of Ráma; _Angirasah Ihr Vyása_ composed the historical
poem Mahabharata; Bhazadvája Jamadagni existed in the Dwapara yug;
_Gotama_, _Kapah_, (_Kapila_?) _Parására_, _Narada_, in the Kali yug;
_Chonah_, _Apravanah_, _Aurdah_, _Jamed Kapeh_, these are for ever
living;[385] _Saptarchaya_, that is, seven Richis, or “saints,” are:
_Kaśyapa_, _Uttara_, _Bhardvája_, _Viśvamitra_, _Gotama_, _Jamadagni_,
and _Vaśis’hta_.[386]
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