Sri Kanta, a Kachmirian, is conversant with many sciences of the Hindus; he knows the sástras, that is, the sástras of the Pandits, namely, the _Smríti sastra_,[270] or “the written law;” the _Kavi-sástra_,[271] “poetics;” the _Tarka-sástra_,[272] “logic and dialectics;” the _Váidyá vidyá_,[273] “the medical science;” the _Jyótisha_,[274] “astronomy;” and the _Pátanjala_,[275] that is, the restraining of the breath; he knows besides very well the Vedanta, or metaphysics, etc. In the year 1049 of the Hejira (1639 A. D.) the author of this book saw him in Kachmir; he is one of the saints of the Hindus. Sri Kant was invested by the inhabitant of heaven, Núr-ed-din Mahommed Jehangír Pádshah, with the dignity of a judge of the Hindus, in order that they may be tranquillised, and in every concern have nothing to demand from the Muselmans: as it has been established in the code of Akbar, that the tribes of mankind, high and low, with the existing diversity of creeds and difference of customs, which are all under the trust of a beneficent lord, ought to dwell in the shade of protection of a just king, and persevere in the performance of their worship and the exigencies of their devotion, so that, by the authority derived from the chiefs, the sons of the age may not stretch the hand of oppression over the condition of the people. The belief of the Hindus is as follows: all the _tírths_,[276] that is, “places of pilgrimage,” which are in the world are in imitation of the fixed model _Haratírth_, which is in Kachmir; for, after having visited the holy place of Kachmir, there is no desire to see that of any other country; and they call it the great place of pilgrimage, likewise _prayága_,[277] which is celebrated at Máhábád; there are Shah abad ed-din púr, and Gangavara, Lárasún, and Kisâlíhazra. There are many miraculous things in Kachmir; one of them is _Sandebár_, and they relate: In ancient times, a holy Brahman dwelt in a cavern of the mountain, where he devoted himself to the worship of the Almighty God. Once every year, he went to the Ganges to bathe. After having passed several years in that way, Gangá said to the Brahman: “Thou measurest always such a length of road, on which thou dost set aside the worship of God: my convention with thee is this: that, when the sun reaches the constellation of the Bull, I will three times a-day come to thy resting-place.” From this time, when the great luminary throws his effulgence towards the constellation of the Bull, the water of the river springs up boiling from the basin of the fountain, which is near the place of his devotion. _Sundeberari_, in the cavern of the mountain, became celebrated: it is a square basin, and has on its eastern wall an open cavity, from which, as well as from several other vents and holes in the sides of the basin, the water springs up. However steadfastly one may look, the bottom cannot be discovered. And in the middle of the eastern side, there are seven holes, which the