The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1

14. Tenderness for animal life

The great regard for animal life is the most marked feature of the Jain religion among the laity as well as the clergy. The former do not go to such extremes as the latter, but make it a practice not to eat food after sunset or before sunrise, owing to the danger of swallowing insects. Now that their beliefs are becoming more rational, however, and the irksome nature of this rule is felt, they sometimes place a lamp with a sieve over it to produce rays of light, and consider that this serves as a substitute for the sun. Formerly they maintained animal hospitals in which all kinds of animals and reptiles, including monkeys, poultry and other birds were kept and fed, and any which had broken a limb or sustained other injuries were admitted and treated. These were known as pinjrapol or places of protection.²⁸⁵ A similar institution was named jivuti, and consisted of a small domed building with a hole at the top large enough for a man to creep in, and here weevils and other insects which the Jains might find in their food were kept and provided with grain.²⁸⁶ In Rājputāna, where rich Jains probably had much influence, considerable deference was paid to their objections to the death of any living thing. Thus a Mewār edict of A.D. 1693 directed that no one might carry animals for slaughter past their temples or houses. Any man or animal led past a Jain house for the purpose of being killed was thereby saved and set at liberty. Traitors, robbers or escaped prisoners who fled for sanctuary to the dwelling of a Jain Yati or ascetic could not be seized there by the officers of the court. And during the four rainy months, when insects were most common, the potter’s wheel and Teli’s oil-press might not be worked on account of the number of insects which would be destroyed by them.²⁸⁷

15. Social condition of the Jains

As they are nearly all of the Bania caste the Jains are usually prosperous, and considering its small size, the standard of wealth in the community is probably very high for India, the total number of Jains in the country being about half a million. Beggars are rare, and, like the Pārsis and Europeans, the Jains feeling themselves a small isolated body in the midst of a large alien population, have a special tenderness for their poorer members, and help them in more than the ordinary degree. Most of the Jain Banias are grain-dealers and moneylenders like other Banias. Cultivation is prohibited by their religion, owing to the destruction of animal life which it involves, but in Saugor, and also in the north of India, many of them have now taken to it, and some plough with their own hands. Mr. Marten notes²⁸⁸ that the Jains are beginning to put their wealth to a more practical purpose than the lavish erection and adornment of temples. Schools and boarding-houses for boys and girls of their religion are being opened, and they subscribe liberally for the building of medical institutions. It may be hoped that this movement will continue and gather strength, both for the advantage of the Jains themselves and the country generally.

Kabīrpanthi

[Bibliography: Right Reverend G. H. Westcott, Kabīr and the Kabīrpanth, Cawnpore, 1907; Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi. pp. 53–75 (Wilson’s Hindu Sects); Mr. Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, article Kabīrpanthi; Central Provinces Census Report (1891), Sir B. Robertson.]

1. Life of Kabīr

Kabīrpanthi Sect.—A well-known religious sect founded by the reformer Kabīr, who flourished in the fifteenth century, and is called by Dr. Hunter the Luther of India. The sect has now split into two branches, the headquarters of one of these being at Benāres, and of the other at Kawardha, or Dāmākheda in Raipur. Bishop Westcott gives the date of Kabīr’s life as A.D. 1440—1518, while Mr. Crooke states that he flourished between 1488 and 1512. Numerous legends are now told about him; thus, according to one of these, he was the son of a virgin Brāhman widow, who had been taken at her request to see the great reformer Rāmānand. He, unaware of her condition, saluted her with the benediction which he thought acceptable to all women, and wished her the conception of a son. His words could not be recalled, and the widow conceived, but, in order to escape the disgrace which would attach to her, exposed the child, who was Kabīr. He was found by a Julāha or Muhammadan weaver and his wife, and brought up by them. The object of this story is probably to connect Kabīr with Rāmānand as his successor in reformation and spiritual heir; because the Rāmānandis are an orthodox Vaishnava sect, while the Kabīrpanthis, if they adhered to all Kabīr’s preaching, must be considered as quite outside the pale of Hinduism. To make out that Kabīr came into the world by Rāmānand’s act provides him at any rate with an orthodox spiritual lineage. For the same reason²⁸⁹ the date of Kabīr’s birth is sometimes advanced as early as 1398 in order to bring it within the period of Rāmānand’s lifetime (circa 1300–1400). Another story is that the deity took mortal shape as a child without birth, and was found by a newly-married weaver’s wife lying in a lotus flower on a tank, like Moses in the bulrushes. Bishop Westcott thus describes the event: “A feeling of thirst overcame Nīma, the newly-wedded wife of Nīru, the weaver, as after the marriage ceremony she was making her way to her husband’s house. She approached the tank, but was much afraid when she there beheld the child. She thought in her heart, ‘This is probably the living evidence of the shame of some virgin widow.’ Nīru suggested that they might take the child to their house, but Nīma at first demurred, thinking that such action might give rise to scandal. Women would ask, ‘Who is the mother of a child so beautiful that its eyes are like the lotus?’ However, laying aside all fears, they took pity on the child. On approaching the house they were welcomed with the songs of women, but when the women saw the child dark thoughts arose in their heads, and they began to ask, ‘How has she got this child?’ Nīma replied that she had got the child without giving birth to it, and the women then refrained from asking further questions.” It is at any rate a point generally agreed on that Kabīr was brought up in the house of a Muhammadan weaver. It is said that he became the chela or disciple of Rāmānand, but this cannot be true, as Rāmānand was dead before his birth. It seems probable that he was married, and had two children named Kamāl and Kamāli. Bishop Westcott states²⁹⁰ that the Kabīr Kasauti explains the story of his supposed marriage by the fact that he had a girl disciple named Loi, a foundling brought up by a holy man; she followed his precepts, and coming to Benāres, passed her time in the service of the saints. Afterwards Kabīr raised two children from the dead and gave them to Loi to bring up, and the ignorant suppose that these were his wife and children. Such a statement would appear to indicate that Kabīr was really married, but after his sect had become important, this fact was felt to be a blot on his claim to be a divine prophet, and so was explained away in the above fashion.

Kabīr

The plain speaking of Kabīr and his general disregard for religious conventions excited the enmity of both Hindus and Muhammadans, and he was accused before the Emperor Sikandar Lodi, by whose orders various attempts were made to kill him; but he was miraculously preserved in each case, until at last the Emperor acknowledged his divine character, asked his forgiveness, and expressed his willingness to undergo any punishment that he might name. To this Kabīr replied that a man should sow flowers for those who had sown him thorns. Bishop Westcott continues:—“All accounts agree that the earthly life of Kabīr came to a close at Maghar, in the District of Gorakhpur. Tradition relates that Kabīr died in extreme old age, when his body had become infirm and his hands were no longer able to produce the music with which he had in younger days celebrated the praises of Rāma.

“A difficulty arose with regard to the disposal of his body after death. The Muhammadans desired to bury it and the Hindus to cremate it. As the rival parties discussed the question with growing warmth Kabīr himself appeared and bade them raise the cloth in which the body lay enshrouded. They did as he commanded, and lo! beneath the cloth there lay but a heap of flowers. Of these flowers the Hindus removed half and burnt them at Benāres, while what remained were buried at Maghar by the Muhammadans.”

2. Kabīr’s teachings

The religion preached by Kabīr was of a lofty character. He rejected the divine inspiration of the Vedas and the whole Hindu mythology. He taught that there was no virtue in outward observances such as shaving the head, ceremonial purity and impurity, and circumcision among Muhammadans. He condemned the worship of idols and the use of sect-marks and religious amulets, but in all ordinary matters allowed his followers to conform to usage in order to avoid giving offence. He abolished distinctions of caste. He enjoined a virtuous life, just conduct and kindly behaviour and much meditation on the virtues of God. He also condemned the love of money and gain. In fact, in many respects his creed resembles Christianity, just as the life of Kabīr contains one or two episodes parallel to that of Christ. He prescribed obedience to the Guru or spiritual preceptor in all matters of faith and morals. His religion appears to have been somewhat of a pantheistic character and his idea of the deity rather vague. But he considered that the divine essence was present in all human beings, and apparently that those who freed themselves from sin and the trammels of worldly desires would ultimately be absorbed into the godhead. It does not seem that Kabīr made any exact pronouncement on the doctrine of the transmigration of souls and re-birth, but as he laid great stress on avoiding the destruction of any animal life, a precept which is to some extent the outcome of the belief in transmigration, he may have concurred in this tenet. Some Kabīrpanthis, however, have discarded transmigration. Bishop Westcott states that they do believe in the re-birth of the soul after an intervening period of reward or punishment, but always apparently in a human body.

3. His sayings

He would seem never to have promulgated any definite account of his own religion, nor did he write anything himself. He uttered a large number of Sākhis or apothegms which were recorded by his disciples in the Bījak, Sukhanidhān and other works, and are very well known and often quoted by Kabīrpanthis and others. The influence of Kabīr extended beyond his own sect. Nānak, the founder of the Nānakpanthis and Sikhs, was indebted to Kabīr for most of his doctrine, and the Adi-Granth or first sacred book of the Sikhs is largely compiled from his sayings. Other sects such as the Dādupanthis also owe much to him. A small selection of his sayings from those recorded by Bishop Westcott may be given in illustration of their character:

1. Adding cowrie to cowrie he brings together lakhs and crores.

At the time of his departure he gets nothing at all, even his loin-cloth is plucked away.

2. Fire does not burn it, the wind does not carry it away, no thief comes near it; collect the wealth of the name of Rāma, that wealth is never lost.

3. By force and love circumcision is made, I shall not agree to it, O brother. If God will make me a Turk by Him will I be circumcised; if a man becomes a Turk by being circumcised what shall be done with a woman? She must remain a Hindu.

4. The rosaries are of wood, the gods are of stone, the Ganges and Jumna are water. Rāma and Krishna are dead. The four Vedas are fictitious stories.

5. If by worshipping stones one can find God, I shall worship a mountain; better than these stones (idols) are the stones of the flour-mill with which men grind their corn.

6. If by immersion in the water salvation be obtained, the frogs bathe continually. As the frogs so are these men, again and again they fall into the womb.

7. As long as the sun does not rise the stars sparkle; so long as perfect knowledge of God is not obtained, men practise rites and ceremonies.

8. Brahma is dead with Siva who lived in Kāshi; the immortals are dead. In Mathura, Krishna, the cowherd, died. The ten incarnations (of Vishnu) are dead. Machhandranāth, Gorakhnāth, Dattātreya and Vyās are no longer living. Kabīr cries with a loud voice, All these have fallen into the slip-knot of death.

9. While dwelling in the womb there is no clan nor caste; from the seed of Brahm the whole of creation is made.

Whose art thou the Brāhman? Whose am I the Sūdra? Whose blood am I? Whose milk art thou?

Kabīr says, ‘Who reflects on Brahm, he by me is made a Brāhman.’

10. To be truthful is best of all if the heart be truthful. A man may speak as much as he likes; but there is no pleasure apart from truthfulness.

11. If by wandering about naked union with Hari be obtained; then every deer of the forest will attain to God. If by shaving the head perfection is achieved, the sheep is saved, no one is lost.

If salvation is got by celibacy, a eunuch should be the first saved. Kabīr says, ‘Hear, O Man and Brother; without the name of Rāma no one has obtained salvation.’

The resemblance of some of the above ideas to the teaching of the Gospels is striking, and, as has been seen, the story of Kabīr’s birth might have been borrowed from the Bible, while the Kabīrpanthi Chauka or religious service has one or two features in common with Christianity. These facts raise a probability, at any rate, that Kabīr or his disciples had some acquaintance with the Bible or with the teaching of Christian missionaries. If such a supposition were correct, it would follow that Christianity had influenced the religious thought of India to a greater extent than is generally supposed. Because, as has been seen, the Nānakpanthi and Sikh sects are mainly based on the teaching of Kabīr. Another interesting though accidental resemblance is that the religion of Kabīr was handed down in the form of isolated texts and sayings like the Logia of Jesus, and was first reduced to writing in a connected form by his disciples. The fact that Kabīr called the deity by the name of Rāma apparently does not imply that he ascribed a unique and sole divinity to the hero king of Ajodhia. He had to have some name which might convey a definite image or conception to his uneducated followers, and may have simply adopted that which was best known and most revered by them.

4. The Kabīrpanthi Sect in the Central Provinces

The two principal headquarters of the Kabīrpanthi sect are at Benaires and at Kawardha, the capital of the State of that name, or Dāmākheda in the Raipur District. These appear to be practically independent of each other, the head Mahants exercising separate jurisdiction over members of the sect who acknowledge their authority. The Benāres branch of the sect is known as Bāp (father) and the Kawardha branch as Mai (mother). In 1901 out of 850,000 Kabīrpanthis in India 500,000 belonged to the Central Provinces. The following account of the practices of the sect in the Province is partly compiled from local information, and it differs in some minor, though not in essential, points from that given by Bishop Westcott. The Benāres church is called the Kabīrchaura Math and the Kawardha one the Dharam Dās Math.

One of the converts to Kabīr’s teaching was Dharam Dās, a Kasaundhan Bania, who distributed the whole of his wealth, eighteen lakhs of rupees, in charity at his master’s bidding and became a mendicant. In reward for this Kabīr promised him that his family should endure for forty-two generations. The Mahants of Kawardha claim to be the direct descendants of Dharam Dās. They marry among Kasaundhan Banias, and their sons are initiated and succeed them. The present Mahants Dayāram and Ugranām are twelfth and thirteenth in descent from Dharam Dās. Kabīr not only promised that there should be forty-two Mahants, but gave the names of each of them, so that the names of all future Mahants are known.²⁹¹ Ugranām was born of a Marār woman, and, though acclaimed as the successor of his father, was challenged by Dhīrajnām, whose parentage was legitimate. Their dispute led to a case in the Bombay High Court, which was decided in favour of Dhīrajnām, and he accordingly occupied the seat at Kawardha. Dayārām is his successor. But Dhīrajnām was unpopular, and little attention was paid to him. Ugranām lives at Dāmākheda, near Simga,²⁹² and enjoys the real homage of the followers of the sect, who say that Dhīraj was the official Mahant but Ugra the people’s Mahant. Of the previous Mahants, four are buried at Kawardha, two at Kudarmāl in Bilāspur, the site of a Kabīrpanthi fair, and two at Mandla. Under the head Mahant are a number of subordinate Mahants or Gurus, each of whom has jurisdiction over the members of the sect in a certain area. The Guru pays so much a year to the head Mahant for his letter of jurisdiction and takes all the offerings himself. These subordinate Mahants may be celibate or married, and about two-thirds of them are married. A dissenting branch called Nadiapanthi has now arisen in Raipur, all of whom are celibate. The Mahants have a high peaked cap somewhat of the shape of a mitre, a long sleeveless white robe, a chauri or whisk, chauba or silver stick, and a staff called kuari or aska. It is said that on one occasion there was a very high flood at Puri and the sea threatened to submerge Jagannāth’s temple, but Kabīr planted a stick in the sand and said, ‘Come thus far and no further,’ and the flood was stayed. In memory of this the Mahants carry the crutched staff, which also serves as a means of support. When officiating they wear a small embroidered cap. Each Mahant has a Diwān or assistant, and he travels about his charge during the open season, visiting the members of the sect. A Mahant should not annoy any one by begging, but rather than do so should remain hungry. He must not touch any flesh, fish or liquor. And if any living thing is hungry he should give it of his own food.

5. The religious service

A Kabīrpanthi religious service is called Chauka, the name given to the space marked out for it with lines of wheat-flour, 5 or 7½ yards square.²⁹³ In the centre is made a pattern of nine lotus flowers to represent the sun, moon and seven planets, and over this a bunch of real flowers is laid. At one corner is a small hollow pillar of dough serving as a candle-stick, in which a stick covered with cotton-wool burns as a lamp, being fed with butter. The Mahant sits at one end and the worshippers sit round. Bhajans or religious songs are sung to the music of cymbals by one or two, and the others repeat the name of Kabīr counting on their kanthi or necklace of beads. The Mahant lights a piece of camphor and waves it backwards and forwards in a dish. This is called Arti, a Hindu rite. He then breaks a cocoanut on a stone, a thing which only a Mahant may do. The flesh of the cocoanut is cut up and distributed to the worshippers with betel-leaf and sugar. Each receives it on his knees, taking the greatest care that none fall on the ground. If any of the cocoanut remain, it is kept by the Mahant for another service. The Hindus think that the cocoanut is a substitute for a human head. It is supposed to have been created by Viswāmitra and the būch or tuft of fibre at the end represents the hair. The Kabīrpanthis will not eat any part of a cocoanut from other Hindus from which this tuft has been removed, as they fear that it may have been broken off in the name of some god or spirit. Once the būch is removed the cocoanut is not an acceptable offering, as its likeness to a human head is considered to be destroyed. After this the Mahant gives an address and an interval occurs. Some little time afterwards the worshippers reassemble. Meanwhile, a servant has taken the dough candle-stick and broken it up, mixing it with fragments of the cocoanut, butter and more flour. It is then brought to the Mahant, who makes it into little puris or wafers. The Mahant has also a number of betel-leaves known as parwāna or message, which have been blessed by the head guru at Kawardha or Dāmākheda. These are cut up into small pieces for delivery to each disciple and are supposed to represent the body of Kabīr. He has also brought Charan Amrita or Nectar of the Feet, consisting of water in which the feet of the head guru have been washed. This is mixed with fine earth and made up into pills. The worshippers reassemble, any who may feel unworthy absenting themselves, and each receives from the Mahant, with one hand folded beneath the other, a wafer of the dough, a piece of the parwāna or betel-leaf, and a pill of the foot-nectar. After partaking of the sacred food they cleanse their hands, and the proceedings conclude with a substantial meal defrayed either by subscription or by a well-to-do member. Bishop Westcott states that the parwāna or betel-leaf is held to represent Kabīr’s body, and the Kabīrpanthis say that the flame of the candle is the life or spirit of Kabīr, so that the dough of the candle-stick might also be taken to symbolise his body. The cocoanut eaten at the preliminary service is undoubtedly offered by Hindus as a substitute for a human body, though the Kabīrpanthis may now disclaim this idea. And the foot-nectar of the guru might be looked upon as a substitute for the blood of Kabīr.