Among them, it is a meritorious act to sacrifice a man, which they call naramédha;[253] then the gómédha,[254] or sacrifice of a cow; further, the asvaméda,[255] and finally, any other animal. When they perform a sacrificial ceremony, which they call Kála-dek (kaladéya)[256], they unite the blood of as many animals as possible in a large vase, and place therein the man whom they bring over to their creed, and they drink with him from that blood. Whenever the worship of a god, or of the wife of a god is performed, the ceremony is called ishtam,[257] and the master of the ceremony ishta. The creed of this sect is, that any god or wife of a god may be worshipped in two ways: the one is called bhadram,[258] which consists in abstaining from shedding blood, and in being pure; the other, termed vakam,[259] which admits spilling blood, commerce with women, and neglect of purity; but they think this second preferable, and say that each deity, male or female, has a form under which he or she is to be represented; but that the worship of a female divinity affords a greater recompense. When they have an intimate connection with their own or another’s wife, they behold in her the image of the goddess, and think to personate the god, her husband, and at this time they sing a prescribed song, which to entune at the very moment of the closest junction, they believe to be most recommendable. There is a deity whose praise they sing with unwashed hands;[260] and another whom they worship with the mark of their cast drawn with dirt on their forehead. Some of these goddesses are by them called “queens,” and others “servants;” and the worshipper of a woman is also termed “servant.”
The author of this work saw a man who, singing the customary song, sat upon a corpse which he kept unburied until it came to a state of dissolution, and then ate the flesh of it; this act they hold extremely meritorious. They say that the desires of this and of the other world attain their accomplishment by means of the worship of a god or of a goddess. The followers of this sect send their barren wives, in order that they may become pregnant, to the performers of such acts, and these men use the women before the eyes of their husbands: whoever does not send his wife to his master, renders in their opinion the purity of his faith very doubtful.
The Gossain Tara lochana, a Brahman, was of this sect, and devoted to the worship of Káli, a female deity. Having gone to Kachmir in the year 1048 of the Hejira (1638 A. D.), he practised pious austerity; at last, as is usual, he chose a concubine, for which, they say, five things are requisite: fish, wine, the wife of another man, flesh (if human flesh so much the better) and a mantra, that is, a song. The Hindus used to distinguish fish from flesh. Finally, having accomplished the act of a Gosain, Tara lochana became the friend of Ahsen Ulla, named Zafer Khán ibne Khájá, Abul hasen Taramzi, who was the governor of Kachmir: this took place by the interest of the confidential servants of the lord’s house, who were well disposed to be directed by a perfect Gósain. The said lord wished Taralochana to procure him victory over the Tibetans; the Gosain promised it to him, provided he should conform himself to his directions: Zafer Khan consented to it, and a convention was concluded between them. Tara lochana said: “Appoint a great number of Lúlían who are never to separate from me, because in our religion the intercourse with these is preferable to that with other women, on which account they are entitled Déva-Kanyá, ‘the daughters of the gods;’ my meal must never be destitute of wine and other intoxicating liquors; to begin, let a sheep be killed for me, and the necessaries and materials of repast be prepared.” Zafer Khan did all the Gosain demanded; when he made his expedition to Tibet, he obtained a remarkable victory, and returned triumphant. At last, a disagreement took place between the Gosain and Zafer Khan; the former quitted the latter, who soon after, on account of a dispute between the Sonní and the Shiâh of Kachmir, lost his consideration, and being obliged to retire, went to Kabul; there Muhammed Tafer, one of his relations, gave him some fatal stabs with a poniard, in consequence of which he lay sick for some time. Soon after he lost his office and property, and remained long in Lahore without a situation. The author of this book saw in the year 1055 of the Hejira (1645 A. D.) in Gujerat, a district of the Panjab, Tara lochana, who told him “It was on account of his difference with me that so great a misfortune befel Zafer Khan.” Urfi of Shiraz says:
“The bounty of the Eternal does not reject the unbeliever,
Provided he acquire perfection in the adoration of his idol.”
Shédosh, the son of Anosh declared: that, according to the explainers of the law, there must be observed in any pursuit a due relation and correspondence to the intended purpose: further, in the pursuit of a virtuous spirit, sanctity and purity are required; but in the pursuit of a base spirit, nothing of purity enters, and may be dispensed with. This subject has been treated in the second section of the work thereupon.
The writer of this book saw in the same year, and in the place beforesaid of Guzerat, a man called Mahadéo, who at night was always sitting upon a dead body. I also saw Sadánand, of the same sect, who said to one of his disciples: “I wish to perform a rite, called the worship of the hair.” The disciple brought his own daughter, and Sadánanda gazed at her hair, kissed her face, and in that way enjoyed her before the eyes of her father. I saw besides a person who brought his wife to him, saying: “I have no son in my house.” It is the belief of this class that, if in such a manner any one has intercourse with a barren woman, she obtains whatever she desires; on that account, some of the women, at the moment of intimate junction, demand from the perfect man the gift of mukt, that is, union with God Almighty, and emancipation from this body. It was for that reason, that Sadánanda used the woman before the eyes of her husband. One day, Sadánanda sat in a burying place, naked, with one of his friends, and drank wine, when one of the orthodox Brahmans passed that way, and saw these men. The disciples said: “This Brahman will tell the people what he saw, and expose us to ridicule.” Sadánanda replied: “It does not matter.” When the Brahman came home, he died.
When in the year 1059 of the Hejira (1649 A. D.) the author of this work happened to be in the district of Kalinga, he saw in every village of this country the image of a god, or of a spirit called by some particular name, and each of these spirits is supposed to be the author of some sickness or misfortune, for the removing of which they offer their prayers to him. One of these spirits is Anamberam; and when a person gets a pimple, he brings an animal, commonly a domestic bird, to the chapel, and sacrifices it. In the work Khálasa al hayat, “the essence of life,” composed by Mulla Ahmed Tatvi, is stated, that upon the sepulchre of Asefnívas,[261] a sage of Greece, they used to sacrifice a bird, and they say that, in the book which treats of the ceremonies of pilgrimage to the before-named deities, three kinds of sacrifices are enumerated: agreeable perfumes, sweet cakes, and beverages; besides Mulla Ahmed Tatvi mentions in his work just before quoted, that Herámes (that is Idris)[262] has established fumigations and wine of grapes for the use of sacrifices.
Among the great idols of the country or Kaling is Gang-Durgá.[263] They say, Ramachandra déo, one of their great Rájas, descendant of the celebrated family of Kaśyapa, ruled in Orissa. This Rája, having called a goldsmith, gave him the mass of gold which he demanded for making an image of Durga. The goldsmith, having carried the gold home, intended to form the goddess of copper and to purloin the gold, thinking that, as to break into pieces an idol is not permitted among the Hindus, he could keep the gold without fear of discovery. With this project he went to sleep. When he awoke, he saw that one half of the gold remained on the spot, and that the other half was formed into the image of Durgá; having carried this with the remaining gold to Ramachandra déo, and told the story, the Rája gave him the residue of gold, and carried the idol, in his house and in his travels, constantly with him. They say that, after the death of Kaśyapa the Great, Makandéo assembled under his sceptre the nations of this country, and that Vichnunath déo Sukra conquered the town Sri Kakul,[264] from the Rája Nanda. Ramchandra déo moved his army towards Sri Kakul, and took the fort; Vichnu-náth, being informed of it, marched against him; Ramchandra déo, unable to resist his force, fled; Ganga Durga was by her guardians thrown away in a village, from whence she fell into the hands of a Brahman, who flung her into the barn of a villager. This man, having taken her up, carried her to his house. The goddess appeared to him in a dream, and said: “Offer me in sacrifice thy eldest son, and I will make thee Rája.” After a certain time, the villager told this secret to Vishnu-náth déo, who, having taken the idol from him, gave him a horse ornamented with gold, and a magnificent dress, and carried the goddess to Naránya púr, his residence. As she demanded from him also the sacrifice of a man, Vichnu-náth déo killed every year one of the thieves and like sorts of men before her altar. After the death of Vichnu náth déo, his sons did the same. When Vikramajet déo, who descended from Vichna nath déo, was killed, and the country disturbed by insurrections, then Dasvent-ráu, who was one of the grand-children of Vichnu-náth déo, having taken up Durga, fled from fear of the army, commanded by Jalil ul Khader Tulají Khan Bég, to Márkúl. Bhúpati, the Rája of Márkul, being also afraid of the attack of the famous general, sent him the goddess Durga, on Monday, the ninth day of the month Rabish ul avel, of the year 1062 of the Hejira (September, 1651, A. D.). The idol was of gold, in the form of a female, with limbs very well proportioned, four arms, in two of her right hands carrying a three-pointed pike, which the Hindus call Trisúla,[265] and with which the goddess was striking Mahisha Asura, a demon under the form of a buffalo; he was beneath her right foot; in another hand she had a white ball, and in the fourth, the chakra, or discus, which is a circular weapon peculiar to the Hindus; under her left foot was a lion, and beneath him a throne. When they weighed the image, they found it equal to four panchiri, measure of the Dekhan. Even now, they sacrifice in every village of the Kohistan of Nanda-púr, and country adjacent, a man of good family.
Another idol, called Mávelí,[266] is in the town of Bister.[267] The belief of the people there is that, when an hostile army comes to attack them, the divinity, under the form of a woman selling vegetables, goes into the camp of the enemy, and whoever eats what she offers, dies; and during the night she appears like one of the public girls, and whoever finds her charming, and calls her, meets with death. They relate many strange and wonderful things about her. When in the year of the Hejira 1069, A. D. 1658-9, the famous general Tavaljí Khan Beg besieged and took the fort Kot Bahar, which is stronger than the fort of Bister, there died so many men and beasts of various maladies and the particular effects of climate, that their number exceeds all computation; and this the inhabitants of the fort of Bister attributed to the power of the goddess.