Further to be noticed in Hindostan is the tribe of Dhaids, one of the lowest classes of men; they eat every thing but men; they worship the sun. The author of this book met one day in Sikakul, in the district of Kalinga, one of these men, whose name was Nága, and asked him: “Who are the best men among all the tribes?” The man answered: “The Dhaids,” and subjoined: “When they leave the body, they unite with God; when a Brahman dies, he becomes a cow; when a Muselman expires, he is transformed into a plant.” I enquired further: “If the Dhaids be so highly favoured by God, why should they eat every thing which they find, the flesh of cows, horses, mice, and the like?” The man replied: “It is because God loves this tribe that he gave them this command: ‘Eat whatever you like.’”
The Choharas are now to be mentioned, known in Hindostan as cleaners of privies and sweepers of the ground; and in the exercise of this profession they visit the houses. They say, their master was Shah Jhuna; he, in one hand a besom of gold, and in the other a basket of silver, cleans now in the fourth heaven the house of God, and sweeps the apartments of the Highest. This tribe too eat every thing as the Dhaids.
The Nânac-Panthians,[435] who are known as composing the nation of the Sikhs, have neither idols nor temples of idols. Nânac belonged to the tribe of Bédíans, who are Kshatriyas. His reputation rose in the time of Zehir-ed-din Baber Padshah[436] (who inhabits heaven). Before the victory of this king over the Afghans, Nânac was a grain-factor[437] of Daulet khan Lodi,[438] who ranked among the distinguished Umras of Ibrahim Khan, the sovereign of Hindostan.
A durvish came to Nânac, and subdued his mind in such a manner that he, Nânac, having entered the granary, gave away the property of Daulet-Khan, and his own, whatever he found there and in his house, and abandoned his wife and children. Daulet Khan was struck with astonishment at hearing this, but, recognising in Nânac the mark of a durvish, he withheld his hand from hurting him.[439] In a short time Nanac made a great progress in piety; at first he took little nourishment; afterwards he allowed himself but to taste a little cow-milk; next a little oil; then nothing but water, and at last he took nothing but air: such men the Hindus call pavana haris.[440]
Nanac had a great number of disciples. He professed the unity of God, which is called the law of Muhammed, and believed the metempsychosis, or transmigration of the soul from one body to another. Having prohibited his disciples to drink wine and to eat pork, he himself abstained from eating flesh, and ordered not to hurt any living being. After him, this precept was neglected by his followers; but Arjun mal, one of the substitutes of his faith, as soon as he found that it was wrong, renewed the prohibition to eat flesh, and said: “This has not been approved by Nânac.” Afterwards, Hargovind, son of Arjunmal, eat flesh, and went to hunt, and his followers imitated his example.
Nanac praised the religion of the Muselmans, as well as the Avatars and the divinities of the Hindus; but he knew that these objects of veneration were created and not creators, and he denied their real descent from heaven, and their union with mankind. It is said that he wore the rosary of the Muselmans in his hand, and the Zunar, or the religious thread of the Hindus, around his neck.[441] Some of his distinguished disciples report of him more than can here find room.
One of these reports is, that Nanac, being dissatisfied with the Afghans, called the Moghuls into the country, so that in the year 932 of the Hejira (A. D. 1525) Zehir ed-din Baber padshah (who is in heaven) gained the victory over Ibrahim, the king of the Afghans.[442] They say also that Nanac, during one of his journeys,[443] finding himself one night in a fort, was absorbed in a vision of God. Children played around him, and some put their hands upon his body, without any motion being perceived in him; they sewed his eye-lids, his nostrils, and his flesh together, and tied his hands fast. When Nanac recovered his senses, he found himself in this state, and went to a neighbouring house, at the threshold of which he called out: “Ho! is there any body in the house who may free my eye-lids sewed together and my hands?” A handsome woman, having conducted him into the house, untied his hands and tore the threads by which his eye-lids were sewed together with her teeth asunder, on which account the color of the mark of the woman’s caste remained upon Nanac’s forehead. After his having left the house, the neighbours saw the mark, and supposed his having had an intimate connexion with the woman; wherefore she was abused by the people and repudiated by her husband.
This woman came one day to Nanac, and said: “I have, upon the way of God, rendered thee a service, and now they revile me for it.” Nanac answered: “To-morrow will the gate of the fort be shut, but shall not be opened unless thou appliest thy hand to it.” The next day, in spite of all efforts to open the gate, they could not succeed, and remained in great consternation. Men and beasts, far from water, could not go out to fetch it. The inhabitants addressed themselves to all men who had a reputation for sanctity, but their prayers were in vain. At last they had recourse to Nanac, and said: “O durvish, what is there to be done?” He answered: “The gate shall not be opened except by the hand of a woman who never lost her virtue with a stranger.” The inhabitants brought all the women who had a reputation for chastity to the gate of the fort, but it remained shut: on that account they sat down hopeless. At the time of evening prayer came at last the friend of Baba Nanac to the gate. The people laughed at her; her husband and her relations were ashamed and abused her. The woman, without listening to the speeches of the people, struck the gate with her hand and it opened. All men were astonished and ashamed: they fell at the feet of the woman.
The báni,[444] that is to say the poems, of Nânac, are, as it were, perfumed with devotion and wisdom, still more can this be said of his speeches about the grandeur and sanctity of God. All is in the language of the Jats of the Panjab, and Jat in the dialect of the Penjab, means a villager or a rustic.
Nânac’s disciples are not conversant with the Sanscrit language. The precepts and regulations which Nânac established among them will be explained hereafter.