Except  thee,  no  other  will  have  compassion  on  me ;  pity
me,  therefore.  Lord  of  Mira,  her  well  beloved,  accept  her,
and  grant  that  she  be  no  more  parted  from  thee  for  ever ! "
Upon  this  the  image  opened,  and  Mira  Bai  disappeared  in
its  sides.i  The  worship  of  her,  associated  with  that  of  her
god,  gave  rise  to  a  new  sect,  that  probably  sprang  origi-
nally from  the  Yallabhacaryas,  and  which  subsists  still
under  her  name.  All  these  religions,  besides,  reckon  up
their  severe  moralists,  who,  without  breaking  with  their
sect,  more  or  less  repudiate  its  doctrines  and  practices,
whether,  retired  from  the  world,  they  lead  the  devotee
life  of  the  Vairdgms  {"  free  from  passions,"  the  most
common  designation  of  the  Vishnuite  Sannyasins),  or
whether,  along  with  their  family,  at  times  with  some
neighbours,  they  form  little  groups  in  which  a  profession
is  made  of  a  more  enlightened  piety  and  Puritan  tenden-
cies. Whenever  this  circle  goes  on  enlarging,  it  gradually
expands  into  an  independent  community.  In  this  way,
for  instance,  arose  among  the  Caitanyas  the  Spashtha-
ddyakas,  who  recognise  no  guru,  and  live  in  convents,
men  and  women  together,  under  the  same  roof,  in  the
practice  of  celibacy  and  chastity.  So  also  among  the
Yallabhacaryas  the  Caranddsis  arose,  being  founded  to-
wards the  middle  of  the  last  century  by  a  merchant  of
Delhi,  Caran  Das,  and  his  sister  Sahaji  Bai ;  as  well  as
among  the  Ptamanandis,  a  whole  swarm  of  small  sects,  of
which  a  pretty  considerable  number  exists  still.  All
these  communities  are  less  distinguished  for  novelty  in
dogma  than  for  a  certain  tendency  to  pietism  and  austerity
of  life.
1  H.  H.  Wilson,  Select  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  138.
(    238


HINDUISM.
III.   REFOKMING   SECTS.
