piration
from a follower of the older Satnami sect of northern India. This
was inaugurated by a Rajput, Jagjiwan Das of the Bara Banki District,
who died in 1761. He preached the worship of the True Name of the one
God, the cause and creator of all things, void of sensible qualities
and without beginning or end. He prohibited the use of meat, lentils
(on account of their red colour suggesting blood) of the brinjal or
eggplant, which was considered, probably on account of its shape, to
resemble flesh, and of intoxicating liquors. The creed of Ghasi Das
enunciated subsequently was nearly identical with that of Jagjiwan Das,
and was no doubt derived from it, though Ghasi Das never acknowledged
the source of his inspiration.

2. Ghasi Das, founder of the Satnami sect.

Ghasi Das was a poor farmservant in Girod, a village formerly in
Bilaspur and now in Raipur, near the Sonakan forests. On one occasion
he and his brother started on a pilgrimage to the temple at Puri,
but only got as far as Sarangarh, whence they returned ejaculating
'_Satnam, Satnam_.' From this time Ghasi Das began to adopt the life
of an ascetic, retiring all day to the forest to meditate. On a rocky
hillock about a mile from Girod is a large _tendu_ tree (_Diospyros
tomentosa_) under which it is said that he was accustomed to sit. This
is a favourite place of pilgrimage of the Chamars, and two Satnami
temples have been built near it, which contain no idols. Once these
temples were annually visited by the successors of Ghasi Das. But at
present the head of the sect only proceeds to them, like the Greeks
to Delphi, in circumstances of special difficulty. In the course
of time Ghasi Das became venerated as a saintly character, and on
some miracles, such as the curing of snake-bite, being attributed to
him, his fame rapidly spread. The Chamars began to travel from long
distances to venerate him, and those who entertained desires, such
as for the birth of a child, believed that he could fulfil them. The
pilgrims were accustomed to carry away with them the water in which he
had washed his feet, in hollow bamboos, and their relatives at home
drank this, considering it was nectar. Finally, Ghasi Das retired
to the forests for a period, and emerged with what he called a new
Gospel for the Chamars; but this really consisted of a repetition of
the tenets of Jagjiwan Das, the founder of the Satnami sect of Upper
India, with a few additions. Mr. Chisholm [382]