eavenly bodies, stars, etc., all these were revered, though of less
importance than the gods of Vishnuite and Civaite sects. Among these
latter the Civaite sects are decidedly of less interest than the
corresponding Vishnuite heresies, while the votaries of Brahm[=a]
(exclusively) are indeed mentioned, but they cannot be compared with
those of the other two great gods.[36] To-day there is scarcely any
homage paid to Brahm[=a], and it is not probable that there ever was
the same devotion or like popularity in his case as in the case of his
rivals. Other interesting sects of this period are the
Sun-worshippers, who still exist but in no such numbers as when
[=A]nand[=a] Giri counted six formal divisions of them. The votaries
of these sub-sects worshipped some, the rising sun, some, the setting
sun, while some again worshipped the noonday sun, and others, all
three as a _tri-m[=u]rti._ Another division worshipped the sun in
anthropomorphic shape, while the last awakens the wrath of the
orthodox narrator by branding themselves with hot irons.[37]

Ganeca,[38] the lord of Civa's hosts, had also six classes of
worshippers; but he has not now as he then had a special and peculiar
cult, though he has many temples in Benares and elsewhere. Of the
declared Civaite sects of that day, six are mentioned, but of these
only one survives, the 'wandering' Jangamas of South India, the
Civaite R[=a]udras, Ugras, Bh[=a]ktas, and P[=a]cupatis having yielded
to more modern sectaries.

Some at least among the six sects of the Vishnuite sects, which are
described by the old writers, appear to have been more ancient. Here
too one finds Bh[=a]ktas, and with them the Bh[=a]gavatas, the old
P[=a]ncar[=a]tras, the 'hermit' V[=a]ikh[=a]nasas, and Karmah[=i]nas,
the latter "having no rites." Concerning these sects one gets scanty
but direct information. They all worshipped Vishnu under one form or
another, the Bh[=a]ktas as V[=a]sudeva, the Bh[=a]gavatas[39] as
Bhagavat. The latter resembled the modern disciples of R[=a]m[=a]nuja
and revered the holy-stone, appealing for authority to the Upanishads
and to the Bhagavad Git[=a], the Divine Song. Some too worshipped
Vishnu exclusively
as N[=a]r[=a]yana, and believed in a heaven of sensual
delights. The other sects, now extinct, offer no special forms of
worship. What is historically most important is that in this list of
sects are found none that particularly worship the popular divinities
of to-day,