M-YSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR.

615

being deflined not to fall, fo long as the women who reilded in it fhould prefervetheir chaftity, which hitherto had been inviolate. The angels at length offered uptheir prayers to Viflmu, who took upon himfelf the form of a moft beautiful youngman, and became Budha Avatara. Entering then into the city, he danced nakedbefore the women, and infpired them with loofe defires ; fo that the fortrefs, beingno longer defended by the fhield of purity, foon fell a prey to the angels. As theBrahmans cannot defend this abfion of the god, they never invoke him by the nameor in the form of Budha Avatara.

Rama Anuja Acharya having had great fuccefs both againft the Smartal, and theheretical fefts, efpecially the Jainas , formed a hierarchy for his followers. Hedivided the whole into eighty-four portions ; and ordered, that each portion, andtheir defendants, fhould be lubjeft to a Guru or Swamalu of his appointment, andto the fucceffors of this Guru. The number of Gurus belonging to this feet aretherefore eighty-four ; of whom five are Sannyafi, and feventy-nine are married here-ditary chiefs.

The matams, or places where the five Sannyafi Gurus chiefly refide, are Ahobalum,Totadri near Ramefwara, Tripathi, Sri Rangam, and Kunji. When one of thefe San-nyafis obferves the approach of death, he appoints fome Vidwanfa, or man of learn-ing and piety, to be his fucceflbr. If the perfon chofen give his confent, he mufk forfakehis wife, children, and goods, part of which goes to his children, and part is given incharity; that is to fay, to the Brahmans. The new Sannyafi fhaves his head, andthrows afide the thread by which Brahmans are diftinguifhed. The virtues andpowers belonging to his high rank he receives along with an upadefa, which is deli-vered to him by his predeceffor. Upadefa is a myfterious fentence, which theHindus receive from their Gurus, and conffantly mutter when at their devotions*That of the Brahmans is entirely different from what is beftowed on the lower caffs;and is again very inferior to that given to the Sannyafi Gurus, which, according tothem, has moft wonderful powers. In cafe of fudden death, the followers of theMata meet, and choofe from among themfelves a Sannyafi, who gets an upadefa,from one of the others. Thefe Gurus frequently give an upadefa and fome imagesto a favourite difciple, and appoint him a kind of deputy to manage their affairs ata diifance. Thus the Ahobalam Swamalu has font a deputy to Malcotay, who refidesat that great place of Hindu worfhip, and there watches over the inrerefts of hisfuperior. Thefe deputies obferve the rules of Sannyafi, but have no power to ap-point a fucceffor. When one of them dies, the followers fend back the images totheir Guru, and requeft that he would depute another reprefentative.

Among the Sri Vaifhnavam Brahmans the office of an hereditary Guru defeends inthe male line according to primogeniture ; but when one of them has no childrenhe muff adopt his neareft male relation,, who fucceeds him as his fon. Kindred by thefemale line is confidered as not forming a tie of blood. Thefe hereditary chiefs,once in two or three years, make a circuit round the places where their followerslive. They alfo fend agents to tranfadf their bufinefs. An infant may fucceed, andduring his minority the bufinefs is carried on by the neareft male relation, or. by fomeotlmr Vaicika Brahman, whom the family appoints*

The Sannyafis and hereditary Gurus leem to be totally independent of each other,and to poffefs nearly the fame authority and powers over their followers. When aGuru of any fedl comes near a place, the whole inhabitants of a pure defeent, whetherthey be his followers or not, muff go out to receive him with the utmoft refpect* Whatis meant by the followers of a Guru, are certain families aitacned to him, to whom he

performs