The works attributed to Kabir himself, or to his disciples, are written in the usual form of Hindi verse; twenty of them are enumerated in Professor Wilson’s account of this sect (pp. 58 and 59), and appear very voluminous.
This sect is very widely diffused in India, and split into a variety of subdivisions. At a great meeting near Benáres, no fewer than 35,000 Kabir-Panthis of the monastic and mendicant class are said to have been collected. A place called “the Kabir Cháura,” at Benares, is an establishment pre-eminent in dignity, and constantly visited by wandering members of this sect, as well as by those of other kindred heresies: its _Mahant_, or Superior, receives and feeds these visitors whilst they stay; the establishment itself is supported by the occasional donations of its lay-friends and followers――(See the work quoted, pp. 53-75).
[315] According to Professor Wilson’s account (pp. 56-57), in the midst of the dispute respecting the disposal of his corpse, Kabir himself appeared amongst them, and having desired them to look under the cloth supposed to cover his mortal remains, immediately vanished; on obeying his instructions, they found nothing under the cloth but a heap of flowers; one half of them the Hindus burnt in Benáres, and deposited the ashes in a spot now called _Kabir Chaura_, whilst the Muselmans erected a tomb over the other portion at _Magar_, near Gorakhpur, where Kabir died.
[316] In Sanskrit यति _yati_, called also _Séwra s_; they are a body of pious mendicants, who live in celibacy, and in general employ their time in the cultivation of medicine, astrology, and divinity――(See _On the Jainas of Guzerat and Marwar_, by Lieut.-Col. W. Miles. Transact. R. A. Soc., vol. III. p. 335).
[318] Hardwar, or _Hara-dwara_, “the gate of Hara,” is a place in the province of Delhi, situated on the west side of the Ganges, where this river issues from the northern hills. Lat. N. 29º 57´; long. E. 78º 2´. The event above stated took place in the 12th year of the reign of the emperor Shah Jehan, who mounted the throne in the year 1628, and resigned it to his son Aurengzeb in 1658.
SECTION THE NINTH: ON THE CREED OF THE CHA RVAK.[319]――This sect call _rupa skandha_[320] whatever is perceived and understood by means of the senses. What is ascertained by the perception of the senses is named _vidyá[321] skandha_. Personality, consciousness, egotism, have the denomination of _jnaná skandha_.[322] The knowledge of animal nature is termed _jnapti skandha_.[323] Whatever enters the interior part, that is, the mind, is entitled _sanskára skandha_.[324] They say, out of these five skandhas just mentioned, there is no other living principle, neither in man nor brutes;[325] the world and its inhabitants have no creator, and there is no maker: this is clear: because whatever has not entered into the field of manifestation, and has not broken into daylight, cannot have the color of reality, and to be high or low, proceeds from the nature of the universe; whatever is written in the Vedas is not made public, and besides may be a lie which rests upon no foundation; and a lie certainly proceeds from the Vedas, inasmuch as they perform _hóm_, which is a ceremony in which they throw rice and like matters into the fire, and recite prescribed prayers, saying that this goes to the gods: now, whatever we throw into the fire, after cremation, becomes ashes――how do these go to the gods? It is also written in the Vedas, that they are to make an offering of cooked meal to a dead man――who is to enjoy it? For instance, when a person is gone from village to village, from one town to another, and in his absence a meal destined for him is presented to another person, the stomach of the former will not be filled. In the same manner, when any thing is offered to a dead person, who, according to the assumption of the followers of the Vedas, has been translated to another world, what honor and profit will accrue from it to him?