Ramanand, A.D. 1350, a follower of the doctrines of Ramanuja. His disciples were Kabir, a weaver; Asanand ; Rai Das, a Chahar; Sena, a barber; Dhunna, a Jat ; I'ipa, a Rajput; and the Rain:twat poets Sur Das and Tulsi Das.
Kabir, of Oudh, preached about A.D. 1470.
Goraklutath, also of Oudh, was a contemporary of Kabir, and founded the sect of Kan Phatta Jogi.
Ilirblian, of Dehli, lived in the 17th century, and in A.D. 1658 founded the Sad'h or Sad'hu, u unitarian or monotheistic sect, with doctrines derived from those of Kabir and Nanak.
Sur I)as, a disciple of Ramanand, and native of Oudh, of the time of Akbar (A.D. 1556-1605). Ile was blind.
Tulsi I)as, a follower of Ramanand, died at Benares A.D. 1625. He wrote the Ramayana in Hindi.
Jag Jewun Dus, A.D. 1761, of Oudh, founder of a Sadhnami sect.
Harischandra, founder of a Vaishnava sect amongst the Dont of Oudh.
The devotees and religious mendicants of the N.W. Provinces numbered more than 240,000, and were in twenty-four separate tribes.
The Atith, Aghori, Brahmaehari, Dandi, Jogi, and are &Ira sectarians.
The Vaishuara sectarians are Bishnoe, Byragi, Kabirpant'hi, Khaki, and Ramanandi.
Gosain are found in all sects, and Naga and Sanyasi are both of the Vaislinava and Saiva sects.
Hijra, Khaja, Sukhi are servants and attend ants in temples, dancing boys.
Khunkhuniya and Kingrihara are Vaishnava musicians.
Kangal and Pankhya are beggars.
Mahant, Malang, and Murchera are superiors of monasteries.
Nanak Shahi, Sadhu, and Sadhnami are mono theists.
Darvesh and Madaria are the Muhammadan sectarians.
Other sects number 57,015.
The Hindu gods of the Vedic times, Agni, Indra, Varuna, and others, have been forgotten, as have also the worship of the celestial bodies and the elements. Even the Brahmanical gods, whose worship followed that of Buddha, and known as Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, are greatly set aside. Brahma is worshipped only at Hither on the Ganges, and for the others there have been substituted the incarnations of Rama and Krishna, with the ling,am symbol for Siva, and the female forms of Lakshini, Parvati, Durga, Bilawani as the Sakti or active energies of their respective gods.
The ilfuhannnadaus in the province number 5,922,886,—in the N.W. Provinces 4,489,443, and
iu Oudh 1,433,443. The great bulk, 5,752,056, are of the Sunni sect, only 170,547 being Shiahs, Wahabee 28, and unspecified 255. They have a great reverence for holy men of past ages, and considerable numbers, as darvesh, or fakirs, become religious mendicants. Many of these, however. like the Hindu Jnol_ ritlnnt. nrbn in order that they may follow a lazy life. Nearly half of the fakir sects of the N.W. Provinces and Oudh are in Allahabad and Gorakhpur. Badi-ud Din, styled Shah Madar or Zindah Shah Madar, is said to have been a Jew, born at Aleppo, and to have visited India in the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Sharqi, and resided between Cawnpur and Farrakhabad. He died A.D. 1433, and Ibrahim erected a handsome tomb over him. Muhammadan tradition is that he was born A.D. 1050, and that he is still alive, hence the term Zindah, living. A great fair is held at his tomb for the first 17 days of Jamadi-ul-Awal.
They reverence five pirzadah, viz. Ghazi Mian, a pirzadah who was slain, and is regarded as a martyr ; his tomb is at Baraitch in Oudh. Pir Hathili, a pirzadah, was sister's son of Ghazi Mian ; monuments have been erected, and fairs are held in his honour. Pir Jalil, a pirzadah of Lucknow. Pir Muhammad, a pirzadah of Jounpur ; and another.
The great bulk of the Muhammadans are engaged in humble avocations,—cotton cleaners, weavers, spinners, dairymen, greengrocers, glass bracelet makers, butchers. It is believed that most of these are descendants of converts from Hinduism. This is the ordinary explanation of the numbers of Muhammadans in the different parts of the country ; but since the first Muham madan invasion of Oudh by Syud Salar Masa'ud, a relative of Mahmud of Ghazni, many armies, each with camp followers, have entered it, and each have left remnants behind.
Muhammadans from their first coming into India took a liking to the mild climate and rich soil of Bijnour, and many of them settled in it. Even in later times the jaghirdars were more numerous in Rohilkhand than anywhere else. They were styled Rohi or mountaineers, and gave their name to the district. They made many proselytes.