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ORIGIN OF SIVAITES AND VISHNAVITES
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of society, and so takes a delight in
creating troubles or disturbances.
The followers of Siva,
on the other hand, who belong to the upper classes of the
Sudras, are much more peaceable and tolerant.
The majority of the Hindus, and particularly the Brah-
mins, take no part whatever in these religious squabbles.
The latter act on the principle of paying equal honour to
the two chief deities of the country, and though, as
a rule, they appear to have a preference for Vishnu, they
never let a day pass without offering in their own houses
a sacrifice to the lingam, which is Siva's emblem.
It is very difficult to determine the origin of these two
sects.
Some authors have thought that they are quite
a modern institution. Yet they are alluded to in several
of the most ancient Puranas.
One of the Avatars, or in-
carnations, of Vishnu, called Narasimha, that is to say,
half -man half -lion, is the form under which this deity dis-
guised himself when he came to deliver the earth from the
giant Hiranniakashiapa, who was ravaging it.
learn
in the Bhagavata that this cruel monster had a good son
called Prahlada, who belonged to the Vishnavite sect, and
who made the greatest efforts to induce his father to
embrace his special form of religion, but without success.
However, the ill-feeling between the two sects seems not
to have been so marked at the beginning.
Brahmins in general look upon the Vishnavite Brahmins
(see Chapter VIII), who profess a special devotion for
Vishnu if they do not worship him exclusively, as detest-
able schismatics.
The preference that the latter show for
a sect composed almost entirely of Sudras and the lowest
of the people, and their practice of appearing in public
with their foreheads decorated with the namam, just like
common Pariahs or Chucklers, are all offences which degrade
them in the eyes of their noble confreres.
No doubt the same contempt would be felt for Brahmins
who wore the lingam, but I have never seen one thus
decorated, and I doubt whether one could be found any-
where in the south, from the banks of the Kistna to Cape
Comorin. I have been told, however, that there are some
districts in the north where persons of this caste are to be
found who devote themselves exclusively to the worship
from the very dregs
We