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258 AN EAKLY DUTCH ACCOUNT OF INDIA are less than he, yea, even Wistnou, whom the Weist- nouwa pretend to be the chiefest god. Those of the Soudra caste who agree herein with these Bramines are called Sjangam (Sanskrit sanga, " company "). This sect mark their heads with three or four streaks of ashes of burnt cow-dung. Some of them wear about their necks a certain stone, or idol, which they call lingam, and some wear it in the hair of their heads; they let their children, when they are eight or ten years old, wear it covered with wax, bound to their arm with a cord. They that wear this lingam, do it for a proof and open avowal that they put their full trust and con- fidence in Eswara, and that they recognize no other god but him. The Soudraes who wear this lingam re- frain from fish and flesh and from all that hath died, even as the Bramines. The third sect is called Smaerta (Sanskrit, Smdrta, " traditionalists ") and had, as the Bramin Padmanaba testified, who himself was of this sect, one Sancra Ats- jaria (Sankara Acharya) as a poet and founder of their sect. They say that Wistnou and Eswara are one, even though they be worshipped under different images, and they are averse to some saying that Wistnou is the chiefest god and object to others esteeming Eswara as of this rank. I have not been able to find that these Smaertas mark themselves outwardly with any mark whereby they may be distinguished from each other. They seem not to have many followers among the com- mon folk, since this matter is somewhat too high for their understanding and their concept cannot be at-