Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/129

Rh religious institution! He often builds houses, opens a new business, or goes in for "philanthropic" pursuits with the money he has so miraculously obtained soon after having been "whitewashed." He has no thought, even then, of the hundreds whose homes he has made desolate by his refined rascality.

This merchant is one of the Vaishnava sect, to which belong Baniás, Bhattiás, Márwáris, and others. Besides indulging in gross idolatry, these people deify the heads of their Church, who are about thirty-seven in number, scattered over Gujarát, Káttywár, and many other parts of India. The deified priest is the Máháráj, the visible incarnation of Vishnu-Krishna, to whom every pious Vaishnava dedicates his or her tana, mana, dhana (body, mind, and property), and not only his or her body, mind, and property, but of all those over whom he or she may have control. This is the essence of Máhárájism, and yet, as all the world knows,

is a spurious character; for, though he may claim to be the lineal descendant and visible