Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/51

* SHAH JEHAN. cutta. He lost Kandahar and most of the Kabul territory, but, on the other hand, he gained the State of Ahmednagar, and made Bijapur and Gol- conda in the Deecan pay him tribute. This period was the zenith of the Hindu ilohaminedan archi- tecture. Shah Jelian built at Agra the Moti Jlasjid or Pearl ilosque. as well as the famous Taj -Mahal (q.v.), and founded the modern city of Delhi, which is still called Shahjehanabad by the Indian Jlohammedans. He also con- structed the cclebrateil peacock tlironc at Delhi. The closing years of his reign were embittered by the struggle of his four sous for the throne, luo of them, Aurungzebe I q.v.) and ilurad. made common cause, marched on Agra, and, ill 1038, imprisoned Shall .Jehan, who died about 1665. SHAH NAMAH, na'nia (Pers.. Book of Kings ) . The title of several Persian works, the most celebrated of which is the one by Firdausi (q.v. ) . Another work, in Turkish, under the same name, comprises the history of all the ancient kings of the East, and was written by Firdausi at Thauil. SHAHRASTANI, sha'ras-tii'ne, Abu al- Fath ;IrHAMM.D iBX AbdalkarIm ash-Sharas- TANi (1071-1153). The compiler in Arabic of a philosophic history of the religious sects of the ^vorld. He was born at Shalirastan, Persia, and, after traveling, returned home about 1120 and died there. His great work is scientifieany ar- ranged, and is an impartial and careful study of all the various sects and religions known to him, including .Judaism and Christianity and the Asiatic neighbors of Islam. His account of the perplexing Mohammedan sects is especially val- uable, while his observations upon alien re- ligions, such as Cliristianity and Zoroastrianism, are based upon exact information. The text was edited by Cureton, Book of Religious and Philo- sojihical Hects {London. 184(3), and was trans- lated by Haarbriicker (Halle, 1850-51). SHAIRP, sharp, .John Campbell (1819-85). An English teacher and author, born at Hous- toun, Scotland. He was educated at Glasgow University and at Balliol College, Oxford. He was master of Rugby (1846-57), assistant to the professor of Latin at Saint Andrews (1857), and professor of Latin (lSOl-68), principal of the United College, Saint Andrews (1868-77), and was appointed in 1877 and again in 1882 professor of poetry at O.xford. Among his stim- ulating books are: Studies in Poetr;/ and Philoso- phri (1868). which discusses Coleridge. Words- worth, and Keble. and shows Shairp as a critic of breadth and discrimination; Culture and Re- ligion (1870), a work of considerable popularity, in which a spiritual nature in man is insisted upon to render his life intelligible; The Poetic Interpretation oj Xnture (1877). which deals with the varied treatment of nature in poetry, and acutely sets forth the respective limitations of poetry and science; Life of Burns: (1879), wherein a sharp distinction is made between the poet's character and his literary work; Aspects of Poetrii (1881). treating several poets, from Btirns to Newman ; f^ketrhes in nistorj/ and Poetrif (posthumous. 1887). In 1864 he pub- lished a volume of poems entitled Kihnahoe and Other Poems. Consult Knight, Professor Shairp and His Friends (London. 1888). SHAKE. See Trill. 37 SHAKERS. SHAKERS. The name commonly applied to the members of 'the Millennial Church,' or "the United Society of Believers,' a communistic so- ciety having [jrauches in New York, Massachu- setts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida. They say that they were originally a sect of Quakers and were derisively called Shaking Quakers because of their movements of the body in religious meetings. The Shaking Quakers appeared in England about 1747, were organized under the leadership of Jane and James Wardlcy, and were joined later by Ann Lee (q.v.) of Manchester, wlio claimed to be Christ in His second reincarnation, and who came to America in 1774 with seven of lier converts and established a small church at Nis- kayuna, near ^A'atervliet, N. Y. Ann Lee died in 1784 and the society was placed upon a com- munistic basis in 1787. A religious revival in 1779-80 brought to the society a large number of converts, and it grew steadily in wealth and im- portance. The Shakers now have 17 communi- ties, the larger divided into several 'families,' the members of which vary from only a few to 100 or more. In 1887 they numbered about 4000 members; an estimate for 1902 is 1000. From the economic standpoint they have been unusu- ally successful, but seem less so in recent years. In origin the society is a religious community and may be said to rest upon 'the belief in the revelation of Christ's second appearance in Ann Lee.' The fundamental principles of the sect, that the root of human depravity is found in the 'disorderly' or natural relation of the sexes, and that in God exists the maternal as well as the paternal nature, are believed to have been re- vealed to Ann Lee. She also foretold and sanc- tioned the commimistic order of living, which has now become of equal importance with celi- bacy, non-resistance, and the equal rights of women in the simple creed of the Shakers. They neither condemn nor oppose marriage for the ordinary or 'generative' world, and they "freely admit that the private family is necessary and must always exist." but they a.ssert the possiliility of attaining a higher or angelic order of exist- ence to which virginity is a prime requisite, and they further hold that the virgin life is indis- pensable in organized communism, because the family relationship necessarily implies private centres of affection and economic interest incom- patible with successful communism. In their religious ceremonies they worship neither Christ, Ann Lee, nor any other person, but "the highest good, wherever it may be found;" and they hold that the Bible, while of incalculable value to the human race, contains traditional biographies and records which are purely secular. Their form of worship is thus described in an official pamphlet ; "We sing and march to times of dif- ferent measure, and move our hands in a gather- ing form, expressive of one's desire to obtain the treasures of the spiritual realm. Sometimes we are led to go forth in the dance, which seems to quicken body and soul and kindle anew the fire of truth. We use some stronirer means to banish the elements of worldly bondage by shaking, as an expression of our hatred to all evil ; are bold in denouncing idolatry, pride, deceit, dishonesty, and lust. Unlike the outside churches, all the members are free to speak their religious con- victions, and to exercise in any good gift. Our songs, hymns, and anthems are original, most