Another sect is that of the Sanyásis, who are praised in the Smriti; they distinguish themselves by long and entangled hair, which is called _jata_.[376] The Saiva-Sanyásis are also called _Avadutas_; their numbers increased during the Kaliyug; they are very pious, intrepid, and charitable. At one time, a war broke out between them and the Sófís: the former were victorious.
Another sect is that of the _Jangaman_; these also cut the hair off their heads, they rub dust upon their bodies, and praise Mahadéo, to whom they attribute a real existence. They are divided into several classes. They say, among the celestial spirits are nine Brahmas, who are the _anśus_,[377] that is, “the rays” of Brahma. There are one thousand Vichnus, rays of Vichnu, who is also called _Naráyana_; there are eleven _Rudras_, rays of Rudra, which is a name of Mahádeo; they reckon twelve suns,[378] rays of the great luminary; sixteen _kalas_,[379] that is, parts or rays of the moon; and they divide the effulgence of that body into sixteen parts, and enumerate eight and twenty of its mansions, or _nakshatras_,[380] and seven planets, besides the head and tail of the dragon. Ganesa is to them a god with the head of an elephant. They distinguish eight quarters of the world, besides the zenith and nadir, and call them _asht dísa_,[381] in the following order: _purva_, “east;” _paśchima_, “west;” _dakchina_, “south;” and _uttara_, “north;” between south and east, _agni_; between south and west, _náirrita_; between north and west, _váyu_, between north and east, _íśána_. Among the deities are _Bhaírava_[382] and _Hanuman_, and among female spirits _asht Durgás_, or “eight Durgás,” in the following order: _Kálaká_, _Chandra Kálanjarí_, _Káumarí_, _Váichnaví_, _Bábhraví_, _Chamundá_,[383] _Bhavání_, and _Parvati_.[384] _Maha Lakchmî Sarasvatí_ is the wife of Brahma. _Rakshasas_ are termed the pious men of the Satya yug; _Kaśyapa_ is the father of the sun; _Vaśishta_, the preceptor of Ram-avatár; _Viśvamitra_, a Kshatría, who by dint of pious austerity became a Brahman; _Valmiki_ is the author of the poem Ramayána, which contains the history of Ráma; _Angirasah Ihr Vyása_ composed the historical poem Mahabharata; Bhazadvája Jamadagni existed in the Dwapara yug; _Gotama_, _Kapah_, (_Kapila_?) _Parására_, _Narada_, in the Kali yug; _Chonah_, _Apravanah_, _Aurdah_, _Jamed Kapeh_, these are for ever living;[385] _Saptarchaya_, that is, seven Richis, or “saints,” are: _Kaśyapa_, _Uttara_, _Bhardvája_, _Viśvamitra_, _Gotama_, _Jamadagni_, and _Vaśis’hta_.[386]