Philosophy, Yoga and Dharma
[Preliminary Entry] A description of the religions existing in Benares in 1800, divided into five sections: Vaishnava (with sixteen orders), Shaiva (with nineteen), “Śaktik" (i.e., Śaktī, with three main orders each having further subdivisions), Nanak Shahis (or Sikhs, with seven orders), and Śrāvakas or Jains (two orders). This survey is followed by a metaphysical argument for the necessity of divine manifestation in creation, and by an enumeration of the population and residences of Benares, using accounting shorthand (siyāq) notation.
C. E.
v) Information on colophon; vi) Description of miniatures/illustrations; vii) Other remarks; viii) Information on catalogue(s)
Illustrated manuscript:
London, British Library, India Office Library Persian, Ethé 2974, 71 ff.
, i) Benares, ii)1800 `Īsawī
, vi)48 small cartoonlike illustrations that seem to be intended as a field guide to identifying ascetic orders.
, viii)India Office Library Persian, Ethé 2974
.H. H. Wilson, Mackenzie Collection: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts, and Other Articles Illustrative of the Literature, History, Statistics and Antiquities of the South of India; Collected by the late Lieut.-Col. Colin Mackenzie (Calcutta: Asiatic Press, 1828), 2:143, no. 81.
| Main Persian Title: | Silsila-i jōgiyān |
| English Translation of Main Persian Title: | The Chain of Jogis |
| Author: | Sītal Singh “Bī-khwud” |
| Year / Period of Composition: | 1800 |
| Incipit: | čūn iqtiẓā-yi rabbānī wa ḫwāhiš-i yazdānī muqtaẓī-i ān šud |
| Place: | Benares |
| Later texts quoting this Work: |
H. H. Wilson, Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus, in Asiatic Researches (1828-1832). |