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Whenever a popular cult grew important or whenever Brahmanic influence spread to a new district possessing such a cult, the popular cult was recognized and brahmanized. It explains the low and magical character of the residue of popular religion, every ceremony and deity of importance being put under Brahmanic patronage, and it also explains the sudden appearance of new deities.
Every Chitpavan to-day claims descent from one or other of the fourteen divinely Brahmanized barbarians, whom some believe to have been hardy Norsemen driven in their long ships on to the sandy shores of what is now the Bombay Presidency.
As such they would hold a nearer relation to the divine Brahmans than to the soldiers. The legends were therefore worked over Brahmanized so to speak. Rama, who had overcome certain chieftains of Ceylon, and Krishna, who had won great battles in Rajputana, were raised to the rank of gods and demi-gods.
Perhaps also the god Vetala was originally such a local deity with the savage characteristics proper to the time and place, though later he was half Brahmanized and became a fiend. Among the Todas every clan has its god, who was the creator and instructor of the people.
Thought was their real life: of that they have given a full record, imperfect only in chronology, for though their speculations are often set forth in a narrative form, we hear surprisingly little about contemporary events. Gândhâra was known but Magadha and Bengal are not mentioned. Even in the Buddha's lifetime they were still imperfectly brahmanized.
Secondly, the Bamunia monasteries, with a large lay following, represent a brahmanized form of the Mahâpurushia faith. This movement began in the life-time of Madhab. Though this sect was persecuted by the Ahom kings, they were strong enough to maintain themselves. They take no vows and wear no special costume but are obliged to be celibate while they remain in the sattra.
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