Note 204 — Chapter II · (continued 2)

Professor Wilson (see his Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus, in the XVIth vol. of the As. Res., p. 1-136) has enumerated the religious divisions of the Hindus as they have been described by the author of the Sankara Vijaya, probably in the 8th century of our era, to which enumeration he added that of the present divisions of this people, comprised in three great classes: the Vaichnavas, the Sâivas, and the Saktas. Very few names of these sects are to be found in The Dabistán, although both works agree in general in the account of the opinions, rites, and customs of the different sectaries; the outlines of their systems appear to have remained the same during at least the last thousand years, whatever alterations the details may have undergone.