reign of Rudra Singh (1696-1714), by which their abbots were shown all honour but were assigned the Majuli Island in the upper Brahmaputra as their chief, if not only, residence.  This island is still studded with numerous Sattras or monasteries, the largest of which contain three or four hundred monks, known as Bhakats (Bhaktas).  They take no vows and wear no special costume but are obliged to be celibate while they remain in the sattra.  The Mahapurushia and Bamunia monasteries are of similar appearance, and in externals (though not in doctrine) seem to have been influenced by the Lamaism of the neighbouring regions of Sikhim and Tibet.  The temples are long, low, wooden buildings, covered by roofs of corrugated iron or thatched, and containing inside a nave with two rows of wooden pillars which leads to a sanctuary divided from it by a screen.  The third sect are the Moamarias, of political rather than religious importance.  They represent a democratic element, recruited from non-Hindu tribes, which seceded even in the life-time of Sankar Deb.  They appear to reject nearly all Hindu observances and to worship aboriginal deities as well as Krishna.  Little is known of their religious teaching, if indeed they have anything worthy of the name, but in the latter half of the eighteenth century they distracted the kingdom of Assam with a series of rebellions which were suppressed with atrocious cruelty.

Caitanya is said to have admitted some Mohammedans as members of his sect.  The precedent has not been followed among most branches of his later adherents but a curious half-secret sect, found throughout Bengal in considerable numbers and called Kartabhajas,[648] appears to represent an eccentric development of his teaching in combination with Mohammedan elements.  Both Moslims and Hindus belong to this sect.  They observe the ordinary social customs of the class to which they belong, but it is said that those who are nominal Moslims neither circumcize themselves nor frequent mosques.  The founder, called Ram Smaran Pal, was born in the Nadia district about 1700, and his chief doctrine is said to have been that there is only one God who is incarnate in the Head of the sect or Karta.[649] For the first few generations the headship was invested in the founder and his descendants but dissensions occurred and there is now no one head:  the faithful can select any male member of the founder’s family as the object of their devotion.  The Karta claims to be the owner of every human body and is said to exact rent for the soul’s tenancy thereof.  No distinction of caste or creed is recognized and hardly any ceremonies are prescribed but meat and wine are forbidden, the mantra of the sect is to be repeated five times a day and Friday is held sacred.  These observances seem an imitation of Mohammedanism.[650]

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