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RELIGIOUS SECTS
a teacher and a saint, is not without interest and instruction.
SENÁ PANTHIS.
SENÁ, the barber, was the third of Rámánand's disciples, who established a separate schism; the name of which, and of its founder, is possibly all that now remains of it. SENA and his descendants were, for sometime, however, the family-Gurus of the Rájás of Bandhogarh, and thence enjoyed considerable authority and reputation: the origin of this connexion is the subject of a ludicrous legend in the Bhakta Málá.
SENÁ, the barber of the Rájá of Bandhogarh, was a devout worshipper of VISHNU, and a constant frequenter of the meetings of the pious: on one of these occasions, he suffered the time to pass unheeded, when he ought to have been officiating in his tonsorial capacity, and VISHNU, who noticed the circumstance, and knew the cause, was alarmed for his votary's personal integrity. The god, therefore, charitably assumed the figure of SENÁ, and equipping himself suitably, waited on the Rájá, and performed the functions of the barber, much to the Rájá's satisfaction, and without detection, although the prince perceived an unusual fragrance about his barber's person, the ambrosial odour that indicated present deity, which he supposed to impregnate the oil used in lubricating his royal limbs. The pretended barber had scarcely departed, when the real one appeared, and stammered
