to himself, and partly in consequence
of the subsequent development of Sikhism, that his movement has been
so successful and his adherents now outnumber those of any other
reformer of the same period. Nanak's doctrines were also of a very
liberal character. The burden of his teaching was that there is no
Hindu and no Muhammadan. He believed in transmigration, but held that
the successive stages were but purifications, and that at last the
soul, cleansed from sin, went to dwell with its maker. He prescribed
no caste rules or ceremonial observances, and indeed condemned them as
unnecessary and even harmful; but he made no violent attack on them,
he insisted on no alteration in existing civil and social institutions,
and was content to leave the doctrine of the equality of all men in
the sight of God to work in the minds of his followers. He respected
the Hindu veneration of the cow and the Muhammadan abhorrence of the
hog, but recommended as a higher rule than either total abstinence
from flesh. Nothing could have been gentler or less aggressive than
his doctrine, nothing more unlike the teaching of his great successor
Govind. [341] Two other causes contributed to swell the numbers of
the Nanakpanthis. The first of these was that during the late Mughal
Empire the Hindus of the frontier tracts of the Punjab were debarred
by the fanaticism of their Muhammadan neighbours from the worship of
idols; and they therefore found it convenient to profess the faith
of Nanak which permitted them to declare themselves as worshippers
of one God, while not forcing them definitely to break with caste and
Hinduism. The second was that Guru Govind Singh required the absolute
abandonment of caste as a condition of the initiation of a Sikh;
and hence many who would not consent to this remained Nanakpanthis
without adopting Sikhism. The Nanakpanthis of the present day are
roughly classified as Sikhs who have not adopted the term Singh,
which is attached to the names of all true Sikhs; they also do not
forbid smoking or insist on the adoption of the five _Kakkas_ or K's
which are in theory the distinguishing marks of the Sikh; the _Kes_
or uncut hair and unshaven beard; the _Kachh_ or short drawers ending
above the knee; the _Kara_ or iron bangle; the _Khanda_ or steel knife;
and the _Kanga_ or comb. The Nanakpanthi retains the Hindu custom of
shaving the whole head except the _choti_ or scalp-lock, and hence is
often known as a Munda or shaven