Ramanand, the great prophet of Vishnuism in northern India, and the
real founder of the liberal doctrines of the cult, lived at Benares
at the end of the fourteenth century, and is supposed to have been a
follower of Ramanuj. He introduced, however, a great extension of his
predecessor's gospel in making his sect, nominally at least, open to
all castes. He thus initiated the struggle against the social tyranny
and exclusiveness of the caste system, which was carried to greater
lengths by his disciples and successors, Kabir, Nanak, Dadu, Rai Das
and others. These afterwards proclaimed the worship of one unseen god
who could not be represented by idols, and the religious equality of
all men, their tenets no doubt being considerably influenced by their
observance of Islam, which had now become a principal religion of
India. Ramanand himself did not go so far, and remained a good Hindu,
inculcating the special worship of Rama and his consort Sita. The
Ramaaandis consider the Ramayana as their most sacred book, and make
pilgrimages to Ajodhia and Ramnath. [100] Their sect-mark consists of
two white lines down the forehead with a red one between, but they are
continued on to the nose, ending in a loop, instead of terminating at
the line of the eyebrows, like that of the Ramanujis. The Ramanandis
say that the mark on the nose represents the Singasun or lion's throne,
while the two white lines up the forehead are Rama and Lakhshman, and
the centre red one is Sita. Some of their devotees wear ochre-coloured
clothes like the Sivite mendicants.