The second of the four orders is that of the Nimanandis, called
after a saint Nimanand. He lived near Mathura Brindaban, and on one
occasion was engaged in religious controversy with a Jain ascetic
till sunset. He then offered his visitor some refreshment, but the
Jain could not eat anything after sunset, so Nimanand stopped the
sun from setting, and ordered him to wait above a _nim_ tree till the
meal was cooked and eaten under the tree, and this direction the sun
duly obeyed. Hence Nimanand, whose original name was Bhaskaracharya,
was called by his new name after the tree, and was afterwards held
to have been an incarnation of Vishnu or the Sun.
The doctrines of the sect, Mr. Growse states, [101] are of a very
enlightened character. Thus their tenet of salvation by faith is
thought by many scholars to have been directly derived from the
Gospels; while another article in their creed is the continuance of
conscious individual existence in a future world, when the highest
reward of the good will not be extinction, but the enjoyment of
the visible presence of the divinity whom they have served while
on earth. The Nimanandis worship Krishna, and were the first sect,
Dr. Bhattacharya states, [102] to associate with him as a divine
consort Radha, the chief partner of his illicit loves.
Their headquarters are at Muttra, and their chief festival is the
Janam-Ashtami [103] or Krishna's birthday. Their sect-mark consists of
two white lines down the forehead with a black patch in the centre,
which is called Shiambindini. Shiam means black, and is a name of
Krishna. They also sometimes have a circular line across the nose,
which represents the moon.