Saivas, the general name given to those among the Hindus who worship Siva the Destroyer, one of the members of the Trimurti. The only form inider which this deity is worshipped is that of the Linga, which they adore either in temples, in their houses, or on the side of a sacred stream. " The worship of Siva seems to have been, from a remote period, rather tliat of the learned and speculative classes than that of the masses of the people. In a renowned work called the Sunkara- difj-vijciija, or the victor}' of Sankara over the world, composed by Anandagiri, one of the disciples of San- kara, several subdivisions of the Saivas are named — viz. the Saivas, properly so called, who wore the impression of the Linga on both arms ; tlie Raudras, who had a trident stamped on the forehead ; the Uf/ras, who had the drum of Siva on their arms ; the Bliuktas, with an impression of tlie Linga on their foreheads; tlie Jan- gamas, who carried a figure of the Linga on their heads ; and the Pasupafas, who imprinted the same symbol on the forehead, breast, navel, and arras. The present di- visions of the Saivas, however, are the following : the Dandius and Dasnami-Dandins; the Yogins; the J n- gamas ; the Paramahansas ; the Aghorins ; the Urdha- bahus; the Akasmukhins and Nakhins; the Gudaras; the Rukliaras, Sukharas, and Ukharas ; tlie Karalingins ; the Bramacharins ; and the Nagas." Each division is characterized by some peculiarities of dress, self-torture, tenets, etc. (see Wilson, Religious Sects of the Hindus [Lond. 1802], i, 188 sq.). — Chambers's Encyclop. s. v.
Saivo Oiniak, in Lapp mythology, was a moun- tain deity worshipped under the symbols of peculiarly shaped stones or mountains.
Sajotkatta, a term given by the North American Indians to those persons who enjoy the special favor of their patron spirits, and are through such aid enabled to discover things that are hidden, to foretell future events, to bewitch other persons, to perform extended journeys in the soul while absent from the body, etc. — in short, the most cunning impostors in the tribes. The Iroquois equivalent for this title is Afjottsinnachs, i. c. seers. — Vollmcr, Worterh. der Mijthol. s. v.
Sakar, in IMohammedan writers, is one of the seven hells, which serves as the ])lace in which Parsees are punished for being what they are.
Sakhi Bhavas, a Hindil sect who worship Radha as the personilicatiou of the Sukti or Krishna.
They assume tlie female garb, and adopt not only the dress and ornaments, but the manners and occui)ations of women. The sect are held in little estimation, and are very few in number. They occasionally lead a mendi- cant life, but are rarelj' met with. It is said that the only place where they are to be found in any number is Jay pur. There are a few at Benares, and a few scatter- ed throughout several parts of Bengal. — Gardner, Faiths of tlie World, s. V.
Sakhtar is the Parsee name for the heaven which encloses the heaven of the fixed stars, and which is im- movable and inhabited by Ormuzd alone.
Sakia, in Arabian mythology, is a Mohammedan name for the god of a primeval race of giants and daa- mons who dwelt in Arabia Petra?a, and who drew down rain to the earth.
Sakin, in Scandinavian mythology, is one of the thirty-seven rivers of hell.
SakkutO, AniiAHAM ben-Samuel, a learned Jew- ish writer, was born at Salamanca about A.D. 1450. He was a celebrated astronomer, mathematician, historian, and lexicographer, and his distinguished talents secured for him tlie professional chair of astronomy at Saragossa. When he had to quit Spain, in 1492, he repaired to Por- tugal, where king Emmanuel appointed him clironog- rapher and astronomer royal. On the banishment of the Jews from Portugal, lie retired to Tunis. It was here that he completed, in 1504, the famous chronicle en- titled 'pOn^^ TSO {The Book of Genealogies), which comprises a chronological historj- of the Jews from the creation to A.M. 5200= A.D. 1500. In this elaborate work Sakkuto gives an account of the oral law as trans- mitted from Moses through the elders, prophets, sages, etc.; the acts and monuments of the kings of Israel, as well as of the surrounding nations, in chronological or- der; the Babylonian colleges at Sora and Pumbadita; the events which occurred during the period of the sec- ond Temple ; the different sects of that period — viz. the Pharisees, Sadducecs,Essenes, and Nazaritcs; the princes of the captivity, and the rectors of the colleges after the close of the Talmud; and the period down to the end of the 15th centurv. Sakkuto's work, which is an ency- clopedia of Jewisli literature, was first published at Con- stantinople (1500): then, with many additions and glosses, at Cracow (1581), Amsterdam (1717), Konigs- berg (1857), and from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, with many corrections, additions, etc., by Filipowski (Lond. 1857). Sakkuto also wrote a Rabbinic Aramaic lexicon to the Chaldee paraphrases, the Midrashim, and Talmud, entitled "lll'f^ "^SOb n^2&"":n (i.e. Supple- ments to the Book A 7-uch}, of which an account is given by Geiger in the Zeitschrift der D. M, G. xii, 144 sq. (Leips. 1858) :— dssb ninri {Sweet to the Soul), on the future state, the separation of spirit from bodj', etc. (Con- stantinople, 1510). See Fiirst, Bill. .hid. iii, 200 sq.; Rossi, IJizionario Storico (Germ, transl.), p. 334; Stein- schneider, Cat(dogus Librorum Ilebr. in Bibl. Bodl. p. 700 sq. ; Kitto, Cyclop, s. v. ; Liiido, Hist, of the Jeics, p. 207 ; Finn, Sephardim, p. 452; Da Costa, Israel and the Gen- tiles, p. 284 ; Etheridge, Inti-od. to Hebr. Literature, p. 451 sq. ; Griitz, Gesch. d. ,/uden, ix, 18 sq., 418, 458, 474 ; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. n. s. Secten, iii, 113. (B. P.)