[10] Mandla Settlement Report (1868–69), p. 153.
[11] Notes on the Baigas, p. 4.
[12] Mr. Lampard’s monograph.
[13] Farthings.
Bairāgi
List of Paragraphs
- [1. Definition of name and statistics.]
- [2. The four Sampradāyas or main orders.]
- [3. The Rāmānujis.]
- [4. The Rāmānandis]
- [5. The Nīmānandis.]
- [6. The Mādhavachāryas.]
- [7. The Vallabhachāryas.]
- [8. Minor sects.]
- [9. The seven Akhāras.]
- [10. The Dwāras.]
- [11. Initiation, appearance and customs.]
- [12. Recruitment of the order and its character.]
- [13. Social position and customs.]
- [14. Bairāgi monasteries.]
- [15. Married Bairāgis.]
1. Definition of name and statistics.
Bairāgi,[1] Sādhu.—The general term for members of the Vishnuite religious orders, who formerly as a rule lived by mendicancy. The Bairāgis have now, however, become a caste. In 1911 they numbered 38,000 persons in the Provinces, being distributed over all Districts and States. The name Bairāgi is supposed to come from the Sanskrit Vairāgya and to signify one who is free from human passions. Bairāga is also the term for the crutched stick which such mendicants frequently carry about with them and lean upon, either sitting or standing, and which in case of need would serve them as a weapon. Platts considers[2] that the name of the order comes from the Sanskrit abstract term, and the crutch therefore apparently obtained its name from being used by members of the order. Properly, a religious mendicant of any Vishnuite sect should be called a Bairāgi. But the term is not generally applied to the more distinctive sects as the Kabīrpanthi, Swāmi-Nārāyan, Satnāmi and others, some of which are almost separated from Hinduism, nor to the Sikh religious orders, nor the Chaitanya sect of Bengal. A proper Bairāgi is one whose principal deity is either Vishnu or either of his great incarnations, Rāma and Krishna.