7. Hair and clothes.
When a novice is initiated all the hair of his head is shaved, including the scalp-lock. If the Ganges is at hand the Guru throws the hair into the Ganges, giving a great feast to celebrate the occasion; otherwise he keeps the hair in his wallet until he and his disciple reach the Ganges and then throws it into the river and gives the feast. After this the Jogi lets all his hair grow until he comes to some great shrine, when he shaves it off clean and gives it as an offering to the god. The Jogis wear clothes coloured with red ochre like the Jangams, Sanniāsis and all the Sivite orders. The reddish colour perhaps symbolises blood and may denote that the wearers still sacrifice flesh and consume it. The Vaishnavite orders usually wear white clothes, and hence the Jogis call themselves Lāl Pādris (red priests), and they call the Vaishnava mendicants Sīta Pādris, apparently because Sīta is the consort of Rāma, the incarnation of Vishnu. When a Jogi is initiated the Guru gives him a single bead of rudrāksha wood which he wears on a string round his neck. He is not branded, but afterwards, if he visits the temple of Dwārka in Gujarāt, he is branded with the mark of the conch-shell on the arm; or if he goes on pilgrimage to the shrine of Badri-Nārāyan in the Himālayas he is branded on the chest. Copper bangles are brought from Badri-Nārāyan and iron ones from the shrine of Kedārnāth. A necklace of small white stones, like juāri-seeds, is obtained from the temple of Hinglāj in the territories of the Jām of Lāsbela in Beluchistān. During his twelve years’ period as a Brahmachari or acolyte, a Jogi will make either one or three parikramas of the Nerbudda; that is, he walks from the mouth at Broach to the source at Amarkantak on one side of the river and back again on the other side, the journey usually occupying about three years. During each journey he lets his hair grow and at the end of it makes an offering of all except the choti or scalp-lock to the river. Even as a full Jogi he still retains the scalp-lock, and this is not finally shaved off until he turns into a Sanniāsi or forest recluse. Other Jogis, however, do not merely keep the scalp-lock but let their hair grow, plaiting it with ropes of black wool over their heads into what is called the jata, that is an imitation of Siva’s matted locks.[13]
8. Burial.
The Jogis are buried sitting cross-legged with the face to the north in a tomb which has a recess like those of Muhammadans. A gourd full of milk and some bread in a wallet, a crutch and one or two earthen vessels are placed in the grave for the sustenance of the soul. Salt is put on the body and a ball of wheat-flour is laid on the breast of the corpse and then deposited on the top of the grave.
9. Festivals.
The Jogis worship Siva, and their principal festival is the Shivrātri, when they stay awake all night and sing songs in honour of Gorakhnāth, the founder of their order. On the Nāg-Panchmi day they venerate the cobra and they take about snakes and exhibit them.