HINDOO FAKIRS CUTTING THEMSELVES WITH KNIVES.
The boys had never seen so large a crowd as this, nor even one so curious. There were pilgrims of all degrees, poor men and women who had begged their subsistence along the road, and rich men who came in grand state with trains of elephants and camels, and with gorgeous tents spread for their occupation. There were many fakirs, some holding their withered hands high in the air, where they had kept them for years. Others with the skin worn from their knees in consequence of dragging their bodies along the roads, and others covered with dust and ashes, in accordance with their vows. It is a peculiar principle of the Hindoo religion that its holiest men are the dirtiest; and if one wishes to get up a reputation for sanctity, his first duty is to become as repulsive as possible by never washing himself, covering his body with rags, allowing his hair to go quite untouched by comb or scissors, to perform some act of bodily torture, and then sit by the roadside and beg for food. The fakirs are even exempt from the injunction to bathe in the holy rivers, possibly through fear that the accumulated dirt, which is the seal of their profession, might be washed away. But they come in great numbers to all the sacred places, and probably the chance of picking up a liberal allowance from the charitable may have something to do with their coming.
Formerly there were great cruelties practised by these fakirs on themselves in the name of religion, but they are no longer allowed. They used to fasten hooks in the flesh of their backs and then be swung in the air; they slashed their flesh with knives, or pierced it with nails and spears; placed fire on their heads till their scalps were burnt through, and did many other cruel things. The boys saw several of these fakirs whose hands had been so long held upright that they were fixed in that position, and others whose finger-nails had been allowed to grow until they were turned like the claws of birds and pierced the palms of the hands. One man had his feet and hands bound together, and was rolling along like a cart-wheel, and the Doctor said he had doubtless come hundreds of miles in this way.
At the junction of the rivers the crowd was more dense than elsewhere, and hundreds of persons were clinging to rafts anchored for the safety of those who could not swim. Before a pilgrim enters the water he sits on the bank and submits himself to a barber, who removes his hair and beard and throws them into the river. He is told that for every hair he thus gives to the gods he will have a million years in paradise. After the shaving is over he bathes; the next day he goes through a ceremony in honor of his ancestors, and is then ready to depart for home. From where the boys sat on the back of their elephant, near the junction of the rivers they saw dozens of barbers at work; men with long hair and beards would sit down in front of one of these operators, and rise a few minutes later shorn of what had formed their principal attraction.
A PILGRIM CARRYING RELIGIOUS RELICS.
The priests who have charge of this festival make a great deal of money, as the pilgrims are required to pay according to their means for the services of the barbers and the privilege of bathing. Several times it has been proposed to make an end of this idolatrous worship by closing the place altogether, and giving a cash allowance to the owners to replace their revenues. But the Government is unwilling to interfere in the religion of the people, and so the festival is kept up. It occurs in the months of January and February, and is one of the curious sights for a traveller in India.