68
HISTORY OF INDIA.
lBook IV.
Monastic institutions
A.D. — hands, stam})ed on tixelr bodies by carved wooden blocks, or sometimes even bui'ned in by heated metallic jtlates. Such marks not only serve for distinction, Hindoosects. but are supposed to possess gi-eat virtue; and hence it is asserted in tliewoik called Kasi Khand, that Yama directs his ministers to avoid such as bear them, and that no sin can exist iu the individuals who make use of them, be they of whatever caste. This mention of caste suggests another feature common though not universal among all sects. For the most part the distinction of caste is utterly disregarded by them, and the Brahmins as a class are eyed with hatred and treated with contempt, especially by the sectarian devotees of greatest pretensions.
Another more important feature common to the sects, is the subdivision of their members into various classes, especially into two, which Professor Wilson, for want of a better name, calls clerical and lay. The latter includes the great bullc of the votaries; the former are divided as in the Romish chm-ch into secular and regular, but without having the yoke of celibacy imposed on them. The unmarried, however, are in highest estimation as teachers, and as a general rule, the most influential members of each sect are solitaries and coenobites, who have secluded themselves from the ordinary cares and enjoyments of life, and live either by themselves as hermits, or in communities as monks. Convents are of course required, and under the name of maths, asthals, and ahavas, are scattered over the whole country. Each math is under the control of a mahant or superior, with a certain number of resident chelas or disciples. By those, and
from among their own number, he is usually elected; but in some instances, where the mahant mar- ries, he transmits the office to his descendants. There is nothino- like compulsory residence within the math, and hence most of the members spend the earlier part of their life wandering over the ■^ country singly or in bodies, and subsisting by alms, merchandise, or more questionable means. When old and infirm, they retire into some math previously exist- ing, or found a new one. Among their mendicant and monastic orders of all sects, are certain devotees professing more than usual austerity, and distinguished by the names of Sanyasis, Vairagis, and Nagas. In a similar sense, the term fakir is also used by Hindoos, though being of Mahometan origin it is more properly descriptive of the mendicants of that faith. The only
1, Naoa Fakir. 2, Ramnanandi Fakir at his Prayers.
Fiom Soivjn, Les Hiiidous.
