70 Some Account of the Rdmsanehfs, a Sect of [Feb. 



in reason complain of the loss of what did not belong to him. — " Your 

 motive," said Dulha Ram, " in presenting the stone was to tempt me 

 to evil ; but I covet not gold, nor is the transmutation of metals fitting 

 employment for a mendicant : take ye twenty rupees and begone." 



A Byragi, convicted of receiving money, is branded on the forehead 

 with a metal coin, heated for the purpose, and ejected from the com- 

 munity. Yet this interdiction, however strict, must be regarded as 

 nominal, since lay followers receive money for the use of the order — 

 and two Banias of the sect residing in Shahpura are appointed ex- 

 pressly to receive remittances, lend out money, and carry on trade on 

 account of the holy fraternity. 



A woman may become a priestess, as in the instance of Sariip, a 

 devoted adherent of Ramcharan, by abandoning her husband and off- 

 spring, and by conforming strictly to chastity and other statutes. Fe- 

 males are forbidden under pain of chastisement and excommunication, 

 to approach places of worship after dusk, as they form the residence of 

 the priesthood : it is considered prudent to guard them from tempta- 

 tion, although they are supposed to have acquired absolute controul 

 over the passions and all unlawful desires, before they are admitted to 

 the sect. The sexes sit apart in the temples, and never sing together. 



In regard of the injunction to sleep little, and to follow habits of 

 industry, they say there is enough of sleep in the grave, life is evan- 

 escent, and of too much value to be passed in repose ; and by wasting 

 the precious hours in slumber, man degrades himself to an equality 

 with the brute. Their aliment is poor, and taken sparingly, because 

 abstinence induces watchfulness, while a surfeit of food and sleep 

 make the soul heavy. Priests reside away from the habitations of 

 man, as the turmoil of cities would interrupt their meditations ; but 

 they are at the same time commanded to live together, to correct the 

 foibles and relieve the gloom of each other. " A solitary lamp," added 

 the chief, " however brilliant, casteth a shadow beneath it — place ano- 

 ther lamp in the apartment, and the darkness of both is dissipated." 



The priest changes his name on admission to the order, to denote he 

 enters on a new state of life, and the hair of his face and head (with ex- 

 ception to a small tuft on the crown) is shaved close ; there are several 

 barbers on the establishment, whose business it is to perform this 

 office ; they are wealthy, and receive occasionally valuable presents. I 

 heard of a Charan, who, in a fit of liberality, presented five hundred 

 rupees to one of them. The only covering worn by the Sadh is a 

 cotton cloth, of coarse texture, seven feet and a half long, with a small 

 piece for a waistband, and another for a percolater, water being always 

 strained before it is used for culinary or other purposes, to guard 



