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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZIN 



r. t 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 



A RELIGIOUS DEVOTEE CHANTING MANTRAS AT THE ALLAHABAD MELA 



The barren sands at Prag, the place of sacrifice, yearly teem with pilgrim crowds and 

 every twelve years the Mela is an outpouring of millions. In 644 A. D. the Emperor Harsha 

 here distributed the wealth gained in six years of war to Buddhist, Jain, and Brahman holy 

 men, in a festival which lasted for seventv-five davs. 



had been done, but because to do so 

 would, in his estimation, be a betrayal of 

 trust. 



"I was given to believe that anything 

 you sanctioned would be all right," I said. 



"Quite so," was his reply, "but one in 

 a responsible position must heed the 

 superstitions and desires of even the 

 most ignorant." Had he been a poli- 

 tician rather than a religious leader, he 

 could not have been more considerate of 

 his constituency. 



THE SIKHS ARE A REFORMED SECT OE 

 HINDUS 



It would be proper to call the city of 

 immortality the Jerusalem of the Sikhs 

 rather than the Mecca, for the Sikhs 



form only about one-ninth of the popula- 

 tion, one-half of which is Mohammedan, 

 while the Hindus outnumber the Sikhs 

 four to one. The Sikhs are a reformed 

 sect of Hindus, disciples of the Gurus, 

 who were their religious leaders. The 

 sect was founded by Nanak, a native of 

 Lahore, late in the fifteenth century. 

 They denounce idolatry and have abol- 

 ished caste. 



That these fierce fighters are not intol- 

 erant is shown by the fact that one of 

 their number has built a Mohammedan 

 mosque and a Hindu temple in Rawal- 

 pindi, and that their sacred courts swarm 

 with Hindus, Moslems, Lamaists, Bud- 

 dhists, and Animists 



In one part of the grounds some naked 



