1836.] An account of the Maun Bhows. 21 



sin he may be guilty of and ask for pardon : to subdue all 

 carnal desires and content himself with the simple and scan - 

 ty fare he can procure by begging, and by such a course prove 

 himself a sober, obedient and pious Maun Bhow. In the event 

 of the novice being convinced in his own mind that he can 

 abide by the obligations of the vow he is about taking name- 

 ly, that of chastity, poverty and obedience, he is required to 

 confirm his intentions by taking an oath on the Geeta to 

 that^effect. This will be in a few weeks, or months from the 

 time he expressed a wish to become a convert ; all depending 

 on the manner in which he has conducted himself while he 

 remained with them. The ceremony of his initiation then 

 takes place, the village barber's services are put in requisition 

 ©n the occasion, he shaves off the candidates hair, but it is 

 the invariable duty of the Gooroo to cut off the Sendhy* or 

 tuft of hair on the crown of the head, and his mustaches or 

 hair on his upper lip, (which all natives preserve) after this he 

 bathes and dresses in black clothes, the costume of the order ; 

 the munter or incantation of the fraternity in the Prakrit 

 language, is then whispered in his ear by his Gooroo, who 

 gives the novice at the same time, a new name indicatory of 

 the circumstance of his new birth. 



The ceremony of initiating females, is performed in the 

 same manner as the above, only that in general an old 

 female of the society acts the part the Gooroo performs 

 in cutting off the tuft of hair on the crown of the head. 

 The cloth worn round the waist and down to the ankles by 

 the females is quite black and ought to be twelve cubits in 

 length and two and a half in breadth. The length of that 

 worn over the shoulders is according to circumstances,- — this 

 cloth is divided into three divisions, the centre one is part of 

 a woman's common sary and the two end pieces are dark, but 

 not of such a dark hue as the other garments. The dhottur 

 used by the men is worn double ; the oorny or cloth they 

 w T ear over their shoulders and their turbands are not of so 

 black a colour as their dhottur. The few Maun Bhows who 



* The Sendhy of the various candidates is preserved till a considerable quan- 

 tity of hair has been collected when ropes are made of it which they fasten round 

 their loins. 



