1847.] On the Customs of Gosawees or Gosaeens. 67 



II. On the Customs of Gosaioees or Gosaeens. By John 

 Warden^ Esq., Bo. C. S. 



Their Origin. 1 . A Gosawee, as may be discovered from the ap- 

 pellation, which is a compound of the Sunskrit word (6^0) pas- 

 sion, and snril [Swamee) Master, was originally a person who, in 

 honor of God and for the benefit of his own soul, had so completely 

 mastered his passions, as to be able to devote his whole life to the ex- 

 ercise of the strictest devotion and most rigid austerities, 



2. The founder of the sect, according to the traditions of the 

 Gosawees themselves, was Sunkur Achary^ whose principal disciples 

 are the Brahmins of the Sko order. The Gosawees accordingly 

 worship that deity in the shape of the Lingum ; as the Byragees^ 

 the other kind of Indian devotees, do Vishnoo, in his incarnation 

 of Ram. Sunhir Acharya., in his Gosawee character, nominated 

 four Chelas or disciples named, 1st, Neera Troteelm Achary ; 2d, 

 Shringee Rushee Pritvee Oodha Achary ; Sd, Dhurmhootee Swuroof 

 Achary ; 4th, Pudum Achary. 



3. Neera Troteeha then chose three disciples immediately subor- 

 dinate to himself, viz. Geeree^ Sagur, and Purwut ; Shringee Rushee 

 Pritvee Oodha Achary had also three followers, named Pooree^ 

 Suraswutee, and Bharuttee ; Dhumbootee Swuroop and Pudma had 

 only two followers each, the names of those of the former were Teert 

 and Asrun ; and of the latter Bun and Urrun. 



4. The four disciples of Sunkur Achary provided for the perform- 

 ance of the discipline they had imposed upon themselves by the 

 establishment of four Mut'hs or temples in four different quarters. 

 The first was situated in the north, the second in the south, the third 

 in the west, and the fourth, viz., that of Pudum Achary, in the 

 east. 



5. These establishments are said to have been afterwards subdi- 

 vided, and the fraternity then consisted, as it does at the present 

 time, of ten different sects composed of the followers of the above 

 mentioned ten persons appointed to be disciples to the four Gosaivees 

 who established their Mufhs in the four different quarters : each sect 

 bears the name of the person of whose followers it professes to be 

 composed ; thus, there is the Sagur sect, the Purwut sect, the Pooree 

 sect, and so on. The whole are equal in rank, one having no objec- 

 tion to eat with the other. In the early periods of the institution of 



