72 



On the Customs of 



[No. 32, 



27. His head is first shaved when he immediately becomes a 

 Gosawee in a state of probation ; after remaining so a year or two 

 and making himself familiar with the usages of the order, the ce- 

 remony of Beeja Horn (a sacrifice to fire) is celebrated, when he be- 

 comes a perfect Gosawee. If a person of too inferior caste to have 

 been admitted into the fraternity has through inadvertence been regu- 

 larly initiated and eaten with the brethren, he is branded with a hot 

 coin, deprived of the clothes that may have been given to him, and 

 ejected from the MtiCh. The Gooroo who admitted him will then 

 go before the Dusname in the attitude of submission, and pray for 

 mercy and pardon at its hands; which, if granted, restores the Gooroo 

 and his establishment to their former rank, and if denied leaves 

 them equally outcasts with the person who deceived them. 



28. During the noviciate of the candidate his parents are at li- 

 berty to withdraw their child and any contribution they may have 

 given ; but after the solemnization of Beeja Hom^ he is irrevocably 

 attached to the Gosaivee sect, and as much alienated from his fami- 

 ly by birth as if he had never belonged to it, not even performing 

 SoofuJc or mourning upon the death of its members. 



29. The natural child of a Gosawee, if born of a Brahmin, Wyshf 

 or Soodra woman, has rank and rights equal to those of a Chela or 

 disciple, after he shall have been initiated in the usual way ; the only 

 peculiarity being that the ceremony cann(?t be performed by the 

 father ; the uncle or next nearest relative should ofliciate. 

 Discipline. 30. The discipline of the order is either severe or 

 relaxed, as the Gooroo of a Mullt or the majority of the Dusname 

 are of harsh or mild dispositions. The crimes however for which a 

 member should be ejected from the fraternity are specified ; they are, 

 taking away the life of a cow, a Brahmin, a woman, a Gooroo, or a 

 child ; and for having had sexual intercourse with other than a Hindoo 

 woman. The punishment is ordered by the Gooroo, or the Du&- 

 name. If such criminals throw themselves on the mercy of their 

 brethren, their punishment is occasionally commuted to fine and pen- 

 ance ; such indulgence is never allowed to Gosawunees, who are al- 

 ways expelled for serious oflTences. 



Sale and Mortgage "^^^ Purr umpuragut MufhSy \\\iic\i^^Y}^?tX 



of Mut'hs. to be as much consecrated and devoted to worship 



as any other Hindoo Temples, cannot be sold or mortgaged for any 

 purpose whatever. If any are so surreptitiously, the offender is eject- 

 ed from the Miifh, and the sum fgr which it WJvs »old or mgrtgaged 



