1 210 APPENDIX — ENDOWMENTS.
2 by him. It is not uncommon for a deputation, composed
3 of the heads, or of some respectable inhabitants of a
4 town or village, from which a person has removed, to
5 proceed and wait upon the Chief with whom a fugitive
6 may find an asylum, and, entering- into stipulations for
7 his personal safety, to receive him back, if he be willing
8 to return.
9 In the Sikh states there are no compulsory laws for
10 raising money for the relief of the indigent. Most
11 fuqeers belong to a punt, or sect, and each sect has its
12 temples, which are endowed with lands and villages,
13 (termed Oordoo and Poora) by the chiefs, and to which
14 Churhawa, or offerings of grain and money, are made by
15 its votaries. An elemosynary establishment is some-
16 times founded, in places of great resort, by chiefs and
17 wealthy natives, and named Suda-hirt, at which every
18 stranger is entertained for a certain number of days, and
19 fed gratis. Every Hindoo temple has its Muhimt, or
20 head, to whom are attached his immediate Chelas or fol-
21 lowers, who parade the country, towns, and villages, ask-
22 ing, or demanding charity, which forms the support of
23 their superior and themselves, and is freely distributed to
24 the needy stranger and weary traveller, who may stop at
25 their gate, or desire a lodging and a meal within the courts
26 of the Thakoor-Dwara.
27 The Moosulman classes have their Peerzadas, who
28 make their rounds amongst their mooreeds, or disciples,
29 and receive from them such neeaz, or offerings, as they
30 can afford, or may choose to present. Since the decline
31 of the Muhomedan, and the rise and establishment of the
32 Sikh power, the Peerzadas have to lament the loss in