1 RELIGIOUS, PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER CASTES. '227
2 separating them. Besides the occupations described above, the Faqir class
3 generally have in their hands the custody of petty shrinesj the menial service
4 of village temples and mosques, the guardianship of cemeteries, and similar
5 semi-religions offices. For these services they often receive small grants of
6 land from the village, by cultivating which they supplement the alms and
7 offerings they receive.
8 The subject of the religious orders of the Hindus is one of the greatest
9 complexity ; the cross divisions between and the different meanings of such
10 words as Jogi, Sanyasi, and Sadh are endless ; and no one who was not
11 deeply versed in the sectarian system of Hinduism covild hope to deal with
12 the subject fully. I shall therefore not attempt to do more than jot down
13 a few rough notes on some of the most important ordei's. The student
14 will find a mass of information on the subject in Wilson's Sects of the Hindus ;
15 while Trumpp in his introduction to his Adi Granth, and Cunningham in an
16 Appendix to his History of the Si^Jis give many particulars about the Sikh
17 sects and orders.
18 521. The Hindu orders of ascetics. — Tlie Bairag) (Caste No. 53).— Bairagi, or m it is more
19 correctly spelled Vairagi , signifies any one devoid of passion. But the word is usually applied
20 m the Panjab to a regular order of Vaishnava devotees, said fo have been founded by Sri Anand,
21 the 12tli disciple of Ramanand. They are divided into several sections, among which may be
22 mentioned the R;imanandi who worship Ram Chandra, the Riidhabalabhi who especially affect
23 the worship of Radha the vnte of Krishna, the Ni'manandi whose chief object of reverence is
24 Salig Ram. and the Ramanuii who adore Mahadeo ; though these last two would appear to be
25 Saiva rather than Vaiihnava. They are for the most p.art collected iu mouaetcries and are
26 an exceedingly respectable class of faqlrs, but many of the wandering mendicants also call
27 themselves jBairagis. Tlitir distinctive mark is a string of brown crinkled beads. They are most
28 numerous in the Jamna districts, though to the figures of Table VIII A must be added 2,238 males
29 and 1,621 females who returned tbemseivos as /nji'rs, and who are to be found in almost equal
30 numbers in the Amritsar, Ijahore, and Firozpur districts The Bairagis of the monasteries are
31 often but not al-va-d celibate. But there are in Karndl, and perhaps in other parts of the
32 Province, villages held by descendants of both the children and the disciples of the Bairagi
33 monks, who have dropped their original castes and are now known as Bairagis, though they
34 have no longer any connection with the order.
35 The Sanyasi Caste (No. 95). — The word Sanyasi really means nothing more than the ascetic
36 stage through which every Brs'.iuian should prcijerly pass. But as commonly used it corresponds
37 among the followers of Siva with Bairagi among the followers of Vishnu, and is as indefinite
38 in its meaning. It is indeed specially applied to the Tridandi Rdmanujas, a Vaishnava sect ;
39 but it is also used to include all Saiva classes of ascetics except perhaps the Jogi. In the
40 Panjab the word is commonly used to denote the followers of Shankar Achiirj. and would
41 include the Gos4ins. The Sanyasis are said to be ordinarily buried in a sitting posture, and
42 not burnt. To the 6gures of Table VIII A must be added 1,824 males and 727 females, about
43 half of whom are in the Amritsar and another quarter in the L.ihore division. The Sanyasis,
44 so far as our figures go, seem specially to affect the districts of the eastern sub-montane.
45 Thj Gosain (Caste No. 102). — The Gosain is a Saiva order corresponding in many ways with
46 the Bauagis among Vaishnavas. Like them the Gosains are often collected iu monasteries,
47 while many of them officiate as priests in the temple of Siva. They are also like the Bairagis
48 one of the most respectable of the Hindu orders. They are very commonly but not at all
49 necessarily oelibat-^ To the figures of the table must be added 1,368 males and 594 females,
50 almost all in tht .asar district. The Gosain appears to be almost confined to the South-eastern
51 districts.
52 The Sadh (Caste No. 155). — Sadh is properly nothing more than the Hindu equivalent of
53 the Musalmau word Fir ; or rather Sadh applies only to a Hindu devotee, while Pi'r includes
54 any Mahomedan holy man. But the word is especially applied to a set of Hindu Unitarians who
55 are chiefly found in the Upper Ganges-.Tamna doah, from Farrukhabad upwards. The sect was
56 founded by one Birbhan some 200 years ago. The Sadhs do not smoke, and affect great personal
57 cleanliness, and their religious ceremonies consist in eating together. It is a sect rsther than an
58 order and the Jats of a large village in Karnal are Sadhs by sect, though Jats by caste. (See Wilson's
59 Hindu Sects, pages 22,iff). To the figures of the tables must be added 100 men and 13 women,
60 mostly in the Hissar district. Our figures show Sadhs chiefly for the Dehli district and Rohtak,
61 which would appear to connect them with the Sadh sect ; yet the paucity of females show that
62 the figures refer to a religious order. The priests of the menial classes are often called Sadh, as
63 Q2