The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-07-21
THE swsepeas or INDIA.


Many Ca4tee Oh Inot NounSrys
Among tho yet unsolved problems
Of Indian ethnology, and one that
the census has only dealt with to
make confusion worse COMPOUNDED, is
the religion of the sweeper caste. II
seems clear enough through all the
confusion that the supreme deity Of
the Chubras is Laljura or Lalbeg, "a
god without form or dwelling place.
A mound Of earth surmounted by
q piece of stick and a bit Of cloth for
alag is this deity's shrine, and to it
poojah is made and little sacrifice
offered Of ghee, or grain. 1t needs no
conservation, this simple shrine, and
wherever the sweeper may be, ifsick-
ness comes or gift is desired, the
little shrine may be set up with its
queer bit of rag and stick, and the
worshiper's prayer is made. 1t is
curious to note how this primitive
faith differs from Hindooism, both
ancient and modern, as well as from
Buddhism.
The sweeper will have nothing to
do, for instance, with the transmigra-
ton of souls Once o sweeper, al
ways sweeper, and even the ideal
sweeper. Pr Jhota, with his broom
Of gold and a basket Of silver, "cleans
now the fourth heaven, the house Of
God, and sweeps the apartments Of
the highest" The good sweeper goes
to heaven, however, after death, but
In the heaven Of the sweeper there is
nothing to do but battle and sit at
ease. The bad sweeper, ON the other
hand. goes to hell, where he is tor
mented by fire and wounds till the
deity is pleased to vouchsafe relief.
Between these two extremes is kind
of purgatory, where the sweeper
who is not good enough for one place
and not bad enough for the other
undergoes sort Of probation which
either kills or cures him.
OF Balmik, the great leader of one
sect Of sweepers, and now himself,
like Pr Jhota, a sweeper in the courts
Of heaven, the accounts differ so
widely that it is difficult to identify
him. It seems clear, however, that
withvthe profession Of sweeper he
combined the recreation Of poetry,
and there is some amount Of evidence
In favor Of his having been the au-
thor Of the Rainayana. He is alter
nately represented Us low caste
hunter Of the Karnal Nardak and As
. Bhil highwayman who was con
verted by saint whom he was about
to rob. There is a legend, too, that
he laid down his life for the sweepers
Of Benares and induced the people of
that city to admit sweepers into their
presence. as they had never done be-
fore.
As for Lalbeg, the other great
leader, he takes us back 9t once into
the days Of Homeric myth. He was
born from the coat Of Balmik and
sucked by q hare-in proof whereof
Chubras to this day abstain from eat
ing harea On the other hand, Lal
beg was also born from o pitcher,
through the power Of Abdul Kader
Jilani, and when the Prophet Elias
was turned into a sweeper for spit
ting on the saints in heaven 1t was
(a1beg who relieved him. He was
born also to the barren wife of Shaik
earno Of Mooltan, 30 that altogether
there can he no doubt Of his exist
ence. Even a sweeper leader is not
born thrice for nothing. Major TEN
pie, it is true, denies the personality
Of the man, deriving his name from
"1Al bhokh," or bhikha, the Red
4onk-or moro properly saffron col
ored monk-an abstract personifica-
don'of the priest Of the sweepers,
and generic only.-Times Of India.