Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-11-07
rae swespeas OF INDIA.
Interesting Legends About One OF the
Many Castes of That Country.


Among the yet unsolved problem
of Indian ethnology, and one tina
the census has only dealt with I
make confusion worse COMPOUNDED,
the religion of the sweeper caste. !
seems clear enough through all tn
confusion that the supreme deity o
the Chubras is Laljura or Lalbeg, u
god without form or dwelling place.
A mound of earth surmounted b,
a piece Of stick and bit of cloth TO
flag Is this deity's shrine, and to i
poojah Is made and little sacrifice
offered of ghee, or grain, 1t needs M
conservation, this simple shrine, ant
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 motto 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 sweeper, al
ways sweeper, and even the ideal
sweeper, Pr Jhota, with his broom
of gold and Il 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 bathe 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 tho 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 Pir Jhota, sweeper in the courts
of heaven, the accounts differ so
widely that it is difficult to identify
him 1t seems clear, however, that
with the 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 Ramayana He is alter
nately represented as a low caste |
hunter of The Karnal Nardak and as
a Bill highwayman who was con
verified by q 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
eader he takes us back at once into
The days of Homeric myth. He was
porn from the coat of Balmik and
sucked by hare in proof whereof
Jhubras to this day abstain from eat
ng hares, On the other hand, Lal
beg was also born from pitcher.
through the power of Abdul Kader
Illani, and when the Prophet Elias
vas turned into a sweeper for spit.
ing on the saints in heaven it was
1albeg who relieved him. He was
'orn also to the barren wife of Shaik
'arno of Mooltan, so that altogether
here can he no doubt of his exist
nee. Even sweeper leader is not |
orn thrice for nothing. Major TEN E
le, it is true, denies the personality ,
T the man, deriving his name from :
Lal bhokh," or bhikha, the Red ;
more properly saffron col. Y
red monk abstract personifica. d
on OF the priest of the sweepers
nd generic only. Times of India a.,