Middletown transcript., 1895-11-30
ODD RITES 20 or fAKiRs. :
The Curious Religious Ceremonies Ths
Are Practiced In India.

The Curious Religious Ceremonies That
Ara Practiced In India.
The following interesting descrip-
ton Of an Indian fakir is from q cor
respondent in Lahore: 1.-TWO days
ago I returned from a short trip
with a friend to the sacred city of
Ketas, where I had been before.
This time I saw several interesting
fakirs. There were the ordinary
blear eyed, ash smeared fellows, one
with long brown hair hanging about
his shoulders. There was one f1abby,
besotted looking man, with practi-
oa1ly nothing on but ashes, who was
lolling 1azily under "a tree looking
more or less inebriate and content,
his back propped up by the tree, his
head on one side, contemplating
with serene expression alternately
his well rounded paunch and a
brother fakir, who was performing
his devotions very energetically a
short distance off.
This other was very lean man
and tall. When I first noticed him,
he was seated in abstraction, Bud
dhawise, which is something like a
tailor sits, only that the feet are
brought out on to the opposite
thighs, soles uppermost. He was ap-
parently contemplating his fire
tongs, which were stuck in the
ground before him. Surrounding
him were a number of little fires.
After a time he took up his oonch
shell and blew blast, resembling
exactly the braying of a more than
usually melancholy donkey. Then
he rinsed his hands and the conch
with water and stood up. He raised
his hands outstretched above his
head, and, placing the calf of his
right leg across the thigh Of his
left. stood so, on one leg, in prayer
for some time.
"He looked leaner than ever like
this. His body was rubbed well
with gray ash, and his rusty colored
coarse hair was brought up in a
bunch above his head and tied firm
" with cord so that the ends stood
up like ragged brush, tipped slight
" to one side. He reminded me of a
Christy minstrel.
"When the one legged prayer was
done, he dropped down again and
took another turn at the conch and
water. Then he rose, stepped out
side the fiery circle and began to
walk deliberately, with long strides, |
round and round it. Suddenly he |
threw himself down opposite one of |
the fires, and then raising himself |
slowly on hands and toes, lowered
himself as slowly to the ground |
again two or three times, touching |
it alternately with his nose and top
knot. He repeated this at every fire |
with slight variations, sometimes
drawing his left knee right up under
him, so that the leg folded like a
two foot rule when he touched the
ground with his topknot. This con-
cluded the prayers, when he had an
other go at the conch and water, |
after which he wrapped himself in
q shawl and went to bathe in the sa-
cred tank, in which men, women
and children all do the same.
"There are usually large quantities
Of fish here, but when I inquired
why there were SO few on this occa-
sion I was told that so many people
had bathed there during the festival
. few days before that the fish had
died-through the impurity of the
water I suppose. Yet, as stood.
saw woman bathing in one place,
4 man in another, two children in a
third, while girl drew water for
purposes from it in a
fourth l"-London Queen.