Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 4.djvu/125

 OODASSEES. (196)

HE word "oodas" signifies "unsettled," "melancholy," or "sad," and has been adopted by these devotees to distinguish their class or sect. What the Bairagees are to the Hindoo classes, the Oodassees are to the Sikhs. They are followers of Nanuk, the great Sikh teacher and founder of the national Sikh faith, and observe his doctrines and precepts. In many respects their profession is of a more austere character than that of the Bairagees, inasmuch as they wear no clothes, but only a rag, which barely seiwes the purposes of decency; and they are not unfrequently seen in a state of absolute nudity, when perhaps they are most reverenced. They profess to own no property whatever, not even brass cooking or drinking vessels, and a cup made of a gourd is all they usually carry, trusting to charitable people either for cooked food, or for the means of cooking the flour, meal, &c., which is given to them. They have no prejudices as to food, and will eat anything that is cooked by Sikh or Hindoo families, except meat, which they have abjured. They do not smoke tobacco, but have no objection to opium. In some instances they shave the head; but, for the most part wear their own hair tied up in a knot on the crown of the head, and it is always matted and uncombed. Their total absence of clothing is, in some degree, compensated by wood ashes, which they smear over their bodies from head to foot, and are preserved by them from the effects of heat in summer and cold in winter; but the privations they undergo, from the ill effects of which they believe they are protected by the sacred nature of then calling, are almost beyond conception. In this respect they rival, if they do not exceed, the Hindoo Bairagees. Their profession is not hereditary, and is assumed by all classes of Siklis in pursuance of vows, of disappointment in life, or religious fanaticism. When it is taken up, the Oodassee abjures all ties of kindred and worldly possessions, and betakes himself voluntarily to the course he must lead until death. He can make no claim upon his kinsfolk, for all bond of union has been severed between them. In the guise in which he is depicted in the Photograph he wanders where he will, without covering night or day, trusting to charity for his support, and fasting if alms are not given to him. Occasionally he is found singing or reciting the doctrines of Nanuk; but very frequently a vow of silence has been voluntarily imposed, under which he does not even beg. So long, however, as Sikhs are to be met with he is in no fear of starvation, and the humblest food suffices for his wants.