Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 4.djvu/126

OODASSEES. Ooclassees visit Hindoo shrines as pilgrims, and follow Sikhs in their established localities. Thus they are found all over the Punjab and North- Western Provinces, and as far south as Hyderabad, in the Deccan; where, as also at Nandair, on the Godavery, there are colonies of military Sikhs in the service of the Nizam's government. They are not numerous, however, being the offshoots of a single sect; and are by no means to be compared, either as regards number or estimation, with the Bairagees, Jogies, and Goosains of orthodox Hindoo belief, whom they resemble. They can give no clear account of the original establishment of their sect, but allege that its first professors were told by Nanuk to go naked into the world, and preserve their purity, as a proof of their devotion to his doctrine, and as the means, by these austerities, of attaining eternal bliss. They allege that Nanuk himself was, in fact, an Oodassee; and they affect to despise the present condition of Sikh priests, and their luxuries, not only as contrary to the spirit of their order, but as leading them back into Brahminism, which, to a certain extent, is very true.

Oodasses, as Bairagees, Goosains, &c., do not return to the world. If the former cannot rejoin then families, and resume their old occupations, they can at least join mutts or monasteries, and partake of the worldly pursuits which are carried on therein. But Oodassees have no such institutions; their life is one of unrest and privation, which never alters; nor, once they have embraced it, are they ever seduced from their vows. As an order, the Oodassees live harmlessly and inoffensively among the people. They are not tainted by crime, nor have ever, like many wandering devotees, been suspected of the practice of it. They have usually the title of Bawa, or Father, and the "Oodassee Bawa" is often a welcome guest in Sikh or Hindoo villages or families, reciting his sacred texts, or telling to the wondering ears of listening matrons and children the marvellous scenes of large religious fans and gatherings, of gorgeous Hindoo or Sikh ceremonies, and his own personal adventures. Runjeet Sing was, it is said, a great patron of Oodassees; and among the splendours of his court, it was not unusual to see members of the fraternity, stark naked, and covered with ashes, in company with courtiers and commanders, dressed in cloth of gold and Cashmere shawls. Sometimes one of the class might even receive a handsome shawl, as a tribute to his sanctity, which was thrown for a moment over the emaciated naked body, and given away as recklessly as it had been carelessly received.

Such are Oodassees ; thrown up, as it were, from, in many respects, the purest monotheistic faith in India; the only one which has had the effect of exciting patriotism, and creating a national spiritual dominion; a tribute, as it were, to the Hindooism from which it emerged, and of which it could not be entirely divested.