The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 56

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06

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

that the heat from the fire may touch him from all
sides.

Upon their arrival in the sacred city the pil-
grims will be taken charge of by Brahmin priests,
who gain their living by serving the pilgrims with
advice and assisting them in performing their re-
ligious ceremonies. It goes without saying that the
pilgrims will be impressed with the need of these
priests’ help and that it will be made plain to them
that without the assistance of the Brahmin guides
their performance of these religious rites would lose
much, if not all, efficacy. The services of these re-
ligious guides are richly rewarded by the wealthy
pilgrims, while the fees which these priests demand
of the poor are such that after paying them the
victims are beggared. During the one month of the
Mela these Brahmin priests take in enough money
to keep them in luxury and idleness the rest of the
year. It may interest our readers to hear that these

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Among those who ply a brisk trade at this an-
nual fair are the native barbers of Allahabad; for
after his washing in the Ganges every Hindu must
have his head shaved, with the exception of the
“scalp lock,’ by which the angels are supposed to
carry him to heaven. If the angels do not find this
lock on his head at the time of his death, he is
doomed to purgatory.

The “Great Day” of the Mela.

An eye-witness describes the “great day” of the
Adh Khumobhi Mela at Allahabad in the following
language in Travel: —

“The greatest events of the day were the proces-
sions of the Saddhus, which passed constantly down
the road to the river. The Saddhus are the holiest
of the fakirs. One sect of them, called the Digam-
bari, lives in the mountain solitudes and wears no
clothing, the name Digambari meaning a garment

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enterprising priests send advertising agents through- made of the four winds of heaven. When it is

out India every year to induce the people to come
to the Magh Mela at Allahabad. The agents some-
times succeed in persuading whole villages to make
the holy pilgrimage. And not only the priests seek
to have the Mela fill their pockets; there are many
others like them. The Magh Mela attracts a great
number of shrewd merchants, more intent upon
driving a good bargain than honoring the gods.
Food-stalls are erected everywhere. Bazaar shops
Spring up on all sides like mushrooms, selling all
kinds of food and merchandise, trinkets, charms,
and rosaries. Merchants are also at hand to pro-
vide the pilgrims with the necessary offerings to be
made to Mother Ganges, such as' rice, ghee, milk,
fruits, and flowers. Other venders are ready for
the proper price to sell the pious pilgrims souvenirs
of their pilgrimage, bits of sacred Ganges mud
hardened into thin sticks, and small bottles of
holy Ganges water to take home as bringers of
good luck.

necessary for them to come to a village to beg food
or do puja (a holy work) for the villagers, some
one first takes out to them a blanket, which they
must wear while going among the people. Only
during the Kumnbh and Adh Kumnbhi are they
allowed to appear publicly dressed only in their
‘garments of the four winds.’ This is the dis-
tinguishing feature of the great Melas, making
them more sacred than those of ordinary years.
Hundreds of Digambaris gather at the Mela and
are joined in the procession by many priests and
less sacred fakirs. The Saddhus, or fakirs, walk in
the procession, but the priests of high rank, espe-
cially the Brahmins, are carried in richly decorated
palanquins. Images of Vishnu, Ram, Krishna,
Siva, Ganesh, and other Hindu deities are also car-
ried in palanquins. One procession was especially
striking because in it marched a company of women
fakirs, each with long hair and a single garment of
yellow cloth.