Abadhutani
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Abadhutani
A.badhuti, a mem¬ber of a sect of female ascetics said to have been founded by a woman named Gangagiri: hence in Upper India the term A badhuti is commonly applied to all female religious mendicants. Abadhu¬tanis smear themselves with the ashes of burnt cowdung and wander about begging their way on the great pilgrim routes. With few exceptions, they lead an im¬moral life. It should be observed, however, that they are excluded from the pangats or societies of the male Abadhuts, and that an Abadhutani can only be initiated by a woman.the Jal¬dcharani group, from whose hands a Brahman may take water.
