Brahmachari
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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Brahmachari
A youth of either of the three first pure classes during his pupilage and while studying the Vedas. A mendicant who professes to have prolonged the period of student¬ship and to observe through life the practi?e of study, poverty, and contmence. In general, however, an ignorant vagrant; a Brahman recluse; a title of Brahmans.
Notes
This is a term applied to a mendicant who professes to have prolonged the period of studentship, and to observe through life the practice of study, poverty, and continence; but in Bengal it signifies a Saiva ascetic. Under this name are usually included four classes, the Suddhachari, Brahmachari, Pasuachari, and Dvidhachari, which are alike in admitting only Brahmans into their ranks.
The Suddha, or stainless Achari, is a celibate, who lives on Atapa rice, milk, and vegetables, and is obliged to use Ghi in cooking instead of oil. Tobacco is allowed, and sweetmeats if prepared by an ascetic, but only one cooking pot can be used for preparing a meal. He wears the sacred cord, and the hair is left uncut and unkempt. The sectarial mark, or Tilaka, is a perpendicular streak made with dark clay from the Ganges.
The four classes are distinguished from other orders by garments, stained of red ochre colour, called Gairika (Geru) Vasana, or bhagavan Vastra. The principal shrine of the Suddhacharis is in Nadiya, at Bela-Pokharia, on the Hughli.
The Brahmachari often reside in Akharas without any pretensions to sanctity, eating flesh, drinking spirits and Bhang, and leading a life of sensuality without any fear of losing their hold on the consciences of the credulous multitude.
The Pasuachari correspond with the Grihi Vaishnavas living secular lives, and only distinguished from other villagers by their unshaven chins and ochre-dyed clothes. The Dvidhachari is the same as the Vanaprastha, who leaves his home, assuming the garb of a hermit, as soon as his wife bears a son.
All Saiva mendicants regard Sankaracharya, who lived in the eighth or ninth century, as their founder. His four disciples, "prabhus" they are usually called, Padmapada, Hastamalaka, Suresvara, and Trotaka, settled on different sides of India, at Jagannath, Haridvara, Dvaraka, and Ramesvara, which are still visited by all Saiva pilgrims. The "prabhus" left ten disciples, after whom the ten orders of Saiva ascetics (Dasnami) are named. Of these the Giri, or Gir, is the only one found in Eastern Bengal.
In the centre of the Ramna, or park of Dacca, rises the pyramidal spire of a famous Akhara, founded by Uttama Gir, a renowned saint, who could even transmute metals. When the Muhammadans first came to Dacca the Nawab built a summer house in this park, but his rest was disturbed by the constant blowing of chank shells.
A peremptory order was issued to stop the unseasonable noise; but the same night the Nawab was taken ill, and did not recover until the ascetics had been granted full permission to perform their religious ceremonies according to custom. In acknowledgment of his wonderful recovery, the Nawab gave the garden house to the Saiva mendicants, who built on the site an Akhara, called the Prakasa Datta, or Kath-ghar, long celebrated for its footprint of Sankaracharya. This temple was pillaged by the Nagas, or Sannyasis, in 1763, and has since been gradually falling into ruins.
The existing Akhara was built in place of the two older
ones, and is popularly known as Hari Charan Girs, a famous superior of former days. The temple is richly endowed, and is
liberally supported by the inhabitants of Dacca. Maharajas of
Kochh Bihar and Tipperah, and Rajas of Chandradvip, have at different times given grants of lands for its maintenance, but most of these have been resumed. Several branch temples have been established around Dacca in connection with this Akhara, which add considerable funds to the annual income, while one-sixth of the gross receipts of the Dhakesvari shrine are paid to the Mahant. The temples at Sitakhund in Chittagong have, within the last few years, been handed over to his care, and the post of head of the infamous Tara Kesvara temple in Hughli was unsuccessfully claimed by the present Mahant.
The Gosain of the Dacca Akhara is Kali Gir, a Gaur Brahman, well known in every court and jail of Eastern Bengal. The high-sounding titles with which he begins every petition are Paramananda Giri, Paramhansa, Paribrajuk, Sri Prakasa, Kali Charan Gir, Gosvami, Mahant. Although is life is notoriously unsaintly, crowns of women resort to the Akhara, especially on festival days, and worship him with the same extravagant devotion as the Vaishnava does his Gosain. In the sanctuary of this temple are two large idols of Kali and Krishna, made of the eight metals (ashta-dhatu), regarded by the Hindus with superstitious fears, one the gift of a Maharajah of Kochh Bihar, the other of a ruler of Tipperah.
All Brahmacharis worship Siv and Kali, and their religious observances are those prescribed in the Sama Veda and the Tantras, often including the impure practices attending the Sakti ritual. Bloody sacrifices, libations of ghi and spirits, as well as offerings of fruits and flowers, are presented to the deity.
A Brahmachari, after spending ten years of devotion in an Akhara, can return home, burn his sacred thread, and swallow the ashes, after which he may assume the garb of a Dandi. If during another period of ten years he has complied with all the requirements of the grade, he becomes a Paramhansa, and must remain seated for twelve years in one position without asking charity, or accepting viands, but those voluntarily offered.
Surviving this prolonged penance, which is seldom tried, and scarcely ever accomplished, the devotee assumes the title of Maha Paramhansa, becoming a part of the divine spirit. It is remarkable how similar these different grades of holiness are to the various stages of Cufi abstraction. The yearning desire for a closer communion with God is characteristic of both, and their common goal is complete absorption into the divine essence.
Members of Hindustani Saiva sects are occasionally met with in Dacca on their way to some holy place, but they very rarely settle, or prolong their stay.In addition to the Vaishnava and Saiva sects, four others are met with in Eastern Bengal. The Sri-Narayana calls itself deist, but the great annual gathering is for the most part a scene of intemperance and vice. The members chiefly belong to low castes, who regard the drinking of spirits and the smoking of Ganjha as the greatest enjoyments in life.
The Nanak Shahi and Suthra Shahi sects, transplanted from the Punjab, have never become acclimatized in Bengal. They have no root in the affections of the people, and are gradually perishing for want of support.
The Tri-nath Pujah, a modern excrescence peculiar to Eastern Bengal, has attracted great numbers of the most credulous and foolish of the people. The intoxication produced by Indian hemp is considered to be the illumination of the Spirit, and essential to the proper performance of their religious duties. The evil effects of this debasing worship are obvious, but up to 1875 it had spread with wonderful rapidity throughout Eastern Bengal, although no respectable Sudra had openly enrolled himself in its ranks.
1 For further particulars of the sect consult Wilson's "Religious Sects of the Hindus," i, 213, and "J.R.A.S..," vol. v, 268.
