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[edit] Ramavat

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A sect of Vaishnavas.

[edit] Notes

This is essentially a Hindustani sect, no native of Bengal being admitted into its ranks, although its Akharas are wholly supported by the contributions of rich Bengali families. As a rule the Ramavats are recruited from among the Kanaujiya Brahmans, but other castes are occasionally received into religious communion, it remaining optional with any one to decline eating with them. At a casual visit to a Ramavat Akhara sixteen men and one Brahmani woman were interrogated, when thirteen men were found to be Hindustani Brahmans; one a Sannyasi, and probably a Brahman; one an Uriya Chhatri, and one an Ahir. Women are sometimes inducted, and treated as sisters, but should any glaring immorality be detected the sinners are expelled.

The largest and most frequented Ramavat Akhara in Dacca, called Lal Bihari, after one of the names of Krishna, has for thirty years been ruled by Har Bhojan Das, a Kanaujiya Brahman from Ayodhya, the disciple of a former Mahant, who when dying bestowed "Upadesa," or religious iniiation, on this his chosen successor. Another popular Akhara, known as "Sama Sundara," or Krishna, has as its Mahant as Kanajiya Brahman, whose "chela," or disciple, is a Brahman of Faizabad.

1 Regarding the peculiar doctrines of the Ramavats, see Wilson's "Religion of the Hindus," vol. i, 46-68.

The founder of this sect was Ramanand, the disciple of the still more famous Ramanuja, who lived towards the end of the fourteenth century of our era. Notwithstanding that discipline is stricter in this than in sects of Bengali origin, the Mahant is not worshipped, but only obeyed and respected as a holy man, while adoration is paid to Vishnu, or Rama-Chandra, alone. He is the patron god of the Ramavat community, but his worship has in some instances been supplanted by that of Hari, who is identified with Krishna.

There are different grades among Ramavats, the most austere being the "Tapasi,1 erroneously styled Jogis; Ashmen, the early English travellers happily called them. They wander throughout India almost naked, smeared over with ashes, and stupefied with ganjha, refusing to bend the knee before any idol, or any potentate, or to accept lodgings; but residing under a tree, in ruins, or among tombs�wherever, indeed, shelter is afforded, and a prospect of food invites them.

The majority of the sect call themselves Ramavat Sadhu, or ascetics, who, in Bengal at least, dress in questionable taste, at the most wearing a rope round the waist, and a cloth of scanty dimensions round the loins. A few shave the head and beard, but the greatest number cherish a profusion of long tangled locks rolled round the head like a turban, or wound in coils and tied in a large knot over the left ear.

Celibacy is strictly enjoined, but there are no more dissolute and licentious rogues to be met with, even in Bengal, than these ascetics. Aspirants for admission into the society have to undergo a period of probation, the Mahant, who alone can initiate, first satisfying himself of their sincerity and worthiness; but after admission the novice may allow his passions to run riot, if he does not publicly scandalise his brethren. At initiation the new convert is enrolled in a gotra, called "Aichittra," 2 to which all Ramavats belong.

Ramavats are generally very illiterate, and can seldom read or write. Certain of them falter through a Nagari book, but few understand what they read. The rule of the sect is confined in the pages of the Ramayana, the Sri Bhagavat, and the Bhagavat-gita. Brindaban is the headquarters of Ramavats worshipping Krishna; Ayodhya of those adoring Rama.

The chief aim of the Ramawats is the conclusion of a pilgrimage to all the holy shrines of India. From Dwaraka to Sita-Khund, in Chittagong, and from Gangutri to Ramesvara, the enthusiast wanders without fear, picking up an uncertain meal from any random traveller. Ganjha is their chief solace,

1 From the Sanskrit Tapas, penance.

and it is surprising with what impunity they smoke it in their journeyings, and when stationary in their Akharas. If, as is generally believed, Indian hemp induces insanity, it is strange that a Ramavat is rarely admitted into a lunatic asylum. Natives addicted to its use maintain that if abundance of highly nutritious food be taken at the same time, ganjha may be smoked with perfect safety for years. There seem to be grounds for this assertion, and if care be taken to regulate the quantity consumed to the daily food, no bad effects are produced. The Ramavat is usually fuddled, but this state is regarded as religious abstraction, and ganjha, according to him, by stimulating the imaginative faculties, and determining the ideas, fixes them on the god he is always contemplating. As with the Vaishnavas his highest ambition is to feel for Rama a sensual and emotional desire, which it is the peculiar property of ganjha to impart. He therefore regards the smoking of the weed as an imperative duty, enabling him to abandon the world and its pleasures, and to live in continuous ecstatic contemplation of the deity.

The ordinary diet of a Sadhu consists of the following articles: �

Milk, 4 lbs. Ata (wheat flour), 1 1/2 lb. Ghi (butter) 4 ounces. Vegetables and fruit, ad libitum.

On this diet he can safely smoke five pipes of ganjha a day, and five at night, the quantity taken with each depending on the taste and nerves of the smoker, but a quarter of a tola, or forty-five grains, is the average portion.

The ecstatic state is by these ascetics designated "Khiyal," a dreamy, sensual reverie, in which the emotional affections predominate; or "Ananda," in which the mind is quiescent, and the devotee enjoys enchanting peace, and perfect resignation.

As with the Vaishnavas all forms of adoration, beyond the unceasing repetition of the name Rama, or Hari, are deemed useless, but in every Akhara there is an idol tended at regular hours, when Sankh shells are blown, and gongs sounded, while offerings of flowers and fruit are presented by the laity. Besides, in the courtyard there is usually a Tulasi plant, which is carefully cherished, and in the sanctuary a Salagram, sharing equal adoration with the idol.

The abstractions of the Sadhus are often so prolonged as to necessitate the use of a bamboo crutch (bans-ka-kubri). Their necklaces, made of Rudraksha wood (Eleaeocarpus ganitrus), must consist of seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one, fifty-four, or a hundred and eight beads.