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Volume 3 9 |
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A–Z |  |
FAKIRS OF INDIA AND THEIR ASHEN COUNTENANCES
| Forbidden by their religion to wash themselves or use water for purposes of cleanliness, the fakirs are addicted to rubbing themselves with ashes, which, as can be seen in the case of two among this group of dusky wanderers, has the effect, if not of entirely cleaning them, at least of considerably lightening their darkness. It will be noted that one is reading to the company |
BARE FEET AND RED-HOT CINDERS AT A FESTIVAL IN MADRAS
| Asceticism in India takes many strange forms. To cultivate a state of mind which has as its central fact indifference — indifference to the body and its needs, desires, and dislikes — is the end held in view, and to gain it, many are prepared to perform, with smiles, extraordinary feats of self-torture. These fire walkers wear garlands, and rings on their toes. Beneath the umbrellas is an altar |