PENANCE OF AN INDIAN HOLY MAN.
SMEARED SADHU. BOMBAY. ' The life of a holy man in India is not always a bed of roses; often his bed is one of nails. ’ Holy men are plentiful in India. Anybody can be a sadhu by growing long hair, smearing his body with ashes and paint, and cultivating a far-away look. Consequently, they are so numerous that the genuine ones among them must do something to impress the multitude. Many of them fast for long periods. Others bury their heads in the ground. Some make long pilgrimages hy rolling themselves along the ground, hut most of thorn choose the bed of nails as a means of paying penance for the past or of acquiring merit for the future. A sadhu whom J photographed at his mid-day halt had suspended his trolley-bed from the branch- of a tree, as befits one who was already half-way to Heaven. He had been sitting on his perambulating lied of nail's for seven years, traversing the banks of the holy rivers of India. He hoped to continue his torturous way until there was ho more holy ground to cover,or until his soul passed over the border.
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Dunstan Times, Issue 3360, 15 August 1927, Page 2
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198PENANCE OF AN INDIAN HOLY MAN. Dunstan Times, Issue 3360, 15 August 1927, Page 2
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