INDIAN BEGGARS

Evening Star, Issue 18650, 3 June 1924, Page 3

INDIAN BEGGARS

India’s professional beggars may be classified in three groups, writes a correspondent in the ‘ Daily Mail ’; — 1. The Pathetic Beggars. These are found in every town, village, hamlet, and roadside ‘in the country. They meet you at every turn, and their piteous plea for alms rises everlastingly to heaven—but rarely reaches the heart of man. They comprise the sick a,ml maimed: many wanting toes and lingers, physically incapable of grasping the coins thrown to thorn. 2. The Holy Beggars. These for the most part arb peripatetic, and wander over the countryside, many of them naked save for a loin cloth, with their bodies smeared with ash and naffron, and their hair uncut, matted, and dishevelled. They wear strings of berries round their nocks, and carry in one hand a boll, the ringing of which constitutes their solo appeal for charity, and in the other hand a howl in which “all contributions are thankfully received,” literally.

,‘i. the Tamasha Beggars. These do it because they like it. It is good fun, and a jolly life. lake tho “ holy ” beggars, they wander from village In village, and are assured of a welcome wherever they go. They rely for the most part on their fantastic get-up to win them sympathy, and in concocting their fancy dress nothing comes amiss.