“The candidate is generally a boy, but may be an adult. At the
Sivarâtri festival water brought from a tank in which an image has been
deposited is applied to the head of the novitiate, which is thereupon
shaved.
“The Guru or spiritual guide whispers to the disciple a sacred text
(mantra). In honour of the event all the Gusâîns in the neighbourhood
assemble together, and give their new member their blessing; and a
sweetmeat called laddu, made very large, is distributed among them. The
novitiate is now regarded as a Gusâîn, but he does not become a perfect
one until the Vijaya Homa has been performed, at which a Gusâîn famous
for religion and learning gives him the original mantra of Siva. The
ceremony generally occupies three days at Benares. On the first day,
the Gusâîn is again shaved, leaving a tuft on the head (Chundi sikha).
For that day he is considered a Brâhman, and is obliged to beg at a few
houses. On the second day he is held to be a Brahmachâri, and wears
coloured garments and also the sacred cord (janeû). On the third day
the janeû is taken from him and the headlock cut off. The mantra of
Siva is made known to him, and also the Rudri Gâyatri (not the usual
one daily pronounced by Brâhmans). He is now a full Gusâîn or
Vanaprasta, is removed from other persons, and abandons the secular
world. Henceforth he is bound to observe all the tenets of the Gusâîns.
The complete Gusâîns who have performed the ceremony of the Vijaya Homa
are celibates. It is customary, therefore, for men not to perform it
until they are forty or fifty years of age, as it involves the
abandonment of their wives and families.”
Among the trading Gusâîns the Mahant of Mirzapur, who belongs to the
Giri section, was for a long time notorious among the merchants of
Northern India. Such Gusâîns have practically abandoned all claim to
living a religious life, and exercise no priestly functions. When a
Mahant dies his corpse is taken in a sitting posture to the Ganges,
where it is bathed and barley is sprinkled over it. It is then inclosed
in a stone coffin, which is taken on a barge to the middle of the
river, and consigned to the sacred water.