The novice is dressed in a cloth coloured with geru or red ochre,
such as the Gosains usually wear. It is probable that the red or
pink colour is meant to symbolise blood and to signify that the
Gosains allow the sacrifice of animals and the consumption of flesh,
and on this account they are called Lal Padri or red priest, while
Vishnuite mendicants, who dress in white, are called Sita Padri. He
has a necklace or rosary of the seeds of the rudraksha tree, [103]
sacred to Siva, consisting of 32 or 64 beads. These are like nuts
with a rough indented shell. On his forehead he marks with bhabhut
or ashes three horizontal lines to represent the trident of Siva,
or sometimes the eye of the god. Others make only two lines with a
dot above or below, and this sign is said to represent the phallic
emblem. A crescent moon or a triangle may also be made. [104] The
marks are often made in sandalwood, and the Gosains say that the
original sandalwood grows on a tree in the Himalayas, which is guarded
by a great snake so that nobody can approach it; but its scent is so
strong that all the surrounding trees of the grove are scented with
it and sandalwood is obtained from them. Those who worship Bhairon
make a round mark with vermilion between the eyes, taking it from
beneath the god's foot. A mendicant usually has a begging-bowl and
a pair of tongs, which are useful for kindling a fire. Those who
have visited Badrinath or one of the other Himalayan shrines have a
ring of iron, brass or copper on the arm, often inscribed with the
image of a deity. If they have been to the temple of Devi at Hinglaj
in the Lasbela State of Beluchistan they have a necklace of little
white stone beads called thumra; and one who has made a pilgrimage
to Rameshwaram at the extreme southern point of India has a ring
of conch-shell on the wrist. When he can obtain it a Gosain also
carries a tiger- or panther-skin, which he wears over his shoulders
and uses to sit and lie down on. Among the ancient Greeks it was the
custom to sleep in a temple or its avenue either on the bare ground
or on the skin of a sacred animal, in order to obtain visions or
appearances of the god in a dream or to be cured of diseases. [105]
Formerly the Gosains were accustomed to go about naked, and at the
religious festivals they would go in procession naked to bathe in the
river. At Amarnath in the Punjab they would throw themselves naked
on the block of ice which represented Siva. [106] The Naga Gosains,
so called because they were once accustomed to go naked into battle,
were a famous fighting corps. Though they shave the head and scalp-lock
on initiation the Gosains usually let the hair grow, and either have
it hanging down in matted locks over the shoulders, which gives them
a wild and unkempt appearance, or wind it on the top of the head into
a coil often thickened with strips of sheep's wool. They say that
they let the hair grow in imitation of the ancient forest ascetics,
who could not but let it grow as they had no means to shave it, and
also of the matted locks of the god Siva. Sometimes they let the
hair grow during the whole period of a pilgrimage, and on arrival
at the shrine of their destination shave it off and offer it to the
god. Those who are initiated on the banks of the Nerbudda throw the
hair cut from their head into the sacred river.