The Book Was The
Original Law Of Gooroo Gurunth Sahib, Which They Had Just Finished
Reading, And, As We Entered,
They were commencing to cover it up
again, which they did, with great pomp and ceremony, in a number of
Cloths of various patterns, after which they distributed the votive
offerings among themselves and the people present, and held a sort of
banquet over the sweets and flowers. In the midst of the proceedings,
a very fine specimen of the race of Fukeer came in, and presenting
an offering of the smallest, laid his head upon the ground before the
book, and, without a word, took himself off again. He was girt round
the loins with a yellowish-red cloth; his body, from head to foot,
was covered with ashes. The hair of his head was matted together in
strips, like the tail of an uncared cow, and reached to his waist. A
shallow earthen pot was his hat, and over his shoulders hung two large
gourds, suspended by a cord, while in his hand he carried a long staff,
covered over with stuff of the same kind as that round his waist. Such
was the figure which entered among the gaily-dressed multitude in the
saintly durbar; and, although to the assembled people there appeared
nothing whatever either strange or unusual in the arrival, to us,
who were looking on, the contrast between the unclad dirty mendicant,
and the pure white vestments of the Sikhs around, rendered it a most
striking and remarkable apparition.
On entering, he had removed the earthen pot which formed his hat, and,
one of the two gourds which were round his shoulders having fallen to
the ground in the act, it was amusing to see him pause for a second,
and anxiously examine whether any compound fracture had taken place
in the precious article of his very limited dinner service. One
extremity of the building we found was occupied for Hindoo worship;
so that fraternity and equality, worthy of imitation seems to be
the order of the day among the religions of Umritsur. The interior
was richly decorated with gilding and mirrors, &c., but was little
worthy of remark in comparison with the richness of the exterior
effect. Presenting a "bukshish" to the expectant padres who guarded
the sacred book, we left them to their devotions, and betook ourselves
once more to our bungalow.
OCTOBER 23. - Travelling all night, we reached Jullunder at six
A.M., and, after breakfast, again started for Loodianah, where we
dined. We here again crossed the Sutlej, but, the water being low,
boat navigation was dispensed with, and a shaky bridge, and about
two miles of sandy river-bed, completed the passage.
At Loodianah we were stormed by a host of merchants, with pushmeena
and other soft matters, who were rather disappointed at finding we
had come from the birth-place of such like manufactures. Some of the
local shawls, however, or "Rampore chudders," were beautifully fine
and delicate, and seemed worthy of inspection.
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