ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BAIR&#256G&#298S</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BAIRG*S"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BAIR&#256G&#298S, or Vair&#257g&#299s, are a sect of Hindu ascetics, eschewing colour or passion and detached from all worldly allurements. Founded by Sr&#299 Anand, the 12th spiritual descendant of R&#257m&#257nand, the sect comprises a class of nomadic penitents, living a secluded life of extreme poverty, wearing minimum of clothing and living on begging. They cast ashes upon their long hair and rub their bodies over with these, too. The sect is divided into four different orders, viz. R&#257m&#257nand&#299, Vi&#7779&#7751usv&#257m&#299, N&#299m&#257nand&#299 and M&#257dhavach&#257rya, of whom only R&#257m&#257nand&#299 and N&#299m&#257nand&#299 orders are found in the Punjab. The R&#257m&#257nand&#299s are, like Vi&#7779&#7751usv&#257m&#299s, the devotees of Lord R&#257ma/ K&#7771&#7779&#7751a; they celebrate the 8th of Bh&#257do&#7749 as the date of incarnation of their deity, study and revere the <i>Bh&#257gavadg&#299t&#257</i> as their scripture, and visit Vrind&#257van, Dv&#257rk&#257 and Mathur&#257 as places of pilgrimage. They, as a rule, abstain from flesh and drink, but lately some of them have begun to make an exception in the case of hemp. The R&#257m&#257nand&#299s among them have the trident marked, as their insignia, on their foreheads in white the central prong being sometimes in red also, whereas the Ni&#257m&#257nand&#299s wear all white, a two-pronged fork on their forehead, the shape signifying the figure of Nar Si&#7749gh, lit. man-lion, believed in Hindu mythology to be the incarnation of God who saved Bhakta Prahl&#257d. They lived, for the most part, in monasteries and were for some time quite a respectable class of <i>faq&#299rs</i>, a few of them rising quite high in the social set-up as well. Baron Charles Hugel, the famous German traveller who visited northern India during the reign of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, mentions one T&#257m&#363 or T&#257m&#363 Sh&#257h, who was the <i>waz&#299r</i>, i. e. minister, of the R&#257j&#257 of Nandau&#7751.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Sikh texts espouse the householder's life rejecting renunciation, contain passages criticizing the life-style of the Bair&#257g&#299s. According to the Sikh point of view, a true Bair&#257g&#299 is one who cultivates a sense of <i>bair&#257g</i>, i. e. detachment, towards the material world while still living the life of a common house-holder, adheres to high moral and ethical standards, and attunes himself completely to the Will of God, constantly meditating upon His name. "He who hath his mind fully in control call him alone a <i>bair&#257g&#299</i>, " says Gur&#363 Amar D&#257s, N&#257nak III (GG, 569).</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Crooke, W. , <i>The Tribes and Castes of the North Western India</i>. Delhi, 1974<BR> <li class="C1"> Rose, H. A. , <i>A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Ghurye, G. S. , <i>Indian Sadhus</i>. Bombay, 1964<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">B. S. Nijjar<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>