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CORPORAL PENANCES
535
devotee must then wash it in
Then it must be made
to it.
To effect this a long inhala-
to return to its proper place.
tion must be made through the right nostril, accompanied
Behold, great goddess, freed
by the following words
A sacrifice has
from sin, you are the mother of the world
been offered in your honour. Return now to the place that
you occupied before.'
This is the exercise of the ashta-yoga. It was by practis-
ing this, the author asserts, that Siva became the ruler of
Durga, the
Indra, the lord of the Swarga
the world
mother of all living creatures and Vishnu, the preserver
Man of Sin dwelt, the
warm water and offer puja
the
:
—
'
!
;
;
;
of all things.
There are many other yogams. In the chapter on the
sandhya, I gave a description of the santi-yoga, which serves
as a kind of preparation to the Brahmin's daily sacrifice.
But enough has perhaps been said to show how puerile are
the religious exercises of the Hindu ascetics.
They have, by way of supererogation, eighteen kinds of
tapasas or corporal penances, of increasing degrees of
A recluse selects the one for which he feels
severity.
most inclination. Among the most painful may be men-
tioned that which consists in being exposed, stark naked,
to the sun for the whole day in the hottest weather, and
surrounded on all sides by huge fires and that in which
the devotee remains for a whole day immersed up to the
neck in cold water, with a wet cloth round the head, during
the coldest season of the year. These are called pancha-
tapasas (the five penances).
One often sees devotees holding their arms folded above
their heads, in which position they remain till the nerves
become so strained and benumbed by the prolonged tension
that they cannot regain their normal position.
Others, again, stand on one foot, holding the other foot
in the air until the leg swells and inflames and breaks out
all over into sores.
Hindu books are full of the merits of these yogams and
Amongst other self-inflicted tortures they give an
lapasas.
honourable place to one which is in fact the ne plus ultra
It consists in holding the breath for such
of its kind.
a length of time that the soul, forced to depart from the
;