Note 68 — The Sixteenth New Year’s Feast after the Auspicious Accession

At this time it was reported to me that there was a Sannyāsī Motī68 in the neighbourhood who had entirely renounced control over himself. I ordered them to bring him that I might ascertain the real state of affairs. They call Hindu devotees Sarb bāsī.69 By usage the word has become San-nyāsī (laying down everything). There are many degrees among them, and there are several orders among the Sarb bāsī. Among them there is the Motī order. They put themselves into the figure of a cross (?) (ṣalb ik͟htiyār mīkunand) and surrender themselves (taslīm70 mīsāzand). For instance, they never speak. If for ten days and nights they stand in one place, they do not move their feet forwards or backwards; in fact, make no movement at all, and remain like fossils. When he came into my presence I examined him, and found a wonderful state of persistence. It occurred to me that in a state of drunkenness and absence of mind and delirium, some change might be wrought in him. Accordingly I ordered them to give him some cups of spirit (ʿaraq) of double strength. This was done in royal fashion (liberally?), but not the least change took place, and he remained in the same impassive state. At last his senses left him, and they carried him out like a corpse. God Almighty granted him mercy so that he did not lose his life. Certainly there was great persistence in his nature.