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RELIGIOUS SECTS
new Mahant is then regularly installed, and is formally invested with the cap, the rosary, the frontal mark, or Tikú, or any other monastic insignia, by the president of the assembly. Under the native Government, whether Mohammedan or Hindu—the election of the superior of one of these establishments was considered as a matter of sufficient moment to demand the attention of the Governor of the province, who, accordingly, in person, or by his deputy, presided at the election: at present, no interference is exercised by the ruling authorities, and rarely by any lay character, although occasionally, a Rájá, or a Zemindár, to whose liberality the Math is indebted, or in whose lands it is situated, assumes the right of assisting and presiding at the election.
The Mahants of the sects, in which the election takes places, are generally assisted by those of the sects connected with them: each is attended by a train of disciples, and individuals of various mendicant tribes repair to the meeting; so that an assemblage of many hundreds, and sometimes of thousands, occurs: as far as the resources of the Math, where they are assembled, extend, they are maintained at its expence; when those fail, they must shift for themselves; the election is usually a business of ten or twelve days, and during the period of its continuance, various points of polity or doctrine are discussed in the assembly.
Most of the Maths have some endowments of land, but with the exception of a few established in large cities, and especially at Benares, the individual amount
