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ON THE SIKHS.
holidays, as the Holi, the Dasahará, the Dewálí. The latter is the favourite season of pilgrimage to Amritsar.
The initiation of a Sikh convert is termed the Páhul, and is thus described by Captain Murray. "The candidate and the initiator wash their feet in the same water, which they then drink, having put some sugar into it, and stirred it with a dagger; repeating several moral stanzas, and taking a sip between each, exclaiming, 'Wah, wah Govind Sikh. Áp hi Guru chelá!' Govind Sikh hail, himself teacher and disciple! It should be performed in the presence of at least five Sikhs. It is ascribed to Guru Govind, who, when he had only five followers, went through this form with them, drinking of the water which had washed their feet, and they drinking that which had washed his." Sir John Malcolm gives a somewhat different* and more dilated account of the ceremony, and says nothing of the previous use of the water, which is administered to the convert by the initiator with this injunction, "This sherbet is nectar: it is the water of life; drink it." Having obeyed, the disciple is told to abstain from all association with five classes of men: the Míná Dhírmal, who, though of the family of Nának, attempted to poison Arjun; the Musandiá, a set of Sikh heretics; the Rám Ráyís, the descendants of Rám Ráya, who caused the death of Tegh Sinh; the Kudi-már, or daughter-slayers, or the Rajputs; and the Bhadaní, who shave their heads
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[See also the Panjábí Dict. Lodiana: 1854, s. v.]
