Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1914 — MARCH THROUGH FIRE [ARTICLE]

MARCH THROUGH FIRE

Ceremony of a Sect of Brahmins In Honor of Gode of Fire and Water. Six thousand Hindu* and & select tew English officials have recently witnessed in the neighborhood of Madras a remarkable religious ceremony, the principal actors being Soivrastas, a sect of Brahmins, k The festival was called “the march through fire," and it ir appropriately enough named. The proceedings were in honor of Brahma and Vishnu, the gods of water and fire. Preparations for the ceremony had been going on for a month. A trench twenty-three feet long and nineteen feet deep was dug, and in it a fire was kindled. 41 sunrise forty fanatics, who were to demonstrate their asbestos nature, slowly marched around the furnace bearing the curious idols. The Soivrastas were clothed in yellow tunics, and without hesitation entered train of which was “Govindaf Govinr da!” After walking around this artificial Gehenna tnree times they emerged apparently none the worse for their experience, and' have established an unassailable claim for sanctity among their people.