Article October 19, 1899 Issue

Miscellany

I met in India an intelligent Sikh from the Punjab, and asked him about his religion. He replied, "I believe in one god, and I repeat my prayers, called japji, every morning and evening. These prayers occupy six pages of print, but I can get through them in a little more than ten minutes."

He seemed to pride himself on this rapid recitation as a work of increased merit. I said, "What else does your religion require of you?"

He replied, "I have made one pilgrimage to a holy well near Amritsar. Eighty-five steps lead down to it. I descended and bathed in the sacred pool. Then I ascended one step, and repeated my japji in about ten minutes. Then I descended again to the pool and bathed again, and ascended to the second step, and repeated my japji a second time. Then I descended a third time and bathed, and ascended to the third step and repeated my japji a third time; and so on for the whole eighty-five steps, eighty-five bathings, and eighty-five repetitions of the same prayers. It took me exactly fourteen hours, from 5 P. M., one evening, to 7 A.M., next morning,"

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