On the subject-matter of this article the best thing in English is the Introductory Essay by the Capuchin Fr. Cuthbert on "The Spirit and Genius of the Franciscan Friars," in The Friars and how they came to England (1903) ; see also the earlier chapters of Emil Gebhard's Italie mystique (1899). (E. C. B.) Indian.—From early times detachment from the world and the practice of austerities have been regarded in India as conducive to a spirit of godliness, and ultimately to a state of ecstatic com munion with the Deity. On these grounds it was actually laid down as a rule for a man solicitous for his spiritual welfare to pass the last two of the four stages (airanu2) of his life in such conditions of renunciation and self-restraint. These tendencies have been most extensively cultivated in connection with the Siva cult. Indeed, the personality of the stern God himself exhibits this feature in a very marked degree, whence the term inahliyogi or "great ascetic" is often applied to him.
Of Saiva mendicant and ascetic orders, the following may be mentioned: (I) Dandis (Saivaite mendicant order) or staff bearers, who carry a wand with a piece of red cloth, containing the sacred cord, attached to it, and also wear one or more pieces of cloth of the same colour. They worship Siva in his form of Bhai rava, the "terrible." A sub-section of this order are the Dandi
Dasnamis, or Dandi of ten names, so called from their assuming one of the names of Sankara's four disciples, and six of their pupils. (2) Yogis (or popularly, Jogis), i.e., adherents of the Yoga philosophy and the system of ascetic practices enjoined by it with the view of mental abstraction and the supposed attain ment of superhuman powers. (3) Sannyasis, devotees who "re nounce" earthly concerns, an order not confined either to the Brahmanical caste or to the Saiva persuasion. Those of the latter are in the habit of smearing their bodies with ashes, and wearing a tiger-skin and a necklace or rosary of rudrakslza berries (Elaeo carpus Ganitrus, lit. "Rudra's eye"), sacred to Siva, and allowing their hair to grow till it becomes matted and filthy. (4) Parma hainsas, i.e., "supreme geese (or swans)," a term applied to the world-soul with which they claim to be identical. This is the high est order of asceticism, members of which are supposed to be solely engaged in meditating on the Brahma, and to be "equally in different to pleasure or pain, insensible of heat or cold, and incap able of satiety or want." Some of them go about naked, but the majority are clad like the Dandis. (5) Aghora Panthis, a vile and disreputable class of mendicants, now rarely met with.