JOGI or Yogi is a term properly applied to the followers of the Yoga or Patanjala school of philo sophy, which, amongst other tenets, maintained the practicability of acquiring, even in life, entire command over elementary matter, by means of certain ascetic practices, consisting of long-con 1 tinued suppression of respiration and other pueril ities, such as fixing the eyes on the tip of the nose. Individuals are still met with who thus strive to effect a union between the portion of vital spirit residing in the body and that which pervades all ature, and the hysterical hallucinations which low give airy nothings a local habitation and a na e. It was practised in India so early as the 8th c ntury. In the temples of Salsette, Elephants, and Ellora, the principal figure is mostly Siva, decorated with ear-rings, such as are worn by the Kanp'hata Jogi sect. The walls are covered with ascetics in the various Asana or positions in which the Yogi is to sit. The cells attached to some of the temples are also indicative of Jogi residence, and one of the caves of Salsetto is named that of Jogeswara, or Siva as the lord of Jogi. The Jogi sect of Gorakhnath are usually called Kan p'hata, from having their ears bored, and rings in serted into them at the time of their initiation. They may be of any of the Hindu castes, and live as ascetics in mat'hs. Siva is the object of their worship. They officiate, indeed, as his priests, especially at the celebrated Lat of Bhairava at Hennes. They mark the forehead with a trans verse line of ashes, and smear the body with the same ; they travel in a cap of patch-work, and garments died with red ochre. Some simply wear a dhoti or cloth round the loins. The Sar inghilia are a Jogi sect who use the saringhi or lute, and beg in the name of Bhairava. Another sect is the Duri-hara, from their peddling in thread to the housewives of the villages ; the Matsyendri or Macchendri, from Matsyendri, whom they regard as their founder, are a third sect ; and a fourth is the Bhartihari. They are all errants and mendicants, and many assume the character merely to lead a lazy life ; there are even Muham madan Jogi. In the Dekhan they seem to bo arranged into 12 orders Dubray Jogi or Bal sante ka Jogi.
Khani Bhai tie heavy stones to their body, beg, and sell medicine& Launghoti Jogi or Jugged' Jogi are merchants, selling beads.
Kanp'hata Jogi or Sonari Jogi live in temples, and are the priests.
Tingri ka Jogi, musicians, performing on the tingri. Soot pat bechno•wala Jogi sell beads of coral, etc. Mendski Jogi beg by beating on the tambourine. Shan ka Jogi.
Kulghari bcchne-wala Jogi sell the drip-stones, which the Doombur caste snake for Brahmans.
Thugganee Jogi sell wooden trays made by carpenters near Dharwar.
Chako or Katti Jogi sell knives and sissors.
Dubbray bajani•wala boat a kind of tambourine.
Their modes of obtaining alms are extremely varied. The Khani Bhai demands alms ; if re fused, ties his lengthened body to the latch of the door ; and many Jogi use musical instruments to sing to and attract attention. The women make rings, beads, and toys for sale. They never devote their women to the gods. Their marriages take place in early youth, and cost about Rs. 50 or 60. Two or three wives aro sometimes in one house hold. The dead of the sect are buried by the Vaisya caste. In Persia, the term Jogi or Yogi is given to all Hindu religious mendicants, and to pilgrims who are occasionally seen there, on their way to Baku and other places of pilgrimage.
Mewar could always muster many hundreds of the Kanfera or Kanp'hata Jogi, or split-ear ascetics, so called from tho habit of piercing the ear and placing therein a ring of the conch-shell, which is their battle trumpet. The Bhartrihari Jogi mendi cants profess to have been instituted by Bhartri hari, brother of Vikramaditya, in the century before Christ. In the early part of tho 19th century was a remarkable Mahapurush at the Ghosaul's of Kidderpur, a man about 40 years of age, with a very fair complexion, and jet-black hair, who did not eat or drink anything, nor speak a word, but remained in a sitting posture, with his legs and thighs crossed, absorbed in medita tion. In 1867 there was a Jogi thus sitting in one of the caves of Ellora, who had sat there for five years, and the people said they were unaware who brought him food. Garments coloured with geru, or red ochre, are worn by all classes of mendi cants, and a little horn is often suspended around tho neck. The Moodra, a round prickly seed, is worn by the ascetics as ear-rings. The Jogi's patera is a hollow gourd ; that of the divinity Hari (the god of war) is the human cranium.— Fraser's Journey into Khorasan, p. 394 ; iVilson ; Tr, of Hind. i. p. 43 ; Tad's Rajasthan, ii. p. 236 ; Wils. Gloss.; Wilson's Hindu Sects.