KUMBHUPATIA, a sect of Hindu dissenters, lately founded in the Sumbulpur district, and known as Kumbhupatia, from the fact that its followers wear ropes of bark round their waists. They allege that their religion was revealed to 64 persons in 1864 by a god incarnate, whom they style Alckhswamy,—that is, the Lord, —whose attributes cannot be described in writing. They believe in Hindu deities, but do not respect images, saying that it is impossible to represent a Supreme Being whom no one has ever seen. They are subdivided into three classes, two of which renounce the world and make no distinction of caste, while the third lead a family life. Their habits are said to be very filthy, and they take no medicine in illness, but rely solely on divine help. In 1883, a party of 12 men and 15 women forced their way into the sacred temple of Jaganath at Puri. They were naked, but for the bark ropes worn round the waists. They had come from the Central Provinces, and boldly avowed their intention of burning the Jaganath idol, in order to show the unregenerate Hindus the futility of their religion. As there were a thousand other pilgrims about the temple, the attack on the idol never got beyond a scrimmage, in which one of the fanatics was killed. The rest were seized, and punished with three months' rigorous impriso mil ent. Kumbhupatia are spread throughout 30 villages in the Central Provinces. They were converted by a mendicant who appeared amongst them in the year 1864, and revealed himself as the incarnate god Alekhswainy from the Himalayan heights.
He died a short time afterwards, leaving 64 chief disciples, who with their followers now worship him as a god. They do not believe in images, or in medicine, the only physic they take being a little earth and water. Their habits are filthy but ascetic, and they are pledged to a rigid celibacy, which has led to a split in the sect. One of the chief disciples was too intimate with one of his female devotees, but he told his scandalized followers that she was going to give birth to Arkin, `who would root out all unbelievers.' The child was a girl, and many of his followers left him on her birth. He convinced the rest that it would be this girl's duty to destroy all unbelievers by means of her charms ; but as soon as they were easier in mind the girl died, and many more of his followers departed ; the residue being able to believe everything regarding him with greater fervency than ever. He erected an altar, over which he and his wife sat in the morning. His followers worshipped them, and moved round the altar until the time for their morning meal arrived, when their feet were washed with milk, which was afterwards drunk by their adherents. The rest of the sect have taken another master, and if they break any of the sect rules, tell a lie, or commit a crime, they are forthwith excom municated. A criminal class called Pan have been converted to the Kumbhupatian religion, and crime has been considerably reduced.