MASTER MORYA

  Part 5 - THÂKURS AND THEIR CASTLES

The bitter experience of many centuries has taught them that their only salvation was in distrust and caution, without which their national history and their most sacred treasures would have been irrevocably lost. Political upheavals and Moslem invasions which have for so many centuries torn India and shaken that country to its very foundations, the all-destructive fanaticism of the Moslem vandals, and the Catholic padris, capable of any cunning scheme to secure manuscripts and destroy them – all these more than justify the Brâhmanas.

However, in spite of these destructions occurring through the centuries, there exist in many places in India vast libraries, access to which would shed a bright light not only on the ancient history of India itself, but also on the darkest problems of universal history. Some of these libraries, filled with priceless manuscripts, are in the possession of native princes and of the pagoda priests subservient to them, but the greater part is in the hands of the Jainas (the oldest sect) and of the Râjputâna Thâkurs, whose ancient hereditary castles are scattered all over Râjasthân, like so many eagle’s aeries on the summits of rocks. The existence of the celebrated collections at Jaisalmer and Pathâna are known to the Government, but they remain wholly beyond its reach. The manuscripts are written in an ancient and long forgotten language, intelligible only to the high priest and his initiated librarians. One thick folio is considered so sacred and inviolable that it is fastened to a heavy golden chain in the centre of the temple of Chintâmani in Jaisalmer (the capital of the Râjputâna desert), and is taken out to be dusted and rebound only at the advent of each new pontiff. This is the work of Somaditya Saurâchârya, a great high priest, well-known in history, who lived prior to the Moslem invasion. P 75 - 76

(The Thâkurs occupy in India a position similar to that held by European feudal barons of the middle ages. Nominally they are dependent on their native ruling princes or on the British Government; but de facto they are entirely independent. Their castles are built on inaccessible rocks, and in addition to the obvious difficulty of reaching them other than in single file, they claim another advantage, namely, that of being interconnected by underground passages, the secret of which is inherited from father to son. We have visited two such underground halls, one of which was big enough to contain a whole village. Only yogins and initiated adepts (apart from their owners) are allowed free access to them. It is well known that no torture would ever induce any of them to reveal the secret, especially when one bears in mind the fact that they daily inflict torture upon themselves.)

 To be continued

"SEVEN TIMES SEVEN THE WHEEL ROTATES"