Joghi Wallahs At Benares

Joghi Wallahs at Benares, from a sketch by one of our special artists, 1876. Indian ascetics: '...an exhibition of "joghi wallahs." These are a class of Hindoo religious mendicants, who appeal to the superstitious reverence and sympathy of the people by stationing themselves in an immoveable attitude, or by repeatedly performing some painful gesture, sometimes holding a cumbrous weight in the most tedious and inconvenient manner. They are of both sexes, and display a vast deal of misdirected ingenuity, as well as fortitude, in the variety of their feats of endurance, which are rewarded with abundant gifts of money, food, and other worldly store'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)