Urhdvabagu

Urdhvabagu - ( Skt. Urdhvabâhu = holding one hand up) - the Hindus have a special class of poor fakirs , usually belonging to the Shiva cult and subjecting themselves to a special kind of ascetic exercises that gave them their name.

Urdhvabahu become motionless, raising one or both hands up until the tendon is cramped and the position of the body stiffens, or they keep their fist clenched until the nails grow through the bones of the metacarpus.

They have no permanent shelter and exist by one alms ; some walk completely naked , despite the struggle of the English administration with this custom; others are of the genus of coarse ocher stained. They usually depict the signs of a Shaivite sect on themselves and braid their hair so that they hang from their foreheads, in imitation of them to God Shiva .