Padhran religion

The Padhran religion was a faith practiced in the Hordelands and by almost all of those living in the hidden realm of Ra-Khati.

History
As written in the religious books of the Padhran faith, around −1700 DR, an Ulgarian prince named Surtava gave up his crown, his power, and his wealth and voluntarily became a beggar to seek enlightenment and wisdom.

After many years of wandering and meditation, Surtava achieved a state he called "Eaum", or enlightenment. He spent his remaining years preaching what he had learned. Surtava founded the Padhran religion, with the aid of other founders, such as Monkey. When Surtava died, he ascended to the heavens to become the Padhra.

In time, his soul was joined by the souls of thousands of other beings who also attained Eaum. They became incarnations of the Padhra, called padhrasattvas.

Dogma
The Padhran religion could be broken down into two main philosophies called the "Four Baskets of Wisdom" and the "Sixfold Path", as outlined by the Padhra's two lectures. The Four Baskets of Wisdom summarized the Padhra's basic views on life and reincarnation. They held that:
 * 1) All life was suffering, because everything that was living was also dying.
 * 2) Death was no escape from suffering, because all beings had souls that never died.
 * 3) When a being's body died, its soul was reincarnated in another body. If the soul had been virtuous, then it would be reincarnated as a higher form of life. However, if it had been wicked, then it would be reincarnated as a lower form of life.
 * 4) A being could only escape this cycle of eternal suffering by living virtuous lives. Eventually, one would achieve a body of sufficiently high form that it could achieve "Eaum", or enlightenment.

Meanwhile, the Sixfold Path was the set of principles by which a follower of the Padhra should live in order to advance to high forms of life and thereby achieve Eaum:
 * 1) Faith: One must have faith in oneself, their fellows, and in the Padhra's teachings.
 * 2) Resolve: One must resolve to live a virtuous life and resist urges and temptations to do otherwise.
 * 3) Speech: One must speak truthfully and never hide oneself with deceit.
 * 4) Action: One must act righteously and never do contemptible deeds.
 * 5) Endeavor: One must also strive to be more virtuous and oppose things that were sordid.
 * 6) Concentration: One must always follow these principles and never stray from the Sixfold Path, not even briefly.

Eaum was a state of spiritual enlightenment. In this state, a soul became one with the Great Soul of Universe and enjoyed an eternity of bliss, which they knew as "Nirvana". Those souls that attained Eaum joined the Padhra's soul and became incarnations of the Padhra, called padhrasattvas. Thousands of souls have achieved this point by the mid–14th century DR.

Paddhrasattvas
The followers of the Padhra were protected by the Padhrasattvas. Supposedly, these creatures were incarnations of the Padhra itself and many followers took specific Padhrasattvas as their patrons, much like someone from outside Ra-Khati would a god.

Texts
There were a number of religious works that told of the life of Prince Surtava and of the Padhran religion. Some in Ra-Khati were written in Susrit. Some specific works included the Padhra's Seven Baskets of Wisdom, the Thousand Lives of the Padhra, and One-Hundred of the Dalai Lama's Best Proverbs.

Magic
The spell karma curse was only used by priests of the Padhran faith.

Legends
In the Potala in the city of Saikhoi in Ra-Khati around 1359 DR, there was a group of one hundred priests who continually recited the names of the Padhra in front of ten thousand little idols. It was said that if ever they stopped, the world would come to an end. Meanwhile, a single priest had sat meditating and levitating without moving for thirty-four years; some wondered if he had found a shortcut to Nirvana.

Locations
The Padhran religion was widely followed in Ra-Khati. Indeed, the leader of the theocratic nation was the Dalai Lama, also known as the High One, a very powerful monk and cleric who followed the Padhra.

Padhran monasteries from Ra-Khati were found in Fatula Chupa, the City of Monasteries, on the Karakoro Plateau. Although all the sects in Fatula Chupa were independent and competing, the Padhrans there typically allied with the Red Mountain Sect and bore an intense hatred for the Tabotan gompas, both of which followed forms of the Path of Enlightenment.

Pilgrimage
Followers of the Padhra could choose to undertake a pilgrimage to the Thousand Sacred Sources of the Gaya, that is, to the rivers of the Hordelands that fed the Gaya, called the Sacred River or the River of Life, and to the various sacred sites along them. They could choose which of the hundreds of rivers and sites they visited however. Pilgrims could begin in the south, at the mouth of the Gaya. Also known as the River Xon, it flowed between Durpar and Ulgarth (the land Prince Surtava had once hailed from ) and emptied into Xontuil Bay and the Golden Water, and ultimately the Great Sea.

The next sacred river was the Jumpa River, thanks to its impressive geographic features, status as one of the greatest rivers in the world, and its link to the Gaya (joining it through the Great Pass of the Yehimal in the Dustwall Mountains). All the other sacred rivers were mere tributaries of the Jumpa, so from its banks pilgrims could visit any one of the other sacred rivers.

After it, some pilgrims went to the Gogrus River in Ra-Khati. The first stop for these pilgrims was the Sacred Lake of Cherrapunni, where they had to drink the water and cleanse themselves of evil.

Going further up the Gogrus, they came to where it joined the Dharbang River, at a place called the Bed of Two Lovers. Legend told that the Great Teacher meditated here for five weeks without eating or sleeping and obtained "the fifth key to enlightenment", coming closer to achieving ultimate harmony. When he finished, he broke his fast by eating a peach, and tossed the pit in the water. Thereafter, the water had a golden glow and was blessed with healing powers. Pilgrims were obliged to bath in the icy-cold water, but were in turn healed of all injuries, diseases, disabilities and impairments.

After this junction, following the Gogrus, pilgrims came to Rainbow Falls, where the Gogrus met the Akundi River. Pilgrims had to climb a perilous and winding cliff-side path to reach the top of the falls, but the Order of Rainbow Monks operated six hospices here, catering to travelers and pilgrims. Following the Akundi, pilgrims came to the Sacred Whispering Fall, which spilled from the lake Manasowar, which was also sacred. Pilgrims had to bathe in the waterfall under the moonlight.

Following the Dharbang upstream was impossible, as it flowed through a steep-walled and jagged canyon. Therefore, pilgrims continued up the Gogrus and then the Akundi River, before cutting over land back to the Dharbang and the next sacred site, Norasil, or the Lake of Dreams. Pilgrims camped on the shore until they had a vision that would guide them further.

The final stop on the Dharbang was its source at a glacier in the Katakoro Shan. Reaching it was a difficult journey through freezing temperatures. At the snowfield, pilgrims scrubbed themselves with snow, figuratively remove their outer selves. After this, the majority of pilgrims traveled back down the Dharbang and returned home or went onto other sacred rivers. However, a few followed some guiding vision and went on up the glacier. Although they were never seen again, the faithful held that they had been blessed and did not die.

The pilgrimage could be quite dangerous, as some pilgrims fell victim to marauders on the trails or to the hazards of mountain travel. The journey was made much worse when the realm of Ra-Khati, which held much of the Gogrus, Dharbang, and Akundi rivers, entered a deeply isolationist and xenophobic phase in the mid–14th century DR. Pilgrims were permitted to enter in respect for their shared faith, but were then forbidden to leave, and some were killed trying to escape. The alternative was to have their tongues cut out, so they could never speak of what they saw in Ra-Khati. Some pilgrims chose this mutilation in order to continue, while some tried to sneak past Ra-Khatian authorities with their tongues. When caught, rather than be executed, they were forced to cut out their own tongues. In a particularly hazardous period in 1359 DR, a band of pilgrims numbering over a hundred was decimated to only twelve, who then lost their tongues in Ra-Khati.

Relations
The Padhran religion of Ra-Khati was often treated as merely a sect of the Path of Enlightenment, a faith that was widespread across Kara-Tur. The Padhrans were seen as adding the padhrasattvas to the Path as protective gods.

Notable Followers

 * See also: Followers of the Padhran religion


 * The Padhra
 * Gaumahavi
 * Tsenya Garbo, Dalai Lama of Ra-Khati around 1359 DR