On a string cot in the courtyard of the Golden Temple of Amritsar lay Master Tara Singh, 76, political leader of India's 6,000,000 Sikhs. Masterji, as he is called by his followers in the Punjab, was entering the second month of a fast he had sworn to keep unto death, or until the Indian government grants his demand for a Punjabi Subaa separate, Sikh-dominated state. Few fasts since the days of Mahatma Gandhi's Empire-baiting hunger strikes had caused such a stir in India.
Though criticized by many for "debasing" the almost sacred ritual of the soulcleansing fast as practiced by...
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