Bychowski describes the backwardness of the peasants and the poverty of the artisans in Indian towns. Cow worship is extreme; cows may enter temples; cows wander in traffic; women carry heavy loads of fresh grass miles to feed cows; men fast unto death in defense of the sacred taboo against cow slaughter. The mystical experience of immersion in the Ganges is recounted. The mythology of the descent of the Ganges from the Himalayas expresses the struggle of the life-bestowing power of the river, personified as a goddess, against the deadly power of the scorching Indian sun. A basic belief is that there is great power in asceticism, renunciation, and self-mortification. This leads to states of withdrawal which Bychowski likens to the extremes of narcissistic regression found in catatonia. Other facets of Indian mentation are analogous to schizophrenic phenomena. Thus while Indians retain the capacity to think realistically in most areas, in religious matters they think in a prelogical, magical manner wherein the symbol functions as a concrete reality.