cut up, and the pieces (avadāna) were sprinkled with butter and thrown into the flames in the name of various deities, including the god of fire himself. Other portions were also reverently eaten by the assembled family, hymns were chanted, the sins of the past fortnight confessed, repentance expressed, and forgiveness asked. The whole ceremonial was not always performed by husband and wife alone. If they were rich they sent for regularly ordained priestsgenerally four in number-who kindled fire from two pieces of sacred wood (araṇī) by friction, and carried out the detail of the ritual with great elaboration and with all the sacrificial implements-including a sacred sword for keeping off demonsand, of course, with greater merit to the householder.

Then every four months another ceremony, called the Ćāturmāsya sacrifice, was performed at the beginning of the three seasons. Probably this was solemnized, like a harvestthanksgiving, in gratitude for the fruits of the earth, gathered in at the end of the three seasons of summer, autumn, and winter. It was conducted with as much solemnity as the fortnightly rite, and in much the same manner. Another special sacrificial ceremony on a grander scale, with the addition of animal sacrifice (Manu IV. 26, VI. 10), was usually performed half-yearly at the summer and winter solstice (uttarāyaṇa, dakshiṇāyana).

Finally, every rich householder endeavoured once a year to institute what was called a Soma-sacrifice. This was a

grand public ceremony conducted on some open space of ground, and requiring the presence of at least sixteen different priests, who were well paid for its effective celebration. The simplest annual Soma-sacrifice, called Agnishṭoma, lasted for five days. Others were protracted for weeks and months, and there were even sacrificial sessions (sattra) which lasted for years. And in these public rites-usually called Srautakarman, to distinguish them from Smärta-karman, or domestic rites-two entirely new elements were introduced;

first the flesh of slaughtered animals, and secondly the juice of the Soma plant (Asclepias Acida) often mentioned before. At one time all kinds of animals were sacrificed, as, for example, horses (see p. 329), but in the end a goat was usually selected. Parts of the flesh were burned in the fire as offerings to the gods, and parts were eaten by the priests.

But the great central act of the whole ceremony was the presentation of the exhilarating Soma-juice to the gods, some of it being poured out for the deities and some being drunk by the performers and institutors of the sacrifice. This was done on the fifth day at the morning, midday, and evening libations (savana). In fact the animal sacrifice, though it preceded the Soma-libation, was really subordinate to it. The idea seems to have been that the sacrificer killed the animal instead of sacrificing himself; and as the body of the animal when sacrificed in the fire was borne upwards to the gods, so did the sacrificer-represented by the animalascend to the skies. It was only after he had been thus admitted to the society of the gods in heaven that he became fit to quaff the divine beverage and to become one with the heavenly king Soma himself.

Indeed this purifying and invigorating juice, supposed to confer physical strength and to make the heart of men and gods glad, came to be regarded as the water of lifethe nectar which purified soul and body and conferred immortality. It was then itself personified and deified. The god Soma was the Bacchus of India, and the fermented juice of the Soma plant was in ancient times to the Indian community very much what the juice of the grape was to the Greeks and Romans (compare p. 12). Happily for Indian households, the drinking of stimulating liquor has never been permitted except at special religious ceremonials. So much for the religious life of the Brahman householder in ancient times.

Bb

CHAPTER XIV.

The Hindu Religion in Modern Family-life.

TURN we now to the daily life of the modern householder. And here I must make it clear that what I shall have to say will have reference only to those persons of the higher castes who have the right to the title 'twice-born,' and have gone through the chief Saṇskāras or ceremonies supposed to purify the child from the taint contracted in the womb of an earthly parent.

Of the twelve Sanskāras described in the last chapter only a few remain still in force. Passing over the first four, which are rarely if ever performed in the present day, we come to the fifth, or Name-giving ceremony (Nāma-karaṇa), which takes place about the tenth or twelfth day after birth.

It is worth while to take note here of a superstitious idea which prevails very generally throughout India, that on the sixth day after birth the Creator writes the child's future destiny on its forehead. Yet I know of no special ceremony instituted to mark this particular day, or to propitiate the deity on so momentous an occasion.

With regard to the present custom of Name-giving, the ceremony is performed in some parts of India on the day when the child is first fed with a little rice1. Then it is thought essential to secure good fortune that a boy should be called after some god 2, for example Krishṇa, Gopāla

1 This appears to be the custom in Bengal.

2 In former days people were not so superstitious. Witness such names as Pāņini, Patañjali, Šaunaka, Āsvalāyana, etc.

(Gopāl), Rāma, Rāma-ćandra, Nārāyaṇa, Šiva, Šaṁkara1, Gaṇeśa; or the name may indicate that he is to be the god's servant, as, for instance, Rāma-dāsa (Rām-dās), Kṛishṇa-dāsa, Nārāyaṇa-dāsa (Nārāyan-dās), Lakshmi-dāsa. Often the honorific affix Ji (probably thought to be auspicious as derived from either the root jiv, 'to live,' or ji, 'to conquer') is added to the name, as in Rāma-jī (Rām-jī), Šiva-jī, Deva-jī. Ćandra, the moon-corrupted into Ćandar and Ćand-is believed to bring good luck when forming part of an appellation, as in Moti-ćand, etc.

Again, in the present day as in ancient times, the names of girls, like those of boys, are often taken from those of goddesses, such as Lakshmi, Durgā, Sītā, Rādhā; or from celebrated women, such as Sāvitrī, Yaŝodā, Subhadrā, Sumangalā ; or from rivers, such as Gangā, Yamunā, Bhāgīrathi, Godāvarī, Narmadā, Krishņā; or from jewels, such as Mānak (for Sanskṛit Māņikya), a ruby; Moti (Sanskrit Muktā), a pearl; Rattan (Sanskrit ratna), a precious stone; Mani, a gem; or from flowers, such as Padma, a lily; Phulli, a blossom; or from words like Sundari, beautiful; Prema, love, etc.

It is often considered unlucky, and not unlikely to bring down a judgment on a child, if the name it receives is indicative of any good quality it may happen to possess at birth. Therefore it is not uncommon for a fair child to be called 'Black' (Krishna). Moreover, a parent will sometimes give an infant an ugly or inauspicious name from a superstitious fear that the child's beauty may excite the envious glances or evil eye' of malicious persons; for it is remarkable that when a family has suffered early bereavements by death these are attributed to evil influences exerted through the instrumentality of the human eye (see p. 253).

As a general rule, the name given on the tenth day is only that by which the child is commonly known and addressed in

1 Narmada-sankar is the name of a celebrated living Gujarāti poet.

conversation. But the infant often receives a second or private name, which is considered to be its real name, and is whispered inaudibly by its parent or the family preceptor (guru), and not revealed to others. The idea is that a man's name is in some mysterious manner connected with his personality, and the object of concealing it is to protect him from the power of sorcerers, who are unable to injure him by their enchantments unless they know and can pronounce his real name1.

I ought to mention, too, that besides the common name and the secret name, another is generally added which may be called the astrological name, because it contains a letter from the name of the constellation (nakshatra) under which the child was born. It is well known that nothing of importance is ever done by a Hindu without consulting the stars. Therefore soon after the Name-giving ceremony has been performed the family Astrologer (Jyotisha, corrupted into Jyoshi or Joshi) is sent for and commissioned to draw up a horoscope of the exact time of the child's nativity, the constellation under which it was born, with a prophecy of the duration of its life, and the circumstances, good or evil, of its probable career. This is called the birth-record (Janmapatra). It is always written in Sanskṛit, and, if the parents are rich, sometimes on a roll sixty yards long, takes three or four months to prepare, and costs a large sum of money. The name given in the horoscope is the Nakshatra name, and not the one given at the Name-giving ceremony. For example, if the child's common name is Yadava Ćandra Ghosh, this name is not mentioned in the horoscope, but a different name is given, such, for example, as Raghu-nātha,

1 It is well known that no wife in India likes to utter her husband's name. According to Sir J. Lubbock a Sumatran scrupulously abstains from pronouncing his own name, and a similar superstition prevails among the Negroes, Abyssinians, and Australians.