about two feet high, called a Chelu, within the enclosure. Then laying the body on this pile, I uncovered the face, and with a torch in my right hand burned the hair, but my back was turned, and I was not allowed to see the face. The whole pile was then set on fire, and soon after I threw seven pieces of sandal-wood into the flames, repeating a Mantra. Some two hours afterwards I took a sharp-pointed bamboo, and piercing the back-bone which is never totally consumed, placed it in the water. This concluded the actual ceremony of cremation.

Then after a substitute had dipped ten times in the river for me, and had touched me ten times, instead of my dipping, I prepared my breakfast with my own hands, and after taking it returned to my home at Kishnanagar on the evening of December 27. For the twelve days during which the mourning lasts the use of all luxurious food-such as fish or flesh,-of good clothes, of beds, of chairs, of shoes, and of an umbrella, is forbidden to the nearest surviving relative; but in my case, I being an adopted son, the prohibition only took effect for five days, during which period I slept-wrapped up in a blanket on the floor, and ate no rich food, nor used luxurious oils when bathing.

On the morning of the 28th, or second day, the priest and the chief Pandit came from Nuddea, and we went to a neighbouring tank, and boiled some simple food, such as ghee, sesamum, rice, and plantain ; dividing it into eight portions, we threw each portion into the river repeating a Mantra.

Thus altogether ten portions had been given as food for the deceased during ten days (see p. 293 of this volume). I then shaved my hair off, the other relatives shaving their moustache only. Next I cooked my simple food, called Habishya (Havishya). On the third day, or December the 29th, the first thing I did was to bathe in the tank, using no towel, soap, or luxurious oils. I then put on my simple clothing, consisting of a white sheet known as Kacha, which was the only clothing I was allowed to wear during the five days prescribed for the period of mourning, called the Asauća. I then went to a room and dedicated fruit, money, a bed, rice, shoes, and umbrellas to Vishnu, in the presence of the Priest, the Guru, and other Brahmans. These offerings were then distributed amongst the Brahmans who were present. This is called the Tri-rātra or 'Three-night ceremony,' after which the spirit of the deceased, having been judged (see p. 292 of this volume), is sent to its own place. A short time after the performance of this rite I again went to the tank, and cooked and dedicated a Pinda, or funeral cake, to Vishnu. I also dedicated to him a bull-calf marked on one side with the Tri-sula or Trident, and on the other with the Ćakra or Circle, and four young heifers, which were all let loose, and allowed to roam where they pleased. These ceremonies over, I breakfasted.

On the fourth day I was not called upon to do anything. On the fifth day I fixed a wooden pole, with the image of a bull in a small shrine on its summit, in the ground a few yards from the house. After walking

round it seven times I went to the tank and bathed, being now allowed to use soap, towels, and fragrant oils. I then breakfasted for the first time after my mother's death on fish and the flesh of kid; and from this day was again allowed to use fine clothes, chairs, shoes, beds, and umbrellas, first presenting some Brahman with one of each.

On January 5, or the tenth day, I dedicated to Vishnu a large number of shoes, umbrellas, beds, brass and silver cooking utensils, copper, silver, and gold coin, lampstands of silver and brass, carpets, shawls, and clothes. After the dedication the things were distributed amongst the Pandits, Brahmans, and relatives present. In the evening we entertained them all at a feast, to the number of about one thousand; and during the night some thirteen thousand poor were fed with rice and sweetmeats, and each man, woman, and child received four annas (=6d.). On January 7, or the twelfth day, the Śrāddha ceremonies were concluded by another feast given to some five hundred relatives and Brahmans.

NOTE B.

When (in February 1884) I was the guest of Colonel Dennehy at the Residency, Dhol-pur, the youthful Mahārāja, an enlightened young prince educated by us—whose right title is the Rāņā Nihal Sinh-very obligingly performed his usual diurnal Deva-pūjā, or 'worship of the gods,' in my presence.

The ceremony took place in one of the courts of his palace, under a Mandapa or open hall leading to a shrine of Vishnu, worshipped as Narasinha. A square piece of ground was marked out and consecrated on the floor, and in the centre of the ground so prepared was a small rectangular silver platform or low stand on legs, and in the centre of this again a little round platter with a silver cup containing several Bāṇalingas, Šāla-grāmas, etc. (see pp. 69, 392, 412). On the right of this was a little white conch-shell resting on a small silver stand, on the left a silver bell, and at the opposite corner a cocoa-nut. All around on the ground were arranged sacrificial implements, sacred vessels, cups, lotās, and flowers. On one side of the prepared ground and close to the silver stand sat the Mahārāja, with his legs folded under him in the usual manner, having the sacred vessels and implements in front of him within easy reach of his hands. Behind him sat his domestic priest (Purohit) ready to give him directions for the due performance of the ceremonial, and on one side of the prepared ground sat a row of four Brahmans who took part in the muttering of prayers, the repetition of texts and chanting. Not far off, on an elevated step, was the altar (vedi) for the Homa or sacrifice to fire. This altar was made of clay well plastered with cowdung, but only rising a few inches from the ground. It was of an oblong form, with a Svastika (p. 90, note 2) or auspicious mark in the centre. It was also consecrated by water scattered on its surface with Kusa grass. On it was kindled the sacred fire which was fed with Samidh or fuel,

composed of pieces of wood of six different kinds (Palāša, Šamī, Khadira, Asvattha, Udumbara, etc.), and was made to blaze up by ghee poured on the wood with sacrificial ladles (Šruva, darvi).

At the commencement of the Deva-pūjā a piece of silk was bound round the Mahārāja's arm, with repetition of benedictory formulas, to protect him from the evil influence of demons always on the watch to counteract the good effect of religious ceremonies.. This is called Raksha-bandhana.

Much of the detail of the ceremonial resembled that of the Pañćayatana-pūjā, described at p. 410 of this volume. The Mahārāja, under the direction of his Purohit, performed the usual acts of worship by the offering of flowers (pushpa), by placing garlands of yellow flowers round the sacred vessels, by the burning of incense (dhūpa), by the waving of lights (dipa), by oblations of rice-grains, etc. (naivedya), by offering a cloth (vastra) placed on the central stand, by the pouring of water with a little spoon into his own hand, or into a boat-shaped vessel, by repeatedly sprinkling the Bāṇa-lingas, etc. with water taken out of the larger sacred water-vessel (Kalasa), by again pouring water into the Kalaša, and by putting yellow flowers into it, and by again sprinkling water with these flowers. It seemed, indeed, to me that the most important part of the ceremonial consisted in the constant sprinkling and pouring out of water and scattering of rice-grains. Some of the latter the Rāņā threw behind his head, while during the entire ceremony the Purohit and Brahmans recited texts, muttered prayers, and chanted verses. There was also a hymn to Šiva (Šiva-stotra), with repetition of some of his 1008 names (see pp. 81, 106), preceded by adoration of the nine planets represented by nine areca nuts placed in rice and arranged in due order on the ground. The repetitions were concluded by the exclamation, 'Om phat' and by clapping of hands.

How far the young Rāṇā himself believed in the efficacy of these ceremonies I cannot undertake to say, but he went through them with an evident desire to fulfil every minute requirement of the ritual in a careful and reverential manner.

NOTE C.

When I was at Mirzapur in the spring of this year (1884) I visited the neighbouring temple of Kāli (about five miles distant), worshipped under the name of Vindhyāćala-vāsinī (popularly Vindhyaćal), ' dweller on the Vindhya mountains.' This was the form of the goddess to which the Thags were supposed to offer up their victims, and here was the particular shrine to which they made pilgrimages from all parts of the country. It is still one of the most popular temples in India, and on the day of my visit at least a thousand worshippers were collected in the precincts. There is a small central temple with a low roof, on which

several flags were kept flying. As it was the time of darsana-i. e. homage paid to the idol by viewing it when dressed and decorated-the surging, struggling crowd passed in through a narrow door on one side, and out at an equally narrow exit on the other, amidst a deafening din of yelling, shouting, and tolling of bells. I was informed that between the hours of 12 and 3 in the day, and of 12 and 5 at night, the goddess is put to sleep on a silver bed, and the shrine is then closed.

The temple has a space round it for pradakshiņā (p. 68. 2) or reverential circumambulation, and round this again is an open area, on three sides of which are ranges of shrines to various deities. I noticed an image of Sarasvati in a particularly beautiful shrine, behind an exquisitely carved lace-like stone screen. Near this was the place for sacrificing goats. The priests seemed to take especial pleasure in chopping off the heads of as many goats as possible while I was examining the shrines. The animals were then flayed, and dogs came and licked up the blood.

Close to the exit of the temple the Homa sacrifice to fire was being performed by a number of Brahmans seated in a semi-circle round it. I observed two or three women at one end of the semi-circle. All were engaged in putting ghee into the fire with wooden ladles, and then scattering grain, camphor, and sawdust of sandal-wood on the flames, the Brahmans chanting texts.

What struck me as most remarkable in the conduct of the crowd was that some of the worshippers before leaving the temple left an impress of their hands-dipped in some dark colouring matter-on the exterior wall, close to the entrance. I was told that this was intended as the record of a vow, binding the worshipper, if he obtained some particular boon he had prayed for, to sacrifice a goat to the goddess. When the boon was obtained and the vow fulfilled, the mark on the wall was to be effaced.

NOTE D.

The Rev. Nehemiah Goreh (one of the Cowley Fathers now at Poona, whose name is mentioned in the Preface to this edition) has favoured me with the form of salutation he was in the habit of using at the end of the Sandhya service (see p. 407 of this volume), before he became a Christian. It was addressed to his own father (Guru), and was as follows:- Bhārgava - cyāvanāpnavānaurva - jāmadagnyeti-pañća-pravarānvita - jāmadagnyavatsa-gotrotpanno 'ham Rig-vedāntargata-šākala-ṣākhādhyāyī Raghunātha-sarmā 'ham bho Guro tvām abhivādayāmi. 'O Father, I Raghunātha-ŝarmā, a student of the Šakala branch of the Rig-veda, born in the family of the children of Jamadagni, possessing five lines of progenitors— Bhargava, Cyāvana, Āpnavāna, Aurva, and Jamadagnya-salute thee.'

OBSERVE-In the following Index the numbers indicate the pages. When more than one
page is given the numbers are separated by semicolons. A unit separated from a pre-
ceding number by a comma indicates the number of a foot-note.

Angushtha-matra, 291.
Animal-life (sacredness of),
118; 316.

Animal-marriages, 327.
Animal-sacrifice, 13; 369; 393.

Aitareya-brahmana, 21; 24; Animal-worship, 72; 313.