|
H.P. Blavatsky - From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
clouds of incense and fumes of burning camphor, he scattered some more flowers over the altar and sat
on the small stool for a while, murmuring the last prayers. He repeatedly held the palms of his hands over
the flame of the tapers and rubbed his face with them. Then he walked round the altar three times, and,
having knelt three times, retreated backwards to the door.
A little while before our host had finished his morning prayers the ladies of the house came into the
room. They brought each a small stool and sat in a row murmuring prayers and telling the beads of their
rosaries.
The part played by the rosaries in India is as important as in all Buddhist countries. Every god has his
favorite flower and his favorite material for a rosary. The fakirs are simply covered with rosaries. The
rosary is called mala and consists of one hundred and eight beads. Very pious Hindus are not content to
tell the beads when praying; they must hide their hands during this ceremony in a bag called gomukha,
which means the cow's mouth.
We left the women to their prayers and followed our host to the cow house. The cow symbolizes the
"fostering earth," or Nature, and is worshipped accordingly. Sham Rao sat down by the cow and washed
her feet, first with her own milk, then with water. He gave her some sugar and rice, covered her forehead
with powdered sandal, and adorned her horns and four legs with chains of flowers. He burned some
incense under her nostrils and brandished a burning lamp over her head. Then he walked three times
round her and sat down to rest. Some Hindus walk round the cow one hundred and eight times, rosary in
hand. But our Sham Rao had a slight tendency to freethinking, as we knew, and besides, he was too
much of an admirer of Haeckel. Having rested himself, he filled a cup with water, put in it the cow's tail
for a moment, and then drank it!
After this he performed the rite of worshipping the sun and the sacred plant tulsi. Unable to bring the god
Surya from his heavenly altar and wash him in the sacred font, Sham Rao contented himself by filling his
own mouth with water, standing on one leg, and spirting this water towards the sun. Needless to say it
never reached the orb of day, but, very unexpectedly, sprinkled us instead.
It is still a mystery to us why the plant tulsi, Royal Basilicum, is worshipped. However, towards the end
of September we yearly witnessed the strange ceremony of the wedding of this plant with the god
Vishnu, notwithstanding that tulsi bears the title of Krishna's bride, probably because of the latter being
an incarnation of Vishnu. On these occasions pots of this plant are painted and adorned with tinsel. A
magical circle is traced in the garden and the plant is put in the middle of it. A Brahman brings an idol of
Vishnu and begins the marriage ceremony, standing before the plant. A married couple hold a shawl
between the plant and the god, as if screening them from each other, the Brahman utters prayers, and
young women, and especially unmarried girls, who are the most ardent worshippers of tulsi, throw rice
and saffron over the idol and the plant. When the ceremony is concluded, the Brahman is presented with
the shawl, the idol is put in the shade of his wife, the Hindus clap their hands, rend everyone's ears with
the noise of tom-toms, let off fireworks, offer each other pieces of sugar-cane, and rejoice in every
conceivable way till the dawn of the next day.
A Witch's Den
Our kind host Sham Rao was very gay during the remaining hours of our visit. He did his best to
entertain us, and would not hear of our leaving the neighborhood without having seen its greatest
celebrity, its most interesting sight. A jadu wala - sorceress - well known in the district, was just at this
time under the influence of seven sister-goddesses, who took possession of her by turns, and spoke their
|
