,' 



456 iniDEM 



A ycllo\\^ 



East 



7> 



Vasanta, or Spring, and Krishna are represented as clotlied in 

 this colour, and Vasanti- coloured garments are worn at the 

 Basant panthami in many parts of India ; at this season also 

 garlands of yellow floAvers are offered. This custom is alluded 

 to in the Bara?nasa, where the wife says : 



Naliin ghar kanth, leke basant ai ghar raalan, 

 Main kaise pijun, sakhi, nahin ghar sajan. 



h ■ 



*^My husband is away,, and the gardener's wife has brought 

 (yellow) spring flowers. How can I make an offerings my 

 diear, when ray beloved is absent ? 



A yellow garment, called Bamnti, was worn by the Rajputs 

 when about to sacrifice themselves in a desperate conflict, a 

 sacrifice to their supposed ancestor Surya (the sun). YelloW 

 is the favourite colour of the Buddhists, and the Sakya family 

 was a branch of the great Solar race of Gautama. Senart 

 considers that the Buddha is the Sun- god, and that the details 

 of his life have been taken from Solar mythology. 



The use of saffron and turmeric for colouring and flavouring 

 food is universal throughout India, and saffron is still used for 

 this purpose in Germany, Switzerland, and in Cornwall, cakes 

 made on festive occasions being coloured with it. There is a 

 curious story about saffron-coloured rice in the Persian BurJuaiy 

 where it is called Birinj-i-shamalah, "candle rice.*' The 

 author relates that in former times there was a cook at Shiraz, 

 who was in the habit of sitting by the roadside every evening 

 and preparing a dish with yellow rice, before which he lighted 

 two lamps, or sometimes two torches, and cried out — " Come 

 to the rice of the candle," and repeated the following couplet : 



" The lijrhts which burnt in the heart of Bushak were 



O 



kindled by the passing of the light of the rice of the candle. 



Who was Bushak, or Bashak ? We cannot help thinkin 

 that he must have been some sturdy fire -worshipper testifying, 

 as far as he durcd, in the presence of u Mahomedun population, 

 to his ancient faith. As the story was an old one when the 



