57G ' GRAMTNEM 



increase to the field ; at tbe time when the ocean resounded, 

 when the clouds murmured, and lightning flashed, then was- 

 Darbha produced, pure as a drop of fine gold" {Atharm Veda). 

 The Vedic rituals furnished instructions for its use. According- 

 to Asvalayana, two pieces without knots were used for purify- 

 ing butter — one was to be held in each hand between the thumb 

 and the fourth finger, the second and third fingers being 



raised. Turning towards the East 



moon 



rajs were invoked. At the new and full 

 and tied together Kusa and firewood, hence the name Kusakara 

 for fire, the sacred fire being made upon a tiift of the grass. 

 At the time of the first cutting of a child's hair, the father took 

 a position to the south of the mother, and, holding in bis hand 

 twenty-one blades of the grass (to represent the twenty -one 



The father, 



or, in his absence, a Brahmin, then took three blades of the 

 grass and thrust them, points foremost, into the child's hair, 

 saying, " herb protect him/' The Yedie homestead was 

 directed to be built in a place where the Kusa and Tirana 



grew, its foundations were to be strewed with the 2-rass. and 



Ma 



all prickly herbs, as the Apmnarga, the 8aJca, the Tilvaka, and 

 the Farivi/ J d/ia, were to be extirpated. When they learned 

 the sacred books, students used to sit upon a spot of ground 

 strewed with the Kusa, and on leaving they carried away, 

 amongst other things, some blades of the grass as a remem- 

 brance and good omen. In the Brahmanic period the Kusa 

 was used in invoking Yishnu ; anchorites covered their 

 nakedness with the grass, or with the skins of animals an d 

 bark of certain trees. In modern times it is in constant 



reqmsition in Hindu ceremonial, and at funerals the chief 

 mourner wears a ring of the grass upon his finger, and it is 

 placed beneath the pindas. Brahmins place it in the hands of 

 pilgrims when they bathe in the sacred Ganges. M. Senart 

 draws a comparison between the Yedic Kusa and tbe Beresman 

 of the ancient Persians, and explains its significance in Buddhic 

 ntual : it serves as a sacred prayer-carpet which is presided 

 over by the divine Intelligence. As a medicine it enters into 



