SACRÉS. 281 



mots Kuça, Darbha,DûrDâ, Tidasi, Soma, Armoise, Hie- 

 robotane. Menthe, Verveine, Rue, Mandragore, Moly, 

 Lotus, Fougère, etc. On peut encore rappeler ici ce bereçman 

 des Parsis (le sanscrit brahman) mentionné par l'Avesta, 

 petites branches de dattiers, que le prêtre offrait aux dieux 

 avec le haoma (Soma), en récitant la prière; ce bereçman 

 avait le même emploi que le kuça, l'herbe sacrificale védique 

 par excellence. 



Dans un écrit tout récent du savant indien Ràgendralâla 

 Mitra, intitulé An impérial Assemblage at Delhi three 

 thousand years ago, nous trouvons des renseignements 

 complets sur les herbes affectées par les sectateurs de Vishnu 

 au grand sacrifice \ 



' « The religious rites perfoi-med on the last day of tlie great sacrifice were 

 twofold — one appertaiuing to the célébration of an ephemeral (aïkôhika) 

 Soma sacrifice with its morning, noon and evening libations, its animal 

 sacrifices, its nouraerous Shastras and Stotras, and its chorus of Sàma 

 hymns , and the other relating to the bathing and its attendant acts of 

 mounting a car , symbolically conquering the whole earth , receiving the 

 homage of the pinests, and quaffing a goblet oî Sonia béer and another oi 

 arrack, together with the rites appertainJng thereto. The propre time for 

 the ceremony was the new moon after the fuU moon of Phâlguna, i. e., at 

 about the end of March. The fluids required for the bathing were of seven- 

 teen kinds according to the Màdhyandiniya school of the White Yajush, and 

 "sixteen or seventeen"' according to the Taittiriyakas. The former, ho, 

 ■wever, gives a list of 18 kinds * ; thus — Ist, the water of the Sarasvati river 



' The disci-epaucy is esplained by taking the Sarasvati water to be the 

 princi'pal ingrédient , and the othei's the regular ritual articles. For the 

 Abhisheka of Vaishnavite idols of wood, stone or métal, recommended by 

 later rituals , the articles required are considerably more numerous, but 

 they do not include ail those which the Vedas give above. Thus , they in- 

 numerate, Ist, clarified butter; 2nd, curds ; 3rd, milk; 4th, cowdung ; 5th, 

 cow's urine; 6th, ashes of bull's dung; 7th, honey ; 8th, sugar; 9th, Ganges 

 water or any pure water; lOth, water of a river which has a masculine 

 name; llth, water of a river which has a féminine name; 12th, océan water; 

 13th, water from a waterfall ; 14, water from clouds ; 15th, water from a 

 sacredpool; 16th, water in which some fruits hâve been steeped ; 17th, 

 water in which five kinds of astringent leaves hâve been steeped; ISth , hot 

 water; 19, water dripping from a vessel having a thousand holes in its bot- 

 tom ; 20th, water from a jar having some mango leaves in it; 21st, water 

 from eight pitchers ; 22nd, water in which kusa grass has been steeped ; 

 23rd , water from a jar used in sprinkling holy water (sdntihumbha) ; 

 24th, sandal-wood water; 25th, water scented with fragraut flowers; 26th, 

 water scented with fried grains; 27th, water scented with Jatàmansi and 

 other aroraatics ; 28th, water scented with certain drugs coUectively called 



