BOCRKE.] CORDS OF THE BRAHMANS. f)6f) 



Parsis], showing their joint Aryan origin in high Asia, for the thread is of the very 

 highest antiquity. The Parsi does not, however, wear his thread across the shoulder, 

 and knows nothing of the all-bnt- forgotten origin of its required length. He wears 

 it next to his skin, tied carefully round the waist, and used to tie it round his right 

 arm, as is still the custom with some classes of Brahmins who have lost purity of 

 caste by intermarriage with lower classe-,. 1 



At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the place of the Christian 

 confirmation ceremony, but between the ages of 7 and 9, Fire and Water are the 

 great sanctifying elements, and are the I ssentiah. The fire is kindled from the 

 droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with holy water and blessed; -and 

 when so consecrated by the priest it is called &quot; Holy Fire. - 



&quot;The Bruhnuins. the Rajas, and the Merchants, distinguish themselves 

 from the various casts of Sudras by a narrow belt of thread, which they 

 always wear suspended from the left shoulder to the opposite haunch 

 like a sash.&quot; 3 But, as Dubois speaks of the division of all the tribes 

 into &quot;Right-hand ami Left-hand,&quot; a distinction which Coleman 4 ex 

 plains as consisting in doing exactly contrariwise of each other, it is 

 not a very violent assumption to imagine that both the present and a 

 former method of wearing the i/7,e-kloth, akin to that now followed by 

 the Apache, may once have obtained in India. The sectaries of the 

 two Hands are bitterly antagonistic and often indulge in fierce quarrels, 

 ending in bloodshed. 5 



&quot; All the Brahman s wear a Cord over the shoulder, consisting of three 

 black twists of cotton, each of them formed of several smaller threads. 

 . . . The three threads are not twisted together, but separate from 

 one another, and hang from the left shoulder to the right haunch. 

 When a Brahman marries, he mounts nine threads instead of three.&quot; 

 Children were invested with these sacred cords at the age of from 7 

 to 9. The cords had to be made and put on with much ceremony, and 

 only Brahmaus could make them. According to Dubois, the material 

 was cotton; he does not allude to buckskin. 6 



Coleman 1 gives a detailed description of the manner in which the 

 sacred thread of the Brahmansis made: 



The sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of three strings, each 

 ninety-six hands (forty-eight yards), which are twisted together: it is then folded 

 into three and again twisted; these are a second time folded into the same number 

 and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the left shoulder (next the skin, ex 

 tending half way down the right thigh), by the Brahmans, Retries and Vaisya castes. 

 The first are usually invested with it at eight years of age, the second at eleven, and 

 the Vaisya at twelve. . . . The Hindus of the Sutra caste do not receive the 

 poita. 



The ceremony of investiture comprehends prayer, sacrifice, fasting, 

 etc., and the wearing of a preliminary poita &quot;of three threads, made of 

 the fibers of the nuru, to which a piece of deer s skin is fastened.&quot; 8 

 This piece of buckskin was added no doubt in order to let the neophyte 



1 Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 328. s Mythology of tin; Hindus, pp. 9. 10, 11. 



Ibid., p. 323. Ibid., p. 92. 



Ibid., p. 323. Ibid., p. 92. 



3 Dnbois. People of India, p. 9. Ibid., p. 155. 



Mythology of the Hindus. &quot; Ibid., pp. 135, 154, 155. 



