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10. HusT. — From about the 26tli September to the 8th Oc- 

 tober. If there has been no rain in the previous period, it is 

 anxiously looked for now, and under any circumstances, thougb 

 rain at this time may injure some of the Jcharif crops, it will be 

 most beneficial for the rahi. 



11. Chittea. — From about the 9th to the 22nd October. If the 

 two previous nahhais have passed without rain, and there is much 

 rain in this one, the kharif is reckoned as lost, and apprehensions 

 of scarcity, if not famine, become serious. Although thus inju- 

 rious to the kharif, it promises well for all the rahi crops, except 

 barley (which it is said to injure), and this, I think, is the purport 

 of the traditional couplet: — 



" Oottra, ootur de gaeen, Hust gae mookh more, 

 Jae jo kuheeo Chittra se, gae sumae lao buhore " : 



*' Oottra's come and gone again. Hust has passed with face 

 averted. Go, prithee, and bid Chittra bring a missing harvest 

 back again." 



12. SwANT. — From about the 23rd October to the 4th Novem- 

 ber. Eain at this period is most injurious to the majority of the 

 autumn crops. Cotton it almost ruins if heavy ; indeed the 

 legend says : — 



" Jo bursen Poonurbus Swant, 

 Chule na churka, buji na tant " : 



" If both Poonurbus rain and Swant, spindles and looms alike 

 stand still." 



Jowar loses its flavour, and the grain turns a reddish brown. 

 Bajera yields but little, and that little very often so indurated as 

 to be nearly useless. As for the " musemah," as the pulses (oordh, 

 moong, moth, rousa) are collectively called, insects attack and more 

 or less seriously injure them. 



My own personal experience does not lead me to place imjoUcit 

 confidence in these standing prognostications (of which, by the 

 way, I have only noted a few of the most important), but they 

 are so generally believed in by our cultivators that it was impos- 

 sible to overlook them in even the briefest sketch of the existing 

 state of agriculture, and they may possibly embody more or less 

 substantially correct generalisations from the experience of bygone 

 ages. I have given only the existing popular versions, but the 

 Prakrit originals are known to some Pundits. 



All these prognostications refer, as will have been seen, to that 

 agriculturally pre-eminently important portion of the year lying 

 between the beginning of June and the end of October, which in- 



