﻿^ OF THE HINDUS, &C. 263 



Lands after the recital of each prayer. The gitt is 

 accepted by holding the aniniars tail. 



1. '* May the Goddess, who is the Lachsmi of 

 of all beings, and resides among the Gods, assume 

 the shape of a milch cow, and procure me comfort. ' 



2. " May the Goddess who is Rudraxi in a cor- 

 poreal form, and who is the beloved of S^iva, assume 

 the shape of a milch cow, and procure me comfort."* 



3. " May she, who is LachsmI reposing on the 

 bosom of Visiix'u ; she, who is the Lachsmi of the 

 regent of riches ; she, who is the Lachsmi of kings, 

 be a boon -granting cow to me." 4. " May she, 

 who is the Lachsmi of "Brahma'; she, who is 

 Swaha, the wife of iire; she, who is the exerted 

 power of the sun, moon, and stars, assume the shape 

 of a milch cow for [my] prosperity." 5. " Since 

 thou art Szcad'hci [the food] of them, who are chief 

 among the manes of ancestors, and Swaha [the 

 consuming power] of them who eat solemn sacri- 

 fices : therefore, being the cow that expiates every 

 sin, procure me comfort." 6. "I invoke the God- 

 dess, who is endowed with the attributes of all the 

 Gods; who confers all happiness; who bestows 

 [abodes hi] all the worlds for the sake of all people." 

 7. " I pray to that auspicious Goddess for immor- 

 tality and happiness." 



The remaining ceremonies, omitting for the pre- 

 sent the consecration of a bull, consist chiefly in the 

 obsequies called s'rddd'has. The first set of funeral 

 ceremonies is adapted to efied, by means of obla- 

 tions, the ieimi)odying of the soul of the deceased, 

 after burning his corpse. The apparent scope of the 

 second set is to raise liis shade, from tins world, 

 (where it would else, according to tlie noticms of 

 the Hindus, continue to roam among demons and 

 evil spirits,) up to heaven, and there deify him, as it 

 were, among the majies of departed -inccstors. For 

 this end, a s'rddd'ha should regularly be onered to 

 the deceased on the day after mourning expires; 



S 4 twelve 



