﻿CJ70 ox THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES 



Formal obsequies are performed no less than 

 ninety-six times in every year ; namely, on the clay 

 of new moon, and on the dates of the fourteen 

 Menwantaras, and of four Yugadyh ; that is, on the 

 anniversaries of the accession of fourteen JMenus, 

 and of the commencement of four ages : also 

 throughout the whole first fortnight oi A's'wina, 

 thence called pitripacsha, and whenever the sun 

 enters a new sign, and especially when he reaches 

 the equinox, or either solstice ; and, in certain cii- 

 cumstances, when the moon arrives at Vyatipata, 

 one of the twenty-seven yogas, or astrological divi- 

 sions of the zodiack. The eighth of Pausha, called 

 AindrU the eighth of Alaghd, (when flesh-meat 

 should be offered,) and the ninth of the same 

 month, together with additional obsequies on some of 

 these dates and on a few others, complete the num- 

 ber above mentioned : different authorities do not, 

 h.owever, concur exactly in the number or in the 

 ijarticular days wiien the s'radcihas should be so- 

 lemnized. 



Besides these formal obsequies, a daily srlidd'ha 

 is likewise performed. It consists in dropping food 

 into the hands of a Brahman'a after offering it to 

 six ancestors by na\ne, with the usual preparatory 

 vow and prayers, and with the formality of placing 

 three blades of grass as a seat for each ancestor ; but 

 using a single prayer only for the invocation of the 

 manes, and omitting the ceremony of welcoming 

 them with an argha. Libations of water are also 

 made in honour of progenitors, as noticed in the 

 former essay on daily ablutions. 



The obsecpjies for increase of prosperity, or as the 

 same term (l^r'iddki s'radd'ha) may signify, the ob- 

 sequies performed on an accession of prosperity *, 

 are celebrated previously to the sacrifice of a victim,^ 

 and to the solemnization of a marriage, or of any of 



the 



* Sometimes namcvi Navdi mtic'ha, from a word which occurs m 

 the prayer peculiar to this srddd'ha. 



