﻿282 ON THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES 



•which is not verj'' numerous, is distinguished by the 

 use of red Sanders, for the horizontal triple line, as 

 ■well as for the circlet on their foreheads. 



The Gdn'apatyas have not, so far as I can learn, 

 branched into different seers. Nor can T add any 

 information respecting their peculiar tenets, further 

 than that Gan'eVa is exclusively worshipped by 

 them. The sect is distinguished by the use of red 

 minium for the circlet on their foreheads. The fa- 

 mily o^ Braman'as, residing at ChbichzcSr near Puna, 

 and enjoying the privilege of an hereditary incarna- 

 tion of Gan'i-'s'a from father to son, probably be- 

 longs to this sect. Vi/e may hope for more informa- 

 tion on this curious instance of priestcraft and cre- 

 dulity, from the inquiries made on the spot by the 

 gentlemen of the embassy from Bombay, who lately 

 visited that place. 



Before 1 conclude this note, (concerning which 

 it should be remarked, that the information here 

 collected rests chiefly on the authority of verbal 

 communications,) I must add, that the left-handed 

 path, or indecent worship of the .several sects, espe- 

 cially that of the Sactas, is founded on the TantraSy 

 ■which are for this reason held in disesteem. I was 

 misinformed when I described them as constituting 

 a branch of literature highly esteemed though much 

 neglected. (As. Res. x-oL o, p. 54.) The reverse 

 ■would have been more exact. 



(B) This prayer, when used upon other occasions, 

 is thus varied, *' salutation unto you, O fathers, 

 and unto the saddening season, &c. " The six sea- 

 sons, in the order in Vv hich they are here named, are 

 the hot, dewy, rainy, flowery, frosty and sultry 

 seasons. One is indicated m this passage by the 

 name of the month, with which it begins ; and a 

 text ot the Veda, alluded to by thelate Sir William 

 Jones, in his observations on the lunar year of the 

 Hindus, (As. Res. xi. 3, p. 2o5,) specities Tapas and 

 Tapasya^ the lunar (not the solar) Magha and 



Phalguna, 



