Vol. N sy 10.] Miniature Tank Worship in Bengal. 491 
61. Miniature Tank Worship in Bengal, Compiled by A. N. 
Moserty, 1.C.8., Superintendent of Ethnography, Bengal. 
In Bengal proper, miniature tanks, dug usually in the court- 
_yard of their houses, enter largely into the religious ceremonies 
performed by women and girls. This practice is also found in 
Orissa, but to a less extent, and is still more rare in Behar, 
although there too ordinary tanks are closely connected with 
certain forms of worship.. The origin of the custom is obscure. 
Ceremonies in which miniature tanks are used, are usually among 
those classed as brata, or the performance by women of a vow on 
a certain fixed date, with the object of obtaining some particular 
benefit, as contrasted with puja, or worship of the gods by men or 
women or both, as a regular religious observance. The tank is 
probably used symbolically. To dig a tank is a virtuous and 
meritorious action, which may be performed either to please the 
gods and thus to obtain happiness in this wor and the next, o 
as an expiation of some known or unknown sin. Misfortunes 
‘cause them, In the case of children, by whom the majority of 
the ceremonies, into which the miniature tank enters, are 
observed, another object may well be to familiarise them with the 
idea of worship by presenting it 1n an a tive form, whilst 
mora and explanations given by their elders, and a 
Brahman is sometimes called in perform the fin In 
widely in different localities. It is by no means always clear 
what or godling is being worshipped, nor 1s it possible in all 
ace 
instances the tank employed is not necessari 
and in a few the tank is not indispensable to the ceremony at all. 
