1840.] On the Hull in Malwa. 319 



think of, and reeling and tumbling around him like the chorus of 

 Silenus. (29) 



These sports are all over by about midday ; people now bathe, change 

 their clothes, and become rational again, and returning to their homes, 

 refresh themselves with the best dinner their means can supply. (30) In 

 the afternoon complimentary visits are paid. The zemindar attended 

 by his ryuts, calls on his relations, presents are interchanged, and every 

 one is clothed in his best clothes and smiles. Our own new year's customs 

 are in fact rehearsed even to the Christmas-box ; certain of the village 

 tradesmen, such as the jumooli (washerman) the bhooi kahar (or wa- 

 ter carrier of the better classes) the guides, &c. call at the houses of 

 their employers, to remind them of the time-sanctioned present, which 

 is in many cases their only pay — some of them displaying the instru- 

 ments of their craft. The barber, for example, thrusts his mirror into 

 every face which he shaves, and his similarly armed wife making the 

 tour of the zenanas, will not fail, if she have any wit, to flatter the ladies 

 into a generous humour, and to gain a pretty penny by showing them 

 what they love the most. The bari (leaf-plate maker) makes up showy 

 plates of painted tamarind leaves, which he distributes around, and few 

 come without some trifle as an offering. At night the Phul dool (31) 

 attracts a crowd of worshippers, all taking care to propitiate Bhugwna, 

 by laying on his tukht, (throne) some offering proportioned to their 

 circumstances, but where there is a Ramdwara, the superior splendour 

 of the Ramsanehi (32) floralia, draws away a large proportion of the 

 spectators from the worship at the temple. 



29. The many parallels to this curious scene will suggest themselves to every anti- 

 quary. The ass which bore the feeble old man in the parody of Pegasus and Bellero- 

 phon (Apuleius.) The procession, smutted faces, women's dresses, and " imitation of 

 the braying of asses of the festival of fools. (Strutt.) The king of the feast of the 

 Persians, whom they used afterwards to put to death. The Abbott of Misrule, described 

 by Walter Scott in the Abbott, not to speak of the more generally known rites of Greece 

 and Rome. 



30. On this day, says the Brimha Vaiverta, "wear garlands, eat pan, and wear 

 good clothes, and mix with women ; whoever has not remained with women, is nothing 

 worth. Play with widows and dancing girls, and gain beatitude, certain wealth, and 

 a son, and if you are lame you will get cured." 



31. The celebration cfthisPooja is very irregular : here it generally varies from 

 the 1st to the 5th of Cheytbudi. At Bindrabun it is put off till the 11th. At Jugger- 

 nath (according to the Mahatraa of that place) it lasts from the 8th Siu.i of Phal- 

 gun to the 1st Cheyt. 



32. The larger proportion, (the demi-philosophers of the soi-disant Deists,) can 

 hardly bring itself entirely to spiritualize the symbolic Ham. It seems to yearn for 

 the llcsh-pots, and hugs its om festival with an affection scarcely orth odox. With many 



