9^ RELIGIOUS SECTS 



Upon all these occasions the ceremony is much the same, consisting in 

 little more than the presentation of flowers, perfumes, and food by the priests 

 and votaries ; and the repetition, chiefly by the former, of Sanscrit stanzas in 

 praise of Krishna, interspersed with a variety of prostrations and obeisances. 

 There is no established ritual, indeed, in the Hindu religion, for general use, 

 nor any prescribed form of public adoration. 



Besides the diurnal ceremonials described, there are several annual festi- 

 vals of great repute observed throughout India: of these, in Bengal and Orissa, 

 the Rath Jdtra, or procession of Jagannat'h in his car, is the most celebrat- 

 ed, but ifc is rarely held in upper India, and then only by natives of Bengal, 

 established in the provinces : the most popular festival at Benares, and gene- 

 rally to the westward, is the Janamaslitami, the nativity of Krishna, on the 

 eighth day of Bhddra. (August*) Another is the Rds Ydtra, or annual 



* Great difference of practice prevails on occasion of this observance. Krishna was born 

 on the eighth lunar day of the waning moon of Bhddra, at midnight, upon the moon's entrance into 

 Rohini, in commemoration of which a fast is to be held on the day preceding his birth, terminat- 

 ing, as usual, in a feast ; but the day of his birth is variously determinable, according to the adoption 

 of the civil, the lunar, or lunar-sydereal computations, and it rarely happens that the eighth 

 lunation comprises the same combination of hours and planetary positions, as occurred at Krishna's 

 birth. Under these circumstances, the followers of the Smriti, with the Saivas and Sdktas, com- 

 mence their fast with the commencement of the lunation, whenever that takes place ; the Rdnid' 

 nujas and Mddhwas, observe such part of the eighth day of the moon's age as includes sun rise, 

 and forms the eighth day of the calendar, or civil day, whilst some of the Rdmdmijas, and the 

 Nimdwats regulate the duration of their fast by the moon's passage through the asterism Rohini. 

 The consequence is, that the Smartas often fast on the 7th, one set of Vaishiavas on the 8th, and 

 another on the 9th, whilst those who affect great sanctity, sometimes go thirty hours without 

 food ; an extract from last year's calendar will very well exemplify these distinctions. 



3rd Bhadra, 17th August 1825, Tuesday, Saptami, 10 Dandas 17 Palas. The Janmashtami 

 Vrata and a Fast. ■ - 



4th Bhadra, 18th August, Wednesday, Ashtaml 9 Dandas 18 Palas. Fast according to*' the 

 Vaishnavas of Vruj. 



5th Bhadra, 19 August, Thursday, Navaml, 7 Dandas, 4 Palas. Rohini Naksshatra, till 10 Dan- 

 das, 32 Palas, at which hour Parana, the end of the fast. 



