OF THE HINDUS, , '93 



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commemoration of the dance of the frolicksome deity with the sixteen GopiSo 

 This last is a veiy popular festival, and not an uninteresting one : vast crowds, 

 clad in their best attire, collecting in some open place in the vicinity of the 

 town, and celebrating the event with music, singing, and dramatic repre- 

 sentations of Krishna's sports : all the public singers and dancers lend their 

 services on this occasion, and trust for a remuneration to the gratuities of the 

 spectators : at Benares, the Rds Ydtra is celebrated at the village of Sivapixr, 

 and the chief dancers and musicians, ranging themselves under the banners of 

 the most celebrated of the profession, go out in formal procession: tents, huts, 

 and booths are erected, swings and round-abouts form a favourite amusement 

 of the crowd, and sweetmeats and fruits are displayed In tempting profusion : 

 the whole has the character of a crowded fair in Europe, and presents, 

 in an immense concourse of people, an endless variety of -rich cos- 

 tume, and an infinite diversity of picturesque accompaniment, a most lively 



Now the 3d day of the Solar Bhddra was the 7th of the Lunar Month, but it comprised 

 little more than ten Dandas or four hours of that lunation : as it included sun-rise, however, it was 

 the 7th of the calendar, or civil day. The eightli Tithi, or lunation, therefore, began about that 

 time, or four hours after sun-rise, and the Smdrtas, Saivas, and Sdkfas, observed the fast 

 on that day ; they began with sun-rise, however, as there is a specific rule for the Sankalpa, or 

 pledge, to perform the usual rite at dawn. This Ashtami comprised midnight, and was the more 

 sacred on that account. 



Tiie 4th of Bhddra was the Ashtami, or eighth of the VaisJmavas, although the lunatiori only- 

 extended to 9 Dandas, or less than four hours after sun-rise, but they are particularly enjoined to 

 avoid the Saptami, or the Ashtami conjoined with it, and therefore they could not commence theii* 

 fast earlier, although they lost thereby the midnight of the eighth lunation, v/hich they were, conse- 

 quently, compelled to extend into the night of the ninth. They fasted till the next morning, unless 

 they chose to eat after midnight, which, on this occasion, is allowable. 



The 5th of Bhddra was the Navami, or ninth of the calendar, but it included a portion of ths 

 moon's passage through Rohini, and the strict Vaisknavas of the different sects should not have per- 

 formed the Parana, the close of the fast, earHr, or before 10 Dandas and 52 Palas after sun-rise, 

 or about nine o'clock. Tliose Vaishnavas, however, who wholly regulate their observance by the 

 Asterism, and referring also to the necessity of commencing it with sun-rise, would only have begun 

 their fast on the calendar Navami, and have held the Pdrana on Friday the 10th, the third day 

 after the proper birth-day of their deity. 



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