1804.7 
aged, the reply is, ** Do fo, but do not re- 
peat the oblation.”’ Upon this they all 
fhift the facerdotal ftring to the right 
fhoulder, looking towards the fouth, and 
being clad ina fmgle garment, without a 
mantle, they ftir the water with the ring 
finger of the left hand, faying, ** Waters 
purify us.” With the fame finger of the 
right hand, they throw up fore water to- 
wards the fouth, and after plunging once 
under the aera of the river, they rub 
themfelves with their hands, An oblation 
of water muft be next prefented from the 
joined palms of the hands, naming the de- 
ceafed and the family from which he 
forung, and faying, ‘* May this oblation 
reach thee !”” 
When the perfons who attended the fu- 
neralreturn home, and approach the houfe- 
door, they each bite three leaves of nimba 
between their teeth, fip water, and touch 
a branch of lemi with their right hand, 
while the prieft fays, ** May fire grant us 
happinefs !"? and ftlanding between a buil 
and a goat, they touch both thofe animals, 
while the prieft recites an appropriate 
prayer: and before any one enter inio his 
houle, the prieft fays for him, “* May I 
be firm like this ftone!’? upon which he 
ands. ! 
During ten days, funeral cakes with 
iibations are to be offered ; and fo long as 
the mourning lafts, the neareft relations 
of the deceafed muft not exceed one meal 
daily, nor eat flefh meat,-nor any food 
feafoned with faétitious falt; they mult 
ufe a plate made of the leaves of any tree 
but the plantain, or take their food from 
the hands of fome other perfons ;. they 
muft not handle a knife or any implement 
of iron; nor fleep upon a bed-flead, nor 
adorn their perfons, but remain fqualid, 
and refrain from perfumes, and otner gra- 
tifications; they muft likewife omit the 
daily ceremonies of ablution and divine 
worlhip. On the third, fifth, feventh 
and ninth days, the Kinfirieh aflemble, 
bathe in the open-air, offer tila and water 
to the deceafed, and take a repaft together, 
they place lamps at crofs roads, and in 
their own houles, and likewife on the way 
to the cemetery, and they obferve vigils in 
honour of the deceafed. 
We thall now notice fome mifcellaneous 
cufioms: —The houfeholder is injoined to 
give daily alms, but no particular time is 
prefcribed for the diftribution of them: he 
is fimply directed to give food to religious 
mendicants whenever they come to his 
door; but efpecially if they come at the 
time when food is ready for his own meal. 
sah is allo the common pra¢tice to feed a 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. - 
468 
cow before the houfcholder breaks his own 
faft. He either prefents grafs, water, and 
corn to her, with this text ** Daughter of 
Surabbi, framed of five elements, aufpi- 
cious, pure, holy, {prung from the fun, 
accept this food siven by me;”” or elfe, he © 
conduéts the kine to erals faying, « May 
cows, who are mothers of three worlds, 
and daughters of Surabht, and wh are 
benanoene: pure, and holy, accept the 
food given by me !”” 
Hindoo legiflaters have heaped together 
a multitude of precepts, many of them 
trivial and abfurd. Some relate to diet, 
prohibiting many lorts of food, forbidding 
the conftant ufe of others ; in feveral, the 
time of taking nourifhment is f{pecifed, 
and the perfons with whom it is to be taken 
are particularly mentioned. Directions 
are given as to the poiture in whicha Him 
doo muft fit, and the point of the heavens 
to which he muft jook. 
After wafhing his hands and feet, and 
fipping water without {wallowing it, he 
fits down on a ftool, or ona cufhien, bea 
fore his plate, which mutt be placed ona 
clean {pot of ground, that has been wiped 
and finoothed, ina quadrangular form, if 
he be a Bicbwapar a triangular one, if 
he be a C/batriya; circular, if he bea 
Vaisya; and in the fhape of a crefent, if 
he belong to the fourth tribe. When the 
food is firft brought in, he isrequired to 
bow to it, raifing both hands, in the form 
of humble falutation, to his forehead, and 
faying, <* May this be always ours ;” that 
is, ** May ‘food never be deficient.” 
When he has fat down, he fhould lift 
the plate with his Jeft hand and blefs the 
food, faying, “Thou art invigorating.” 
He fets it down, naming the three words, 
or if the food be handed to him, he lays, 
«« May Heaven give thee,” and receives it 
with thele words, “ The earth accepts 
thee ;°’ before he begins eating, he mu& _ 
move his hand mouHee the plate, toinfulate 
if, or his own perfon rather, from the rett 
of the company. He next offers five lamps 
of food to Yama, by five different titles 5 
he fips and {wallows water, he makes five 
oblations to breath by five diftin& names, 
and, laftly, he wets both eyes. He then 
eats his repaft in seeie lifting his foed 
with all the fingers of his right hand, aad 
afterwards again fips water, fayingy 
“¢ Ambrofial fuid ! thou art che couch of 
Vifonu and of food.” 
The Reverend Dr. John has laid before. 
the fame fociety a fummary account of the 
-life and writings of Awyar, a Tamul 
female philofopher, from which it appears 
ine 
