162 PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS
butter, and milk in various forms, & c, for the feast; sandalwood, vermilion, saffron; and, above all things, plenty of betel-leaf and areca-nut. Further, there must be in abundance earthen vessels of all kinds, shapes, and
sizes, seeing that on each of the four days that the feast lasts new ones will be required; those which have been once used on this occasion, as on that of a marriage, being always broken into little pieces. When everything is ready, the father goes to consult the purohita, or family priest, to ascertain what day will be most propitious.
The purohita having fixed a day, a pandal, or pavilion, is erected. The preliminary ceremonies and purifications are gone through, and the invitations issued in the customary manner. Meanwhile, the women decorate the walls of the house, both inside and out, with alternate broad bands of red and white paint. When the guests have arrived and are all assembled under the pandal, the purohita makes his appearance, bringing with him a cord and an antelope ' s skin \
Having performed the sam-kalpa, he offers puja, or adoration, to Vigneshwara, who is represented by a small conical heap of fresh cow-dung, placed in the centre of the pandal. He also makes to him offerings of garika 2, sandalwood, akshatas, or coloured rice, incense, and a lighted lamp.
This god Vigneshwara, or Pillayar, or Ganesa 3, & c, of whom we shall frequently have occasion to speak, is the
god of obstacles, as his name( Vigna-iswara) denotes. He is of a morose and irascible disposition, and always ready to annoy and thwart those who fail to pay him sufficient respect. It is for this reason that so much deference is shown to him, and that on grand feast-days his good offices are the first to be invoked, his worshippers fearing lest he should take it into his head to disturb the feast and bring it to an untimely end.
1
The antelope ' s skin is used as a mat on which the priest sits. The skins of both the antelope and the tiger are considered extremely pure consequently one may sit on them without fear of defilement. Dubois.
2
Garika in Canarese, amgu in Tamil, durva in Sanskrit— a kind of millet-grass, Panicum dactylon.— Ed. s
Ganesa literally means god of the inferior deities. Ed.