Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 207

THIRD AND FOURTH DAYS' CEREMONIES
while singers and
167
musicians start afresh with renewed
The young Brahmin, standing over the coals,
offers for the first time in his life the sacrifice called homam,
which, by his investiture with the cord, he has now acquired
the right to do.
After this sacrifice, and another, which
vigour.
the youth performs specially to the fire, the women make
a procession and carry back the pan of coals to its place,
returning to perform aratti to the young Brahmin.
The
day terminates with a further distribution of betel to the
Brahmins, after which they
all
separate.
On
the third day there is the same assembly again, and
for the most part a repetition of the ceremonies of the
preceding day, particularly that of the homam
while the
day's proceedings are terminated as before by a feast.
The ceremonial of the fourth and last day has a few
additional peculiarities.
After a repetition of the usual
preliminaries, the women of the party form a procession
and, singing all the time, go and fetch the sacred fire,
which they set down close to the newly initiated member,
who, standing up, places a few stalks of darbha grass round
the pan of hot embers.
He then performs homam by
throwing on to the brazier some twigs of the sacred fig-
;
tree,
some cooked
rice,
some
liquefied butter,
and some
coarse sugar.
Thence they go to the tutelary deity, and having offered
puja to him, they invite him to depart as he came. At the
same time a little of the sacramental water from the deified
vessel is poured into the hand of each person present, who
forthwith drinks it, the remainder being thrown away.
The deity is also despoiled of his yellow cloth and of the
saffron thread with which he was decorated.
After a few
prayers have been addressed to these different objects, the
divine essence is supposed to escape from them.
The saffron-coloured thread which was fastened round
the wrist of the new member is now taken off and put to
soak in some milk.
One large new earthen vessel and five smaller ones, all
with lids, are then brought, smeared on the outside with
The five smaller vessels are rilled with water to
lime.
begin with, and are then all emptied into the larger one.
The lid of the larger vessel is put on, and it is then placed