Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 283

THE SACRED EKJ-TREE
243
noon, and Vishnu when setting. You are the jewel of the
air, the king of the day, the witness of everything that
you are the eye of the world, the
takes place on earth
measurer of time you order the day and night, the weeks,
the months, the years, the cycles, the kalpas, the yugas,
the seasons, the ayanas, the times of ablution and of prayer.
You are lord of the nine planets you absolve the sins of
those who pray to you and offer you sacrifices. Darkness
In the space of sixty ghatikas
flies at your approach.
(twenty-four minutes) you ride mounted in your chariot
over the great mountain of the North, which is ninety
million five hundred and ten thousand yojanas in extent.
deign in your mercy
I worship you with all my strength
;
;
;
;
away
to put
all
my
sins.'
X. Hereupon he turns round and round, twelve, twenty-
he is able, in honour
four, or forty-eight times according as
of the sun.
XI. He then goes to a sacred fig-tree, and with his face
towards the east makes it a profound inclination, repeating
You are
aswatta tree
the following prayer the while
Your roots represent
You are the king of trees
a god
Brahma, your trunk Siva, your branches Vishnu. Thus
All those who honour
are you the emblem of the Trimurti.
you in this world by performing to you the ceremony of
the upanayana or of marriage \ by walking round about
you, by adoring you and singing your praises, or by other
similar acts, will obtain remission of their sins in this world
and a home of bliss in the next. Penetrated with the con-
sciousness of these truths I praise and adore you with all
my strength. Deign to give me a proof of your goodness
by vouchsafing the pardon of my sins in this world, and
a place with the blessed after death.'
XII. He then walks round the tree seven, fourteen,
'
!
:
!
!
twenty-one, twenty-eight, thirty-five, or more times, accord-
ing as he has strength, always increasing the number by
seven.
He
then reads some devotional book for a certain
finished he rises, clothes himself with
pure cloths, plucks a few flowers to offer to his household
XIII.
time,
1
and having
It will be seen in the following pages that this tree
with
all
due solemnity.
Dubois.
is
given in marriage