Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 288

248
A REMEDY FOR INDIGESTION
you shall not go unrewarded.
answered the Brahmin,
I will arrange for your happiness.'
Accordingly the
Brahmin, being a holy man and much beloved by the
gods, in spite of his leprosy, was granted the favour of re-
incarnation and was allowed to live with his wife as long
as she and he desired.
In the enjoyment of abundant
riches, and of all the gifts that nature can bestow, they
saw three generations pass away, being reborn each time
they reached the ordinary term of human life. Moreover
as a climax to their happiness they had numerous children
with each new life. At last, tired of this life, they both
died, and were transported to the Sattya-loka or paradise
of Brahma.'
But to return to our subject.
XV. His meal over, the Brahmin washes his hands and
rinses his mouth.
He must also gargle his throat twelve
'
times.
XVI. He takes some leaves of the tulasi which he had
offered before his meal to his household gods, and bringing
to his mind the thought of either the penitent Agastya or
the giant Kumbhakarna he swallows these leaves, by
doing which he ensures a good digestion for the meal just
eaten and wards
off
XVII. He gives
any
illness
l
.
and areca-nut to the poor Brah-
mins invited to dinner and dismisses them. He then
spends some time reading devotional books.
XVIII. His reading finished, he puts some betel into his
mouth, and is then free to look after his ordinary business
or to go and see his friends, taking care all the time not to
betel
covet either the goods or the wives of others.
XIX. Towards sunset he returns for the third time to
the river and performs the evening sandhya, repeating the
ceremonies of the morning and midday.
XX. On his return home he performs the homam for the
second time, and reads some Puranas. He again goes
through the hari-smarana, which, as we have already
described, consists in reciting the litanies to Vishnu and
pronouncing
his
thousand names aloud.
visits the temple nearest to
XXI. He then
1
Agastya
is
who
Kumbhakarna is
the dwarf Rishi,
in three gulps.
appetite.
Ed.
his house,
said to have swallowed the ocean
a giant famous for his voracious
is