Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 564

524
INITIATION CEREMONIES
his intention, and begs them to be ready to
receive his solemn vows with all the customary formalities
announces
and ceremonies.
On the day appointed for this important act, the candidate
He procures ten pieces
first purifies himself by bathing.
of cotton cloth such as are worn on the shoulders, four of
them, dyed a dark yellow {kavi), being destined for his own
use, the other six being given as presents to men of his own
He also provides himself with a bamboo staff that
caste.
has seven knots or joints, some small silver and copper
sandalwood, and, above all, some
drinks a little of the last-named bever-
age, and then repairs to the spot where the ceremony is to
take place.
The officiating guru performs the ordinary homam and
puja, and then proceeds to whisper into the candidate's
ear such mantrams and instructions as are prescribed for
the state he is about to enter. He next commands him,
first, to don one of the yellow cloths that he has brought,
and then, in token of his renunciation of his caste as well
as of the pomps and vanities of this world, to break his
triple cord and to allow the tuft of hair which grows on
every Brahmin's head to be shaved off. All this is accom-
panied by mantrams and other absurdities which it is
unnecessary to describe in detail.
The ceremony ended, the candidate takes his seven-
knotted bamboo in one hand l and a gourd full of water in
coins, flowers, aJcshatas,
-pancha-gavia.
He
1
One cannot fail to recognize in the Hindu sannyasis a class of men
similar to those of the Jews who were imbued with Rabbinical doctrines
in connexion with cabala and numbers, and to the Greeks who held the
wild theories of Pythagoras idiotic dreamers who crammed the minds
know that the
of their fellow-countrymen with foolish notions.
cabala believes the world to be full of spirits, which one can in the course
by
practising
life
purity of
and meditation. The
of time resemble,
sannyasVs staff with its seven knots is not merely intended to aid him
The
It is, like Aaron's rod, an instrument of divination.
in walking.
seven knots are also not without a mysterious significance. Who has
not heard of the perfection of the number seven ? The high esteem in
which it is held by the Hindus is clearly proved by the numerous sacred
places and objects which are always spoken of in groups of seven, such
as the Seven Penitents (sapta rishis), the Seven Holy Cities (sapta pura),
the Seven Sacred Islands (sapta dwipa), the Seven Seas (sapta samudra),
the Seven Sacred Rivers (sapta nadi), the Seven Sacred Mountains
—
We