Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 608

THE GAURI FEAST
568
up to enjoyment. Fireworks are let off, and cannon,
rockets, and guns are heard on every side.
It is about this
time, also, that the officers of Government prepare their
revenue accounts for the year, and that the cultivators
renew the leases of the lands which they farm.
At the time of the new moon in the month of February
the Lingayats, or followers of Siva, celebrate with great
pomp their feast Siva-ratri (Night of Siva). This lasts
three days, and during the course of it the Lingayats wash
and purify their liyigam, cover it with a new cloth, and offer
to it sacrifices of a special character.
They also visit their
jangamas or gurus, and present them with gifts \
The festival of Gauri takes place at the time of the new
moon in the month of September, and lasts many days.
Gauri is another name for Parvati, the wife of Siva, who is
the object of peculiar worship on this occasion.
On the
last day of the feast they mould a figure of the goddess in
rice dough
this is placed in a shrine beautifully adorned,
and is then carried with great pomp through the streets.
The Gauri feast, however, is also specially dedicated to
the household gods, which are represented by the imple-
ments, tools, and utensils in common use amongst the
Thus, the farmer collects his ploughs, his spades,
people.
and his sickles, and places them in a heap on a spot care-
fully purified by a layer of cow-dung.
He prostrates him-
self at full length before the various implements of hus-
bandry, and offers them puja and neiveddya according to
the usual manner.
He then puts them back in their places.
The mason offers similar homage to his trowel, his square,
the carpenter to his axe, his saw, and his plane
&c.
the barber to his razor
the writer to his pen or stilus
the tailor to his scissors and needles the huntsman to his
gun the fisherman to his nets the weaver to his loom
the butcher to his cleaver and so on in the case of all
artisans.
The women, too, collect their baskets, winnows,
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
rice-mills
—
in
short, all their household implements,
and
prostrate themselves before them, offering them homage in
like manner.
In a word, there is not a person who, during
this solemn time, does not regard as so many deities the
1
Vide Appendix
III.