Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Seite 691

DARBHA GRASS
651
It was probably in consequence of its medicinal properties
that the Hindus deified the plant in the first instance.
Darbha Grass
l
.
This plant belongs to the genus borage.
It is found
everywhere, especially in damp marshy ground. Brahmins
always keep some in their houses, and it is used in all their
ceremonies. It grows to the height of about two feet and
is finely pointed at the top.
It is extremely rough to the
touch, and if rubbed the wrong way it cuts through the skin
and draws blood.
Hindu legends differ as to the origin of this sacred grass.
Some say that it was produced at the time when the gods
and the giants were all busy churning, with the mountain
Mandara, the sea of milk in order to extract from it amrita
or nectar, which would render them all immortal.
The story
is that the mountain, while rolling about on Vishnu's back
(who, under the form of a turtle, was supporting it), rubbed
off a great many of the god's hairs, and that these hairs,
cast ashore by the waves, took root there and became
darbha grass. Others say that the gods, while greedily
drinking the amrita which they had with infinite pains
extracted from the sea of milk, let fall a few drops of the
nectar on this grass, which thus became sacred. Then,
again, others assert that it was produced at the time when
Mohini that is to say, Vishnu metamorphosed into a
courtesan of that name was distributing amrita to the
The vessel containing the nectar was supported on
gods.
Mohini's hip, from which some fleshy filaments fell, and
taking root in the ground, developed under the form of
darbha grass. Be this as it may, darbha grass is looked upon
as part of Vishnu himself.
On the strength of this the
Brahmins worship it and offer sacrifices to it, and, as may be
remembered, make use of it in all their ceremonies, in the
belief that it possesses the virtue of purifying everything.
An annual feast instituted in honour of the sacred darbha
grass is celebrated on the eighth day of the moon in the
month of Badra (September), and is called the Darbha-
—
1
—
This sacred grass (Poa cynosuroidcs)
—Ed.
is
essential in all sacrifices.