42 THE ' SASHTANGA '
When all this is finished lie is looked upon as reinstated.
The sashta? iga, by the way, is a sign or salute expressing humility, which is not only recognized amongst the Hindus and other Asiatic nations, but was in use amongst more ancient peoples. Instances of it are quoted in Scripture, where this extraordinary mark of respect is known as adoration, even when it is paid to simple mortals. { Vide
Genesis xviii. 2; xix. 1; xxxiii. 3; xlii. 6; xliii. 26; 1.
18, & c, & c.) In the same way the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and other nations mentioned in Holy Writ were acquainted with this method of reverent salutation and observed it under the same circumstances as the Hindus. As I shall often have occasion in this work to mention the sashtanga
1 will give here a definition of it. The person who performs
it lies prostrate, his face on the ground and his arms extended beyond his head. It is called sashtanga from the
prostration of the six members, because, when it is performed, the feet, the knees, the stomach, the chest, the forehead, and the arms must touch the earth. It is thus that prostrations are made before persons of high degree, such as princes and priests. Children sometimes prostrate themselves thus before their fathers. It is by no means rare to see Sudras of different classes performing sashtanga before Brahmins; and it often happens that princes, before engaging an enemy, thus prostrate themselves before their armies drawn up in battle array \
When expulsion from caste is the result of some heinous offence, the guilty person who is readmitted into caste has to submit to one or other of the following ordeals: his tongue is slightly burnt with a piece of heated gold; he is branded indelibly on different parts of his body with redhot iron; he is made to walk barefooted over red-hot
embers; or he is compelled to crawl several times under the belly of a cow. Finally, to complete his purification,
he is made to drink the pancha-gavia. These words, of which a more detailed explanation will be given later on, signify literally the five things or substances derived from the
1
Here and elsewhere the Abbe makes the mistake of interpreting saslUanga to mean ' the six angas,' or ' parts of the body.' Sashtanga( Saashtanga) really means with the eight jxirt * of the body, which are the two hands, the two feet, two knees, forehead, and breast. Ed,