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OF THE HINDUS.
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It is then consecrated and lighted up by a Brahman, and when the flames break forth, the spectators crowd round it to warm themselves, an act that is supposed to avert ill-luck for the rest of the year; they engage also in some rough gambols, trying to push each other nearer to the fire than is agreeable or safe, and as the blaze declines, jump over and toss about the burning embers; when the fuel is expended and the fire extinct, which is not until the fifteenth or full moon, the ashes are collected and thrown into the water. Such of the celebrants as are Saivas take up part and smear their bodies over with them in imitation of Siva. According to Colonel Tod, the practice of the Rajputs conforms so far to the original institution, that for forty days after the Vasanta Panchami, or up to the full moon of Phálguna, the utmost licence prevails at Udaypur, both in word and action; the lower classes regale on stimulating confections and intoxicating liquors, and even respectable persons roam about the streets like bacchanals, vociferating songs in praise of the powers of nature. The chief orgies, however, take place after the beginning of Phálguna, when the people are continually patrolling the streets, throwing the common powder at each other, or ejecting a solution of it from syringes, until their clothes and countenances are all of the same dye. A characteristic mode of keeping the festival is playing the Holí on horseback, when the riders pelt each other with balls of the red powder, inclosed in thin plates of talc which break when they strike.
