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MODERN HINDUISM.
together, and covered with hay and mud from a sacred stream. They are then dried in the sun, and Images. afterwards painted, dressed, and otherwise decorated according to some mode presented by the sacred law-books. When they are taken to the place of worship, the priest engaged for the occasion performs a ceremony called the giving of life, in which the god is invited to
Festival reside in the image for one, two, or three days. ceremonies. It then becomes sacred, and must be touched by none but a Brahman,--must be approached by none but a Hindu. A full morning and evening worship is celebrated before the image, that in the evening being followed by amusements. The concluding day witnesses the farewell of the deity, who is thanked for favouring the worshippers with his or her presence, and is supplicated to return next year. When the god is supposed to have departed, the sacred image becomes once more common clay, and may be touched by any one. About sunset it is taken to a river bank, or to a tank, with a musical procession, dancing women and lighted torches. The image is rowed out to the middle of the stream and dropped into the water, there to dissolve and decay. The amount of worship performed by Hindus is increased by the necessity of averting the evil which other gods besides their own special deity may cause, and by their desire to gain any possible additional benefit. We cannot give space to a recital of the important public festivals which occur throughout the months of the year. These vary in different localities, and the total number is enormous. For instance, there are festivals all over Bengal to Jagannath, in imitation of the great ones at Puri, cars and great images being similarly provided. There are numerous special festivals to Sasthi, who watches over women in child-bearing, and protects children. At the festivals of Krishna miracle-plays form an important Miracle-plays. feature, and represent the most important events in the lives of the gods, the actors being got up to represent them, and not omitting their many indecent words and actions. By such representations, among other things, the illiterate Hindu masses come to
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