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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1880.
bestowing gifts on Brâhmans, who as a class are wooden box in which is kept the image of 9 designated charity-receiving people,--authorized Hindu god, covered over with a cloth which is to receive alms of every one willing to bestow it. removed only when the bearer is to be paid, or Compared with the vast sums showered upon the inmates of a house wish him to show it to these beggars, the dharma a Hindu makes to them. He pretends to foretell future events. others is almost nothing. Brahman mendicants He is a very quiet beggar, and asks for alms do not, like the other Hindu beggars, go to the in a low tone and humble way. He goes away houses of others than Hindus for alms, for they
quietly if nothing is given him. He generally are never patronized by them.
gives persons a pinch of turmeric to be rubbed ŚRSTRIBÂvas.
on their brows, or touches their, foreheads with Såstribâ v-or the expounder of the
it himself. Sastras-always Bribman by caste, and a
A third kind of beggars from Telangana are well-to-do person, dresses in white clothes, with called Kávadyâs. They carry over their a shawl over his left hand and another wrapt shoulders a Kávad, or a bamboo stick with slings round his shoulders, and accompanied by one or
at each end; in these slings are hung bamboo more followers. One of his followers goes inside
baskets covered over with ochre coloured cloth. a Hindu house, and tells the inmates that the
They say that on that stick they once conveyed Sastribávå awaits and asks for a seat for him. their aged parents to the holy city of Banáras, He then says that the great man is on his way
and as a sign of their having visited Banaras to the holy Banaras on pilgrimage, and requests
they show a small glass bottle containing water to be paid to visit Kåśvishveswar, or the lord
which they say they brought from the sacred of Banâras, and return. This gentleman as
Ganga. Or they say that they are going to sumes a grave demeanour, and seeing his pomp
Banaras to bury the bones of their aged parents he is generally paid in silver.
who died only a short time ago. People believe
them, and give them money to defray their exTELANGAS.
penses on the way thither. Telanga Brahmans go about begging, and also offer for sale the sacred thread of the
HARIDĀSAS, Hindus. They always roll round their waist a These are Hindus, mostly Brahmans, who woollen cloth (dhabli), which they make usedeliver sermons (kirtans), especially during the of to take dinner with, if they happen to see Ganapati and Râmnavmi festivals. Some of a dinner party at which Brahmans are invited to these men are very eloquent preachers, and their dine. They go in uninvited, and if they are manner of delivery is most pleasing. A haridas not allowed to join they will depart, but not is always accompanied by & drummer, mribefore invoking bitter curses on the heads of dangyú, a fiddler, and two or more players on those who refuse them a share in the feast. metal cups. Some of these musicians are
Then there are again others from Telangana, little boys, and as their voices are sweet and whose dress consists of a waist cloth, and pieces musical, their singing is harmonious and very of coloured cloth tied to their arms with the enjoyable. ends hanging loose. They carry a square flat
(To be continued.)
MISCELLANEA. NOTES AND QUERIES.
more nor less light by night than the half from full 6. LIGHT AND DARK FORTNIGHTS. -Mr. R. A. to new." Nevertheless, though Mr. Proctor is Proctor, writing on the Origin of the Week" right as to the physical fact, Flammariün is right in the Contemporary Review for June 1879, as to the practice. Will more competent persons (p. 410), says with reference to the Hindu explain why this is, how the conventional bright month; "Flammarion.... says, 'the clear half and dark halves of the month do not correspond from new to full, and the obscure balf from with the bright and dark halves of the moonlight full to new;' but this is manifestly incorrect, the Or are bright and dark halves, though very comhalf of the month from now to full having neither monly used both in the vernaculare and English,
