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12
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
other fruit before the image or the object case of Shiva, one must not cross the jala. walked round. These offerings are claimed dhari* or the small passage for conducting by the priest who superintends the cere- water poured over the Shiva-linga." mony. When & sacred tree is circum- Sometimes in pradakshinas the votary ambulated, water is poured out at the foot repeats the name of the deity round which of the tree at each turn."
the turns are taken while the priest recites During the month of Shravan (the tenth the names of the gods in Shlokas. Some month) and during the Purushottama (or the times the following verse is repeated." intercalatory) month, men and women observe | पापोऽहं पापकर्माऽहं पापास्मा पापसंभवः। a number of vows, in respect of which, every If i godtar atari 11 morning and evening, they take turns round बानि कानि च पापानि जन्मांतरकृतानि च। holy images and objects,
तानि तानि विनश्यन्तु प्रदक्षिणपदपदे ।। People observing the chaturmäs-erat (or 'I am sinful, the doer of sin, a sinful monsoon vow), called Tulsi-vivāha (marriage soul and am born of sin. O lotus-eyed One! of Tulsi), worship that plant and take turns protect me and take away all sins from me. ro'und it on every eleventh day of both the Whatever sins I may have committed now as bright and the dark halves of each of the well as in my former births, may every one monsoon months. The gautrat-rrat (gaur of them perish at each footstep of my cow) necessitates perambulations round a pradakshina cow, and the Vat.Savitri-vrat round the Vad The recitation and the turns are supposed or banyan tree. The banyan tree is also to free the soul from the phera of lakhcircumambulated on the Kapilashashthi day choryasit. Alms are given many times to the (the sixth day of the bright lialf of Märga- poor after pradakshinasi shirsha, the second montlu) and on the Ama- The reason why pradakshinus are taken vāsya or the last day of Bhadrapada (the during the day is that they have to be taken eleventh month).
in the presence of the sun, the great ever. Women who are anxious to prolong the lasting witness of all human actions. 11 lives of their husbands take turns round the Tulsi plant or the banyan tree. At each
Ulu turn they wind a fine cotton threud. At the end of the last turn, they throw red Inc and rice orer the tree and place a betonut and a pice or a half-anna piece before it."
The Shastras authorise four pradakshinas (or perambulations) for Vishnu, three for the goddesses, and a half (or one and a huif)" for Shiva. But the usual number of pradakshinas is either 5, 7, 21 or 108. In taking turns round the image of Vishnu, one must take care to keep one's riglit side towards the image, while in the
1 Mr. N. D. Vora, Schoolmaster, Rajpara. ? The Deputy Educational Inspector, Gohelwad. * Mr. D. K. Pandya, Dhhank,
• Mr. P. L. Mehta, Schoolmaster, Luvaria. 3 Mr. Jeram Vasaram, Schoolmaster, Jodia. • Mr. M. H. Raval, Ganod. 1 Mr. H. M. Bhatt, Ganod.
# See figure above, A shows Shiva's image: the arrow-bead, the jaladhari which a person is not to cross He is to return from the point B in his first round and from the point in his half turn. Thus B C remains uncrossed. The circle round A shows the Khal, place wherein god Shiva is installed.-K. D. Desai. #Mr. G, K. Dave, Sultanpore.
The Deputy Educational Inspector, Gohelwad. | Hindus believe that a soul has to go through a lac and eighty-four thousand transmigrations before it attains final emancipation. The cycle of 1,$4,000 births is called the phera of lakh-choryasi.-K, D. Desai. 10 Mr. N. M. Dave, Sinka.
11 Mr. D, K. Pandya, Schoolmaster, Dbhank,
