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66
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
The following are generally held to be sneezing, or the asking of a question, at the auspicious omens :
time of departure, waiting, meeting a person While going on any business to come across with an empty vessel, bowling of dogs and an unwidowed woman, a cow, Bráhmans, a jackals, a pair of crows playing on the ground, five-petaled flower, or a pot filled with water ; 1 and a lighted lamp extinguished by its fall the throbbing of the right eyelid and of the on the ground.' right arm of a man, and of the left eyelid of a
| While plans or proposals are being made, it woman; a Bráhman coming in front with a
is considered inauspicious if any one sneczes cup and a spoon in his hand after taking his
or the sound of a lizard is heard. Meeting bath;o the appearance of a peacock, the
a person of the depressed classes whose touch Bharadwaj or the blue jay, and the mongoose,
is pollution, or a bráhman who accepts funeral especially when they pass on the left side of
gifts, is considered inauspicious. Meeting a the person going on business.3
woman who is in her menses, a mourner, a The following are considered to be auspi
buffalo, a snake and a diwad are considered
inauspicious, 10 An iron vessel or an iron bar, cious when seen within a hundred paces of a
cowdung cakes, salt, grass, a broom, a vulture, person starting on business :
and a washerinan bringing with him dirty Brahmans, unwidowed women, boiled food,
clothes are also considered to be inauspicious meat, fishes, milk, any kind of corn, the bird
omens, 11 Chásha or the blue jay, passing by the left
Among the Hindus in Western India, for side, the appearance of the moon in front, a
the purpose of helping the spirit to go to person coming across one's path with vessels
heaven safely, and for securing its goodwill filled with water, and a married couple, a cow
towards the survivors, after death ceremonies with its calf, images of god, cocoanuts and other
called the Shraddhas are generally performed. fruits, the mother, white clothes, the sound
Some perform these ceremonies once a year of a musical instrument, a horse, an elephant,
in the month of Bhadrapada, and others percurds, flowers, a lighted lamp, a jackal, a
form them twice or thrice, i.e., on the anniverspiritual preceptor, a public woman, a Mahár,
sary day of the deceased as well as in the a washerman coming with a bundle of washed
dark half of Bhadrapada, which is generally clothes, and a marriage procession.* The following objects and persons are
known as the manes' fortnight (pitru
paksha). 12 generally believed to be inauspicious :
The funeral solennities performed from the Oil, buttermilk, a couple of snakes, a mon
1st to the 14th day from the death of the key, pig, and an ass, firewood, ashes and cotton,
deceased are as described below:a person with a disfigured nose, a man dressing
On the first day, at the time of burning the his hair in the shape of a crown, red garlands, wet clothes, a woman wearing red cloth, an
dead body, a plot of ground is purified by empty earthen vessel, a Bráhman widow, a
repeating certain mantras, and the corpse is Brahmachari and an unmarried Bráhman", then placed on it. Before setting the funeral a widow, a bare-headed Bráhman, a cat going pile on fire, balls o
pile on fire, balls of boiled rice or wheat flour across the patb, a dog Alapping his ears, are put on the face, the forehead, arms and meeting a barber with his bag, a (beggar, the chest of the corpse. Such balls are placed
- School Master, Ubhádánda, Ratnagiri. * School Master, Acbare, Ratnagiri. 5 School Master, Achare, Ratnágir. 7 School Master, Khopoli, Kolába. 9 School Master, Anjarle, Ratnagiri. 1 Ráo Saheb, Shelle, Kolkapur,
2 School Master, Khopoli, Kolába. 4 School Master, Mitbáv, Ratnagiri. • School Master, Ubhádánda, Ratnagiri. 8 School Master, Mitbáv, Ratnagiri. 10 School Master, Pendur, Ratnagiri, - School Master, Devgad, Ratnagiri,
