Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 374

26
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
cloth is stretched on the ground, bearing an image of the saptarshi over it; wheat and rice are scattered over the cloth, a ghi-lamp is lighted, and red lac and flowers are offered to the image. Another form of worship is to mark seven red-lac-dots on a pätlā or a wooden stool, and to place seven pice and seven betel-nuts thereon, After worshipping the seven pice, the bridal pair are made to take four turns round the stool, touching the stool with their great toes at every turn. A proverb runs to the effect that, whatever may happen to the couple, still the seven pice of sat pati (i. e., the ceremony described) are secure. A third process is to form seven small piles of kamod,* on each of which, successively, the bride places her right foot while the bridegroom removes each pile one by one.3
The fifth day of the bright half of Bhadrapad (the eleventh month of the Gujarati Hindus) is observed as a day of worship in honour of the saptarshi group. People observe a fast on that day. Brahmans set up seven chats† in honour of the seven sages, adding an eighth in honour of Arundhati, the wife of Vasishtha, and worship them by shodashopachar (i. e. sixteen-fold ceremonial). The worship is said to secure felicity for departed souls.
The saptarshi are also annually worshipped by Brahmans on cocoanut-day (the 15th day of the bright half of Shravan) on the occasion of changing their sacred threads, Hindu seamen also worship the constellation on the same day."
In the performance of the Nil-parvan ceremony, which is held to propitiate the spirits of departed ancestors, and which requires a
1 K. P. Joshi, Limbdi.
The Schoolmaster of Khirasarā.
calf and a heifer to be married, an entertainment being simultaneously given to one hundred and eight Brahmans, and on the occasion of Vastu or the ceremonies performed before or at the time of occupying a newlybuilt house, burnt offerings and worship are offered to the saptarshi,
Every Brahman must offer arghyast to, and worship, the agastya constellation, in a hut of darbhas and kasada,§ within seven days from the date of its appearance. Failure to make this offering brings pollution on him for seven months, and disqualifies him from performing any of the rites or ceremonies prescribed by the Shastras.
Married couples are made to look at the Pole star immediately after the Hymenal knot is tied by the priest, in the hope that they may be as long-lived or as inflexible or unmoved by the ups and downs of life,"
The twelfth day after the death of a person, known as Tara-bāras (or the startwelfth) is kept as the day of star-worship by the relatives of the deceased, when one member of the family observes a fast on that day in honour of the deceased, and takes food only after worshipping the stars at night. It is customary on this day to give up the use of bronze vessels and to give them away in charity."
Just as persons carrying or accompanying a corpse to the cemetery are considered sutaki (under ceremonial impurity), so those who witness this rite are also considered unclean: but they are purified by a sight of the stars.
Young girls watching the starry sky at night recite a verse which means, "I worshipped the star-spangled firmament first and
2 R. B. Pandya, Jetpur Sanskrit Pathashālā. D. K. Pandya, Dhhank, and N. M. Dave, Sankā. Jairam Vasaram, Jodia.
B. K. Dave, Kotda-Sangani,
Kalyanji Bhaishankar, Kolki, and R. B. Pandya, Jetpur, G. K. Bhatt, Songadh,
A superior kind of rice.
Twisted braids of darbha grass.
Arghya is an offering of water in a spoon filled with barley seeds, sesamum seeds, sandal ointment, rice, and flowers,
Two varieties of sacred grass, used in thatching roofs.