Indian Antiquary Vol 46

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

Page 400

52
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
In the preparation of Nargudikalpa* or of so many righteous persons who are transGujakalpa*, some drugs have to be procured lated to swarga for their good actions, and by a naked person.
are endowed with a lustre proportionate to It is considered meritorious by some per their individual merits. But every moment sons to risc early in the morning and to of enjoyment in swarga diminishes the store bathe naked on the Makar Sankranti day of merit: and those whose whole merit is thus
A Brahman boy must be naked at the time exhausted, on receiving their proportionate of the peformance of his thread investiture share of pleasures, must resume their worldly ceremony. After the ceremony, the maternal existence. The Bhagavad-gitä says: "Witar uncle of the boy presents garments to him, god m ärk " i.e., "they enter the which he thereupon puts on.
mortal world when their merit is expended." In Gujarat, for the most part, the people Meteors are believed to be spirits of this seem to be un acquainted with the belief that description who fall from their position as certain stones possess the virtue of influen- stars, to live again on this earth. cing the rain. Some persons however attribute Another explanation of meteors is that this quality to the stones on such sacred they are the sparks produced when the vimans mounts as Girnar, Abu, and Pavagadh." (or vehicles) of celestial people clash against
There is a point called Tonk, on mount each other.10 Girnar, of which it is said that rain is certain Meteors are also held to be the agar oi to fall whenever anyone succeeds in climbing charak (.e., excreta) dropped either by a it. There is also a common belief that arasi curious waler-bird,' or by Garud, the favourmarble if heated has influence over rain, ite eagle, and vehicle of Vishnu, 11 or by a
It is a common practice to submerge the fabulous bird Anal,12 The latter is said to fly image of Shiva in water with the object of at an immeasurable height from the surface bringing rain. Similarly the image of the of the earth, and to take food only once a goddess Harshadh is sometimes bathed when day.19 It is almost impossible to catch the rain is desired. The bhuva or the bhui, i.e., charak when it falls to earth: but if ever it the male and the female attendants of the can be secured, the application of it to the goddess are at the same time given a bath, and eyes of a blind man will restore his eyesight. an offering or Khirt is made to the goddess. It also furnishes an effective remedy for
There are two goals which a pious Hindu leprosy, and gives a golden lustre to the tries to attain by leading a life of purity body of a person suffering from that and virtue, viz., (i) moksha or final emancipa. | disease, 11 tion, merging into the Eternal Spirit, and | Some declare that meteors are stars which (ii) swarga (heaven or paradise) where ineri- fall owing to the curse of Indra, and subsetorious persons enjoy pure pleasures unalloy- quently assume the highest human form on ed by earthly cares. The stars are the spirits earth, Mr. Nandlal Kalidas, Chhatrasa.
· The Schoolmaster of Aman, The Deputy Educational Inspector of Halar.
• Mr. K. D. Desai. $ The Shastris of Jetpur and Bhayavadar.
• The Shastri of Jetpur Päthashälä. + The Schoolmaster of Chok.
• The Schoolmaster of Pitanvāy. Mr. K. D. Desai and the Schoolmaster of Dbhank.
10 The Schoolmaster of Jodia, 11 The Schoolmaster of Ganod. 12 The Schoolmasters of Dhhank and Ganod and the Mistress of Rajkot Civil Station Girls' School. * Name of a medicinal preparation.
† But the virtue of influencing rain belongs to the Shiva linga and to the idol of Harshadh, not because they are made of any particular kind of stone, but because they represent certain deities.
1 Rice cooked in milk and sweetened with sugar.