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period of time were accustomed to taking possession of his house as well as his means of maintenance (25.15 ff.). Proclamations of challenges for performing very difficult tasks were made with the beating of drums at the crossways of the cities. He who wished to accept the challenge used to touch the drum with his palm ( 17.5-8; 25.24). There is a reference to certain ceremony called Harāliyā (?) performed in order to free ladies from formal mourning when a fixed number of days lapsed after the demise of a very near relative. This had usually to be done before any auspicious ceremony could take place in their relations so that they might be in a position to attend the same (15.15-17).
There is a reference to a pregnant lady moving with a cocoanut-fruit and unbroken rice-grains in her hands (28.17-18). This may probably hint at the performance of the Simanta-ceremony celebrating the first pregnancy.
A Yakşa, residing in a place called Yakşabhuvana situated in the outskirts of the city, appears to have been believed to be the protector of the king (10.21-11.10). People also believed in the sixty-four Yoginis and the K setrapala, human oblations to whom would best be offered at midnight of the fourteenth day of the dark half of the month of Ăśvina, which is popularly known in Gujarăta as Kāļi Cau lasa (14.6 ff.). Taking a religious oath in order to propitiate deities for the welfare of one's near relatives was so com. mon that even queen-mother Ma yan alla devi is stated to have taken such an oath for the safe return from victory-march of her son king Siddhar āja J a ya simha, who, at her word, fulfills the oath by going to Da bhoi for paying respects to the deity Pārś y a nátha, even before entering his capital ( 22.3 ff.). The belief in the auspicious and inauspicious indications of the cries of a jackal or an owlet is also noted here ( 16.10-20; 28.18 ff.). There is a reference to the remembering of one's past birth also ( 20.12 ). Certain persons dying during penance-practising are stated to have become, after death, the tutelary deities of the places concerned ( 29.19). Offering water to the thirsty-especially to creatures of the cow. family-was believed to earn great merit ( 18.16 ff.).
The following flora and fauna bave secured a mention in our text.
Flora : There is a reference to the tree in general ( 13.4). At one place the celestial trees also are mentioned 16.9). The banian-tree (Vata-výkşa ) along with its branch-roots dropping milk in the mouth of a mother-less infant is also referred to ( 29.2-3). There is a mention of bamboo-groves ( 29.15). The tamarind tree is made the tool of certain magic performances (13.21;
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