. ON THE HINDOO RELIGION. lxxxi
Tery religious—a very holy man. Rise, and go to your proper
work." Three-fourths of the single tenth part attend to the daily
duties of their religion in the following manner:—when they rise,
they repeat the name of their guardian deity, make a reverential
motion with the head and hands in remembrance of their absent
spiritual guide, then wash themselves in the house, and pursue
their business till noon. Should the wife or child have neglected
to prepare the flowers, &c. for worship, the master of the family
scolds his wife in some such words as these:—" Why do I labour
to maintain you ? It is not because you can answer for me, or
preserve me from punishmeut at death; but that you may assist
me in these things, that I may repeat the name of God, and pre-
pare for a future state." If the son is to be reproved for such a
neglect, the father asks him, if he is not ashamed to spend so
much time in play, careless how much fatigue-he undergoes,to
please himself, while he is unwilling to do the smallest trifle to
please the gods. He declares himself ashamed of such a family,
and desires to see their faces no more. He then gathers the
flowers himself, and going to the river side, takes some clay,
examines whether it be free from every impurity, lays it down,
taking a morsel with him into the water, immerses himself once,
and then rubs himself with the clay, repeating this prayer, " O
earth! thou bearest the weight of the sins of all: take my sins
upon thee, and grant me deliverance." He then invites to him
the river goddesses Yiimoona, Godavuree, Siiraswutee, Niirmuda,
Sindhoo, and Kaveiee, that he may, in Gunga, have the merit of
bathing in them all at once, and again immerses himself, after
repeating, " On such a day of the month, on such a day of the
moon, &c. I (such a one) bathe in the southwards-flowing Gun-
ga." He then offers up a prayer for himself in some such words
as these;—" Ubbuyii-ehurunu, praying for final happiness for ten
millions of his family, bathes in Gunga:" and then immerses
again. Next, he repeats the day of the month, of the moon, &c.
and immerses himself, while he utters, " Let my guardian deity
be propitious;" and then ascends the bank, wiping his hair, and
repeating the praises of Gunga, as, " O Gunga, thou art the door
of heaven, thou art the watery image of religion, thou art the
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