DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.640#0377
260 THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY.
SECT. V.—Khunjunu, or the Wag-tail,
Is considered as a form of Vishnoo, on account of the
mark on its throat, supposed to resemble the shalgramu.
The Hindoos honour it in the same manner as they do the
eagle of Coromandel.
SECT. VI.—Other Birds worshipped.
The peacock, the goose, and the owle, are worshipped
at the festivals of Kartikii, Briimha, and Lukshmee.
* If, however, the owl, the vulture, or any other unclean birds, perch
upon the house of a Hindoo, it is an unlucky omen, and the effect must
be removed by the performance of the following expiatory ceremony:
' If a vulture, a heron, a dove, an owl, a hawk, a gull, a kite, a Bhasha,
oV a Pundura, should settle upon a house, the wife, or a child, or some
other person belonging to the master of the house, will die, or some other
calamity will befal him within a year afterwards. To prevent this, the
house, or its value in money, must be given to bramhuns; or a peace-offer-
ing of an extraordinary nature must be offered: viz. five productions of
the cow, the five gems, the five nectareous juices, the five twigs of trees,
and the five astringents, are to be put into a pot of water; the guardian
deities of the quarters of the universe must then be worshipped, and an
hundred and eight oblations of clarified butter must be made with a sacri-
ficial piece of the wood of the Khadira tree, while the prayer of Mrit-
yoonjuyii is repeated. The oblation, called the mfiha-vyadhee homil, is to
be performed at the commencement, or at the end of this ceremony.
Oblations of clarified butter, at each of which the gayitree is repeated,
are then to be made to Vishnoo, the nine planets, Udbhootii, and the house-
hold gods; which being done, the bramhuns must be entertained with cla-
rified butter and rice milk. The sacrificial fees must then be paid, and
water sprinkled with appropriate incantations; when an assurance that
all has been duly performed being given, a prostration is made to the
bramhuns, and the benediction received from them.'
SECT. V.—Khunjunu, or the Wag-tail,
Is considered as a form of Vishnoo, on account of the
mark on its throat, supposed to resemble the shalgramu.
The Hindoos honour it in the same manner as they do the
eagle of Coromandel.
SECT. VI.—Other Birds worshipped.
The peacock, the goose, and the owle, are worshipped
at the festivals of Kartikii, Briimha, and Lukshmee.
* If, however, the owl, the vulture, or any other unclean birds, perch
upon the house of a Hindoo, it is an unlucky omen, and the effect must
be removed by the performance of the following expiatory ceremony:
' If a vulture, a heron, a dove, an owl, a hawk, a gull, a kite, a Bhasha,
oV a Pundura, should settle upon a house, the wife, or a child, or some
other person belonging to the master of the house, will die, or some other
calamity will befal him within a year afterwards. To prevent this, the
house, or its value in money, must be given to bramhuns; or a peace-offer-
ing of an extraordinary nature must be offered: viz. five productions of
the cow, the five gems, the five nectareous juices, the five twigs of trees,
and the five astringents, are to be put into a pot of water; the guardian
deities of the quarters of the universe must then be worshipped, and an
hundred and eight oblations of clarified butter must be made with a sacri-
ficial piece of the wood of the Khadira tree, while the prayer of Mrit-
yoonjuyii is repeated. The oblation, called the mfiha-vyadhee homil, is to
be performed at the commencement, or at the end of this ceremony.
Oblations of clarified butter, at each of which the gayitree is repeated,
are then to be made to Vishnoo, the nine planets, Udbhootii, and the house-
hold gods; which being done, the bramhuns must be entertained with cla-
rified butter and rice milk. The sacrificial fees must then be paid, and
water sprinkled with appropriate incantations; when an assurance that
all has been duly performed being given, a prostration is made to the
bramhuns, and the benediction received from them.'