tank to wash their hands and mouths; after which, they chewed pán leaves, together with a mixture of quick-lime, betel-nut, coriander-seed, catechu, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamums. They then sat on a mat in the yard, and smoked to their hearts' content. On departing, the guests pronounced a thousand blessings on the head of the child, who had that day been named Govinda Chandra Sámanta. CHAPTER VII. THE PROTECTRESS OF CHILDREN. And are there then celestial habitants Whom a kind Father's care around us plants, Keble. THE reader will have noticed that in the last chapter allusion was more than once made to the worship of Shashthi, the beneficent goddess whose happy vocation it is to take care of children, and protect them from danger and trouble, to which they are so constantly exposed on account of their helplessness; and since we regard this divinity as one of the most amiable creations of Hindu mythology, we trust we shall be excused for dwelling a little on the adoration of the Protectress of Children. The goddess is called Shashṭhi, or the sixth, because she is believed to be the sixth part of the divine essence of Pradhána-Prakriti, the male and female creative principles, by whose influence this universe has been generated. The following legend is related in connection with her worship:-" Priyavrata, the son of Svayambhu-Manu, who had spent many years in enthusiastic and solitary devotion, was at last persuaded by Brahmá to contract the bonds of matrimony. But as his wife did not for a long time present him with offspring, he desired the divine sage Kasyapa to celebrate the putreshti-yága, on the completion of which the sage gave her to eat the sacrificial charu (rice cooked in clarified butter), on swallowing which she became enceinte. In due time she brought into the world a son as bright as gold," but, unfortunately, still-born. The king (Priyavrata). with a sad heart, took the dead child and laid it on the funeral pile with a view to cremation. On a sudden, however, there appeared overhead in the sky,. a goddess of surpassing beauty, radiant as the summer sun. The king, entranced with her heavenly grace,. asked her who she was. The goddess said, 'I am the wife of Kártikeya; the Chief of Mothers; and 6 as I am the sixth part of Prakriti, men call me 'Shashṭhi.' So saying, the bright goddess took hold of the child, gave it breath and life, and made a gesture, as if she was going to take it away with her to the realms of glory. The king, petrified with fear, addressed many a fervent prayer, beseeching her to restore the infant to him. The goddess, pleased with the incense of praise, said, 'O thou son of Svayambhu-Mánu, thou art the lord of the three worlds! If thou promise to celebrate my praise as long as thou livest, I will give the child to thee.' The king readily agreed to the condition, embraced the child, and returned home with a joyful heart." As a grateful return for her favour he celebrated the worship of Shashṭhi with the utmost pomp. From that time the worship of Shashṭhi became one of the most popular institutions in the land of Bharata. She is worshipped every month, on the sixth day of the waxing moon, by every Hindu wife who has not been blessed with offspring, on the sixth and the twenty-first day after the birth of a child, and at Annaprásana, or the Feast of the First Rice. The proper image of Shashțhi is a woman of matronly appearance, painted yellow, riding on a cat, and nursing a child; but usually she is represented by a rude stone, not bigger than a man's head, painted with red-lead, and placed under a vața tree (Ficus Indica) in the outskirts of the village; while not unfrequently she is worshipped in the form of a branch of the vața tree stuck in the yard of a house. One of the pleasantest sights ever witnessed in a Hindu village in Bengal is the spectacle presented some day in the month of Jaishṭha, under a large banyan tree just outside the hamlet. There the womanhood of the village-matrons, mothers, wives, spinsters are assembled, dressed in their pújá's best, their bodies loaded with ornaments, their faces shining with oil, their veils gracefully hanging over their heads, with offerings in their hands. The priest recites the holy texts, and blesses every woman present; the offerings go, of course, to him; but some of them are given away to those unfortunate women-they are regarded such by Hindus-who have not borne the fruit of marriage. These women VOL. I. F |