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OF TIIE HINDUS.
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plant (calotropis gigantea), or śatávarí (asparagus racemosus), or the jujube, or a little oil and a lighted wick, and stirs the water around him, according to some, with a piece of sugar-cane; after his prayers, he removes the articles from his head, and sets the lamp afloat on the water. He then makes the usual libations to the Manes, and having gone home, presents food, and money, and clothes, according to his means, to the Brahmans. One of the formula of meditation given is, “Glory to thee, who art a form of Rudra, to the lord of Rasas, to Varuna, ol Harivása, be salutation to thee.”
The Káśí Khanda, as quoted in the Kalpa Druma, gives a different prayer: “Of whatever sin committed by me during seven lives, may this Mákarí Saptamí remove both the sorrow and the shame*, and whatever sin has been committed by me in this life, through the influence of time, whether in mind, spirit, or body, wittingly or unwittingly, may every such sin, involving the fruit of seven diseases, be effaced by this bathing, oh thou who art identical with the so, do thou efface it, oh Mákarí Saptamí!” The repetition of this prayer purifies a person from all sin, and the whole rite is considered as securing him from sickness and premature decay.
As appears from these latter mantras, the day is
* [Sabdak.d., p. 3391, a, and Nirnayasindhu, c. II, p. 73, 1):
यद्यज्जन्मकृतं पापं मया सप्तसु जन्मस । तन्मे रोकं च शोकं च माकरी हन्तु सप्तमी ॥]
13
