Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 2.djvu/79

 Chap. II.] the mouth must be twelve times rinsed with water. Having thrown away the twig into some place known to be free from impurity, he proceeds to perform his ablutions.

In these it is necessary to be very circumspect, as there are a number of minute rules which he must not violate. The water should, if possible, be taken not from a depth, as a well, but from the surface, and not from a stagnant pool but from a running stream—a river of the number of those deemed holy. In this respect, the Ganges is of course to be preferred to all others, but when it cannot be had the want of it may be supplied by the following prayer: "O Gunga, hear my prayers; for my sake be included in this small quantity of water, with the other sacred streams." The ablution then proceeds, the Brahmin standing in the water, sipping it, sprinkling it, throwing it about on the crown of his head, on the earth, towards the sky, plunging thrice into it, and finally completing the process by washing his mantle in it. While thus engaged he repeats various prayers and texts of the Vedas, including the gayatri, styled the holiest of all, though it contains no more than this, "We meditate on the adorable light of the resplendent Generator, which governs our intellects." Another mysterious utterance employed is that of O M, a contraction of the triliteral syllable A U M, the recognized symbol of the triad.

The ablutions performed, the Brahmin, supposed to have risen before the sun, prepares to worship that luminary as he emerges from the horizon. For this purpose various preliminary ceremonies are required. First, he ties the lock of hair on the crown of his head, takes up a bundle of cusa grass (Pou cynosuroides) in his left and three blades of it in his right hand, sips water, repeating the gayatri, and performing numerous mummeries, and after exclaiming "May the waters preserve me," engages in deep meditation. The subject is curious, for he is only striving to realize the thought that "Brahma, with four faces and a red complexion, resides in his bosom; Vishnu, with four arms and a black complexion, in his heart, and Siva, with five faces and a white complexion, in his forehead." This meditation is followed by a suppression of breath, the mode of effecting which is minutely and even ludicrously regulated. Closing the left nostril by the two longest fingers of the right hand, he draws a breath through the right nostril, and then by stopping this nostril also with the thumb remains without respiring till he has internally repeated the gayatri, the symbolical syllable O M, and a sacred text. This suppression of breath repeated thrice is followed by ablutions, a singular inhalation of water by the nose, and a sipping, at the end of which he exclaims, "Water, thou dost penetrate all beings ; thou dost reach the deep recesses of the mountains; thou art the mouth of the universe; thou art the mystic word vasha; thou art light, taste, and the immortal fluid." He is now in a fit state to offer acceptable worship to the sun, which he addresses standing on one foot with his face to the east and his hands in a hollow form. Among other things, he says of him that "he is the soul of all which is fixed or locomotive," and apostrophizes him thus,