Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/431

Rh and symbolical of the threefold manifestation of the one Supreme Being in the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, and is constantly repeated during the Sandhya service. This prayer is, as we have seen, the most sacred of all Vēdic utterances, and, like the Lord's Prayer among Christians, or like the Fatihah or opening chapter of the Kuran among Muhammadans, must always, among Hindus, take precedence of all other forms of supplication." The celebrant next proceeds to invoke the Gāyatri Dēvata thus: — " May the goddess Gāyatri Dēvata, who grants all our desires, come to us to make known to us the eternal Lord, who is revealed to us only through the scriptures. May the Gāyatri, the mother of all the Vēdas, reveal to us the eternal truth. Oh! Gāyatri, thou art the source of all spiritual strength. Thou art the power that drivest away the evil inclinations which are mine enemies. Thou, by conducing to a sound mind, conducest to a sound body. Thou art the light of the gods, that dispellest my intellectual darkness, and illuminest my heart with divine wisdom. Thou art all. In the whole universe there is naught but thee that is. Thou art the eternal truth that destroys all sins. Thou art the Pranava that reveals to me the unknown. Come to my succour, Oh! thou Gāyatri, and make me wise." This invocation is followed by the repetition of the Gāyatri 108 or only 28 times. The celebrant then says: — "The goddess Gāyatri resides on a lofty peak on the summit of mount Mēru (whose base is deeply fixed) in the earth. Oh! thou goddess, take leave from the Brāhmans (who have worshipped thee, and been blessed with thy grace), and go back to thy abode as comfortably as possible." The Sandhya service is closed with the following prayer to the rising sun: — " We sing the adorable glory of