Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/214

NAMBUTIRI BRAHMAN affairs of religion, time is reckoned by the sālivāhana saka, or lunar year, the months of which are Chaitra, Vaisākha, Jēshta, Āshādha, Srāvana, Bhādrapata, Āsvavuja, Margasirsha, Paushya, Māgha, Phālguna. Every three years or thereabouts, there is added another month, called Adhika. Some of the festivals kept by the Nambūtiris are as follows: —


 * (1) Sivarātri. — Worship of Siva on the last day of Māgha. Fast and vigil at night, and pūja.


 * (2) Upākarma. — The regular day for putting on a new sacred thread, after having cleansed away the sins of the year through the prāyaschittam, in which ceremony the five sacred products of the cow (milk, curds, ghī, urine, and dung) are partaken of. It is done on the 15th of Srāvana.


 * (3) Nāgara panchimi. — The serpent god is worshipped, and bathed in milk. On the 5th of Srāvana. This festival is common in Southern India.


 * (4) Gōkulāshtami. — Fast and vigil at night, to celebrate the birth of Krishna. Pūja at night, on the eighth day of the latter half of Srāvana.


 * (5) Navarātri. — The first nine days of Asvayuja are devoted to this festival in honour of Dūrga.


 * (6) Dipāvali. — Observed more particularly in North Malabar on the anniversary of the day on which Krishna slew the rākshasa Naraka. Everyone takes an oil bath. On the last day of Asvayuja.


 * (7) Ashtkalam. — The pitris (ancestors) of the family are propitiated by offerings of pinda (balls of rice)and tarpana (libations of water). On the new moon day of Dhanu.


 * (8) Vināyaka Chaturthi. — The elephant-headed god of learning is worshipped. At the end of the