Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/204

 1 88 Collectanea.

Some Notes from North-Western India.

The First-born {see ante, p. 6-^. — To the west of the North- Western Provinces it is a very general belief that if, during a thunderstorm, two persons who are first-born children stand together, they will certainly be struck by lightning. This belief is so strong, that if husband and wife be first-born children, they separate at once and run into different corners of the house when- ever they see a flash of lightning.

Worship of the Monkey god. — In the western part of the North- Western Provinces it is very common for people who are in any special difficulty, or desire to attain some particular object, to arrange a special worship of the Monkey-god, Hanuman ; this is known as the Pchichmukhi Hanuman ki piljd, or the worship of the five-mouthed Monkey-god. It should commence on Tuesday, which is the day sacred to this deity. Early on that morning the worshipper bathes, and unless there happen to be a temple of Hanuman close by, he plasters a small piece of ground with mud and cow-dung, and on this places a little brass image of the god. He then bathes the image and ties a scrap of cloth, to serve as a loin-cloth, round its waist, and after offering a Brahmanical cord, such as all Brahmans wear over their shoulders, he daubs the image with a mixture of oil and vermilion and makes an offering consisting of betel-nuts and cardamoms. With each article offered he repeats the invocation " Om Hanumate naniah" i.e., "I salute Hanuman!" Next he offers cake and sweetmeats, but only so much as he can eat himself. And this he does after he believes his offering has been accepted. • If there chance to be any rem- nants of the offering, he carefully buries them without letting any one see him doing so : in no case must he throw them away care- lessly, lest a witch may work evil by means of them. Then the worshipper puts on a red waist-cloth and repeats the following invocation : " O king of the monkeys, who removest all anxiety, O helper of the helpless, destroy my enemies and protect me who now bows in supplication before thee ! "

He goes through the same ritual for forty days. On the forty- first day he calls Brahmans to do a fire-sacrifice, or Homa, in