Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/75

 The Holi : a Vernal Festival of the Hindus. 63

is only vaguely connected with Hinduism in its orthodox form, except in Ikahman-ridden parts of the country, like Lower Bengal, where the official Levite has compromised with, or adopted, this non-Brahman rite. Here he sprinkles the powder, conveys the image to the place where the fire is lighted, or performs rites which associate the observance with the cult of one of the higher gods, such as Krishna."'^

The observances at the fire, except among the more Hinduized castes and tribes, seldom amount to actual worship. All that is done is that people ceremonially walk round it, as they do in the case of many other sacred things, keeping it on their right. Among the Ramoshis of I'oona, the head of the house walks five times round the fire, sprinkling water from a pot.^^ The Kunbis of the Deccan sit round the fire, and food is thrown into it, as has been already described.^- In Bengal the Brahman in charge of the rite walks round the fire seven times. The observance is sometimes combined with the cult of Krishna, as in Orissa, where the Vaishnava worshippers of the god carry his image to the houses of their disciples, to whom they present some red powder and rosewater, and receive gifts in return.^^ But it seems never to be connected with the cult of Agni, the Vedic fire-god, and there is good evidence that the fully developed fire-cult, in its modern form, is of later date than the Vedic age, and is largely due to missionaries from Iran, where, as among the modern Parsis, it has been elaborated and systematized.

The ashes are valued as a preservative against all the vague forms of ill-luck, and as a protection against spirit agency. In the Central Provinces they are used to avert the Evil Eye, and for the cure of scorpion stings.^^ In Central India the Mahrattas " cast the ashes upon one

^'' H. H. Wilson, op. cit., vol. ii., pp. 224 et seq.

'^'^ Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xviii. (1885), Part i., p. 414.

^- Ibid., p. 292.

^•^ H. H. Wilson, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 226.

'^ Seoni Gazetteer (K^J), vol. i., p. '^o et seq.