Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/39

Rh almanacs with accuracy. It corresponds generally with the autumnal equinox, 23rd September. It occupies, as its name implies, ten days, each of which is provided with special ritual observances. The first nine days are called the Naurātri, or "nine nights," the tenth being the Dasahra.

Among the Rājputs and other martial tribes, for whom it is the chief annual feast, it begins with the worship of the double-edged sword, which is then removed from the hall of arms, and, after receiving the homage of the State officials, is made over to the Rāj Jogi, the leader of the body of ascetic warriors attached to the Court of the Rāna. It is taken by him to the temple of the goddess Devi; in the afternoon a buffalo is sacrificed in honour of the war horse; the Rāna visits the temple, offers two pieces of silver and a coco-nut, and does homage to the sword. Next day there is a procession to the Chaugān, or Champ de Mars, where a buffalo is sacrificed, and a second at the triumphal gate of the fort; in the evening the Rāna offers a sacrifice of goats and buffaloes to Amba Māta, another form of the Mother goddess. On the third day, after the usual procession, sacrifice is done to Harsiddh Māta, a third manifestation of the goddess. On the fourth day the sword is again worshipped, and the Rāna in olden days used to slay a buffalo by piercing it from his litter with an arrow. He is both high priest and king, his ancestors having been first Brāhmans, then Rājputs; "it is the power and duty of dealing the first blow which is universally characteristic of the antique priesthood." On the succeeding days there are similar processions and sacrifices; horses are bathed and their riders bow before them. On the ninth day the Rāj Jogi returns the sword to the Rāna, and it is restored with honour to its place in the palace. The tenth is the great feast day, when the Rāna goes in