Page:Hindu Feasts Fasts and Ceremonies.djvu/106

90 sacred to Siva is considered to be working his way up to oneness with Siva after his death.

The Sivaratri is also held sacred for the making of holy ashes by the Smartas. Holy ashes are a daily necessity to this class of Hindus, and those prepared on the day sacred to Siva are considered to be very pure. The process is extremely simple. There are certain days in the year which are held sacred for drying up cow-dung balls, from which holy ashes are made. The balls thus prepared are taken to an open yard of the house on the Sivaratri night and placed in the midst of a large heap of husk or chaff. The master of the house or the household priest, who had been observing a fast and repeating prayers the whole day, sets fire to this heap in the early part of the Sivaratri night. The heap continues in flames throughout the night and is reduced to ashes the next morning. The latter is then collected and preserved as holy ashes for use till the next Sivaratri.

The origin of the sacredness of the Sivaratri is related in the following Puranic legend:—In a forest, unknown to the public, on the Himalaya mountains there once lived a hunter with his