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Tarakeswar is a village in the district of Hugli, not far from Calcutta, which contains a shrine of great sanctity, to which sick people and pilgrims flock in great numbers for recovery from disease, or the performance of vows to the god Siva. A great religious festival is held here in the month of April, at which severe penances and most cruel self-inflicted tortures are practised. The well-known barbarous Charak-puja, or swinging festival, used to be held at this fair, until put a stop to by the British Government in 1863.

Phulsajja is the name given to a [custom which] prevails amongst Hindus of adorning the bridal bed with flowers.

This mythological allusion will best be explained by quoting from Dowson's "Hindu Mythology," under the heading Avatara, p. 36:

"Vishnu appeared in the form of a tortoise in the Satya Yug, or first age, to recover some things of value which had been lost in the Deluge. In the form of a tortoise he placed himself at the bottom of the sea of milk, and made his back the base or pivot of the mountain Mandara. The gods and demons twisted the great serpent Vâsuki round the mountain, and, dividing into two parties, each took an end of the snake as a rope, and thus churned the sea until they recovered the desired objects. These were (1) Amrita, the water of life; (2) Dhanwantari, the physician of the gods, and bearer of the cup of Amrita; . . . and (14) Visha, poison."