Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/428

374 dom and learning. Then, appearing in a dream to the king, he bade him send for twelve rare creatures, who should be his ministers of state, and make his reign as rich as illustrious. The king obeyed the heavenly mandate, summoned the pig-headed statesmen to his court, and set them over his realms. They lived glorious in wisdom as the rising sun, enriched the king by their sagacity, did deeds of charity, and finally ascended to partake of heavenly bliss in the presence of their lord and protector, Siva.

In the illustration, four of the twelve ministers are standing with their hands joined in respectful homage before the king, who, seated on his throne beneath a canopy of serpents, is engaged in council with these sagacious beings.

To attempt to detail the religious duties and rites of the Hindus would, of itself, require a volume. Even the round of ceremonial observances required in a single day would fill a chapter. Few would be willing to plod through the detail, with its minute prescriptions as to the cleansing of the teeth; the plucking, and using, and throwing away of the twig with which this duty is performed; the morning bath, with its sippings, its casting of water on