Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/195

Rh state of Nirvana rubs its eyes, stretches its arms, and, shuffling out of the "august presence," passes the rest of the day in chuprásis' company. Under cover of night the Va'quil steals homewards, and hiding its guilty head in the bosom of its greasy quilt, it cries for relief.

Next morning the Va'quil is placed in a cage on a fashionable road, where it can be handled, from a safe distance, for about Rs. 3. The fee rises from Rs. 3 to Rs. 30, according to circumstances. But it is very seldom that the fee comes. This process of the Va'quil's profitless exhibition is technically termed "vegetation." In this state it remains from six to twelve months, when it begins to bud forth into something like human appearance.

At this stage the Va'quil is taken in hand by a Márwári, or such another worthy recognised by the Court as Dalái or Mukhtyár. But its