Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/183

 170 TflE INDIAN AXTIQtTABT. [Jpxr, 1675. dnml ninMti whatever may bo i to reason of the bankers. They r*gnrd it as a who profess to have almndoncd I lit- world. They class "it with gold ornamsnU and Cue clothe*, and would stare if they were told that wbai reject mi a vain beauttficntion of th«i porLihing body is regarded by person** who know better lis a sign of their religion, which I bey ouu: cherish. The temple-priest wears his kndnmi as ft matter of course, because ho lives in socicr because the worship lift oflbrx to the god i temples is ft gny, courtly worship, consisting in music, dancing, flower-, and lights, in avowed imitation of the ceremonies of a court It is con- sidered necessary that he should be-in full dress when offii the temple, that is, tltut ho should wear hia k u<1 unit : forwithontbis kndami t like a man who is andean lYmu n m miming, or Like a S an y a * i who has abandoned the world, ha would not be regarded as suitably dressi ilio jssrformance of ceremonial worship. Tluft is far from proving, however, thai, the kn mi uft iigti of IliinEu^iii. If it were saeh a sign, it weald be worn not by the tanpto-priem but by bia far more religious brother, the aa- Cd b. It has been Asserted that no Hindu is allowed to cuter ft temple without his k n ilnnii ; bat the practice of the ascetics and the bunks -rs, as also of the long-haired classes,, clear! r pro ves that this i» a mistake. Modern Hinduism ha* indeed iwdulmguishing signs, without which no Hindu may enter the temples, bnt then signs— the rtngniahing sectnriul marks of modern Hinduism — consiftt in the tripandru for tha isaivus, 1 it.- u ji iu ti for the V a i shn a n r ,— sign* which are well known to be essentially beathen- iili in their origin and sigui float ion. It has been asserted kbftl I 11 ti '..uvea off hiii liitflutni, according to custom, as a sign of mourning fur a near relation,, is debarred, in consequence of being without his k u d ti m I , from entering Lhe temples; but this assertion ! founded on a minapprehcubjou. He is exi InrW from the temple during thu period of mourning, not hocnttte he in without rv ktidu- rai, hot because hi m mildly unclean. I have mad© inquiries with res pa i loint, of priehtH attached to the temples, in order to satisfy myself of the accuracy of the statements [ liml previously received from private source*, the information I have recti following effect:— When u Hindu loses I ii« father or mother and officiates as chief mourner at their funeral, ho 1 rift" not his kndnni id also his njoustftehe r as ft sign of mourning, or, os Hindus uuderitaml it, as a sigu of tha ceremonial im- purity he has contracted by o near relation's death. In this condition he is precluded from entering the temples till the funeral ceremonies have been brought to an end, tbflJ ' ill the sixteenth day ; but this exclusion is ow t ng, his being wii limit n kndnmi, hat to his cere- monial dcilk-r'i'.Tit : t'm ^rcenth tlay he ■haves again his newly sprouting kudu m i and monstnclie, and bathes, and on the very iame day, immediotcly after bathing, enters the templu again and performs d arts of worship. As he enter* the temple again 01 very day that bo shaves off again the rudiment* of his knilum i, it is evident that it was his ceremonial defilement, and not the absence of a kndumi, which was the cause of his exclusion ilurino the preceding nxteen days, I may bo anted to explain how it j«, If the kud u tn i is not a sign of Himlttinm. tha Syrian Christians on the Malabar coast ahuve their heads entirely, and require convert* tof 'hris- tiamlty lo ebftvc off" their kndumi on joining their ranks ; and it is the more necessary that thu circumstance should be explained, because, h always been of opinion that it was from notation of the Svrian Cbj a thu particular, on the part of ■■umt mis- sionarieg labouring on tlie Malabar coast, that « he idea of the rt*eii tinl Hinduism of the kudu, mi spi-ead amongst the inisaionarica in the Tsituil com. The quotation Troto the Vtuhfiu P*rtfnn • above will be found, I bilieve, to account fur thiii apparent anomaly. The /M««a ».ays: Hi made the Y a van an shave their heads entirely," and it is evident from this th; shaving of the hair of the head enttnlji with- out leaving a look t was rcganle*! U Um Qfltfonal u*«ge of the pcoplu refernxl to The peciplu thus described as Ynvanas war inhabitants of Western Alia. The noma w«« < 1 from the Ionians, or deseonduntit of Ja- van, thu first Greeks with whom thu Hindns became acquainted, and in tin* ancient Sanskrit
 * ign of a anciilar mode of lift--, ificms