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 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

142

five golden g a dy à n as of Gaſga in (out of) the customs of Wadjarāvula" for the purposes of the an g a b ho g at of the god Sankaradeva of Kādaravalli.

Whosoever preserves this act of piety, his reward is as great as if he had, at Vāranāsi, or at Prayåge, at Arghyatirtha, or at Kurukshetra, fashioned out of the five jewels the horns and

[May 3, 1872.

he had destroyed the same number of tawny COWs.

He who appropriates land that has been bes towed either by himself or by another is born for sixty thousand years as a worm in ordure. “This general bridge of piety, which belongs in com mon to all rulers of mankind, should at all times

and given to Brahmans who are well-versed in the Vedas the gift called Ubhayamukhidāna.:

be preserved by you,”—thus does Rāmachandra make his earnest request to all future kings. This is the writing of Singaja, the son of Sam boja, a very bee at the lotuses which are the

But he who destroys this act of piety, commits

feet of the god Sankaradeva. May the greatest

a sin as great as if, at those same holy places,

prosperity attend it !

hoofs of twelve thousand cows of a tawny colour,

THE HOT SPRINGS OF UNAI. By W.RAMSAY, BOM. C.S.

UNAI is a small hamlet in the territory of the Rājā of Bånsdá near the hills east of the Surat district. It is remarkable for a very copious hot spring, rising in a stone built tank about 30 feet

square; it is the scene of a large fair held every year at the full moon of the month of Chaitra.

There is also a temple dedicated to a divinity locally known as “Unai Mātā.”

The water is

too hot for the hand to be held in it for above

a second or two ; yet at the time of the fair crowds

enter

it

and

bathe.

A

miraculous

This done, he commanded them to wash and be clean, but these new “acolytes,' unused from

birth to the use of cold water save as a drink, stoutly refused. Rāma promised them hot water, and thereupon created the Unai spring. Still another difficulty arose : the men refused to walk to the bath. This was overcome by Hanuman

taking the whole of the men on his tail, and con veying them to the spring, whence after the due performance of ablutions he carried them back to Pătarwälä, where Rāma awaited them. A Hom

On the after

or sacrifice was now offered, a recitation from

noon of the 13th of the month the god descends

the Vedas was made, and a feast given. Last of all, Rāma told the new Brahmans to go forth

agency is of course attributed.

and cools the waters, which remain so until the

day after the full, after which period the heat returns. The more matter-of-fact interpretation of the phenomenon is, that the bathers enter the water in large numbers simultaneously, thus expelling from the tank the bulk of the water, and assimilating the temperature of the remainder to

into the world, and to beg after the manner of

the rest of their sect, but to this they had no mind, and positively refused, so Rāma relenting gave them permission to go and till the ground, and this they have done to the present day. Their

from the tank, and grass and sedges grow on its

descendants are the Anawală Brahmans, so called from the town of Anāwal in the Wansdá territory. They are the wealthiest of the cultivating classes in the Surat district, and are not found in any other part of India: they are otherwise called

banks in unusual vigour. The origin of the spring

Bhâtelàs or Bhathatila, i.e. cross-grained Bhats,

that of the human body. The water is strongly impregnated with sulphur, but is not otherwise unpleasant. Cattle drink of the stream that issues

as told by the Sādhu or holy man who guards

also Māstān, i. e. proud, overbearing.

the mysteries of Unai Mātā was as follows:–

a corrupt intriguing set, ever at feud among them

Rāma on his return from the conquest of Ceylon halted at a place called Pātarwādā in the

selves, and well bearing out the sobriquets they enjoy. They are looked down upon by other

hills of Wänsdá, and held a “Jugun” (Yajna) No Brahmans however were forth

sects of Brahmans, and are themselves divided into two sects, who do not intermarry, viz., those

coming, so the god collecting at once 18,000

termed Desais or hereditary district officers, and

men of the hill tribes created them

ordinary Bhātelås.

or sacrifice.

Brahmans.


 * It is not clear whether this is the name of a locality or

the name of a particular tax. t The decoration of the image of the god with clothes, ornaments, &c.

f Lit. “the gift of (a cow) that has two faces;” this cere

They are

mony is performed by fashioning out of the five jewels, a diamond, a pearl, a sapphire, an emerald, and a piece of coral, the image of a cow in the act of bringing forth a calf, when of course there are two heads to apparently only one body, and presenting it to a Brahuman.