Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/157

Rh who is the creator of the five elements and who is armed with the battle-axe” (Siva).

As the shades of evening darken, lamps are lit in each house. Youths gaily attired, and harlots decked with jewels and flowers, walk the streets. Drunken soldiers go reeling, not minding even the sharp pointed caltrops strewn in the streets to keep off elephants. Young mothers escorted by their relations, proceed with lights, singing sweet melodies to the accompaniment of the lute and the tabor, and present boiled rice and other oblations to the goddess who is supposed to ensure the safe delivery of children, and with the priestess they partake of the offerings. In the suburbs, among the lower classes, at the bidding of soothsayers, festivals are held in honor of Muruga, and they dance hand in hand, wild and uncouth measures, with noisy songs and loud cries, while shrill cymbals and rattling drums keep up a discordant music.

Little by little the dancing and singing parties disperse. The petty traders close, their shops; the dealers in sweetmeats go to sleep in front of their stalls ; and silence reigns in the city. The night guards now patrol the streets. Armed with bows and arrows, unerring archers as they are, they go their rounds with fearless hearts and sleepless eyes, “not failing in their duty even in dark and rainy nights when the high streets overflow with water.” Rh