Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/97

 the Toolsee," is engaged in this worship, perhaps reading the Purana, in which a fable relates the metamorphosis of the nymph Toolsee into the shrub which has since borne her name. The whole plant has a purplish hue approaching to black, and thence, perhaps, like the large black bee of this country, it is held sacred to Krishna, in whose person Vishnoo himself appeared on earth.

The Hindoos venerate three kinds of toolsee—the kala (ocimum sanctum), purple-stalked basil; the small-leaved toolsee; and the suffaid toolsee, white basil or Indian tea. The leaves of the latter are used by those in India who cannot afford the tea of China; they are highly aromatic. The Hindoos have faith in their power to cure diseases, and use them with incantations to dispel the poison of serpents.

This plant is held in estimation by the Mussulmāns as well as the Hindoos. It is recorded of the prophet that he said: "Hásan and Húsain are the best young princes of paradise. Verily, Hásan and Húsain are my two sweet basils in the world."

At Benares I saw, on the side of the Ganges, a number of pillars hollowed at the top, in which the Hindoos had deposited earth and had planted the toolsee; some devotees were walking round these pillars, pouring water on the sacred plant and making sālām. My bearers at Prag had a toolsee in front of their house, under a peepul tree; I have seen them continually make the altar of earth on which it was placed perfectly clean around it with water and cow-dung; and of an evening they lighted a little chirāgh (small lamp) before it. If one of these sacred plants die, it is committed in due form to Gunga-jee: and when a person is brought to die by the side of the sacred river, a branch of the toolsee, the shrub goddess, is planted near the dying man's head.

The shalgram[)u] is black, hollow, and nearly round; it is found in the Gunduk river, and is considered a representation of Vishnoo; each should have twenty-one marks upon it, similar to those on his body. The shalgram[)u] is the only stone which is naturally divine; all the other stones worshipped are rendered sacred by incantations.