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192
ECLIPSES
BOOK III
feeling much compassion for the blindness of these poor people.
[Here are the figures of the most famous idols, which I had the curiosity to have drawn on the spot.1]
CHAPTER XIV
Concerning various customs of the Idolaters of India.
The Brahmans possess much knowledge of astrology, and know how to predict eclipses of the sun and moon for the people.2 On the 2nd of July 1666 at one o'clock p.m. an eclipse of the sun was visible at Patna, a town of the Kingdom of Bengal.3 It was a wonderful sight to watch the multitude of people, men, women, and children, who came from all quarters to bathe in the Ganges. But they must begin this bathing three days before they see the eclipse, during which time they remain day and night on the banks of the river preparing all kinds of rice, milk, and sweetmeats to throw to the fishes and crocodiles. Immediately when the Brahmans give the word, and they know it is the fortunate hour, which­ever kind of eclipse it may be, of the sun or moon, the idolaters break all the earthen vessels used in their households, and
1 These figures are not given in any of the editions which are acces­sible. Probably they were never reproduced.
1 'The Brachmanes of this Kingdome [Bengal] are great Students of the Magick art, and make their Sorceries more apparent than they of any Other Kingdome in Asia ' (Bowrey, 205). Similar accounts will be found in Roe, i. 192; Terry, 236 f. ; Fryer, ii. 102; Bernier, 161, 244 f. For modern accounts see A. K. L. Anantha Krishna Iyer, Cochin Tribes and Castes, ii. 217 ff.; Russell, Tribes and Castes, Central Provinces, iii. 255 ff. ; Thurston, Castes and Tribes, Southern India, i. 10 ; Dubois, Hindu Manners, 379 ff.
3 Bernier (p. 300) gives a lively account of eclipse observances at Delhi in 1666. On modern ceremonies see Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of N. India, i. 21 ; Bombay Gazetteer, ix, part i, 395 ; Mrs. S. Stevenson, Rites of the Twice-born, 351 f. Compare Fryer, i. 275, ii. 306 f. The ' fortunate hour ', mentioned by Tavernier, is the Sa'at or Mahurat. The earthen vessels are broken because they are believed to be defiled by the presence of the demon Rahu, who causes the eclipse by swallowing the sun or moon.