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CHAP. XIV
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ECLIPSES
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193
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leave not one piece whole—this causes a terrible noise in a town.
Every
Brahman has his book of magic, in which there are a number of circles
and semicircles, of squares and triangles, and many other kinds of
figures.1 They draw divers figures on the ground, and when
they perceive that the fortunate hour has arrived they all cry aloud to
the people to throw food into the Ganges. Then a terrible noise is made with drums,
bells, and large disks made of a metal similar to that of our cymbals,
which they strike one against the other; and as soon as the food is
thrown into the river all the people should enter and continue rubbing
themselves, and bathing until the eclipse is over. As this eclipse
appeared at a time when the Ganges is usually very low, after the end
of the rains, which last from the month of July to the end of October,
for more than 3 leagues above and below the town, and as many as the
river extends in width, nothing was to be seen but heads in the water.
As for the Brahmans, they remain on land to receive the richest
pilgrims and those who give them most, dry their bodies, and give them
fresh clothes to cover their waists. Then they make them sit in chairs,
at a place where the richest of the idolaters have brought abundance of
Indian corn, rice, and all kinds of vegetables, with milk, butter,
sugar, flour, and wood. Before each chair the Brahman makes a very
clean place about 5 or 6 feet square, after which he takes cattle
droppings steeped in a great dish of yellow pigment, to rub over all
the place, through fear lest some ant might come there and be burnt.2
If possible their ceremonies are conducted without burning any wood,
and for cooking their food they generally use cattle droppings. When
they are obliged to use wood they take care that it has no maggots or
other insects inside it, as I have elsewhere remarked, because of their
belief in the transmigration of souls into different bodies, lest the
soul of a relative or friend may be burnt with this small animal. In
the place which they have carefully cleaned, they trace many kinds of
figures, such as triangles and half
1 Bernier (p. 244) explains how this book is used.
* The true object is to preserve the purity of the enclosures.
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