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BRAHMIN.

bed, and it touches the floor, he is to say inwardly: "I descend from my bed by thy command, O Mahadeva! I know what is right, but I do it not. I know what is wrong, but I forsake it not." His first act is to receive an omen of the probable result of the day. If he see his wife, a cow, fire, or a Brahmin, it will be auspicious; if a bad woman, a naked person, or a man with a great nose, &c., it will be unlucky. Careful wives, as part of their duty, contrive that something lucky should be always seen by their husbands; and as they are always the first to rise, either the cow is placed within sight, or some fire, as it may be; and it would be a grievous sin in a woman to allow, wittingly or carelessly, any adverse omen to disturb her husband's serenity for the day. 

After a time the Brahmin must perform his morning ablutions. He must go to a river, if there be one, as running water is the purest; or to a well, if there be no river; or to a tank or reservoir. In default of all these, and if the weather be very cold, he can, by consecrating the water, bathe comfortably at home with warm water; his wife, or an attendant servant, if he have one, pouring it over him as he sits on a stool. As he bathes, he must first wet his feet and hands, then take up water in the palm of his right hand, and sip it as it runs off at his wrist, repeating invocations and prayers, as "O water, with your waters wash away all the guilt which I, the sacrificer, have committed, with and without knowledge." Then he must touch his lips, eyes, nose, and the vital parts of his body, repeating the liturgical incantation for each. After this he can clean his teeth, which is done with a piece of green twig, bitten at the end till it becomes like a brush. The wood of the neem (melia azadirachta), which is bitter, is preferred for this purpose. The Brahmin must be careful, however, that he does not make his gums bleed, as that would render him impure for the day. He must then seek a few flowers for offerings to the gods, and can proceed to bathe. If in a well or river, he first makes a ball of clay, with which he rubs himself all over; then he enters the water up to his breast, and, with his face to the east, repeats incantations, first to summon all holy rivers to enter the water where he is; next to sanctify his members; then, dividing his hair behind into equal parts, and holding them in the hollow of the thumb, he must stop his ears with his thumbs, cover his eyes with the three first fingers, and insert his two little fingers into his nostrils. He then immerses himself in the water several times, and throws water over his head, and to the right and left, as oblations to the gods and the elements; then, taking some in his joined hands, he offers it thrice to the sun, praying for light and direction; also a similar ceremony to the spirits of his ancestors for the past three generations. 

With very strict Brahmins, several ceremonies interpose between the bathing and the Pooja; and some even bathe again, before they mark themselves with the sacred emblems of their caste; but for the most part these are dispensed with, and returning home, the Brahmin enters the small room or closet in which his Lares