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BRAHMIN.

and Penates are already set out. He bows in adoration, anoints the images with ghee or clarified butter, bathes them, and spreads the flowers, sacred grass, &c., before them, ringing the bell or blowing the conch before each act. Each office is accompanied by the incantations and prayers prescribed by the liturgy. If he has not done it at the river, he now marks himself on the forehead, breast, and arms, with the sandal wood paste; and also his children (who are gradually instructed, when they are old enough, in the observations of the ritual) and his wife, who has bathed separately at the river or elsewhere. He then sits for a while in meditation on the attributes of his tutelary divinity; repeating ejaculatory sentences of adoration, or reading aloud part of the Sri Bhugwut Gita, which is the definition of faith. It would appear that the person illustrated had reached this stage of his Pooja, as the objects of worship are already in order, and he is in one of the prescribed attitudes of meditation, his left hand resting upon his thigh, and the right withdrawn. 
In some instances these ceremonies are very short, and will be concluded in a few minutes; in others they may be continued for hours, and ordinary business does not interrupt this. Maharajah Chundoo Lall, the Prime Minister of Hyderabad, transacted all his most important business when at Pooja, because he was then least interrupted. He was not a Brahmin, but observed strictly all the forms of one. So it is with others. 
In the above sketch, which is as much as the present limits will allow, the "Anhika Tutwa" has been followed, as quoted by Ward. There are many other liturgies, suitable to each doctrinal, or other division, of Brahminical caste; but the Anhika, as a general one, applies to all indiscriminately. It is not necessary perhaps to follow the Brahmin further in the offices of daily devotion and ritualistic observance, which are literally endless. There is no act of life, getting up, sitting down, going out, coming in, eating, drinking, or be it what it may, that has not its appropriate ejaculation or observance. Towards evening most Brahmins bathe again, washing away their sacred marks, when the Pooja worship is renewed, and the day closes with simple offerings to the tutelary divinities, and prayer for protection during sleep. Brahmins, except those connected with them as ministering priests, rarely resort to temples for their devotions, and except in fulfilment of a vow, or on public occasions, are seldom seen there. The home service is considered sufficient for all purposes of purification, and if a temple is visited, it is after the ordinary home service has been concluded.