Many trees are held to be sacred, some to Siva, some to Vishnu, some to both.
To both are the Artemisia austriaca, Calophyllum ino phyllum, Chrysanthemum Indicum, Euonymus tin gens, Gracillara spinosa, Guettarda speciosa, Ixora bandhuca, Jasminum undulatum, Nerium odorum, Origanum marjorana, Sarcostemma brevistigma.
Sacred to Vishnu, Azaderachta Indica, Ocimum sanc tum.
Sacred to Lakshmi, Nelumbium speciosum.
Sacred to Siva, Bauhinia parviflora, Azaderachta Indica, Qesalpinia. pulcherrima, Cratmeva religiosa, Jonesia asoca, Phyllanthus emblica.
Kama Deva, god of love, tips his arrows with the flowers of the Mangifera Indica, Micbelia champaca, Mesua. ferrea, Pandanus odoratissimus, and Pa vonia odorata.
The Egle marmelos leaf represents Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu. The Euphorbia ligularia is sacred to Manesha, the snake goddess, and is worshipped by an Assam tribe.
Time Cote.—Hindus regard the cow as sacred. Every morning the hlindu wife or maid-servant spreads the floor with cow-dung mixed with water, partly as a religious duty, partly for cleanliness. She sprinkles the urine of the cow over her head, and sprinkles it about the house in purification, when anything has occurred to make it, in their religion, unclean. Every morning, on rising from bed, every Hindu is enjoined to cast a glance on the objects mentioned in the following slokam:— A kapalam (brindled) cow, a mirror, the sun, a rich man, a king, a priest, a giver of rice (in charity), and a chaste woman. It is not, however, the cow's face, but its tail, on which they cast their look. Protecting the cow is meritorious. When a Hindu is dying, his relations give a cow to a Brahman, and repeat the gift on the 11th day after the demise. When a Brahman is married, , the father of the bride always gives a cow, Sura t bid, to his son-in-law, along with other presents. ; Every Friday the Hindu wife washes her cow. ) She smears its face with turmeric, and ornaments . the animal's forehead with a round mark from , the red powder prepared from lime and tur meric. Some Hindus call the cow Kama-dub, or Kama-dhenu, the servant of I ndra ; other Hindus believe that the cow is Lakslitni, the goddess of prosperity, whom they thus propitiate by their ; worship. Those who do not possess a cow will buy . some grass and give it to that of their neighbour. Amongst the five deadly sins is that of killing a cow ; the other four are killing a Brahman, a pregnant woman, a child, and killing one's mother.
The Bull is not reverenced equal to the cow, but it is the 'vahan or vehicle of Siva. In all saiva temples may be seen the image of this animal, called Nandi, made of black stone, kneeling before the lingam and yoni, the symbols of Siva and Parvati. In pictures, Siva is invariably represented riding on his vahan or vehicle, a bull. A bull, both in the saiva and vaishnava temples, carries the kettle drums which are sounded. for worship three times daily. When a cow or bull falls sick, Hindus will vow that if the animal recover, it shall be left in the temple ; and every Friday the Brahmans employed in the services of the temple, when they lave Siva's symbol and the Nandi with milk, in the ceremony called Palu Abhishekam, the devoted bullocks are likewise thus washed.
Daily Lard of the Hindus. — Having briefly sketched some of the various rites now forming the religion called in Europe Hindu, and the differences in the forms of idol-worshipping which are to be found, it may be interesting to conduct one of this faith from the cradle to the grave.
Childhood and Adolescence.—The ceremonials observed on the birth of children, at the com mencement of their education, on investiture with the sacred thread, communication of a gayatri or initiatory sentence, in their marriage ceremonies, and those adhered to on the occurrence of a death in a family, have now a general resemblance among, or are more or less imitated by, all castes, classes, and ranks. On the birth of a Brahman child, the ceremony called Putrotsavarn is per formed, and on this occasion the father presents sugar and sugar-candy to relatives and friends. On the 11th day the mother is anointed with the oil of the oriental sesamum. On the same day (11th) the Punyahavachanarn, or the purification rite for the mother and house, is performed. It is then that the child receives its name—that of some one of its grand or great-grand parents—by the father writing it three times with a golden ring, in unhusked rice, spread on a plate. This naming is called Namakaranam, and is followed by the guests bestowing blessings on the young one, as they scatter rice, coloured with turmeric, over it and the mother, who are seated in the midst of the assembly. The father then distributes money to the poor, and entertains relatives and friends. On this night, for the first time, the child is put into the cradle by the female guests, some of whom sing religious songs, while others rock the little one, and at the close the assembly are dis missed, after being presented with betel-nut, plan tains, and boiled pigeon-pea (Cajanus Indicus). The birth of a girl is less a source of rejoicing, because of that part of the Hindu creed which lays down that parents and other ancestors attain Swarga-locum or Indra's heaven through a son's efforts. Each new moon, as also on the occur rence of an eclipse, either of the sun or moon, also at the summer and winter solstices, their Utray anam and Datchanayanam, every caste Hindu, whether Brahman, Kshatriya,Vaisya, or Sudra,offers the Tharpanam, or water sacrifice, in the names of his deceased father, grandfathers, great-grand fathers, and their wives, consisting of seeds of the oriental sesamurn mixed with the water. It is as a means of continuing this ceremony that Hindus long to have a son born to them, as in their creed-books it is taught that the manes of ancestors are grati fied by the Tharpanam. At five months of age, the Choulam ceremony occurs, and the lobes of the ears are pierced with a small, thin gold ring. When six months old, Anaprasanam, or giving the child rice for the first time, is a social and sacred rite, at which, as also at the Choulam, relatives and friends are entertained. On the first occurrence of the birthday, the child is anointed and decor ated with jewels, relatives and friends are enter tained; and in the evening the child is carried to a temple, and presented to the deity of their sect. As the second anniversary draws near, or about that time, the boy's head is shaved on a propitious day, which affords another opportunity for feasting friends.