LUSTRAL CEREMONIES are deemed very important by Brahmans, and are attended to, as prescribed in their books, with a degree of minute particularity that appears ridiculous to those not interested or informed on the points to which such lustrations are supposed to have reference ; indeed, there is no end to the Hindu lustral cere monies, to which the Romans also gave the greatest attention. Images are frequently bathed with water, oil, etc. Lingas are constantly washed. Nandina of the Romans presided over the lustral purification of infants on the ninth day of their age. Nandina was, from her office, a form of Diana. In a great many Hindu cere monies, lustrations make a part ; spoons and the argha are therefore in extensive use. The argha in a circular form is called Patra, and is an attribute to Devi. It is sometimes called pang patra, and is seen in many drawings borne by her and others of her family, apparently both as a drinking and ceremonial utensil. The lustral spoons are called Sruva and Druva in Sanskrit ; by the Mahrattas and other Hindus, Pulaphi and Achwan; and have different' forms, according to the rites or objects of adoration. One such spoon represents Naga, the holy serpent, overspreading Ganesha ; in another, the Naga overspreads the image of a deity ; and in another, the spread hood of the snake appears to cover Hanuman. The argha is a vessel shaped like a used by the Hindus in lustrations ; it is of spout-like form, so that liquids may be poured from it. The Hindu Sth'nanam, after childbirth, is performed on the 16th day. In this purificatory rite the Muhaminadans adhere to the Hebrew forty days. Amongst Hindus, the Sth'nantun is the religious rite of purification, and ordinarily performed once daily, in the early morning ; their evening ablu tion not involving the head, but from the neck. The Abhiangana Sth'natun is that, generally twice a week, in which the head is anointed with oil, and corresponds to the anointing of the Jewish ceremonial, and to the Indian Muham madan's Sir-Nab/um or head-washing, of which perhaps the initiatory head - washing rite of certain craftsmen in Britain is a remnant ; as possibly similarly may be the feet-washing of the British marriage ceremony. In Britain, the bride's feet used to be washed, and in the south of India the engaged son-in-law performs the ceremony palal-kal-kashu-viraclu (Tam.) of washing his intended father-in-law's feet. Mark vii. 2-4 mentions that when the Pharisees saw sonic of the `disciples eat bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen) hands, they found fault; for the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradi tion of the elders. And when come from the market, except they wash, they cat not. And
many other things there be which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.' And, up to the present hour, the Hindu ritual is almost identical. Along the banks of the Ganges, at every large place, crowds of men and women are to be seen at certain hours of the day bathing. In Japan there are bathing houses, in which, at Ilakodadi, both men and women of the lower ranks assemble. Mr. Hodgson tells us that on one occasion, at Yedo, the bathers of both sexes indiscriminately sallied out to see them pass, from some twenty of their common, cells, in all the natural simplicity of our first parents' costume before their expulsion. On another occasion, when Mr. Alcock went, pre ceded by a band of music, to the Governor's Yamun, all the bathers of both sexes came out, unabashed and without the slightest idea or reflection that they were naked, to gratify their curiosity by a good long gaze on the novel spectacle. — Moor, p. 394 ; Wanderings of a Pilgrim, p. 265.
LUTRINsE, the Otters, a sub-family of the caruivora, several species of which occur in S.E. Asia.
Lutra auro-brunnea, Hodgson, of the Himalaya, Neilgherries? and Ceylon mountains? Lutra baring, Raffles, the Barangia varang of Gray, of the Malay Peninsula.
Lutra kutab, Gray, Hugel, Kashmir.
Lutra leptonyx, Horsf., Blyth, clawless otter.
Aonyx Ilorstiehlii, Gray. I Lutra indigitata, Hodg. A. Sikkinaensis, Hodg. Chusam, Suriam, . LEPC11.
This otter is found throughout all the Himalaya, south and east to Calcutta, Arakan, and the E. Archipelago. Length of head and body 24 inches, tail 13 inches.
Found from the Mutt to the E. Archipelago. Length 46 inches, of which tail is 17. It frequents marine lagoons and rivers. It is very easily domesticated, and in Bengal it is trained to drive fish into the nets. In the Panjab and N.W. Himalaya the skins of the Lutra nair are used for fur caps and postins. It is extensively tamed and trained along the course of the Bralunaputra, as cormorants are trained in China. Fishermen of the Jessore Sunderbans train otters to drive fish into their nets, the otter being rewarded with some fish each time it is successful. These tamed otters have a collar round their necks, and they aro secured by it to the prow of the boat, and when required they are slipped like hounds.
Lutra simung, Raffles.
L. haring, Fischer. I Mustela lutra, Marsden.
Anjingalyer, . MALAY. I Sining, . . . MALAY.
An otter of Sumatra.
Lutra vulgaris, Erxleben, Blyth, hill otter. L. monticola, Hodgson, is the common otter of Europe, and is found in the interior of the Him alaya. Length, head and body 20 to 22 inches, tail 12 to 13 inches.—Jerdon's Mammals, pp. 86 89 ; Horsfield's Cat. pp. 115-120; Powell's Hand book ; Blyth.