The Bramin Lays The
Cloth On The Back Of The Cow, After Which He Takes Hold Of The End Of
The Cows Tail, And Says Certain Words.
The woman has a brass or copper
pot full of water; the man takes hold of the bramin with
One hand, and
the woman with the other, all having hold of the cow by the tail, on
which they pour water from the pot, so that it runs on all their hands.
They then lave up water with their hands, and the bramin ties the man
and woman together by their clothes[408]. When this is done, they go
round about the cow and calf, and then give some alms to the poor, who
are always present, and to the bramin or priest they give the cow and
calf, after which they go to several of the idols, where they offer
money, lying down flat on the ground before the idol, and kissing the
earth several times, after which they go away. Their chief idols are
black and very ugly, with monstrous mouths, having their ears gilded and
full of jewels, their teeth and eyes of gold, silver, or glass, and
carrying sundry things in their hands. You may not enter into the houses
where they stand with your shoes on. In these houses there are lamps
continually burning before the idols.
[Footnote 408: This tying of new married folks together by the clothes,
was used by the Mexicans in old times. - _Hakluyt_.]
From Benares I went down the Ganges to _Patenaw_, [Patna] passing many
fair towns and a very fertile country, in which way many great rivers
enter the Ganges, some as large as itself, by which it becomes so broad
that in time of the rains you cannot see across.
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