s which disposes of all things,
and has made, one after another, the sun, the sky, the earth, the
intermediate air.' This hymn, says Manu, thrice repeated, effaces
the gravest sins.

"About this time, beyond the sands of the opposite shore of the Ganges,
the sun appears. As soon as its brilliant disc becomes visible the
multitude welcome it, and salute it with 'the offering of water.' This
is thrown into the air, either from a vase or from the hand. Thrice
the worshipper, standing in the river up to his waist, flings the
water towards the sun. The farther and wider he flings it, the greater
the virtue attributed to this act. Then the Brahman, seated upon his
heels, fulfils the most sacred of his religious duties: he meditates
upon his fingers. For the fingers are sacred, inhabited by different
manifestations of Vishnu; the thumb by Govinda, the index-finger by
Madhava, the middle finger by Hrikesa, the third by Trivikama and the
little finger by Vishnu himself. 'Homage to the two thumbs,' says
the Brahman, 'to the two index-fingers, to the two middle fingers,
to the two "unnamed fingers," to the two little fingers, to the two
palms, to the two backs of the hands.' Then he touches the various
parts of the body, and lastly, the right ear, the most sacred of all,
where reside fire, water, the sun and the moon. He then takes a red
bag (_gomukhi_), into which he plunges his hand, and by contortions
of the fingers rapidly represents the chief incarnations of Vishnu:
a fish, a tortoise, a wild boar, a lion, a slip-knot, a garland. [416]

"The second part of the service is no less rich than the first
in ablutions and _mantras_. The Brahman invokes the sun, 'Mitra,
who regards all creatures with unchanging gaze,' and the Dawns,
'brilliant children of the sky,' the earliest divinities of our Aryan
race. He extols the world of Brahma, that of Siva, that of Vishnu;
recites passages from the Mahabharata, the Puranas, all the first
hymn of the Rig-Veda, the first lines of the second, the first words
of the principal Vedas, of the Yajur, the Sama, and the Atharva, then
fragments of grammar, inspired prosodies, and, in conclusion, the first
words of the book of the Laws of Yajnavalkya, the philosophic Sutras:
and finally ends the ceremony with three kinds of ablutions, which are
called the refreshing of the gods, of the sages and of the ancestors.

"First, placing his sacred cord upon the left shoulder, the Brahman
takes up water in