l on the thought of God alone, I will meditate on His quality
and look on the beauty of this wondrous radiancy."

After this prayer Sham Rao read many other prayers, holding with two
fingers his sacred Brahmanical thread. After a while began the ceremony
of "the washing of the gods." Taking them down from the altar, one after
the other, according to their rank, Sham Rao first plunged them in the
big font, in which he had just bathed himself, and then bathed them in
milk in a smaller bronze font by the altar. The milk was mixed up with
curds, butter, honey, and sugar, and so it cannot be said that this
cleansing served its purpose. No wonder we were glad to see that the
gods underwent a second bathing in the first font and then were dried
with a clean towel.

When the gods were arranged in their respective places, the Hindu traced
on them the sectarian signs with a ring from his left hand. He used
white sandal paint for the lingam and red for Gunpati and Surya. Then he
sprinkled them with aromatic oils and covered them with fresh flowers.
The long ceremony was finished by "the awakening of the gods." A small
bell was repeatedly rung under the noses of the idols, who, as the
Brahman probably supposed, all went to sleep during this tedious
ceremony.

Having noticed, or fancied, which often amounts to the same thing,
that they were wide awake, he began offering them his daily sacrifices,
lighting the incense and the lamps, and, to our great astonishment,
snapping his fingers from time to time, as if warning the idols to "look
out." Having filled the room with clouds of incense and fumes of burning
camphor, he scattered some more flowers over the altar and sat on the
small stool for a while, murmuring the last prayers. He repeatedly held
the palms of his hands over the flame of the tapers and rubbed his face
with them. Then he walked round the altar three times, and, having knelt
three times, retreated backwards to the door.

A little while before our host had finished his morning prayers the
ladies of the house came into the room. They brought each a small
stool and sat in a row murmuring prayers and telling the beads of their
rosaries.

The part played by the rosaries in India is as important as in all
Buddhist countries. Every god has his favorite flower and his favorite
material for a rosary. The fakirs are simply covered with rosaries. The
rosary is called mala and consists of one hundred and eight beads. Very
pio