that season. The gifts in India are
sweetmeats and other delicacies, ominous of good for the next
year.[46]

On the 2d of February occurs a feast to Cr[=i], or Lakshm[=i],
Vishnu's bride, patroness of all prosperity to her worshippers. At
present it is a literary festival on which all books, inkstands, pens,
etc., are cleaned and worshipped, as adjuncts to Sarasvat[=i], the
goddess of learning. This is rather significant, for Sarasvat[=i] is
properly the wife of Brahm[=a], but the Vishnuites of Bengal have made
her the wife of Vishnu, and identified her with Cr[=i]. It is to be
noticed that in this sole celebration of abstract learning and
literature there is no recognition of Civa, but rather of his rival.
Civa and Ganeca are revered because they might impede, not because, as
does Sarasvat[=i], they further literary accomplishment. Sarasvat[=i]
is almost the only fair goddess. She is represented not as a horror,
but as a beautiful woman sitting on a lotus, graceful in shape, a
crescent on her brow.[47] The boys, too, celebrate the day with games,
bat and ball, prisoner's base, and others "of a very European
character." The admixture of sectarian cults is shown by the
transference to this Vishnuite feast of the Civaite (Durg[=a])
practice of casting into the river the images of the goddess.[48] When
applied distinctly to Sarasvat[=i] the feast is observed in
August-September; when to Lakshm[=i], in October-November, or in
February. There is, however, another feast, celebrated in the North
and South, which comes on the exact date fixed by the Romans for the
beginning of spring, and as an ending to this there is a feast to
K[=a]ma, Cupid, and his bride Rati ('Enjoyment'). This is the Vasanta,
or spring festival of prosperity and love, which probably was the
first form of the Lakshm[=i]-Sarasvat[=i] feast.

Another traditional feast of this month is the 10th[49] (the eleventh
lunar day of the light half of M[=a]gha). The eleventh lunar day is
particularly holy with the Vishnuites, as is said in the Brahma
Pur[=a]na, and this is a Vishnuite festival. It is a day of fasting
and prayer, with presents to priests.[50] It appears to be a mixture
of Vedic prayers and domestic Vishnu-worship. On the 11th of February
the fast is continued, and in both the object is expiation of sin. The
latter is called the feast of 'six sesamum acts,' for sesamum is a
holy plant, and in each act of this rite it plays a part. Other rites
of thi