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 pious Hindus are not content to
tell the beads when praying; they must hide their hands during
this ceremony in a bag called gomukha, which means the cow's mouth.
We left the women to their prayers and followed our host to the
cow house. The cow symbolizes the "fostering earth," or Nature,
and is worshipped accordingly. Sham Rao sat down by the cow and
washed her feet, first with her own milk, then with water. He
gave her some sugar and rice, covered her forehead with powdered
sandal, and adorned her horns and four legs with chains of flowers.
He burned some incense under her nostrils and brandished a burning
lamp over her head. Then he walked three times round her and sat
down to rest. Some Hindus walk round the cow one hundred and
eight times, rosary in hand. But our Sham Rao had a slight
tendency to freethinking, as we knew, and besides, he was too much
of an admirer of Haeckel. Having rested himself, he filled a cup
with water, put in it the cow's tail for a moment, and then drank it!
After this he performed the rite of worshipping the sun and the
sacred plant tulsi.
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