CHAPTER LXXVI.                          179

when they put on their ornaments and demand presents
from their husbands.

The 22nd is a festival called caitra-cashctti, a day of 22nd caitra.
merriment holy to Bhagavati, when people use to wash
and to give alms.

The 3rd Vaisakha is a festival for the women called v-a. vais-
Gctur-t-r (gaitri-tritiyd ?), holy to Gauri, the daughter of Page'288.
the mountain Himavant, the wife of Mahadeva. They
wash and dress gaily, they worship the image of Gauri
and light lamps before it, they offer perfumes, abstain
from eating, and play with swings. On the following
day they give alms and eat.

On the loth Vaisakha all the Brahmans whom the
kings have invited proceed forth to the open fields, and
there they light great fires for the sacrifices during five
days till full moon. They make the fires in sixteen
different spots and in four diff'erent groups. In each
group a Brahman performs the sacrifice, so that there
are four performing priests as there are four Vedas.
On the 16th they return home.

In   this   month   occurs the   vernal   equinox,  called Vemaicqui-
vctsctntct.    They determine the day by calculation and
make it a festival, when people invite the Brahmans.

On the 1st Jyaishtha, or new moon's day, they cele- istjyaish-
brate a festival and throw the first-fruits of all seeds
into the water in order to gain thereby a favourable
prognostic.

The full moon's dav of this month is a festival to Fuii moon's

,                                                              day.

the women, called rupa-panca (?).

All the days of the month Ashadha are devoted to Ishadim.
alms-giving.    It  is   also   called  dhdri.    During  this
time the household is provided with new vessels.

On the full moon's day of Sravana they give banquets isth Sra-
to the Brahmans.

On the 8th Asvayuja, when the moon stands in the 8thAsva-
nineteenth station, Mula, begins the  sucking of  the
sugar cane.   It is a festival holy to Mahdnctvami, the