Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 2 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 2 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
On the last day, the Rana feasts his chiefs, and the camp breaks up
with the distribution of _khanda nariyal_, or swords and coco-nuts, to
the chiefs and all “whom the king delighteth to honour.” These
_khandas_ are but ‘of lath,’ in shape like the Andrea Ferrara, or long
cut-and-thrust, the favourite weapon of the Rajput. They are painted
in various ways, like Harlequin’s sword, and meant as a burlesque, in
unison with the character of the day, when war is banished, and the
multiplication,[4.21.31] not the destruction, of man is the behest of
the goddess who rules the spring. At nightfall, the forty days
conclude with ‘the burning of the Holi,’ when they light large fires,
into which various substances, as well as the crimson _abira_, are
thrown, and around which groups of children are dancing and screaming
in the streets like so many infernals. Until three hours after sunrise
of the new month of Chait, these orgies are continued with increased
vigour, when the natives bathe, change their garments, worship, and
return to the rank of sober citizens; and princes and chiefs receive
gifts from their domestics.[4.21.32]
=Chait.=—The first of this month is the Samvatsara (vulg. Chamchari), or
anniversary of the death of the Rana’s father, to whose memory solemn
rites are performed both in the palace and at Ara, the royal cemetery,
metaphorically termed Mahasati, or place of ‘great faith.’ Thither the
Rana repairs, and offers oblations to the _manes_ of his father; and
after purifying in the Gangabheva, a rivulet which flows through the
middle of ‘the abode of silence,’ he returns to the palace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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