=The Rākhi Festival.=—This festival, which is held on the last day of Sawan, was instituted in honour of the good genii, when Durvasas the sage instructed Salono (the genius or nymph presiding over the month of Sawan) to bind on _rakhis_, or bracelets, as charms to avert evil. The ministers of religion and females alone are privileged to bestow these charmed wrist-bands. The ladies of Rajasthan, either by their handmaids or the family priests, send a bracelet as the token of their esteem to such as they adopt as brothers, who return gifts in acknowledgement of the honour. The claims thus acquired by the fair are far stronger than those of consanguinity: for illustration of which I may refer to an incident already related in the annals of this house.[4.21.70] Sisters also present their brothers with clothes on this day, who make an offering of gold in return.[4.21.71] This day is hailed by the Brahmans as indemnifying them for their expenditure of silk and spangles, with which they decorate the wrists of all who are likely to make a proper return. =Festivals in the month Bhādon: August-September.=—On the 3rd there is a grand procession to the Chaugan; and the 8th, or Ashtami, is the birth of Krishna, which will be described at large in an account of Nathdwara. There are several holidays in this month, when the periodical [582] rains are in full descent; but that on the last but one (Sudi 14, or 29th) is the most remarkable. =Ancestor Worship.=—On this day[4.21.72] commences the worship of the ancestorial manes (the Pitrideva, or _father-gods_) of the Rajputs, which continues for fifteen days. The Rana goes to the cemetery at Ara, and performs at the cenotaph of each of his forefathers the rites enjoined, consisting of ablutions, prayers, and the hanging of garlands of flowers, and leaves sacred to the dead, on their monuments. Every chieftain does the same amongst the altars of the ‘great ancients’ (_bara burha_); or, if absent from their estates, they accompany their sovereign to Ara. ----- Footnote 4.21.1: _Travels in Scandinavia_, vol. i. p. 33. Footnote 4.21.2: _Bhumiputra._ Footnote 4.21.3: _Vanaputra._ Footnote 4.21.4: Suryas and Induputras. Footnote 4.21.5: [For the Vedic cult of Sūrya see Macdonell, “Vedic Mythology,” _Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde_, 1897, p. 30 ff.] Footnote 4.21.6: The Sauromatae or Sarmatians of early Europe, as well as the Syrians, were most probably colonies of the same Suryavansi who simultaneously peopled the shores of the Caspian and Mediterranean, and the banks of the Indus and Ganges. Many of the tribes described by Strabo as dwelling around the Caspian are enumerated amongst the thirty-six royal races of India. One of these, the Sakasenae, supposed to be the ancestors of our own Saxon race, settled themselves on the Araxes in Armenia, adjoining Albania. [There are no grounds for these comparisons.] Footnote 4.21.7: