The following lines are repeated in the morning before setting foot to the ground [129]:-- O Goddess! who is clothed (surrounded) by the sea, whose breasts are mountains, and who is the wife of Vishnu, I bow down to thee; please forgive the touch of my feet. O Goddess Earth! who art born by the power of Vishnu, whose surface is of the colour of a conch shell and who art the store house of innumerable jewels, I bow down to thee. Some women of the Thána District worship the earth daily during the Cháturmás (four months of the rainy season), at the end of which they give a Bráhman a piece of land or the money equivalent of it. [130] Persons who perform a particular rite, e.g., the Solásomavár-vrata (a vow observed on sixteen successive Mondays) are required to sleep on the bare ground. [131] At the sowing and harvest time, farmers appease the earth by offering it cocoanuts, fowls, rice mixed with curd, etc. [132] The blood of a king and the balls of rice given to the manes of the dead are not allowed to touch the ground. People convey to a distant place the water of the Ganges, without placing it on the ground. [133] The earth is required to be worshipped before taking a portion of it for sacrificial purposes. [134] A vessel containing water over which incantations have been repeated is not allowed to touch the ground. [135] On the 15th day of the bright half of Ashvin every farmer prepares some sweetmeats in his house, and takes them to his farm. There he gathers five stones, worships them, and offers the sweetmeats to the earth. Afterwards he takes a portion of the food and scatters it over the farm. His family then gather there and take a hearty meal. In the evening the person who carried the food to the farm, picks up some grains of barley and puts them into a basket. On return home the grains are thrown over the house. [136] Various conflicting notions are entertained regarding thunder and lightning. The people of the Ratnágiri District believe that the clouds are animals that roar. When these animals emit water it bursts forth on account of the circular motion of the winds called Chanda and Munda. This bursting is supposed to produce thunder and lightning. [137] Somewhere thunder and lightning are said to be the signals given by the god Indra, to birds, beasts, etc., of the setting in of the rainy season. [138] Some people believe that the god Indra sends rain through his elephants who, being excited, make a noise like thunder. [139]