On another bamboo is displayed the _trisūl_ or trident of Mahadēo, and a small double-headed hand-drum, shaped like an hour-glass, called _damaru_, used by _Fakīrs_; and in front by the side of the Devotee, is an altar, or pillar, hollowed at the top, containing the sacred _tulsī_ plant (ocimum sanctum) purple stalked basil. This plant is worshipped in honour of a religious female who requested Vishnu to allow her to become his wife. Lukshmī, the goddess of beauty, and wife of Vishnu, cursed the woman on account of the pious request she had preferred to her lord, and changed her into a _tulsī_ plant. Vishnu, in consideration of the religious austerities long practised by the enamoured devotee, made her a promise that he would assume the form of the _shalgram_, and always continue with her. If one of these sacred plants die, it is committed in due form to _Ganga-jee_: and when a person is brought to die by the side of the sacred river, a branch of the _tulsī_, the shrub-goddess, is planted near the dying man’s head, and the marks upon the _shalgram_ are shown to him. This pebble god is a small heavy black circular stone, rather flattened on one side, with the _cornu ammonis_ strongly marked upon it. Devotees walk round the sacred plant, pour water upon it, and make _salām_. Of an evening a little _chirāgh_, a small lamp, is burned before it. In the courts of justice the Hindū swears by the Ganges water on which is placed a branch of the _tulsī_. MANIKURNĪKA GHĀT. A brahmanī bull is going up to the idol Ganesh, expecting a share of the flowers that are offered to the image. In the distance a band of pilgrims are coming down to fill their baskets with holy water; and in the foreground is a picturesque figure, also a carrier of holy water, which is put into small sealed bottles placed in baskets suspended from a bamboo poised on his shoulder, over which is a covering of red cloth.