festival, the preliminary rites with which it is associated, and the national excitement and hilarity which its periodical return produces among the people, will not be altogether uninteresting to European readers.[52] Twenty-one days before the commencement of the Doorga Poojah festival, a preliminary rite, by way of purifying the body and soul by means of ablution, is performed. The rite is called the "_Aapar pakhaya tarpan_" so called from its taking place on the first day of _Pratipad_ and ending on the fifteenth day of _Amabashya_, an entire fortnight, immediately preceding the _Debipakhya_ during which the Poojah is celebrated. It generally falls between the fifteenth of September, and the fifteenth of October. As already observed, this popular festival, called Doorga Poojah in Bengal and Dussera "or the tenth" in the North-West, although entirely military in its origin is universally respected. It is commemorative of the day on which the god Ram Chunder first marched against his enemy, Ravana, in _Lanka_ or Ceylon for the restoration of his wife, Seeta,[53] who was deservedly regarded as the best model of devotion, resignation and love, as is so beautifully painted by the poet: "A woman's bliss is found, not in the smile Of father, mother, friend, nor in herself: Her husband is her only portion here, Her heaven hereafter. If thou indeed Depart this day into the forest drear, I will precede, and smooth the thorny way." In the mornings of _Apar pakhaya_, for fifteen days continually, those who live near the sacred stream go thither with a small copper-pan and some teel seeds, which they sprinkle on the water at short intervals, while repeating the formulae in a state of half immersion. To a foreigner quite unacquainted with the meaning of these rites, the scene is well calculated to impress the mind with an idea of the exceeding devotedness of the Hindoos in observing their religious ordinances. The holy water and teel seeds which are sprinkled are intended as offerings to the manes of ancestors for fourteen generations, that their souls may continue to enjoy repose to all eternity. The women, though some of them are in the habit of bathing in the holy stream every morning, are, however, precluded by their sex from taking a part in this ceremony. Precisely on the last day of the fortnight, _i. e._, on the _Amabashya_, as if the object were attained, the rite of ablution ends, followed by another of a more comprehensive character. On this particular day, which is called _Mohaloya_,[54] the living again pay their homage to the memory of the fourteen generations of their ancestors by making them offerings of rice, fruits, sweetmeats, clothes, curded milk, and repeating the incantations said by the priest, at the conclusion of which he takes away all the articles presented and receives his _dakshina_ of one Rupee for his trouble. Apart from their superstitious