whose descent from one of these great Rishis was beyond doubt could become the founder of a gotra. The Brâhmanical system of gotras has, again, by a fiction been extended to other tribes, such as the Râjput, Banya, Khatri, or Kâyasth, but among them the institution is exotic, and naturally much less vigorous than among the tribe from whom it was derived. 11. There is again another Brâhmanical division, that of the charana or sâkha and the pravara. The sâkha or charana is usually applied to the body of persons who follow one of the various schools of Vedic teaching, which are said to be as many as 1,130, of which there are 1,000 for the Sama Veda, 100 for the Yajur Veda, 21 for the Rig Veda, and 9 for the Atharva Veda. The institution of the pravara is, again, purely religious. The pravara or arsheya, which are generally regarded as synonymous terms are those sacrificial fires which several gotras had in common. It was left to their own choice to which they wished to repair. [Domestic ceremonies.] 12. Under the articles dealing with the separate Brâhmanical tribes an account of some of the domestic ceremonies has been given. A few points may here be noticed, principally derived from the customs of the Sarwariya Brâhmans of the Eastern Districts of the Province. [The Rajodarsan: garbhadâna.] 13. What is commonly known as the rajodarsan (rajas, “pollution,” darsana, “seeing”) is the time during which women remain impure for four days after the menstrual period, and while in this state do not touch the drinking water or cook for the household. This is, it is hardly necessary to say, consistent with the common practice of the most primitive tribes. [169] The pollution is removed by the rajasnân or ceremonial bathing on the fourth day. Immediately on marriage follows the “impregnation rite,” garbhadâna. In ancient times no bridegroom approached the bride till the fourth night after the completion of the marriage ceremony. This interval is prescribed by Gobhila. The present interval of two, three, or four years in the case of child-marriages is quite unsupported by the authority of ancient lawyers. Dhanvantari (in the Susruta) declares that the Garbhadâna should not take place till a girl is sixteen. Dr. Bühler has shown from the Vivaha Mantras that, in olden times girls were married long after they had reached the age of puberty, and infant marriages were unknown; moreover that the human husband is the fourth husband, the three gods, Soma, Visvavasu, and Agni, being the first three at the period of a girl’s becoming marriageable. As it should take place on the fourth day, the consummation rite was sometimes called Chaturthi karma. During the previous day the young married woman was made to look towards the sun, or in some way exposed to the rays. In the evening she was required to bathe. Her husband also performed his ablution and went through other prescribed forms. Before approaching his wife he was careful to secure the solemn imprimatur of