In the neighbourhood of every temple there must be always reservoirs or cisterns, in which the Pagans wash and bathe before they perform their devotions. These cisterns, named _Cula_, are for the most part of marble, and of very beautiful workmanship. Before the entrance of the temple is a so-called _Mandava_, or covered hall, which is totally separated from it, and rests upon pillars. Here the priests are accustomed to assemble when they have any temporal business to transact respecting the temple. Not far from it are houses for the high-priest, the astrologer, or nativity-caster, and the overseer of the temple. The other side is set apart for the habitations of the women who belong to the temple, and the female servants of the deity. The latter are called _Dèvadàsi_; from _Dèva_, a god; and _Dàsi_, a female servant, or maid. Their employment is to clean the temple, light the lamps, and contribute to the private pleasures of the pilgrims. These women, however, must not be confounded with those female dancers who commonly precede processions, and supply the place of _mænades_. The latter, in the Samscred language, are called _Nrtagui_--and in Portuguese, _Balhadeiras_. By means of these women the Brahmans become acquainted with every particular respecting the state and condition of the pilgrims; so that they are enabled, when they appear in the temple, to tell them, with the greatest correctness, what are their circumstances; how they live; what fate they have experienced, and other things of the like kind. These people then are filled with astonishment, and imagine that the deity must have revealed all this knowledge to the priest in a supernatural manner.