Of this people, the author of this book saw in Lahor, the capital of the sultan, a Brahman, called Sri Manu Rama, who would not accept any nourishment from the Musulmans, nor keep society with strangers. It was said, that an Umra of the Mahommedans had offered him three lacs of rupees, which he refused to take. Pursuant to his religion, he abstained from animal food. Kesayi Tívárí is one of the Brahmans of Benáres, and well conversant with the science of his class. Having left his house, he settled on the bank of the river Ravi, which passes near the garden Kamran, at Lahór: given up to devotion, he seeks no protection against rain and sun; he lives upon a little milk; and whatever he has collcted during several months, he spends in the entertainment of the pious Brahmans whom he invites.
[73] _Munji_, a sort of grass, from the fibres of which a string is prepared, of which the triple thread worn by the Brahman should be formed (_Saccharum munja Rox._)――(_Wilson’s Sanskrit Dictionary._)――D. S.
[74] Ward enumerates only ten _Sanskara_, or “ceremonies:” _Garbhádhána_, _Púngsavana_, _Simonton-nayana_, _Játa-karma_, _Nishkramana_, _Náma-karana_, _Anna-práshana_, _Chúra-karana_, _Upanayana_, and _Viváha_ (vol. III. p. 71).
[75] The above interpretation is not correct; the name of the ceremony गर्भाधान is derived from _Garbha_, “the fœtus,” and _adhan_, “taking;” according to Wilson’s Dictionary, a ceremony performed prior to conception; but, according to Ward, a ceremony to be performed four months after conception, including a burnt sacrifice, the worship of the Shálgráma, and all the forms of the Nándí-Múkhí-Shrádda. The Shalgrama (from _Shal_, “to move, to shake,” and _Grama_, “a village”) the _ætites_, or “eagle-stone,” black, hollow, and nearly round, said to be brought from mount Gandaki, in Nepaul――an emblem of Vishnu (see Ward, vol. I. p. 283-4-5).――D. S.
[76] पुंसवन. A religious and domestic festival, held on the mother’s perceiving the first signs of a living conception: from _pung_, “a male,” and _shu_, “to bear.”
_Nándi-Mukha-Sráddha_, funeral obsequies performed on joyous occasions, as initiation, marriage, etc., in which nine balls of meat are offered to the deceased father, paternal grandfather, and great grandfather; to the maternal grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather; to the mother, paternal grandmother, and paternal great grandmother: from _Nandi_, “good fortune,” and _Mukha_, “principal.”