Storia do Mogor 251.3

251.3

If you ask the time fixed for this transubstantiation, they tell you it is in this terrestrial world, when the Brahman who turns monk cuts in two the thread they all wear round the body, and removes the long lock of hair usually worn at the back of the head as proof of their high caste. When by the removal of this sign of rank they have denoted their adoption of an ascetic life, they take in the right hand a bambu staff as tall as themselves, either of eight, nine, ten, or fourteen knots, and in the left hand a kind of pot, copper or earthen. Then they tie round their waist a piece of yellow cloth, pronouncing the words 'Agam Brahma' — that is, 'I am the very god Brahma.' The Brahmans present at this ceremonial prostrate themselves and worship the man as God. The Brahman women bring a kind of tart or cake which they lay before the new-made god. The latter, as a proof of asceticism, must not during that night eat of any other food. These men are the haughtiest of all the people in this country. At death they say they go to Brahma's world.