Travels in India (Tavernier) 89.4

89.4

At the base of this little wall they make openings, at every two feet, for the escape of the water, which they close till it is time for the water to be drawn off. This place being thus prepared, all who are about to engage in the search assemble, men, women, and children, together with their employer and a party of his relatives and friends. He brings with him a figure in stone of the god whom they worship, which being placed standing on the ground, each prostrates himself three times before it, their priest, however, offering up the prayer. This prayer being finished, he makes a particular kind of mark upon the forehead of each one with a paste composed of saffron and gum, in order that it may sustain seven or eight grains of rice, which he places upon it. Next, having washed their bodies with the water which each of them carries in a vessel, they place themselves in ranks to eat that which is presented at the feast given by their employer at the beginning of their work, in order to give them courage and induce them to acquit themselves faithfully. This feast merely consists of a portion of rice to each, which is distributed by the Brahmin, because every idolater can eat what is served to him by the hands of the priests. There are among them some so superstitious that they will not even eat what is prepared by their own wives, and prefer to cook for themselves. The plate upon which the rice is placed is made of the leaves of a tree attached together;