Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c17.s4.94

v1.c17.s4.94

Religious Rites.—The Suiones or Suevi, the most powerful Getic nation of Scandinavia, were divided into many tribes, one of whom, the Su (Yueh-chi or Jat), made human sacrifices in their consecrated groves ¹ to Ertha (Ila), whom all worshipped, and whose chariot was drawn by a cow.² The Suevi worshipped Isis (Isa, Gauri, the Isis and Ceres of Rajasthan), in whose rites the figure of a ship is introduced ; “ symbolic,” observes Tacitus, “ of its foreign origin.”³ The festival of Isa, or Gauri, wife of Iswara, at Udaipur, is performed on the lake, and appears to be exactly that of Isis and Osiris in Egypt, as described by Herodotus. On this occasion Iswara (Osiris), who is secondary to his wife, has a stalk of the onion in blossom in his hand ; a root detested by the Hindus generally, though adored by the Egyptians.