Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.295.2

v3.c43.t1.295.2

In this manner we had some interesting conversation, while sacrifice and purification were going on in the adjoining apartment. When this was over, I was instructed to bring the young Raja forth and lead him to a temporary ‘cushion of state,’ when a new round of religious ceremonies took place, terminating with his re-election of the family Purohit and Byas,¹ by marking their foreheads with the tilak : which ordination entitled them to put the unction upon the prince’s, denoting the ‘divine right’ by which he was in future to rule the Haras. The young prince went through a multitude of propitiatory rites with singular accuracy and self-possession ; and when they were over, the assembly rose. I was then requested to conduct him to the gaddi, placed in an elevated balcony overlooking the external court and a great part of the town ; and it being too high for the young prince to reach, I raised him to it. The officiating priest now brought the vessel containing the unction, composed of sandalwood powder and aromatic oils, into which I dipped the middle finger of my right hand, and made the tilak on his forehead. I then girt him with the sword, and congratulated him in the name of my Government, declaring aloud, that all might hear, that the British Government would never cease to feel a deep interest in all that concerned the welfare of Bundi and the young prince’s family.