History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.709

v6.c81.709

On the 10th tithi after bathing and sipping water he should offer worship with sixteen upacāras or with as many as possible, should praise Devī with these words ‘Om Durgām Śivām’ &c. (on p 672 of Durgārcanapaddhati), should prostrate himself before her and make request to Devī with the mantra ‘Mahiṣaghnī mahāmāye &c’ (*ibid* p. 672) and with the verse quoted [^454 a] below take a flower and cast it on the image with the words ‘forgive’. Then after repeating two verses he should raise the image (of Devī), the bilva twig and the sheaf of nine plants from their places and keep them in another place and wave lamps made of [^454 b] flour before them He should go near the water of a river with dance, song, music, Vedic recitations and auspicious sports and pastimes and immerse the image in a tank or in a river after the prayer [^454 c] ‘O Durgā, mother of the world, go to your place in order to come back after the lapse of a year.’ Then he should perform the *śābarotsava* This last means that actions usually associated with the śabaras (i e aboriginal tribes like the Bhils &c) should be indulged in (to express ecstacy of the Durgāpūjā) on the 10th tithi after the immersion