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14* NERMAJLA KULKARNI

(1)    It is performed every nighl in front of a king;

(2)    Waving of a dough lamp three times along with certain verses is the hcart of the rite;

(3)    The lamp is madę of dough;

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(4)    Flowers, mustard seeds, rice grains, Priyańgu, Durv8, Sat8va/f and sacred ash are also kept in that vessel;

(5)    With the sound of conch the lamp is laken away and water is poured;

(6)    In the morning the king should olfer gold to Brahmin;

(7)    The purpose of this rite is to ward off evil forces and calamities. 1.1.2. PiffariUryih Kalpah

The sixth pariśista of the AVP describes in dctail the procedurę of the rite callcd PistarStrySh Kalpah. In this rite an image of rStri (night) madę of dough is worshippcd following the procedurę given bclow.

A priest wearing a new gannent should anoint the platform with cowdung in front of the bed. Having covcrcd the throne with a new garment he should cali upon night by the verse bcginning with ‘Y8rh dev8 pratinandanti (AV 3.10.2).® By uttcring ‘Samvat-sarasya pratimam (AV 3.10.3)°, he should place the idol madę out of dough facing towards the north. He should olfer hcr a goldcn umbrella, a goldcn throne, white garments and white anointments. He should also ofler hcr white food and ample sweet balls. Various kinds of fragrant sticks and lamps should be otTcred with the verses 8 m8 puste [AV 3.10)¹⁰. He should make sacred the muslrad seeds by ultering verses which aim at destroying evil forces. By reciting ‘8vatasta' (AV 5.30.1)" he should throw the mustrad seeds around the bed. By reciting ‘ayarii pratisarah ’ ¹² he should tie an amulet (on the king’s hand) and should throw pcbbles in each direction. The remnant of fragrant stick (dhupa ) should be given to the king. The rite described above drives away fear. In evcry corncr an image is placed having one or two faces, or only one image having four faces is kept in the centre. He should throw pcbbles in each direction. By taking up the image of RStri he should kecp it on the door of the house. By uttcring ‘Vanaspatirsomadhye ' ^,J he should offer dhupa madę of guggula ‘yaste gandhah ' {AV 12.1.23, 24,25)¹⁴, he should make the ash (DhOti) sacred. He should apply it on the forchead of the king by uttcring the verses beginning with ‘trySyusam’ [AV 5.28.7)¹⁵. By uttcring ‘aspatnam’ [AV 8.5.17),¹⁶ he should make the pebbles sacred and throw them from the thumb

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in a circular way from the right. By reciting SSnta Dyoh (AV 19.9.1) he should takc the king towards his bcdchambcr. Protccting the king with the ash of inccnse ( dhupa ) he should leave his bcdchambcr. He should