Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/441

Some Smarthas, e.g., the Brahacharnams, are more Saivite than other sections of Tamil-speaking Brāhmans. During worship, they wear round the neck rudrāksha (Elœocarpus Ganitrus) beads, and place on their head a lingam made thereof. In connection with the rudraksha, the legend runs that Siva or Kālāgni Rudra, while engaged in Tripura Samhāra, opened his third eye, which led to the destruction of the three cities, of which Rākshasas or Asuras had taken the form. From this eye liquid is said to have trickled on the ground, and from this arose the rudrāksha tree. The mere mention of the word rudrāksha is believed to secure religious merit, which may be said to be equivalent to the merit obtained by the gift of ten cows to Brāhmans. Rudrāksha beads are valued according to the number of lobes (or faces, as they are called), which are ordinarily five in number. A bead with six lobes is said to be very good, and one with two lobes, called Gauri Sankara rudrāksha, is specially valued. Dikshitar Brāhmans, and Pandāram priests of the higher order, wear a two-lobed bead mounted in gold. In a manuscript entitled Rudrākshopanishad, it is stated that a good rudrāksha bead, when rubbed with water, should colour the water yellow. The Mādhvas worship in the same way as Smarthas, but the objects of worship are the sālagrāma stone, and images of Hanumān and Ādi Sēsha. Food offered to Ādi Sēsha, Lakshmi, and Hanuman, is not eaten, but thrown away. The Mādhvas attach great importance to their spiritual guru, who is first worshipped by a worshipper. Some keep a brindāvanam, representing the grave of their guru, along with a sālagrāma stone, which is worshipped at the close of the Dēvata pūja. Sri Vaishnavas keep for domestic worship only sālagrāma stones. Like the Mādhvas, they are scrupulous as to the worship of their