Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/456

For worship in Vishnu temples, flowers and tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) are used. In Siva temples, bilva (bael:Ægle Marmelos) leaves are substituted for tulsi. At the close of the worship, the Archaka gives to those present thīrtham (holy water), tulsi or bilva leaves, and vibhūthi (sacred ashes) according to the nature of the temple. At Vishnu temples, immediately after the giving of thīrtham, an inverted bowl, bearing on it the feet of Vishnu (satāri or sadagōpam), is placed by the Archaka first on the head, and then on the right shoulder, and again on the head, in the case of grown up and married males, and only on the head in the case of females and young people. The bowl is always kept near the mūla vigraha, and, on festival days, when the god is taken in procession through the streets, it is carried along with the utsava vigraha. On festival days, such as Dhipāvali, Vaikunta Ekādasi, Dwādasi, etc., the god of the temple is taken in procession through the main streets of the town or village. The idol, thus borne in procession, is not the stone figure, but the portable one made of metal (utsava vigraha), which is usually kept in the temple in front of the Mūla idol. At almost every important temple, an annual festival called Brahmōtsavam, which usually lasts ten days, is celebrated. Every night during this festival, the god is seated on the clay, wooden or metal figure of some animal as a vehicle, e.g., Garuda, horse, elephant, bull, Hanumān, peacock, yāli, etc., and taken in procession, accompanied by a crowd of Brāhmans chanting the Vēdas and Tamil Nālayara Prapandhams, if the temple is an important one. Of the vehicles or vahānams, Hanumān and Garuda are special to Vishnu, and the bull (Nandi) and tiger to Siva. The others are common to both deities. During the month of May, the festival