John Tyman's
Cultures in Context Series
NEPAL 
PART THREE : LIFE IN THE MIDLANDS 
Religion and Ritual
447-474
www.johntyman/nepal
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447. The role of religious rituals in the lives of Brahmans is incredibly complex compared with “Sunday worship”  in Europe or America; and in the weeks that I lived among them I could do no more than scratch the surface of their beliefs and practices.  Every family has a designated priest who presides at major ceremonies but each family head is himself responsible for a range of devotional practices -- not least prayers both for their family deity and for their ancestors.
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448. In addition, their annual calendar is dominated by feast days. Dasain (or Durga Puja) is the most important, celebrating the triumph of the Mother Goddess over evil.  I was not there then, but if Little Dasain in March is anything to go by the major festival must bring the country to a standstill in September! (Little Dasain at Kasara)
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449. Exorcism (casting out evil spirits) is one of the many roles which priests perform here -- after elaborate preparations. The floor is decorated with ritual designs and a host of items carefully arranged for use in the ceremony, including a small fire.
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450. The owner of this store was convinced that his business was failing because he had been placed under a curse. He consulted a soothsayer who confirmed his suspicion; and the family’s priest was called upon to break the power of this evil spell. After the shopkeeper himself had been cleansed ritually, the two of them made a series of offerings.
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451. As incense was burned and the room filled with smoke, the priest read  from a sacred text and the shop’s owner prayed for release.
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452. The temple in the school grounds, with its adjacent kitchen, was little used while I was there, but was no doubt crammed with worshippers during festivals.
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453. And there was a small shrine beside a sacred lake in a nearby forest that was the scene of a water festival in summer -- water being critical to the health and prosperity of the entire community.
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454. Public places like this are not, however, a pre-requisite to worship, for every home has one or more little shrines or family altars for daily puja.
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455. And this man squatting on the path outside our house had a mobile shrine. Hindu males (and females after marriage) are expected to pray each day before they eat their first meal. This man spent 20 minutes in prayer. He can neither read nor write but can recite in Sanskrit the whole of the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics. The thread around his neck emphasizes that he is a Brahman.
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456. Among the special ceremonial functions reserved to priests, one is the process of  name giving and purification following the birth of a child. The ceremony will be scheduled on the eleventh day, for both the mother and her newborn are considered untouchable for ten days.
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457. After she has given birth a woman must remain in her house in isolation with her child and can have no contact of any kind with men.
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458. During this time her clothes will be washed by other women, and her mother (and/or friends) will feed her and also prepare the inevitable feast.
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459. The baby’s grandmother holds threads which will be used in the preparation of the child’s bracelets, in a ceremony which signifies the child’s social recognition -- as it is admitted as a member of its parents’ caste. Children who die before they are named are buried without the rites accorded to caste members.
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 460. On the 11th day the mother will emerge and her child will breathe fresh air at last, and once again have contact with the earth. Their period of ritual impurity will end as the woman crosses the threshold and raises her child three times to  the sun.
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461. The surface of the verandah outside will have been decorated ahead of time and a host of ritual offerings arranged to ensure the baby’s happy introduction to the outside world.
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462. The ceremony itself will have commenced before she emerges. Incense will be burned.
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463. The baby’s father will undergo ritual cleansing: and prayers will be offered on the child’s behalf.
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464. When they emerge from the house the mother and child sit just outside the door, close the area reserved for the ceremony.
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465. Meanwhile more offerings have been added to the fire.
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466. The priest will have consulted his astronomical chart to determine the position of the stars in the sky at the exact moment of birth, in order to determine a favourable first name for the child.
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467. The young mother will be blessed by the priest and her forehead marked with a rice paste
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468. And prayers will be offered for her and the baby.
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469. Sacred threads woven into bracelets will now be tied on the baby’s arms and legs, and also given to its parents.
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470. Its name (its first name anyway) will be whispered to the baby through a rolled up leaf.
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471. The second name will be chosen by grandparents and the third name by the parents.
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472. The bracelets will need  adjustment later, but when everything is finished,  everyone will be sprinkled with cows’s urine.
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 473. And relatives, friends and neighbours will gather for a feast.
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474. The icons over the door to the new mother’s house were reminders of festivals celebrated previously. The goat's horns are a symbol of Dasain, when goats are sacrificed in honour of the goddess Durga, wife of Shiva: and the vermillion rice came from the puja offerings made to Laxmi, wife of Vishnu, during Diwali, the festival of lights.
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