several smaller shrines. They each contain a few pieces of old sculpture, representing one or other of the 300,000,000 deities the Hindu pantheon is said. to contain. The Hindu peasant is as confirmed an idolater as the Muhammadan is iconoclast. With a profound indifference to archæological or sectarian distinctions he will take a fragment of sculpture, Buddhist, Jain, or Hindu, headless, armless, or legless, build a little shrine for it, give it the name which pleases him best, and worship it as a manifestation of his favourite divinity.

Along the four sides of the tank are broad avenues of trees. Under them the cattle tread out the corn and turn the slow, creaking mill which crushes the juicy sugar-cane. Their mangers, like village altars, are raised on mud pedestals between the trees. Beyond the neat thatched huts an endless expanse of ripening crops promises a plenteous harvest.

Leaving Khandawa, the pilgrims continue their journey by the shady road through the fertile fields, and on the second day reach Dhupchandi, a village

eight miles farther on. The third day's journey of fourteen miles brings them to Râmeswar, and to a temple there dedicated to Râma. On the fourth they arrive at Shivapur, eight miles farther. Here there is a tank and a Shiva temple containing a number of shrines in which fragments of ancient sculpture are set up for worship, including one of the Panch Pândavas, the five heroes of the Mahâbhârata, and one of Surya, the sun-god, in his seven-horsed car.

At Kapildhara, the fifth day's stage, six miles beyond Shivapur, the pilgrims offer oblations to the Pitris, the souls of the ancestors. It is one of the places Shradha ceremonies of

deemed propitious for the deceased relatives, which are believed to help the souls of the departed on their final pilgrimage to Yama-puri, the kingdom of Death.

According to the Hindu doctrine of the future life, there are two paths, followed by souls of different states of development, according to their karma. The saints who have fulfilled their karma travel by the Devayana, the way of the gods, through the rays of the sun, and never return to be reborn on earth.

Ordinary souls, which have yet to finish the cycle of transmigrations, travel by the Dhumayana of the seven planes, but they can only reach two-Swarloka, heaven, or Bhuvar-loka, the astral plane, according to the life they have led in the world. The souls of ordinary mortals will, it is believed, always remain tied to earth, and eventually become evil spirits tormenting mankind, unless the Shradha ceremonies are duly performed to help them on their way to Yama.

For the first ten days after death the ceremonies performed by the relatives are to help the disembodied

"Thin vaporous clouds of smoke rise from the funeral pyres. The slanting rays of the morning sun cast long shadows across the ghat" (page 137)

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spirit to obtain a form, or prêta-body, which will carry it on its appointed pilgrimage. This is supposed to be effected by the pinda offerings, the food presented to the spirit (consisting of barley or rice-flour, mixed with sesamum flour, sugar, and honey), and by the recitation of appropriate mantras. The first day's ceremony furnishes the spirit with a head, the next a neck and shoulders. When the prêta-body is fully formed, on the tenth day, it feeds on the pinda and offerings of milk.

On the thirteenth day after death, the soul is equipped for its solemn journey. There are twelve stages in the pilgrimage, each stage taking a month to accomplish. Throughout the twelve months the relatives follow the departed spirit with the Shradha ceremonies, sixteen in number, performed at stated times to provide it with sustenance and to prepare it for the goal.

When that at last is reached, the prêta-body is dissolved. The soul now becomes a Pitri, and assumes another body adapted for enjoying heavenly bliss, or for suffering the pains of hell. In this state it appears before the judge, Yama, the Lord of Pitris.

To those who have lived virtuous lives, Yama has a pleasant and glorious aspect when he receives the pilgrims into the bliss of Swarga. He has four arms, bearing a conch-shell, a discus, a mace, and a lotus. He rides, like Vishnu, on a mighty eagle, Garuda. A splendid crown adorns his brow, and jewelled ornaments glitter in his ears. His complexion is like the blue lotus, a gracious smile beams on his lips. He wears a sacred thread like gold on his breast, and a garland of forest flowers on his neck.