pitcher or a metal pot with a twig of the banian tree in it, well decorated, represents the goddess. The silk string is allowed to remain before her that night. Next morning, offerings of food, etc., are made to her, and the pūjāri (priest) ties a silk string on the left arm if a female, or the right arm if a male. That day being the Balipadyam day, men, women and children take an oil bath very early in the morning, eat something, and put on new clothing. Just before daybreak, women make two sets of cow-dung Panchapāndavas, and keep one set on either side of the outer threshold, and, sprinkling on them milk, butter and ghī, worship them. At the usual breakfast time, all the members of the family enjoy a hearty meal with the newly married son-in-law, to whom they make presents of cloths and gold according to circumstances. All that day children let off crackers.
The month Kartika. — On the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight, girls bring ant-hill earth, and, depositing it in a temple, follow the procedure observed from the tenth day of the bright fortnight of Aswija up to the day on which the Kontamma was left in a stream or well. They go through the various details in three days.
The month Pushya. — The Sankranti (the day on which the sun's progress to the north of the equator begins) festival is observed. On the Bhogi day, i.e.,the day previous to Sankranti, cakes made of sajja and gingelly, dishes made of pumpkin, brinjals, sweet potatoes, red radish, raw chillies and chitrana (coloured rice) are eaten. On the Sankranti day, more rich food, including holigas (cakes made of jaggery, dhāl and wheat), is eaten in company with Jangams, who are dismissed with money presents and betel and nut.
The month Magha. — The full-moon day called Baratahunname. This is a feasting day on which no
