Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1874 — Hindoo Worship of Tools. [ARTICLE]

Hindoo Worship of Tools.

I At the festival of Bauri, wife of Sceva, and of the'three principal! lindoo deities. Which is,Celeb rated for several days in September, and is one of -the most sol- | rum of the Hindoo festivals, every artisan, every laborer and handicraftsman offer sacrifices and supplications to the tools and implements which they use in the exercise of their various professions. The laborer brings bis plow, five and 1 other instruments, piles them together, and offers to them a sacrifice, Consisting of incense, flowers v fruit», fipe anej other similar articles; after which, he prostrates himself before them at foll-'lengt h. The mason offers the same worship and sacrifice to his trowel, his rule and other instruments. The carpfenter is no less pious witli regard, lochia hatchet, his saw, his adze and his plane, before w hich he iO Offeringsacrifice Of rice and flowers previous to prostrating himself before them. The barber,’ too, collects his razors lit a heap and adores them with similar rites- : AWI theshopkeepers are in the daily habit of personifying the stool on which they sit ; “ Oh, great stool, send me to-day many customers with full purses and empty heads.” Evety person, In short. In' this Solemnity adores the instrument or tool he principally uses in gaining bis livelihood. The tools are then considered as deities to whom they present their sapthat they wifi continue favorable and furnish them with tlie means of living; and to such a* depth dosfi<; th i s base idolatry descend that the farmers in certain districts offer a sacrifice to the dunghill which is afterward to enrich ' their ground. >