Forlong - Rivers of Life

CHAPTER IV.
FIRE-WORSHIP
I HAVE placed FIRE somewhat before the SUN, as it seems to have always had the
firmest hold upon the wonderment and then the adoration of the infant mind. To the
present moment it is an essential part of all Hindoo worship and ceremonies. From
his cradle to his grave, when the Hindoo is folded in the god’s embrace, the ancient
races around me seek for it, use it, offer sacrifices to it, and adore it. Let us follow it
briefly through a Hindoo life alone.
At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the place of the Christian
confirmation ceremony, but between the ages of seven and nine, Fire and Water are
the great sanctifying elements, and are the essentials. The fire is kindled from the
droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with holy water and blessed; and
when so consecrated by the priest it is called “Holy Fire.” Offerings are given
to it consisting of grain, ghee, or melted butter, &c., by those desiring favours, and
especially in this case by the parents of the child, whilst the priest continues reading
passages from the Bible—Veda—or its inspired commentaries. The parents offer
prayers to Agni (Fire) that all the past sins of their child may be forgiven, as having
been done in ignorance; and they declare him of age, and to be able to “know to
refuse the evil and choose the good”—the precise Hindoo words—and what Isaiah
wrote in the seventh century B.C. of his child, meaning thereby the age when Ahaz, king
of Judah, was to see in it a sign of what Jehovah would do for him. The sacred thread
is then washed in holy water and held over the fire, after which the priest places it on
the neck of the child and also bestows upon him ornaments of grass, when from that
moment he becomes a Brahm-Achāri, or one sworn to practice the laws and behests of
Brahm or Almighty God. A pious father will then say privately to his child,
“Remember, my son, there is but one God, the sovereign Master and Principle of all
things, and every Brahman is bound to worship him in secret” 1
The next ceremony in connection with the child takes place fourteen days after,
when this strict dedication to priestly service is relaxed, and he again appears before
1 Dubios, Mouers des Indes.