The large hall of worship formed
one side of the _puja mahal_; on the other three sides were
two-storied houses. No one lived in this _mahal_. At the festival of
Durga it was thronged; but now grass sprouted between the tiles of the
court, pigeons frequented the halls, the houses were full of
furniture, and the doors were kept locked. Beside this was the _thakur
bari_ (room assigned to the family deity): in it on one side was the
temple of the gods, the handsome stone-built dancing-hall; on the
remaining sides, the kitchen for the gods, the dwelling-rooms of the
priests, and a guest-house. In this _mahal_ there was no lack of
people. The tribe of priests, with garlands on their necks and
sandal-wood marks on their foreheads; a troop of cooks; people bearing
baskets of flowers for the altars; some bathing the gods, some ringing
bells, chattering, pounding sandal-wood, cooking; men and women
servants bearing water, cleaning floors, washing rice, quarrelling
with the cooks. In the guest-house an ascetic, with ash-smeared, loose
hair, is lying sleeping; one with upraised arm (stiffened thus through
years) is distributing drugs and charms to the servants of the house;
a white-bearded, red-robed _Brahmachari_, swinging his chaplet of
beads, is reading from a manuscript copy of the _Bhagavat-gita_ in the
_Nagari_ character; holy mendicants are quarrelling for their share of
_ghi_ and flour.
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