Tulwar

“ I offer perfumes, grains of rice, and flowers, in token of rendering all due homage to the bell.” The worshipper claps his hands, and rings the bell. All the tulsi (sacred basil, Ocimum sanctum) leaves, flowers, sandal paste, etc., used for worship on the previous day, are removed. “The tulsi is the most sacred plant in the Hindu religion; it is consequently found in or near almost every Hindu house throughout India. Hindu poets say that it protects from misfortune, and sanctifies and guides to heaven all who cultivate it. The Brahmins hold it sacred to the gods Krishna and Vishnu. ”

“ In great fear lest the bird should discover my presence I made haste to loose the turban from its foot, and, having done so, I crept away, trembling in every limb. Then, as I watched the bird from a distance, I observed it pick something from the ground and soar away with it clutched in its talons; and I looked again and saw that it was an enormous serpent twisting and writhing in the grasp of the bird as it flew swiftly towards the sea. ”

“ If the voice of the Tulugal is clear and distinct, he has died of some sickness, but if it is dull and choking, then he has been "caught," that is, killed by some evil magic. Sometimes the Tulugal tries to get back to the body. If the medicine-man is not strong enough to send him away, it has been said to come rushing into the tree-top with a noise like a bird flying, and to push the medicine-man down the bole of the tree by the head, and then to get into the covering of bark surrounding the corpse, from which the medicine-man has much apparent difficulty in removing him. ”

“ The children cried aloud to their father, "Come, for the Turtle is running away!"
When Binama heard this cry, he and the birds with him, threw the sheaves of taro aside and gave chase to the runaway. But the Turtle had already reached the sea, and he hasted to dive. The birds called, "Show thyself now. Lift up thine head." This did the Turtle, and the angry birds cast great stones into the sea, and the left armlet which the Turtle wore was shattered. So he dived, but they called again, "Show thyself. Lift up thine head," and a stone fell upon the right armlet and brake it into small pieces. ”

“ These are the nests of the tule wren, built by the industrious male, with who knows what excess of parental care or what intention to deceive. All the while he is at work upon them, in one, the least conspicuous and apparently the least skilfully built, the mother bird nurses the brown nestlings with which, suddenly at the end of July, all the whispering galleries of the tulares are alive. ”

“ Our instructed vagrancy, which was hardly time to linger by the hedgerows, but runs away early to the tropics, and is at home with palms and banyans,—which is nourished on books of travel and stretches the theatre of its imagination to the Zambesi,—can hardly get a dim notion of what an old-fashioned man like Tulliver felt for this spot, where all his memories centred, and where life seemed like a familiar smooth-handled tool that the fingers clutch with loving ease. ”

“ In the temples of Tuluva there prevails a very singular custom, which has given origin to a caste named Moylar. Any woman of the four pure castes — Brāhman, Kshatriya, Vaisya or Sudra — who is tired of her husband, or who (being a widow, and consequently incapable of marriage) is tired of a life of celibacy, goes to a temple, and eats some of the rice that is offered to the idol. She is then taken before the officers of Government, who assemble some people of her caste to inquire into the cause of her resolution ”

“ Tuluva. — Tulu, Tuluva, or Tuluvan occurs as the name of a sub-division of the Tamil Vellālas, and of the Agasas, Billavas, Gaudas, Kumbāras, and other classes in South Canara. The equivalent Tulumar is recorded as a sub-caste of Māvilan, which speaks Tulu. ”

“ De Gubernatis tells us that “when an Indian dies, they place on his breast a leaf of Tulasî; when he is dead, they wash the head of the corpse with water, in which have been dropped, during the prayer of the priest, some Flax seeds and Tulasî leaves. According to the Kriyâyogasâras (xxiii.) , in religiously planting and cultivating the Tulasî, the Hindu obtains the privilege of ascending to the Palace of Vishnu, surrounded by ten millions of parents. It is a good omen for a house if it has been built on a spot where the Tulasî grows well. ”

“ And Mr Tulliver, you perceive, though nothing more than a superior miller and maltster, was as proud and obstinate as if he had been a very lofty personage, in whom such dispositions might be a source of that conspicuous, far-echoing tragedy, which sweeps the stage in regal robes, and makes the dullest chronicler sublime. The pride and obstinacy of millers and other insignificant people, whom you pass unnoticingly on the road every day, have their tragedy too ”

“ Tula replied by relating the story of her life—her bereavement—her captivity—her escape—her weary wanderings—her hardships—and the repose she had found in her solitude; and concluded by saying, “If the eagle’s nest be lonely and cold, it is quiet and safe. It is not too high for the moon to smile upon. It is not too cold for Tula.” ”

“ They are a tall people, the chiefs being especially noted for their powerful build. They dress generally in a black tunic (some tribes wear white) , trousers girt with a woollen belt, and wear as turban a cloth called litham, the end of which is drawn over the face, allowing nothing to be seen but the eyes and the tip of the nose. The purpose of this is to protect the throat and lungs from the sand. These cloths are dark blue or white: the former being worn most by the nobles, the latter by the common people. To this difference of colour is due the terms “black” and “white” Tuareg. ”

“ Under the dark fixed frown eye glitters like a serpent's.
Nearly all wear the same Indian dress; the thickly folded turban, usually white, white drawers reaching but half-way down the thigh, leaving the knees and the legs bare, and white jacket. A few don long blue robes, and wear a colored head-dress: these are babagees-priests. Most of the men look tall; they are slender and small-boned, but the limbs are well turned. They are grave—talk in low tones, and seldom smile. ”

“ Twenty-seven miles north-west of Tehrī in the Orchhā State.
4. The Tulasī plant, or basil, Ocymum sanctum, is 'not merely sacred to Vishnu or to his wife Lakshmī; it is pervaded by the essence of these deities, and itself worshipped as a deity and prayed to accordingly. . . . The Tulasī is the object of more adoration than any other plant at present worshipped in India. . . .It is to be found in almost every respectable household throughout India. ”

“ Thus it happened with Áhaiyúta and Mátsailéma and their old grandmother, and their grandfathers the Rainbow-worm and the old Turtle. That is the reason why rainbow-worms are no bigger than your finger now, because their great grandfather blew all his substance away at the Háwikuhkwe. That’s the reason why the great Turtles in the far-away Waters of the World are so much bigger than their brothers and sisters here, and have so many marks on their shells, where the arrows glanced across the shield of their great grandfather. ”

“ Tulsī’s great poem, popularly called Tulsi-krit Rāmāyan, but named by its author Rām-charit-mānas, “the Lake of Rāma’s deeds,” is perhaps better known among Hindus in upper India than the Bible among the rustic population in England. Its verses are everywhere, in this region, popular proverbs; an apt quotation from them by a stranger has an immediate effect in producing interest and confidence in the hearers. ”

“ His breast did not heave. Round about the chair, on the floor strewn with dried herbs, stood several flat cups filled with a dark liquid which gave off a strong, almost suffocating odour,—the odour of musk. Around each cup was coiled a small, copper-coloured serpent, which gleamed here and there with golden spots; and directly in front of Muzio, a couple of paces distant from him, rose up the tall figure of the Malay, clothed in a motley-hued mantle of brocade, girt about with a tiger's tail, with a tall cap in the form of a horned tiara on his head. ”

“ In this land are very many turtles, of great size; they are larger than a shield. Here is a marvellous thing: when the male and the female have intercourse, they remain thus joined together for twenty or twenty-five days. They become so stupefied during this act that the Indians dive into the sea, and tie the feet of the turtles without their perceiving it, and draw these creatures ashore. ”

“ The form Tula has given rise to the strangest theorizing about this line, as, of course, the antiquaries could not resist the temptation to see in it a reference to the Tula or Tollan of Aztec mythology, the capital city of the Toltecs and the home of Quetzalcoatl.
The similarity of the words is purely fortuitous. The Lenape word tulpe means turtle or tortoise, especially, says Zeisberger, a water or sea turtle. In their mythology, as I have already shown (ante, p. 134) the earth was supposed to be floating on a boundless ocean, as a turtle floats on the surface of a pond. ”

“ The race, the caste and often the province of a resident of India may be determined by his headgear. The Parsees wear tall fly-trap hats made of horse hair, with a top like a cow's foot; the Mohammedans wear the fez, and the Hindus the turban, and there are infinite varieties of turbans, both in the material used and in the manner in which they are put up. An old resident of India can usually tell where a man comes from by looking at his turban. ”

“ Tulchuherris could go neither to the north nor the south, the rock was straight in his road. He looked everywhere for a passage, but could see none. He looked on the left side, all was dark; on the right, all was dark,—dark everywhere. There was light only in the road which went up the rock and over it.
The old man on the rock, when Tulchuherris came near, called out,—
“My grandson, come right up to me; there is no other road where people travel. When you are here, you will pass down on the other side easily.” ”

“ On arriving at Bilma, we halted under the shade of a large tulloh tree while the tents were pitching; and the women danced with great taste, and, as I was assured by the sultan’s nephew, with skill also. As they approach each other, accompanied by the slow beat of an instrument formed out of a gourd, covered with goat’s skin, for a long time their movements are confined to the head, hands, and body, which they throw from one side to the other, flourish in the air, and bend without moving the feet ”

“ To ensure the prosperity of the plants they make a marriage of a copralite to some tulsi (sweet basil) . The copralite is an emblem of Siva, just as the ammonite is an emblem of Vishnu. Tulsi (Ocymum sanctum) grows everywhere. It has small purple flowers, and is not unlike the wild basil of England or the common calamint. When the leaves are crushed they have an aromatic scent. As I walked about the compound I often trod it underfoot, and the air was filled with the sweet smell.
There is a legend which ascribes its origin to the Hindu deity Vishnu. ”

“ With his hosts of monkeys Ráma will destroy the demons and recover Síta; and gods and saints and Nárad and all will declare his glory, that sanctifies the three spheres." Any man attains the highest beatitude who hears, sings, tells or meditates upon the feet of Raghubír, lotus flowers which, like the bee, Tulsi Dás is ever singing. ”

“ Hearken, Sugríva; I will slay Báli with a single arrow; though he take refuge with Brahma even, or Rudra, he shall not escape with his life.
Chaupái.
They, who are not distressed at the sight of a friend's distress, are guilty of grievous sin. They, who do not think it the most natural thing possible to regard as a mere grain of sand their own mountain-like troubles, while a friend's trouble, though really no bigger than a grain of sand, seems to them as weighty as mount Meru; such men are churls, upon whom it is useless to press friendship. ”

“ Some people think that all the rude efforts of aborigines and uncultivated tribes are inspired by truer wisdom than are the results of science and civilisation, and amongst other things, turbans are pointed out to us as an instance of the good sense of people in hot climates, who know how necessary it is to protect their heads from the sun. If so, why do some cover their heads with turbans and some not? and why do those who wear turbans take them off to cool their heads in the sun, and some accidentally leave a bit of head exposed when they put the turban on without ever finding it out? ”

“ Muntrums were recited as the earth was filled in and pressed round the roots which embraced the copralite, and the tulsi was watered daily with the rest of the garden. The performance of this ceremony was supposed to render the garden fertile and to protect it from evil.
Some gardeners try to increase the production of flowers by strange superstitious devices and by worshipping the tulsi and pepul tree. Knowing the disbelief of the English in such practices they are careful not to perform the rites in their sight. Hindus are sensitive to ridicule. ”

“ The tassel on the top is the handle, by which [171] the good believer is lifted, by the angels, into Paradise!
When Taff noticed the variety of rich colors, and the beauty of the fashion of the Saracen headdress, he decided to name the new flower the Turk’s turban.
Now the word for this is tulipan, or tulip, for short. Thereupon Taff collected the seeds of this turban flower and when the war was over, he brought them to Flanders and planted them in his garden. Soon he had a tulip farm, and then orders came in, from all parts of Europe, for this wonderful flower. ”