Note 80 — Chapter II · HEROIC GODLINGS
Reading edition
The village-gates are fixed after the ceremony of installation, and a toraṇ—a string of āsopālav leaves (Jonesia asoka) with a cocoanut in the centre—is fastened across them near the top.80 Here the ceremony of khāt-muhurt81 is performed82 and afterwards the headman, accompanied by a Brahman, who recites mantras, either winds a cotton-thread besmeared with red lac round the village or pours a stream of milk dhārāvādi along the village boundaries.83 The headman has further to perform the homa at the gates of the village, when a company of Brahmans recite holy passages in honour of Hanumān and Mātā. At the time of the completion of the homa, when the āhuti (an oblation of ghi) is thrown on the fire, all persons present offer cocoanuts to the sacrificial fire.84