Note 154 — Chapter I · NATURE POWERS.

The Hindus being element worshippers naturally hold in reverence certain rivers, ponds, etc. In the Ratnágiri District the spring at Rájápur, called the Rájápurchi Ganga is considered very sacred. It flows from the roots of a Banyan tree. There are fifteen Kundas or ponds, and the principal Kunda always remains filled with water. On occasions a big játra fair is held and people from distant places come to bathe and worship at the spring.154 Some people believe that many of the lakes, springs, etc., situated in the Kolhápur State are sacred.155 A spring or rivulet that flows to the east is considered specially sacred. It is called a Surya-Vansi spring, and it is considered meritorious to bathe in it.156 In the village of Kunkauli in the Ratnágiri District if a person is bitten by a snake or other poisonous reptile, no medicine is administered to him, but holy water brought from the temple of the village goddess is given to him to drink, and it is said that the patient is thus cured.157 The water fall at Maral near Devarkuha, where the river Bán takes its rise, is held sacred.158 At Shivam in the Ratnágiri District the people use the tirtha of a deity as medicine for diseases due to poison. They say that it is the sole remedy they apply in such cases.159 There are ponds at Manora in the Goa State, and Vetore in the Sávantwádi State, the water of which is used as medicine for the cure of persons suffering from the poison of snakes, mice, spiders, and scorpions.160 When a well is dug, the people call a Bráhman priest to consecrate it. The Bráhman takes cow’s urine, milk, curds, ghi, sandal paste, flowers, basil leaves, and rice, and mixes them with water, and after repeating sacred mantras over the water, throws the mixture into the well. After this ceremony, the people are at liberty to drink water from the well.161