The  majority  of  the  temples  belong  to  sects,  and  al-
though the  Hindu,  on  the  whole,  is  not  exclusive  in  his
acts  of  adoration,  the  worship  which  is  celebrated  in  them
is  usually  only  that  of  a  section.  There  are,  however,
two  classes  of  occurrences  in  which  these  differences  dis-
appear, and  in  which  Hinduism  manifests  more  than  else-
where its  sense  of  its  own  unity ;  these  are  the  festivals
and  the  pilgrimages.  Every  locality  the  least  remarkable
for  its  actual  importance,  or  in  consequence  of  memories
connected  with  it,  has  its  festival,  its  meld;  kinds  of
solemnities  which  resemble  nothing  so  much  as  the  j!5«r-
dons  of  Bretagne,  with  their  twofold  religious  and  secular
character.  Though  they  have  always  some  sanctuary  by
way  of  centre,  and  are  in  close  relation  with  a  definite
worship,  the  neighbouring  populations  flock  to  them  and
take  part  in  them  without  distinction  of  sect.  It  is  the
same  with  the  great  festivals  which  are  not  local,  and
which  are  graduated  to  last  throughout  the  length  of  the
Hindu  year.  Described  minutely  in  several  Puranas,^
and  regulated  in  a  general  way  in  trcdtes  de  com^mt,  they
are  marked  with  care  in  the  almanack  for  the  year.^  The
differences  they  present  from  one  province  to  another  are

^  See  on  this  custom  Ind.  Antiq.,  the  first  three  months  of  the  year,

vii.  113.  have    been    described,    as    regards

2  Particularly  in   the  Bhavishya  Bengal,  by  H.  H.  Wilson,  The  Re-

and  the  Bhavishyottara :  Aufrecht's  ligious    Festivals    of    the     Hindus,

Catalogue,  pp.  30-34.     The  first  sec-  Select  Works,  vol.  ii.   p.    1 5 1.     An

tion  or  Vratakhanda  of  the  Catur-  enumeration  of  the  principal  will  be

vargacintamani    of   Hemadri  treats  found  in  a  very  ably  executed  work

of  the  same  subject.  for  popular  use  by  Monier  Williams,


Some  of  these  festivals,  those  of     Hinduism,  1877,  p.  1 81.
