They light
lamps and burn incense before the symbol of Aparajita, make
'chandlos' upon the tree, sprinkle it with rose-coloured water, and
set offerings of food before it' (Balfour, _Cyclopaedia_, 3rd ed.,
s.v. 'Dasahara'). The 'cheonkul' is the _chhonkar_ or _chhaunkar
(Prosopis spicigera_, Linn.), described by Growse as follows:--
'Very common throughout the district; occasionally grows to quite a
large tree, as in the Dohani Kund at Chaksauli. It is used for
religious worship at the festival of the Dasahara, and considered
sacred to Siva. The pods (called _sangri_) are much used for fodder.
Probably _chhonkar_ and _sangri_, which latter is in some parts of
India the name of the tree as well as of the pod, are both
dialectical corruptions of the Sanskrit _sankara_, a name of Siva;
for the palatal and sibilant are frequently interchangeable' ('List
of Indigenous Trees' in _Mathura, A. District Memoir_, 3rd ed.,
Allahabad, 1883, p. 422). Sundry leguminous trees are used in
Dasahara ceremonies in the different parts of India, under varying
local names.
9. _Credo quia impossibile_.
10.
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