On the 2d of February occurs a feast to Cr[=i], or Lakshm[=i], Vishnu’s bride, patroness of all prosperity to her worshippers.  At present it is a literary festival on which all books, inkstands, pens, etc., are cleaned and worshipped, as adjuncts to Sarasvat[=i], the goddess of learning.  This is rather significant, for Sarasvat[=i] is properly the wife of Brahm[=a], but the Vishnuites of Bengal have made her the wife of Vishnu, and identified her with Cr[=i].  It is to be noticed that in this sole celebration of abstract learning and literature there is no recognition of Civa, but rather of his rival.  Civa and Ganeca are revered because they might impede, not because, as does Sarasvat[=i], they further literary accomplishment.  Sarasvat[=i] is almost the only fair goddess.  She is represented not as a horror, but as a beautiful woman sitting on a lotus, graceful in shape, a crescent on her brow.[47] The boys, too, celebrate the day with games, bat and ball, prisoner’s base, and others “of a very European character.”  The admixture of sectarian cults is shown by the transference to this Vishnuite feast of the Civaite (Durg[=a]) practice of casting into the river the images of the goddess.[48] When applied distinctly to Sarasvat[=i] the feast is observed in August-September; when to Lakshm[=i], in October-November, or in February.  There is, however, another feast, celebrated in the North and South, which comes on the exact date fixed by the Romans for the beginning of spring, and as an ending to this there is a feast to K[=a]ma, Cupid, and his bride Rati (’Enjoyment’).  This is the Vasanta, or spring festival of prosperity and love, which probably was the first form of the Lakshm[=i]-Sarasvat[=i] feast.

Another traditional feast of this month is the 10th[49] (the eleventh lunar day of the light half of M[=a]gha).  The eleventh lunar day is particularly holy with the Vishnuites, as is said in the Brahma Pur[=a]na, and this is a Vishnuite festival.  It is a day of fasting and prayer, with presents to priests.[50] It appears to be a mixture of Vedic prayers and domestic Vishnu-worship.  On the 11th of February the fast is continued, and in both the object is expiation of sin.  The latter is called the feast of ‘six sesamum acts,’ for sesamum is a holy plant, and in each act of this rite it plays a part.  Other rites of this month are to the Manes on the 14th, 22d, and 24th of February.  Bathing and oblation are requisite, and all are of a lustral and expiatory nature.  Wilson remarks on the fact that it is the same time of year in which the Romans gave oblations to the Manes, and that Februus is the god of purification.  “There can be no reasonable doubt that the Feralia of the Romans and the Cr[=a]ddha (feast to the Manes) of the Hindus, the worship of the Pitris and of the Manes, have a common character, and had a common origin."[51]