The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-06-20
JUGGERNAUT PILGRIMAGE IN
ORISSA.

Mr.. Hunter gives vivid picture of
these pilgrimages. Day and night,
through every month of the year, troops
of devotees arrive at Puri, and for three
hundred miles along the great Orissa
road every village has its encampment
AT the time of the great festivals the
bands follow so closely that they form a
continuous procession miles upon miles
in length They march in orderly com
panies, each under its leader or guide.
These guides may properly be called
the missionaries of Jagannath. About
six thousand of them are attached to the
temple from which they take their dee
parture for every section of the country
The arrival of one of these pilgrim hun
tiers is a memorable event in the still life
of hindoo village. Heis known by
his half,shaven head, coarse tunic,
knapsack, and palm>leafumbrella. He
waits, patiently chewing his narcotic leaf
until the men have gone into the heId,
and then makes a of round visits among
the women. He works alike upon their
hopes and fears, their piety and their fol
ly. The older ones long to look upon
the face of the merciful god who will re-
nit the sins Of a life, The younger ones
are allured by the prospect of a journey
through strange lands. Widows catch
at any thing to relieve the tedium of
their blighted existence childless wives
long to pick up the berries from the
child-given banyan which grows in the
sacred inclosure. In few days the
missionary has picked up band of pill
grims. Fully nine out of ten are women,
and when the bands come together on the
great Orissa road they present motley
spectacle. Here are a company of whites
clothed slender women from Lower
Bengal, limping YEARLY along. Next a
train, clad in bright red or blue, with
noses pierced with rings, trudges stoutly
forward they are the rugged peasantry
of Northern India. Now and then is a
lady from near Delhi, ambling along up,
on little pony, while her hu9ban d
walks by her side. A bullock cart creaks
past upon its wooden wheels. A long
train CT palanquins conveys a Calcutta
banker and his family. Sometimes there
is great north country rajao, with
whole caravan of elephants, camels, and
horses. But ninety five out OF hun
dred ofthe pilgrims are on foot. Min,
gled with all are devotees of every sort,
some covered with ashes, some nearly
naked, with matted hair stained yellow.
Almost all have their foreheads streaked
with red and white paint, string of
beads around their necks, and stout
staff in their hands.
So this great spiritual army marches
hundred of miles along burning roads,
across unbridged rivers, through pests
lent jungles and swamps. Many perish
by the way; all are weary and foot sore.
But no sooner are they within sight of
the holy city than all the miseries of the
journey are forgotten. They hurry across
the ancient bridge with shouts and songs,
and rush to one ofthe great artificial lakes
and plunge beneath the sacred waters.
The dirty bundles which they haved
carried all the long way are opened, and
yield forth their treasures of spotless cot.
ton, and the pilgrims, refreshed and
cleanly clad, proceed to the temple to
partake of the sacred rice which has been
cooked within its walls-that sacred rice
for which the Lord of the World longed |
in his old jungle home, and of which he
now partakes four times day in his
temple-A. II, Guernsey, in Harber'S
for July.