The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-07-27
False Ideas of Juggernaut Worship.

CONTRARY to what has been almost
uniformly asserted, the worship of
Jagannath is absolutely bloodless. The
spilling of blood in any way polutes the
whole edifce, and a special troop of
servants is at hand to remove any sac
riticial food which may have been thus
profaned. Yet so catholic is Vishnuvism
to all forms of belief that within the sa-
cred inclosure is a temple to Bimala,
one of the wives of silva, who is wor-
shipped with midnight orgies and
bloody sacrifices. But various obsceni-
ties have crept into the system, some of
which rival the lasciviouS mysteries of
ancient Babylon. Mr.. Hunter calculates
that the annual revenue of the temple
and abbeys amounts to f6S,000.
There are twenty-four high festivals
in the year, each occupying several
days, or even weeks. At the Red Pow
der Festival, occurring about Easter,
and lasting three weeks, boat pro-
cession is formed on the sacred lake
AT the Bathing Festival the images are
brought down to the lake, and probes
els is fastened to their noses, 50 as to
| give them the appearance of Ganesa,
| tribes. But the Car Festival is the
great event of the religious year. This
falls in the month of June or July, ac-
! cording as the months of the Hindoo
calendar fall. Its object is to convey
Jagannath, with his brother and sister,
from the temple to his country house,
mile distant.
For weeks before the time, the pill
grims come trooping to Puri at the rate
of thousands a day. The great car has
been slowly building; by this time it
has reached its full height of forty-five
feet The temple cooks have made their
calculations for feeding 10000 mouths;
for the doctrine is studiously inculcated
that no food must be cooked except in
the temple kitchen. Each image has
separate car. That of Jagannath is
thirty-tive feet square, with wheels six
teen feet in diameter; the others are
smaller. When the sacred images are
placed in their chariots, the multitude
fall on their knees and bow their fore
heads in the dust Then they lay hold
of the ropes, and drag the heavy cars
down the broad street. Before and be-
hind drums beat and cymbals clash,
while from the ears the priests shout,
harangue, and sing songs, not always
of the most decent character, which are
received with shouts and roars of laugh
ter. And so the dense mass, Juggling,
sweating, singing, praying, and swear
ing, drag the cars slowly along. The
journeyis but mile, yet it takes sew
eral days to accomplish it. Once an
rived at the country house, the enthus-
asm of the pilgrims subsidies. They drop
exhausted upon the burning sand, or
block up the lanes with their PROSTATE
bodies. When they have slept off their
fatigue, they rise refreshed, and ready
for another of the strong eXcitementS
of the religious season. Lord Jagannath
is left to get back to the temple as best
he may. He would never do this but
for the aid of the professional pullers,
a special body of 1920 peasants of the
neighboring region.
All this is bad enough. But the sto-
ry, so often repeated, of g thousands of
pilgrims sacrificing their lives in the
hope of attaining eternal bliss by throw
ing themselves under the wheels of the
chariot" appears to be a sheer fabrica-
ton. Mr.. Hunter says:
Ill Il CLOSELY packed, eager unfOnS
of hundred thousand men and women,
many of them unaccustomed to expos
ure or hard labor, and all of them tug
ging and straining to the utmost I'M
der the blazing tropical sun, deaths
must occasionally occur. There have,
doubtless, been instances of pilgrims
throwing themselves under the wheels
in frenzy of religious excitement. But
such instances have always been rare,
and are now unknown. At one time
several unhappy people were killed or
injured every year, but they were almost
invariably cases of accidental tramp
ling The few suicides that did occur
were for the most part cases of diseased
and miserable persons, who took this
means to put themselves out of pain.
The official returns put this beyond
doubt. Indeed, nothing could be more
opposed to the spirit of Vishnu worship
than self-immolation. "A. II. Guern-
seq, in Harper's Magazine for July.
The What.Is.It."