Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-09-04
Letters TO the Children---NO 8.


aud two or three flutes made of bamboo,
with cocoanut shell on one end are the
instruments. The flutes can only make
three or four notes of the scale, and the
music simply goes up and down, up and
down those four notes, while the drums
seem to pay no attention to the other iDstru-
ments, but keep up a continual rub-a-dub-
dub, rub-a.dub-dub. Just about as much
music, Nellie would say, as a couple of boys
with sticks aud tin pans would make, accom-
panied by about fifty fall crickets with their
ncessant monotony. The sound comes
nearer and nearer to us, and we soon over
take it, and find it is a procession of men
led by the musicians going to the idol tenn
pie They are nearly there, so we will let
the pony walk along behind them and see
what is going on. Some of the men are
carrying what is called karvady. Perhaps
1t is the same sort of thing that Demetrius
the silversmth used TO make in Ephesus,
which the Bible calls silver shrine for
Diana, the idol OF Ephesus." 1t is sort OF
a box, made of wood and paper, covered |
over with tinse or gilt paper. 1t is decor
ated with peacock feathers and rosettes, and |
tassels of various colors. The men around |
it carry lighted torches, and those who carry |
this thing are dancing along the road whrl |
ing it around as they go, so that, as the light
falls upon it, it glitters and flashes most
brilliantly in the darkness. After it comes
a long row of men with baskets on their
heads, and rs we come up, we see they are
filled with cocoanuts. Here we come to the
temple. Oh what a crowd of men there
are. Tomorrow is to begin the great yearly
festival Of this temple, aud the people have
begun to gather together from all the sur
rounding country Some OF them are sitting
on the ground and eating their suppers.
See they have only leaf for their plates,
aud their fingers for forks and spoons, But
they do not put their fingers into their
mouths. They throw the rice in very skill
fully, never missing single kernel of it.
Others of the company are lying down on
little mats on the ground, fast asleep, while
others are talking or singing. And there is
the temple. 1t is made of coral stone,
covered over with smooth hard finish" as
| believe our masons call it, but it is so hard
and white that Tom would say it was as
good as the best white marble of Vermont.
1t is shaped like great pyramid and on the
corners and top Of it are all sorts of ugly
images Of men, and animals, and snakes, and
monsters.
They will not let us go inside of it, but,
if we could, we should tiud only one small
room with the great idol in it, Heather
temples are not like our meeting houses,
places where the people can go in and sit
down. They are only places for the idols.
The worshippers do not see the idol at all,
except when he is brought out of the tenn
pie Outside of the temple is an altar where
the offerings are made. And near it stands
the old idols carriage, or car 1t is a great
cumsey wooden thing, with four wheels,
made of thick plank. Suddenly a bell is
rung, and the people around are still One
of the priests up in the temple porch begins
to read aloud, from one of their heather
bibles.
Children, did you know the heather had
bibles At any rate they call them" Veyt-
tas," the same word that is used for our
Bible. There are a great many books OF
them. | suppose if they were all printed
instead of being written on palm leaf, they
would make more than hundred books as
large as our Bible is. But most of them are
such vile things, that ! do not think they
, ever will be printed. And those of them
that are not vile are very foolish. Perhaps
this priest is reading one of their best ones.
Listen, and let me tell you what it is.
You remember about those monkeys who
steal the cocoauuts, and laugh at Rover as
he tries to catch them. These poor heather
think the monkey is sacred animal. They
have an idol which is only monkey, made
of wood, or stone, or perhaps silver, or gold,
to which they sometimes pray. | have
> heard that on the other side of Hindoostan
they call that monkey god the guardian of
their cities, and place his image near the
gate. And one missionary says that some
I times, instead of monkey, it is only a
, rough stone with a monkeys tail carved out
upon it, but they worship that stone with a
tail, Just as il it was real god. Poor fool
ish people, are they not But, children, if
you had always been taught to believe that
their bibles contained only true stories
about the true gods think you would do
Just as they do. This man is perhaps
reading from one of their bibles that
| 4. ha
man who has seen it says that, if it was
printed, it would make five large books of
!. five hundred pages each. And it is all a
story of war between Vishau, one of their
greatest gods, and some giants who once, as
they say, lived here in Ceylon. They were
terrible giants according to the story. Each
of them had ten heads, and twenty arms,
and they had been so created that no NOR
tails could kill them. The wild beasts even
the tiger, and the elephant, would run away
and hide when one of them came along, and
even, it is said, when one came near to the
: sea the waves of the ocean would Just trem-
y BILE with fear. And if the story told in this
bible of theirs is true about the bed of one
tremble as he walked towards it, for it says
his bed was twenty thousand miles long
Well this bible says the king of those
giants had gone up to the heaven, where
Vishnu lived, and stolen his wife and carried
Y her as prisoner to Ceyon. Poor Vishnu
} was in great trouble, for he came nearer to
loving his wife than most of the people OF
India. So he came down to India, to see II
he could not get her away from the giant
to king. Vishnu is generally called the most
powerful of all their gods, but somehow
these Ceylon giants were too strong for him
aIo.o A., ha nod 10 ,xat tha L.ya 10 hal,