The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-11-09
False Ideas of Juggernau. Worship.


Contrary 10 what has been almost uni
formly asserted, the worship of Jagannath
is absolutely bloodless. The splitting of
blood in any way pollutes the whole eds
fee, and special troop of servants is at
hand to remove any sacriiic.al food which
may have been thus proianed. Yet so
catholic is Vishnuvism to all forms of be-
lief, that within the sacred enclosure is a
temple to Bimala, one of the wives of
silva, who is worshipped with midnight
orgies and bloody sacrifices. But various
obscenities have crept into the system,
some of which rival the lasciyious mystic
ries CT ancient Babylon. Mr.. Hunter
calculates that the annual revenue of the
temple aud abbeys amounts to $4,000
There are twenty four high festivals in
the year, each occupying several days or
even weeks. At the Red Powder Festi-
val, occurring about Easter, and lasting
three weeks, boat procession is formed
on the sacred lake. At the Bathing Fes-
tival the images are brought down to the
lake, and proboscis is fastened to their
noses, so as to give them the appearance
of Ganesa, the elephant-god of the aborig-
inal tribes. But the Car Festival is the
great event of the religious year. This
falls in the month of June or July, caeor-
ding as the months Of the Hindoo calendar
fall. Its object is to convey Jagannath,
with his brother and sister, from the tenn
pic to his country house, mile distant.
For weeks before the time, the pilgrims
come trooping to Puri at the rate of thou
sands a day. The great car has been
slowly building; by this time it has reached
its full height of forty-ive feet. The
temple cooks have made their calculations
for feeding 10000 mouths; for the doc
trine is studiously inculcated that no food
must be cooked exeeptin the temple kitch-
en-. Each image has separate car.
That of Jagannath is thirty-6ve feet
square, with wheels sixteen feet in diam
eter; the others are smaller. When the
sacred images are placed in their chariots
the multitude fall on their knees aud bow
their foreheads in the dust Then they
lay hold of the ropes and drag the heavy
cars down the broad street. Before aud
behind drums beat and cymbals clash,
while from the cars the priests shout,
harangue, and sing songs, not always of
the most decent character, which are re-
ceived with shouts and roars of laughter.
And so the dense mass, Juggling, sweating,
singing, praying and swearing, drag the
cars slowly along. The journey is but a
mile, yet it takes several days to accom-
plish it. Once arrived at the country
house, the enthusiasm of the pilgrims sub
sides. They drop exhausted upon the
burning sand, or block up the lane with
their PROSTATE bodies. When they have
slept off their fatigue, they rise refreshed,
and ready for another of the strong excite
ments of the religious season. Lord ia
gannath 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 1900 peasants of the
neighboring region.
All this is bad enough. But the story,
so often repeated, of thousands of pilgrims
sacrificing their lives in the hope of attain
ing eternal bliss by throwing themselves
uuucE the WlSelS OI tue CuaTlOt, appears
to be a sheer fabrication. Mr. Hunter
says:
I'm closely packed, eager throng of
hundred thousand men and women, many
of them unaccustomed to exposure or hard
labor, aud all of them Juggling and strain
ing to the utmost under the blazing tropi-
cal sun, deaths mrst occasionally occur.
There have, doubtless, been instances of
pilgrims throwing themselves under the
wheels in a frenzy of religious excitement
But such instances have always been rare,
and are now unknown. At one time sew
eral unhappy people were killed or injured
every year, but they were almost invariably
cases of accidental trampling. The few
suicides that did occur were for the most
part cases of diseased and miserable per-
sons, who took this means to put them
selves out of pain. The official returns
put this beyond doubt Indeed, nothing
could be more opposed to the spirit Of
Vishnu worship than selfimmolation -
Hdrper's Magazine.