Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-02-11

Beneath the Cruel Wheels - Coolies
Hired to Drag tho Car Once Drawn by
Devotees.
The announcement that the once famous
festival OF Juggernaut has SO declined in
popularity as TO render it necessary for the
priests to hire coolies to drag the car, is O
measure OF the extent to which the destruc-
tive solvent Of western thought is being
applied to eastern creeds. The car of the
great god of Pooree was one Of the most
sacred Of Brahminic ''proprieties,' and
the Rath Jattra q festival which, in i'm
portance, yielded to hat OF no other deity
in the Hindoo Pantheon. From every
part OF the vast empire of Hindostan pill
grims focked TO share in it, and when the
car OF Juggernaut was dragged once a
| year from the temple in order to batha
the gods in the cool water OF the tank,
| II mile and q half distant, the widest en-
thusiasm seized the vast multitude of ue-
| voices. Thousands rushed To seize the
cables, and SO eager were the volunteers
for this holy service that the best and
| greatest men Of Orissa struggled with each
other to obtain a hold upon the ropes. To
use the language of an old writer who
witnessed the Rath Jattra in its palmy
Ways, tHty uTt 80 RTteuy anu eager 10
draw it that whatsoever, by shouldering,
crowding, showing, heaving, thrusting, or
in any insolent way, can but lay a hand
upon the rope they think themselves
blessed and happy. And when it is going
along the city there are many that will
offer themselves as a sacrifice to the idol,
and desperately lie down on the ground
that the chariot wheels may run over
them, whereby they are killed outright.
Some get broken arms, some broken legs,
80 that many are destroyed, and think to
merit heaven.o
T. HONOR OF II GOD.
At even a later date martyrs TO Juggcr-
naut, or ~JaGganna'th, rs he is more cor
rcctly termed, were not i%nfrequent. When
Francis Buchanan was in Pooree early in
this century, he describes the harsh graf
ing of the gigantic car as ii moved along,
the obscene songs Of the priests in honor
Of the god, and Che fierce g~lances which
the fanatics bestowed on the beef eating
En|glishinen, rs n pilgrim announced him-
self ready to become a sacrifice to the
idol. No one daring or caring TO prevent
the self-immqlation, the man Frustrated
himself in the road before the tower as it
moved along, lying on his face with his
arms stretched forward. The multitude
pressed aroun him, leaving the space
clear, until he was crushed to death by
the wheels Of the ponderous structure.
Then "A wild cry of praise was raised, and
as the god was seen to smile" at the
li5ation Of spouting blood the devotees
threw cowries and pieces Of money on the
body OF the victim ia appreciation of the
| holy deed by which he had won immor-
tality in the HindOo Walhalla.
Il is, therefore, suggestive of n strange
revolution in IIindoo opinion TO hear that
not only are victims lacking, but that, in
stead OF thousands struggling for the
honor of a place ut the drag ropes, labor
ing men, at SO many Gnnas per diem, have
to be hired TO perform the sacred func-
ton. The awe Of tie Indian people for
1.-The lord OF the world" has been declin-
ing. For many years past the fame Of
the great god Of Orissa has been on the
wunc, and the time when u human sacri-
flee was deliberately offered up to the
hiGeous idog is fast getting beyond the
power Of the very oldest OF the old Indians
20 recall.
NUMBER OF
Admitting that the number Of devotecs
this year is smaller owing to the loss of two
pilgrim ships-and the prophecy that a
tAllIu Al u ~ val ia
it il undeniable that J~agganna'th is
doomed, and the wealth which it
brought to the priest and the towns
people of Pooree is likely to vanish before
many years elapse. Sometimes n poor de-
crepit wretch, weary Of life or drlgGed by
the priests with Indian hemp or plum,
will wildly throw himself in front of the
wheels, though he is usually dragged out
by the police, who have orders TO prevent
any attempts at suicide. Saddest abase-
ment of all, from the standpoint Of Brah-
minism, it happened n few years ago, for
the first time in history, that, 70 the hor-
| rOr and chagrin Of the priests, the car Of
J~agganna'th stood still in the streets of
Pooree, while the pilgrims looked on In
impious apathy. Yet no harm befell them,
although a subsequent famine has been
attributed to their s~acrilegious careless
ness. However, the result has been that,
though worshipers still come TO Pooree,
they just as frequently prefer TO save
| themselves the trouble OF hauling the
gods, and as has happened on the present
| occasion, the priests, afraid OF the idols
never reaching the. tank, have contracted
with irreverential coolies to perform the
JOB for a stipulated number Of rupees.
Mortality there is, of course, still. The
poor die Tor want or 1OOu, OF disease, ana
Of lack of proper accommodation. But
there is no longer any need for interfer-
ing, for the wrong will soon right itself
by ~Jagganna'th ceasing to draw" The
east, we fear, is already grown lax in its
religious observances. The pilgrim takes
q third class circular ticket to the holy
place. Infidel s~hipowners issue passes to
D'jeddah, and n tourist contractor escorts
the faithful over the forty miles between
Mecca and the sea. The Egyptian der
wishes are becoming extremely chary
about making u pavement of their persons
for the Saadeeyeh Sheyk TO ride over, and
now that the Indian exchequer is bemoan-
ing the reduced returns from the jag
ganna'th trade" and coolies have TO be
hired to drag the car, we seem a long way
from the time when Job ~Charnock, factor
at Fort William, was converted TO Hin
dooism, or when Gen. Stewart engaged a
Brahmin TO perform daily worship among
the idols in his bungalow. London Stan
dard.