Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-16
THE JUGGERNAUT MYTH.
MoNcURE D. CONWAY PLAYS !coNo-

MCNCURE D. CONWAY PLAYS !CONO-
CLAST TO THE BLOODY CAR.
! The Custom of Self Immolation Under
the Wheel of the Eindoo Idol Never
Have Originated.
There is no horror more widespread than
that of the car of Juggernaut. No church
or chapel or Sunday school room is IN
familiar with the vision Of idolators throwing
themselves beneath the blood stained wheels.
There are few American girlS-boys even
( who have not shed tears and dimes for the
! victims of that cruel idol. The dreadful self
immolating has added a proverbial similitude
pulpit and platform eloquence. Grim Jug
| gernaut has got into cyclopadias. But the
chariot of truth is passing through the world;
many cherished fallacies must be cast beneath
its remorseless wheels; among them must be
/ crushed this world wide notion about jug
gernaut. It is q delusion. Hard as it is to
lose ones pet horror. this one must be given
| up. The supposed custom of imrnolatiop
under the wheel of Juggernaut does not pre-
vall-never did prevail. On the contrary,
Juggernaut is the most humane of ali oriental
deiticS. and his cult the most civilized
could fill a column with official and IN
questionable proofs of this paradox, but re-
servo the space for some facts of more inter-
est to the reader. 1t will be sufficient to SUBJ
stantiate the point by few competent au
thorties whose testimony has not been dis
puted
GAZETTEER GENERALS REPORT
DR.. W. W. Hunter, gazetteer general Of
India, says in his Orissa QS79:
I'm a closely packed, eager throng of 100.-
600 men and women, many of them unaccus-
toned to exposure or hard labor and all of
them Juggling and straining to the utmost
under the blazing tropical sun, deaths must
occasionally occur. There have, doubtless,
been instances of pilgrims throwing them
selves under the wheels in a frenzy of relig-
ious excitement. But such instances have
been rare and are now unknown. At one
time several unhappy people were killed or
injured every year: but they were almost IN.
variably cases of accidental trampling The
Few suicides that did occur were for the most
part, cases of diseased and miserable objects
The official returns now place this beyond
iOubt. Indeed, nothing could be more op-
posed to the spirit If Vishnu worship than
self immolation. Accidental death within
the temple renders the whole place unclean.
The ritua suddenly stops and the polluted
offerings are hurried away from the sight of
the offended god. According to Chaltanva,
the apostle of Jaganath, the destruction of
the least of Gods creatures was a sin against
the Creator. Self immolation he would have
regarded with horror. The copious religious
literature of his sect frequently describes tbs
car festival, but makes no mention of self
sacrifice, nor does it contain any passage that
could be twisted into sanction of it. Abul
Fazul the Mussulman observer is equally
silent, although from the context it is almost
certain that, had he heard Of the practice he
would have mentioned it. So far from en-
couraging self imrnOlation, the gentle doc
triues of Jaganath tended TO check the once
universal custom of widow burning Even
before the government put stop to it our
officials observed its comparative infrequency
at Puri."
MAKING PERSONAL INQUIRY.
Being in India eleven years after the above
was published, | conversed with Dr. Hunter
on this subject. and found that the evidences
even for suicide under the car at Puri had
diminished since his work was written The
English commissioner at Orissa had in four
years known but one death by accident, and
two III which tho victims had rid themselves
Of excruciating complaints. This was just
after the province passed under English rule,
which did not interfere with the festival
Professor Balm, OF Aberdeen university, say1
QS76,:
IAN Indian civil servant, Mr. James
Geddes, who had been resident magistrate a.
Orissa, where the festival is held, informed
me- from his own knowledge, that no trace
OF the practice OF immolation could be found
in the pubic records of the district"
According to Wilson, the orientaliss, pil.
srimaga to Jusgernaus have been custom
cry for only some $50 ears, so that the annals
are traceabie. On Hunter has gone care
fully through them, hiss conversed with the
oldest inhabitants, and found no explanation
Of the bad reputation of the cult. II IS SUI
missed that some early missionary who wit
messed the car festival did not understand
that the reason why human beings draw II
instead Of animals Is lest one Of these should
get kiled and 50 poilute the sacred precinct.
The man car say II he is Ill or exhausted. but
not the beast who might De driven to his
death Shocked By an apparent degradation
Of humanity, meant TO preserve animal Life,
such surnlissi missionary, If an accident oc-
CURED, might suppose 1t part OF the pro-
gramme. BIS physical and moral nerves IN
settled might initiate the story, and when this
gained currency in missionary meetings and
sweiled collections, its imitation would hardly
diminish. There is al evolution n stories;
9 survival Of the fitteet for raising contribu-
tons might so develop sJuggernaut acci-
dent OF suicide that the original witness
would not recognize his narrative es told in
tie tsbernscles Suicide Is different from
sek trlnolation- There are more religions
suicides in England tkan in India On tie
day after the Prince OF Wales attended .
thanksgiving ct St Psui's for his recovery,
read paragraph stating that several per-
sons were ii one point crushed to oeath-
The item nishS foa: Ike thistle .ee5 20
sons far land. and spring up to belle: that
in England human victims are offered o.
the recovery Of prince from ihsSS-Aaa-
cure D. Conway IN Boston Herald