Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-21
THE JUGGERNAUT MYTH.
MONCuRE o. CONWAY PLAYS iCONO-
CLAST TO THE BLOODY CAR.


The Custom of Self ImmoIation Under
the Wheel of the Hindoo Idol Never
Had an Existence-How the Story Might
Have Originated.
There is no horror more widespread than
that of the car OF Juggernaut. No church
or chapel or Sunday school room is un-
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
to 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 DO
crushed this world wide notion about Jug
gernaut 1t is a delusion Hard as it is TO
lose ones pet horror, this one must be given
up. The supposed custom of immolation
under the wheel of Juggernaut does not pre-
vail-never did prevail On the contrary,
Juggernaut is the most humane of all oriental
could fill column with official and IN
questionable proofs of this paradox, but re-
serve the space for some facts of more inter-
est to the reader. 1t will be sufficient to sub
stantiate the point by few competent au-
thorities whose testimony has not been dis
puted.
GAZETTEER GENERALS REPORT.
DR., W. w. Hunter, gazetteer general of
India, says in his Orissa tlS12l:
an closely packed, eager throng of l00,-
coo 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 ina 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 We're, for the most
part, cases of diseased and miserable objects.
| The official returns now place this beyond
| doubt Indeed, nothing could be more OPP
posed to the spirit Of Vishnu worship than
| self immolation Accidental death within
the temple renders the whole place unclean.
| The ritual suddenly stops and the polluted
| offerings are hurried away from the sight of
the offended god According to Chaltanya,
the apostle of Jaganath, the destruction of
the least of Gods creatures was sin against
the Creator. Self immolation he would have
regarded with horror. The copious religious
literature OF his sect frequently describes the
| hUt =
sacrifice. nor does it contain any passage that
| could be twisted into a 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-
eouraging self immolation, the gentle doc
trines of JaSanath tended to check the once
universal custom of widow burning. Even
before the government put a stop to it our
officials observed its comparative infrequency
at Purin
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 in which the 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, say!
QS7G:
IAN Indian civil servant, Mr.. jaime.
Geddes, who had been resident magistrate a
Orissa, where the festival is held, informe,
me, from his own knowledge, that no trac
of the practice of immolation could be foun,
In the public records of the district
According to Wilson, the orientalist, Pill
grimages to Juggernaut have been custom
airy for only some $50 years, so that the annal
are traceable. DR.. Hunter has gone care
fully through them, has conversed with tn
oldest inhabitants, and found no explanatio
| of the bad reputation Of the cult 1t is SUI
missed that some early missionary who Wi
: messed the car festival did not understan
that the reason why human beings drew
, instead of animals is lest one of these shoul
get killed and so pollute the sacred precinc
The man can say If be is i'll or exh lusted, br
I not the beast, who might be driven to b
y death. Shocked by an apparent degradatio
v Of humanity, meant TO preserve animal hf
I such surTnised missionary, If an accident o.
Y Cured, might suppose it part of the pr
gramme, His physical and moral nerves III
settled might initiate the story, and when tn
8 gained currency in missionary meetings al
:. swelled collections, its imitation would hard
a diminish. There is an evolution in storie
a survival of the fittest for raising contrib
lions might so develop Juggernaut acc
dent or suicide that the original witne
a would not recognize his narrative as told
II the tabernacles Suicide is different fro
" self immolation. There are more religio
is suicides in England than in India. On q
d day after the Prince of Wales attended
n thanksgiving at st. Pauls for his recover
IS 1 read paragraph stating that several pr
r sons were at one point crushed to deaf
n The item might float like a thistle seed
il some far land, and spring up to a belief tn
r in England human victims are offered
n the recovery of prince from illness Nc
re cure D. Conway in Boston Herald.