Mohave County miner., 1889-01-26
THE JUGGERNAUT MYTH.
MoNcuRE o. CONWAY PLAYS icoNo-
cLAsT 70 THE BLOODY CAR.


sAs whssI os shs Hissioo Ids' Sssss
Had an Exissssss- How the stsry Might
Have Originated.
There Is no horror more widespread than
that Of the car Of Juggernant NJ, church
or CHAPEL or Sunday school room Il up-
familiar with the vision OF idolnsors throwing
themselves beneath the blood stained wheels
There arc few American girls-~beys even
who have not shed tears and dimes for tbs
victims Of that cruel IDOL Tho dreadful self
.ninoiaiing has added proycrbiai Kimilituds
10 pulpit and platform eIoqaencc. Grim jug
geFnaut has got into cyciopasiiaa But the
chariot Of truth IL passing through the world !.
many cherished fallacies must be ca,f beneath
lbs rcmorseicss wheels; among thena N AT BE-
crushed this world wide notion about jug.
gcrnaut II IL q dclusion. Hard as II is 10
ioss ones pct horror, this ono must be given
~. Tho supposed custom Of inmolatioD
nnder tho whsel Of Jusgcrnaut does not pro
vaii--ncyer did prevail. On the contrary,
Jusgcsuaut sthe most hamaneof all oriental
deities. md his cult the most civilized
could Gil column with Official and an.
questionable proofs Of this paradox. but re
ervo the space for some facts Of more inter
est 10 the reader. IL viii bc sufficient to sub.
rtantia,c tho point by few competent al.
thoritics whose testimony hos not been dis
prted.
GAZETTEER GENERALS Rxrosr.
DR.. ". w. Hunter. gazetteer general OF
India, says in his OIissa tisT2);
"tn closely packed, eager throng OF 100,
80 men and women, many of them unaccus-
iained 20 exposure or hard labor and all ol
heia tugging and straining to the utmos,
4adcr tho blazing tropical sun, deaths mus,
OCCASIONALLY occur. There have, doubtless,
ancn instances Of pilgrims throwing them
elves onder the wheels ina frenzy Of relig
IONS excitement But such instances have
sel rnrs and ars now unknown. At ono
tn,e several unhappy people were killed or
ajmreti every year: but they were almost in
yariably cases OF accidental trampling. The
few suicides TINT did occur we're, for the most
past, cases OF diseased and miserable objcctA
The official returns now place this beyond
''oubt indeed, nothing could DO more op-
posed TO the spirit of vishnu worship than
elf imInolation Accidental death within
the temple renders the whole place nnclean.
fhe ritual suddenly stops and tbs polluted
offerings are hurried away from the sight Of
tho offended god. According to Chaltanys,
the apostle Of Jaganath, the destruction Of
tho 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
car festival, but makes no mention of self
sacrifice, nor does II contain any passage that
could DO twisted into sanction Of IL. Abul
Fazul, the Mussulman observer, Is equally
s:ient, although from the context 1t 10 almost
certain that, had he heard Of the practice, be
would have mentioned it so far from en-
couraging self immolation, the gentle doc.
trines OF Jaganath tended to check the once
universal custom of widow burning. Even
before the government put stop to 1t our
officials observed its comparative infrequency
at Puri."
MAHfSo 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 tho 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 tho victims had rid themselves
of excruciating complaints This was Jus,
after the province passed under English rule
which did not interfere with the festival
Professor Balm, Of Aberdeen university, sayi
uS7G):. .s
IAN Indian civil servant, Mr.. Jamea
Geddes, who had been resident magistrate ai
Orissa, where the festival Is held, informed
me, from his own knowledge, that NO tract
Of the practice Of immolation could be found
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.
arc traceable DR.. Hunter has gone care
fully through them, has conversed with thu
Oldest inhabitants, and found no explanation
Of the bad reputation Of the cult II is sur
missed that some early missionary who wit
messed the car festival did not understand
that the reason why human beings drew Il
instead Of animals is lest one Of these ahoult
get xii ed and 80 pollute the sacred precinct
| The man can say IL be Ii III or exhausted, bu
! not the beast, who might be driven TO hi
death. Shocked by an apparent degradation
| OF humanity, meant to preserve animal life
such surmised missionary, IL an accident oc
CURED, might suppose il part OF thu pro
! gramms His physical and moral nerves un
| settled might initiate the story, and when thi
| gained currency In missionary meetings anf
swelled collections, its imitation would hardly
diminish There 10 an evolution In stories
survival Of the Attest for raising contribu
tions might 10 develop a Juggernaut acci
dent or suicide that the original witnes
would not recognize his narrative a. told II
/ the tabernacle& Suicide il different from
1 self immolation. There are moro religion
suicides In England than in India. On tn
day after the Prince Of Wales attended ,
thanksgiving at St. Paups for his recovery
read paragraph stating that several per
sons wero at one point crushed to death
Tho item might Gost like . thistle seed b
some Tar land, and spring mp to bclisf tina
in England human victims arc offered ol
the recovery Of q primes from illness Mon
cure d. Conway In Boston Herald.