The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1889-02-01


mutiny. At that period it was
secreted by one of the Queens OF
the exiled King of Delhi, by whom it
was sold when money was an object OF
greater moment than the possession OF
a noted Lingam. But this lady was. OF
course. Moslem, and therefore her
only concern in the deity was its in
trinsic value; moreover. it was not her
property, but that of the temple in
which we are told it had been kept for
more than thousand years. There is,
therefore, no getting over the fact that
the cat's-eye-god or no god-was at
one time piece of ecclesiastical prop
erty, and that. directly or indirectly, it
forms part of the loot of unsanctified
hands. In plain language, it was
stolen; and if the India Office credited
the story, and did its duty. it ought at
once to have been impOunded until the
history of its transference from Delhi to
London was fully explained. At all
events the Lingam god failed to evoke
any great amount of enthusiasm. We
are, therefore, justified in assuming that
the trade in this description of property
is just at present little fat, or that the
collectors of Indian curios prefer TO in
vest in articles of a less compromising
description than crystal of cymophane
which, with its setting OF topaz and gold
and diamonds, exchanged hands during
the turmoil of military mutiny in the
city of the Grand Mogul.
At the same time, while sharing the
iudicious doubts exhibited by the tardy
bidders at yesterdays sale. we are by
no means certain that this particular
idol is not the embodiment of a most
romantic chronicle. Most gems are.
1t may even be the god it claims to
have been, and there can hardly be
| any question as to the fact of the stones
having at one time or another been OBJ
| jects of religious superstition. In an
| cient India-in modern Hindostan, in
deed-the temple Of god was the fame
to which every thing of supreme beauty
and value eventually tended. Time
was when the eyes of silva and Vishnu
and Durga and Juggernaut were dia-
monds, or rubies, or topazes OF meal
| culable value, and their shrines were
glittering with the pearls and emeralds
and rubies which devotees had in the
course of ages offered up with the OBJ
ject of purchasing their favor or of
stunning their wrath. To this day
there are plenty of temples in India
which would yield fine profit to an in
yader of the type of Nadir Shah.
and some of less fame, but of as little
scruple. The ornaments of the Kreist-
mar Avatar of Vishnu, in the great
temple on the Island of Srivangam. con-
sists of armlets and necklaces and
breastplates and crowns, all set in dia-
mond, and ruby, and emerald. and
topaz, and opal, the market
value of which has never
been even estimated. A single neck.
lace of emeralds, rubies and diamonds,
with pearl pendants, can not be worth
less than 100000, while one of the
many umbrellas of the god is covered
with 125, 900 pearls, every one of which,
though small, is of good water. As
for the vessels of gold under which the
attendants stagger. and the maces gilt
tering with flat diamonds, which dazzle
the eyes of the sightseer, they are be
lieved to be of enormous value. There
are, indeed, whispers to that effect thai
already some willy priests have managed
to substitute Partisan paste for the more
marketable of the sacred gems, and, il
any case, there is little chance of any
future conqueror reaping such harves
as did Mahmud of GhaZni, who, wher
he impiously leveled the figure of a goo
in the Pagoda of Sumnat, found himsel
ankle deep in the pearls and rubie'
with which it was stuffed. The Orlof
diamond. now in the Russian Imperia
scepter, is said to have formed one o
the eyes of a Hindu idol, and, though
the Koh-i-noor can not be positivel,
traced to any such place of distinction
J it is certain that, as far back as lndial
!. legend deals with it-and this extend
to at least two thousand years-thi
huge diamond has been associated witt
superstitious feelings. No man, it j
said, ever prospered in the end VIII
owned it. The Pathan fell under it
malevolent influence. So did the Mogul
and so did Nadir the Duranee, an
Runjeet Singh, the Lion of the Pun
jab, while not a passing m;sfortun
: ever smites the British Raj, but tn
) wise men of the Indian bazaars shak
their heads and recall the present OWL
L ership of the Mountain of Light"
may, indeed, be safely calculated tina
almost every gem has long history
: Precious stones are, in themselves, ir
destructible, and so portable are they
and so carefully guarded. that it is SCI
dom that they are ever lost or de
stroyed. Age after age they pass froI
1 hand to hand, appearing and disappear
ing, and changing masters in the mos
: extraordinary fashion. A temple sci
want gouges out the eyes of a tempt
7 deity. and the precious plumber passe
from thief to receiver, until it shines i
e the crown of the sovereigns of Francs
i The churches of medieval England wer
q pillaged of the Virgins jewels. to b
D transferred to the temple of some hit
S eous Hindu goddess Or, to com
i nearer to our own times, French ma
o shall may coolly twist priceless enc
o aid off the crown of the Madonna L,
e ledo-as Junot actually did-to sell i
t in the days of his adversely. to the Jew
: of Amsterdam, Just as a ..Lingam god