Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1891-03-07
rHE CELEBRATED JuocERNAur
'oms Facts About thu Great TsPapIs. Char.
ios and ldoIa

,oms Facts About thu Great TopapIs. Char.
iot and Idols.
The city Of JuggernauE has about
$4,000 Inhabitants, but IS there is . re-
Ggious festival held there once every
month, tho population constantly
within Its borders falls but little short
OF 15O, 900. On both sides Of the principal
street are almost unbroken lines Of
Hindoo temples, all of which are over
shadowed by the great Temple of Jug
ernaut, which stands at the southern
extremity of the main street. The
great temple" rises to q height Of
nearly 300 feet, and is surmounted by
bronze covered dome, the point Of
which reaches $50 feet higher. The
wall which surmounts this gigantic
psgoda is square with sides $50 feet
IN length; is eighteen feet thick at the
bottom and nearly forty feet high. Be-
sides the great pagoda In honor of Jug
gernaut, the Enclosure contains temples
and idols dedicated to dozens of other
Hindoo deities.
ALI of the idols, says the ST. Louis
Republic, are monstrous in design and
frightful in appearance. That to
Krishna (another name for Juggernaut)
is painted blue and has a face hidious
In the extreme. According to Hindoo
legend Krishna was killed Iby a hum
ter. His bones were found under a
tree, and brought before King Indrady-
umna. who was directed by one OF the
gods to form an image of Jagantah
(perhaps Juggernaut; see John W.
Wright's idol worshippers of India,
page 1850, and place Krishna's bones
inside. Visvakarma, a divine archi-
tect and sculptor, undertook to make
the image, but being hurried by the
King, left off in anger. So Jaganath
was left without hands or feet In com.
pensation Brahma gave the image eyes
and soul. 1t may be seen by this
legend that it was originally on ac-
count of the sanity bones within it that
the image was venerated.
Besides Krishna, or Juggernaut,
two others of the idols are provided
with immense cars or chariots. The
car of Juggernaut is thought to be the
largest wheeled vehicle that has yet
been made in the world. It is thirty
four and one-half feet square ct the
base and forty-three and one-half feet
in heigth, mounted on sixteen wheels,
each six aud one-half feet in diameter.
Once each year, at the great annual
March festival, Juggernant, mounted
on the apex of his stately car, is taken
to house about one and half miles in
the country, where female image is
supposed to be waiting to become his
bride. The removal of the chariot
from the shrine to the country house
being proceeding holy in the extreme,
no animals are used for drawing the
chariot, men, women and children only
being permitted to perform such
righteous services.
On this occasion either five or seven
ropes are attached to the front of the |
car, the middle one having been twisted |
from hair cut from the heads of female |
devotees. 1t was long-cherished be-
lief in Christian countries that many |
pilgrims sacrificed themselves upon
these gala days by falling prone before
the car and allowing the ponderous
wheels to pass over their bodies. It is
probable that the accounts of these
have been too highly col
ored, and that the great loss of life
upon such occasions, when thousands
of frantic devotees are congregated
together, comes more from accident
than from a desire to start for heaven
from directly under the wheels of the
holy car