Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1891-02-20
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The CITY Of Juggsrnaut has about
5000 inhabitAnts, bat y there Il . re-
hgiOas festival held there oDce every
mouth, thS population constantly
Within ~ boedeFS falls hut little short
81 100000 On both sidss Of the principal
street. = almost unbroksn lines Of
Hindoo temples. al OF which arc over.
shadcwed BY the great Temple Of ing.
ernaut, which stands ct The southern
extremity OF the main street. The
great temple rises to = height Of
nearly 300 fest, aud Is surmounted by .
bronze covered dome, the point Of
which reAchss 160 fest higher. The
wall which surnaounts this gigantic
pagoda 10 . square with sides ESQ feet
IN length: 10 eighteen feet thick Ut the
bottom and nearly forty feet high. Be-
sides the great pagoda in honor Of jug.
gernaut, the Enclosure contains tempt,
and idols dedicated TO dozens Of other
Hindoo deities.
ALL Of the idols, says the st. Louis
Republic, ere nonstrous in design and
trightful ia appearance. That to
Krishna (another name for J~ugeernsut)
is painted blue and has = face hidious
in the extreme. According to Hindoo
legend Krishna was killed lby . hun.
ter. His bones were found under .
tree, and brought before King Indrady.
umna. who was directed by one OF the
gods to form an image of Jagantah
lperhsps Juggernaut; see John W.
Wright's idol worshippers OF India"
page 1861, and place Krishna's bones
inside. Nisvskarma, \ divine archi-
tect and sculptor, undertook to make
the image, but being hurried by the
King. left of in anger. So Jaganath
wss left without hands or feet. In COM
p~ensation Brahma gave the image eyes
and = soul. It may be seen BY this
legend that it was originally on &C.
count Of the sanity bones within it that
the image was venerated.
Besides Krishna, or J~uggernaut,
two others Of the idols are provided
with immense cars or chariots. The
car Of J~uggernaut is thought to be the
largest wheeled vehicle that has yet
been made in the world. II Is thirty
four and one-half feet square At the
base and forty three and one-half feet
in heigth, mounted on sixteen wheels,
each six and one-half feet in diameter.
Once each year, ut the great annual
March festival, J~uggernant, mounted
On the apex OF his stately car. is taken
to . house about one and . half miles in
the country, where a 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 aud 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. II 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. 1t il
probable that the accounts OF these
self-sacrifices have been too highly col.
ored. and that the great loss OF life
upon such occasions. when thousands
Of frantic devotees are c~ongregated
together. comes more from acciden,
than from . desire to start for heaven
from directly under the wheels OF the
holy cur,