The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-07-15
IDOLS OF THE H|NDOOS.
There Are Hundreds of Millions
of Them In India.
THE FAME OF JUGGERNAUT,

| sdoi CcSh A0ok
Two Thousand Years, and His Ma
tienal Temple Is on the Sands .
Puri-The Three Monster Cars.
If I were asked to describe India the
first remark that would spring from
my lips would be. ut is a land Oh
idols" 1t would be impossible to com
pute the number of idols that there
must be at the present time in India
The Hindoos pretend to have 1913. 600.
600 gods, and these are represented by
fnnumerable idols, so that We are quit.
bewildered with the thought of taking
the census of the idols of India. The
population of the whole Indian empire
is now about 100000, coo, and possibly
the country contains ten times as MANY
idols as people.
Idol making business, though in al
parts Of India the trade dourishes
Potters the day through may be seen
In the sacred city moiding images OF
clay for temporary use. Sculptors also
may be found producing representa-
dves OF the gods in stone or marble
Carpenters, moreover, make great
wooden idols for the temples, and
workers in metal-goldsmiths, copper.
smiths and brass workers-turn out
more or less highly finished specimens
in their respective metals
When speaking of idols 1t should be
borne in mind that the images turned
out by the potter, sculptor, carver OF
m q n fa or
cred or fit to be worshiped until Ger.
tain mystic words have been uttered
over them by priest The ceremony
of 1.-The giving of life" as it Is called
to the image is a very solemn affair
and when 1t is done the idol is regard,
ed as holy and must ever afterward bs
approached and treated with the ut.
most reverence.
Out of the many millions OF 50 called
gods in India, all Of whom are counted
worthy Of worship. three are regarded
as specially sacred and form the Hin.
doc triad or trinity. They are re-
spectively Brahma, Vishnu and silva.
OF those 1t is stated the second per.
son Of the trinity only has been rep
resented on this earth by human in
carnations. Through one or all of these
gods the Hindoos believe they may OBJ
tain salvation. Brahma represents the
way of salvation by wisdom, Vishnu
by faith and silva by works. 1t Ia
immaterial which method is adopted,
as they all lead to the same goal.
Juggernaut is perhaps the most ia.
nous name among all the Hindoo idols,
1nasmuch as his fame has gone forth
into every land. His temple is situat.
ed on the sandy shores Of Orissa, wash.
ed by the wild waves Of the bay of
Bengal. The worship of Juggernaut
dates back nearly 1900 years, and
Orfssa has been the holy land Of the
Hindoos from that time till the present
day.
Sir William Hunter, who was one OF
the greatest authorities on things East
Indian, says in wonderfully graphic
description Of the temple of Jugger
naut: ION the inhospitable sands OF
Puri. place Of swamps and inunda-
lions. the Hindoo religion and Hindoo
superstitution have stood at bay for
eighteen centuries against the world
Here is the national temple whittier
the people flock to worship from every
province Of India. There is the gate
of heaven whittier thousands Of pill
grims come to die, lulled to this last
sleep by the roar Of the eternal ocean"
Well. 1 saw on one occasion that
marvellous sight. the dragging Of Jug
gernauts car and the cars Of his
brother and sister. The three idols
are tnseparable, and ugly things they
are, being nothing but huge logs of
wood coarsely fashioned into human
shape, but without arms or legs.
Juggernaut's car stands forty-one
feet high and has fourteen enormous
wheels. The other two cars are Just
a little smaller. The great cars have
to be dragged q certain distance-half
a mile or more from the temple-and
the god will not allow horses or ele-
plants to undertake the work, but
calls upon his faithful worshipers to
do 1t themselves. Immense ropes, or,
rather, cables, are attached to the cars,
and at the word Of command from the
priests thousands Of men and even
women and children rush forward and
seize the ropes and range themselves
In order and the next moment are
straining and pulling at the cumber-
some conveyances. which at length
move with heavy, creaking noise.
Never shall forget the sight. The
road was filed with tens of thousands
of lookers-on, all wild with excitement,
and the fanatics who held the ropes
were dragging the cars along with
frenzied zeal. Every now and then
there would be stop that the men
might rest, I supposed. but instead Of
resting they took to jumping in the
air and to whirling themselves around
like dancing dervishes and shouting
at the top of their breath: "victory!
Victory to Juggernautr'
Once on a time infatuated worship
ers would throw themselves under the
wheels Of the mighty car that they
might be crushed to death. counting Ii
a privilege and a Joy thus to perish.
Some might do 1t today II the paternal
British government did not provide
against such catastrophes by taking all
due precaution.-John ]. Pool, B. D.,
F. r. G. S., in Los Angeles Times.
Yellow Fever.