Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1908-08-04
IDOLS or THE H|NDOOS|
There Are Hundreds Of Millions
of Them In India.
THE FAME OF jUGGERNAUT.

This Idol Has Been Worshped About
Two Thousand Years, and His Ma
tionaI Temple Is en- the Sands Of
Furi--The Three Monster Cars.
If were asked to describe India the
first remark that would spring from
my lips would be. 1T is land of
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 3,000,-
600 gods, and these are represented by
innumerable idols, SO that we are quite
bewildered with the thought of taking
the census of the idols OF India. The
population of the whole Indian empire
is now about 300000.000, and possibly
the country contains ten times as many
idols as people.
Benares is the great center of the
idol making business. though in all
parts of India the trade fourishes.
Potters the day through may be seen
in the sacred city molding images OF
clay for temporary use. Sculptors also
may be found producing representa-
tiyes of the gods in stone or marble.
Carpenters, moreover, make great
wooden idols for the temples, and
workers in goldsmiths, copper
smiths and brass workers turn out
more or less highly finished specimens
in their respective metals.
When speaking of idols it should be
borne in mind that the images turned
out by the potter, sculptor, carver or
manufacturer are not considered sa-
cred or fit to be worshiped until GER
tain mystic words have been uttered
over them by a priest. The ceremony
of "the giving of life" as 1t is called,
to the image is a very solemn affair,
and when it is done the idol is regard
ed as holy and must ever afterward be
approached and treated with the ut
most reverence.
Out of the many millions of so 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 it 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
taia salvation. Brahma represents the
way of salvation by wisdom, yishnu
by faith and silva by works. 1t is
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,
inasmuch as his fame has gone forth
into every land His temple is situat-
ed on the sandy shores of Orssa, wash
ed by the wild waves Of the bay of
Bengal The worship of Juggernaut
dates back nearly 2,0C0 years, and
Orissa 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 a wonderfully graphic
description of the temple of Jugger-
naut: ION the inhospitable sands of
Puri, place of swamps and inunda-
tons, 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
fr-.f,,, 70 10 hill RI In
sleep by the roar of the eternal ocean
Well | saw on one occasion that
marvellous sight, the dragging Of Jug
gernaut's car and the cars of his
brother and sister. The three idols
are inseparable, and ugly things they
are, being nothing but huge logs of
wood coarsely fashioned into huHan
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
little smaller. The great cars have
to be dragged q certain distance-haf
a mile or more from the temple-and
the god VIII 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 a heavy, creaking noise.
Never shall l 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 a stop that the men
might rest, 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 Juggernaut~
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 1t
privilege and a JOY thus to perish
Some might do it today If the paternal
British government did not provide
against such catastrophes by taking all
due precaution.-Joh ]. Pool, B. D.,