Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-07-07
IDOLS OF THE H|NDOOS
There Are Hundreds of Millions
 of Them In India.
THE FAME OF JUGGERNAUT.


 Puri-The Three Monster Cars. If I were asked to describe India the first remark that would spring from my lips would be, ''It is a land of idols" It 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 333,o0o,- | 900 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 i is now about 300OO0,0O0, 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 holding images of 1 clay for temporary use. Seulptors also may be found producing representa- | tives 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.
 l 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 cer- tain mystic words have been uttered over them by priest. The ceremony of the giving of life" as it is called, to the image is 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.
 F 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 Siva. 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 ob. tain salvation. Brahma represents the way of salvation by wisdom, Vishnu by faith and Siva by works. It 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 Orissa. wash ed by the wild waves of the bay of Bengal The worship of Juggernaut dates back nearly 2,O00 years, and 0rissa has been the holy land of the Hindoos from that time till the present day.
 Il 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: "0n the inhospitable sands of Puri, a 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 whither the people flock to worship from every province of India. There is the gate of heaven whither thousands of pill. grims come to die, lulled to this last sleep by the roar of the eternal ocean,"
 We'll. 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 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 a 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 a heavy. creaking noise.
 Never shall forget the sight. The road was filled 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 q stop that the men might rest. I supposed. but instead of resting they took to jumping in the air and to vhirIing themselves around Ike dancing dervisbes and shouting at the top If their breath: Victory! Victory to Juegernautr'
 Once on a time infatuated worship CTS would throw themselves under the wheels of the mighty car that they might be crushed to death. counting lt privilege and a joy thus to perish. Some might do it today If the paternal British government did not provide against such catastrvphes by taking all due precautIon.-JohnJ J. Pool. B. D., ID fU c