The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1908-07-10
lDU U d ] l1IIJ
There Are Hundreds Of Millions
!. Of Them Ii lndla. !.
THE FAME Of jucGERRAuT.

THE FAME or JUGGERNAUT.
this Idol Has Been Worshipsd About
Two Thousand. Years, and His Ma.
tionaI Temple IL on the Sands 81
Puri-The Three Monster Cars.
If I were asked to describe India the
drst remark that would spring from
my lips would be. 1T is land Of
Idols" 1t would be impossible to CON-
pute the number Of idols that there
must be at the present time in India.
The Hindoos pretend to have 333, GOO.
NO gods, and these are represented by
lnnumerable 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 3O0O0O.OOO. and possibly
the country contains ten times as many
Idols as people.
Benares is the great center of the
i:;,: making l,IsiiesS. though in oil
Iarts %; Ia. ia the trade tourishes.
offers tie Cay thru III may be seen
III: the .acre.i cit; H.olding images OF
.i:!" 80: Temporary u.e. Scuip;orS also
l::!.y he toAnl producing representa-
&. eS Ot the so;S in stone or marble
Carpenters. Llo.2over. make great
SrDJ.eu i,iolS for the temples AMI
:, ,,.Ap.s il llet:4l-godsmitils. copper
.:.i.h,' ::.id l.rass v or.iers-tuin out
T.. ~ o. !c'S highly finished specimens
Il ~ =" re':,eci.e meals
,....'iI speaking ot idols 1t should be
j.,r;n. III n,.ld that the images turned
III 10y the potter. sculptor. carver or
ia: .:i..act.rtr are cot considered sa-
rcd CT iii to he worshi,,ed until GER
iain mystic. words have been uttered
Yer laem by Il priest The ceremony
"i..t giving of life" as it is called.
- ,,lr Image is Il very solemn affair.
I'd Wien it il done TIE idol is regard
"npreai he'd ard treated with the ut
:.p'>! reverence.
Out Of the many millions Of so called
rods 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
tain salvation. Brahma represents the
way Of salvation by wisdom. Vishnu
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 Orissa, wash
ed by the wild waves of the bay of
Bengal. The worship of Juggernaut
dates back nearly 1000 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
nj of le, -,
Of heaven whittier thousands of pill
grims come to die, lulled to this last
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 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
little smaller. The great cars have
to be dragged certain distance-half
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 it 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 I 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, 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 Juggernaut!"