The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-07-16
IDOLS OF THE H|NDO0S
There Are Hundreds Of Millions
OF Them In India.
THE FAME OF luGGERNAUT.
This idol Has Been Worshiped About
Two Thousand Years, and His Ma
tional Temple ls on the Sands Of
Purl--The Three Monster Cars.


my lips would be, ut is land Of
idols" Itswoud be impossible to COM
pute the number of idols that there
must be at the present time In India.
The Hindoos pretend to have 1884, ,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 oil
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-.
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.
When speaking of idols 1t should be
borne In mind that the images turned
out by the potter. sculptor. carver or
manufacturer are not considered sa-
cred or ft 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 very solemn AFFAIR.
and when 1t is done the idol IL regard
ed as holy and must ever afterward be
approached and treated with the ut
most reverence.
Out Of the many millions Of 30 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-
spectiyely Brahma. yishnu 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. 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 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: "On the inhospitable sands OF
Puri, a place of swamps and inunda-
tions. the Hindoo religion and Hindoc
superstitution have stood at bay fol
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. 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 inseparable, and ugly things they
are, being nothing but huge logs OF
wood coarsely fashioned into humar
shape. but without arms or legs.
Juggernaut's car stands forty-onf
feet high and has fourteen enormous
wheels. The ether two cars are just
little smaller The great cars have
to be dragged Il certain distance-hali
mile or more from the tcmple-and
the god Will not allow horses or elc
phants to undertake the work. blli
calls upon his faithful worshipers &c
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 conveyanees, which at lengtl
move with a heavy, creaking noise
Never shall | forget the sight ThC
road was filed with tens Of thousands
of lookers-on. all wild with excitement
and the fanatics who held the ropci
were dragging the cars along witt
frenzied zeal. Every now and theI
:, there would be a stop that the mel
, might rest, supposed, but instead o.
s resting they took to jumping in tn
air and to wbirling themselves aroun(
/ like dancing deryishes and shouting
v at the top of their breath: Victory
Victory to Juggernautws
|, Once on time infatuated worship
/ ers world throw themselves under tn
. wheels of the mighty car that the!
: might be crushed to death. counting !
: a privilege and a joy thus to perish
Some might do 1t today II the paterna
British government did not proyid