The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-07-17
IDOLS or THE H|NDOOS
There Are Hundreds of Millions
of Them In India.
THE FAME OF JUGGERNAUT,
This Idol Has Been worshiped About
Two thousand Years, and His Ma
tional Temple 10 on the Sands Of
puri-Ths Three Monster Cars.

UTSt TeHlhTk tuht Wouiu op'ihB Ahcm
my lips would be, "It il 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 ,OO0,-
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
popula ton of the whole Indian empire
Is now about 3OO,O0O,OO0, 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 hourishes.
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 Lgoldsmiths, copper
smiths and brass workers-turn out
more or less highly finished specimens
I'm their respective metals.
When speaking OF idols II should be
borne I'm mind that the images turned
out by the potter. sculptor, carver or
manufacturer are not considered sa-
cred or ut to be worshiped until GER
tain mystic words have been uttered
over them by priest. The ceremony
OF "the giving OF life" as II Is called,
to the Image Is very solemn affair,
and when 1t 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 80 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. Yishnu and Silva.
or those II 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 20 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
ell 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 wonderfully graphic
description of the temple OF Jugger-
naut: ION the inhospitable sands OF
Puri. a place Of swamps and inunda-
tions, the Hindoo religion and Hindoo
superstltution have stood ut 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
grms 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 or
wood coarsely fashioned into human
shape. but without arms or legs.
Juggernaut's car stands forty
| 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 10 undertake the work but
calls upon his faithful worshipers 10
DO Il 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 rJpes and range themselves
| III uuu Nlit htAN moAbthN 81 Y
straining asd pulling ut the cumber-
some conveyances. which at length
move with 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 he a stop that the men
might rest. supposed. but instead Of
resting they took 20 jumping I'm the
mir and To whirling themselves around
like dancing dervishes and shouting
OF the top Of their breath: Victory!
! Victory To Juggernautv'
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 IL
u privilege and o Joy thus 10 perish.
Some might do IL today II the paternal
| Rritish ppyernment did not provide