The Washington herald., 1913-01-26

| of the carriage with her baby in her
arms. and. after running the gantlet
for quarter Of an hour, she arrived
safely back at the opium store.
Here she remained with other Euro
reans, besieged for a fortnight, their
lives depending on the fidelity of few
sikhs. II was then that Lord Alta
, monts black nurse suggested TO his
mother that. as a possible means OF saw
Ing his life, he should be dyed and
PASSED of as her child, and this was
done, Lord Altsmont remaining dis
6uised as a Niger baby until a steamer
came down the Ganges crowded with
refugees, and enabled them to reach a
place of safety.
The great temple at Madura, the an
cient and splendid shrine Of Hindooism
that played sd big a role during the mu-
tiny, and whose towers rise above the
hOufes and the palms. might be taken
for " cathedral But no Christian church
5 so vast. II Is an inclosure of six
teen acres, covered with buildings. The
four gateways are gobras which rise to
the height Of $50 feet. Other gobras
within the inclosure are less lofty The
COBRA is a huge. wedge-shsped tower
the lower part OF which is carved gran
lite. the upper part rising in tier upon
tier of stucco figures. The general eff
feet Is picturesque. though the individ-
ual figures are not beautiful Within the
walls there Is the sacred tank and long
colonnades. with Indian griffins, carved
on the columns There is the hall of
the thousand columns. There is the
shrine Of the god silva, also that of Min
achi. the Dravidian goddess. From each
shrine a gilded column arises. piercing
the roof. There is also the cult of the
1fp pIa nh, s,N
represented by images.
One hall celebrates the marriage of
silva and Minachi, that is the welding
together of conquering Hindooism and
the old demon worship. The god and god
dess are depicted on the wall of what in
a Catholic church would be the altar.
The image OF silva is washed in a va
riety Of liquids, which are drained of
into a pool. A drop of this liquid will
cleanse away the blacklist sin.
The temple is very rich. endowed with
lands and legacies. so that the forty
priests at finely maintained apart from
the offerings of the devout. 1t is doubt
ful whether thoughtful or educated Hin
docs would like their religion estimated
by this great shrine. Ganesh, the ma
life and Sulramamjan. the benefcent
sons OF silva. the latter represented with
an elephants head: Kali, the many
handed destroyer. and all the other
gods and goddesses of this Olympus. may
have some mystical meaning to the re-
fined and educated gentlemen who charm
one in India.
More beautiful than the temple is the
palace. built in the sixteenth century, IN
Saracenic style. The colonials court.
the Kings place of devotion, and his
magnificent bedchamber. richly carved
mow the scene Of the British admins
tration of law) would be hard to sur
pass out of Italy. 1t is a pity that Ma
dura is so distant and so inaccessible,
otherwise II would be the resort of the
tourist. Here in reality Is the glory Of
India Here we learrf how little the
Westerns can afford to despise the East
erns The Americans have at Madurs
a finely consolidated work. churches,
schools, and hospitals. FLANEUR.
Copyright. 1913. BY Court Gossip syndicate)