Of the Car Festival at Juggernaut, in July, 1826, Mr. Lacey writes, "The festival took place late this year (July 9th), and was not numerously attended. A respectable man threw himself off from the front of the car, as it was moving forward, and the enormous wheels passed just over his loins, and nearly separated his upper from his lower parts! The blood and bowels were scattered and drawn about by the wheels passing over him!* There was very little mortality among the pilgrims this year; for, the numbers being so small, they were able to obtain food and shelter." The Rev. A. Sutton of Balasore in Orissa, in an account of the great festival in 1827, remarks upon the oppressive and impure character of this idolatrous exhibition." The people at the outer gate of the town were admitted; they had been collecting for a long time, and were not allowed to enter because they would not or could not pay the tax. It was grievous to see the poor people (many of whom came from distant parts of India) with their little all tied up in a bundle, and suspended under their umbrellas, in some unguarded moment, rushed upon by the Pooree tigers, and their all taken from them. These villains of Juggernaut lie in wait, and when they see an old or disabled pilgrim, rush upon him, give him a blow upon the head with a large stick, and snatch the umbrella with the bundle out of his hand! I saw, perhaps, fifty cases of this kind while I stood !—The idols have been replaced on the cars to return. I cannot refrain from noticing the obscene gestures and lascivious songs which were again employed to animate the draggers, and spread an infernal enthusiasm through the gazing assembly. I asked a person near, what kind of worship that was, he replied, 'Kusbeeka bať (the language of prostitutes); but added, it gave Juggernaut pleasure! The following day a poor wretch threw himself under Juggernaut's car, and was crushed to death. Mr. Bthe horrid sight." The worship of Juggernaut is still the saw * In 1828 "twelve persons had bound themselves to die a sacrifice under the wheels of the cars, but the under magistrate hearing of the circumstance placed them in confinement, and thus prevented the horrid deed. This was done at Pooree, at one of the largest festivals in Hindostan, and done on personal responsibility; and yet a poor woman, in circumstances of much less notoriety, is allowed to burn herself under pretence that we must not interfere with the superstitions of the Hindoos." (Cutfack, July, 1828.) same. C. Buller, Esq., M. P., in 1813, endeavoured to palliate the sanguinary and impure worship of this idol,* but in vain." If you would know the character of the nation, look at the temple." When shall Britain cease to promote idolatry?-When shall Christianity abolish the miseries of heathenism? The late Rev. J. M. Cropper, Missionary in Orissa, writes in Feb. 1828, "While we continued here (Pertubpore, near Midnapore), a number of jattrees passed us. Oninquiry we found they had come from Nepaul, in a body of 500. They calculated that 200 would die by the way: about forty had died already! If this be the case in the cold season (the most healthy time in India), what havock must death make among the pilgrims, on their return from the Rut Jattra in the commencement of the rains?" Of the effects of pilgrimage, in another part of India, Hamilton gives the following statement: The number of crimes that originate in the Behar District, of which Gya is the capital, may in a great measure be attributed to the vast crowd of pious and superstitious pilgrims. The wealth these persons possess generally consists of money, jewels, and other articles, which excites the cupidity of the unprincipled; while the defenceless condition of the greater part of these stragglers exhibits it to them as a prey of easy acquisition. Numerous affrays and breaches of the peace may also be expected where such a number of strangers, from all parts of Hindostan, are promiscuously congregated; nor will these votaries of superstition gain any addition to their prior stock of morals, by their intercourse with their spiritual guides at the sanctuary, who are in general both ignorant and dissolute, and do not affect even the appearance of any self denial or ascetism of conduct "+ The general character of the Pilgrim Tax System demands serious attention. It increases the celebrity of places of idolatrous resort. The tax on pilgrims at Juggernaut, while it encourages the emissaries of idolatry to wander to the distant parts of Hindostan, to collect its deluded votaries (a stipulated sum being received by them for each individual passed into the town), by its sanction of idolatry, not only adds to the celebrity of the pilgrimage, but confounds Christianity with Idolatry, in the sight of the * See Buchanan's Apology for Christianity in India, pp. 33-38. Hindoos. 66 A native inquired of a Missionary in Orissa, "If Juggernaut be nothing, why does the Company take so much money from those who come to see him!” This tax," says Mr. Harington, in his " Analysis," referring to the sentiments of the Honourable Court of Directors, "is not to be considered a source of public revenue, but to be appropriated to the repairs and other expenses connected with the place of pilgrimage? and convenience of the pilgrims." While the temples in general in India (as the Black Pagoda, Bobuneswer, Kalee Ghaut near Calcutta, &c., &c.,) bear evident marks of neglect and decay, the temple of Juggernaut has recently been repaired (it is said at the expense of a Bengalee); and its celebrity is very great. Of the numerous adjacent temples of Bobuneswer, (about twenty miles from Cuttack) Mr. Stirling, in his "Account of Orissa," remarks, "We have no particular account of the period and causes of the decline of the City of Bobuneswer and the worship of Maha Dab (Seeb). Nearly all but the great temple have been completely deserted, and the establishment kept up there is on a very small and inadequate scale, under the patronage of the Koordah Rajah, whose ancestors granted all the lands and endowments by which the Brahmuns now exist." Of the conduct of the pilgrim hunters in extolling Juggernaut and promoting his worship, "The Friend of India" very forcibly observes, " We have a body of idol missionaries far exceeding in number all the Christian Missionaries, perhaps, throughout the world, going forth from year to year to propagate delusion, and proclaim for the sake of gain (what perhaps not one among them believes), the transcendant efficacy of beholding a log of wood; and all these through a perversion of British humanity, regularity, and good faith, paid from year to year by the officers of a Chritian and a British Government! But that which most fills the mind with distress is the use which these ministers of deception make of the British name throughout the country. In proclaiming the greatness of Juggernaut, they of course affirm that he has now "The expense for the repair of the temple was formerly defrayed by an Abwaub. It appears not to be fixed in its amount, nor can I learn what the gross amount of the collection was; in future such repairs as are necessary must be made at the expense of Government, the Abwaub being consolidated as the land revenue.” Dec. 1807. Par. Papers, respecting the Temple of Juggernaut, 1813, p. 66. |