TEMPLE OF JUGGERNAUT. 487 



" Juggernaut, \4th June, 1806. 



{t 1 have seen Juggernaut. The scene at Buddruck is but 



the vestibule to Juggernaut. No record of ancient or modern his- 

 tory can give, I think, an adequate idea of this valley of death ; it 

 may be truly compared with the * valley of Hinnom." The idol 

 called Juggernaut, has been considered as the Moloch of the pre- 

 sent age ; and he is justly so named, for the sacrifices offered up to 

 him by self-devotement, are not less criminal, perhaps not less 

 numerous, than those recorded of the Moloch of Canaan. Two 

 other idols accompany Juggernaut, namely. Boloram and Sliuiiu- 

 dra, his brother and sister : for there are three deities worshipped 

 here. They receive equal adoration, and sit on thrones of nearly 

 equal height." 



" This morning I viewed the temple ; a stupendous fabric, 



and truly commensurate with the extensive sway of * the horrid 

 king.' As other temples are usually adorned with figures emblema- 

 tical of their religion, so Juggernaut has representations (nume- 

 rous and varied) of that vice which constitutes the ess. nee of his 

 worship. The walls and gates are covered with' indecent emblems, 

 in massive and durable sculpture. I have also visited the sand 

 plains by the sea, in some places whitened with the bones of the 

 pilgrims ; and another place a little way out of the town, called 

 by the English, the Golgotha, where the dead bodies are usually 

 cast forth ; and where dogs and vultures are ever seen*." 



" The grand Hindoo festival of the RuU Jattra, takes place on 

 the 18th instant, when the idol is to be brought forth to the peo- 

 ple. I reside during my stay here at the house of James Hunter, 

 Esq. the Company's collector of the tax on pilgrims, and superiu- 

 tendant of the temple, formerly a student in the College of Fort 

 William ; by whom I am hospitably entertained, and also by Cap. 



. v ' 



Thr vultures generally find out the prey first ; and begin with the infr.;- 

 tines ; for the flesh of the body is too firm for their beaks immediately after 

 death. But tbe dogs soon receive notice of the circumstance, generally from 

 seeing the hurries, or corpse-carrier!), returning from the place. On the ap- 

 proach of the dogs, the vultures retire a few yards, and wait till the body be 

 suificieiitly torn for ca<y deglutition. The vultures and dogs often fred toge- 

 ther ; and sometimes begin their attack before the pilgrim be quite dead. 

 There are four animals which may be s< en about a carcase at tin- same time, 

 viz. the dog, the jackal, the vulture, and the hurgecla, or aqjuUot, called 

 by Pennant, the gigantic crane. 



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